Page 29 of Before We Say Goodbye
“I want you to meet Bec. She’s a lot like Mom. Caring, wise, funny. So, so much better than me. She’ll be a great mother one day. I hope you’ll be a part of our lives.”
Addison raked back his hair. “I’ve tried to teach you the ways of the world, what it takes to survive. I’m trying to appreciate your youth and these feelings that you have, but you will one day tell me you messed up, and I wish with all my heart that I could prevent it now. How do I do that? Do I grab you by the ear and drag you back to Berkeley? No, I can’t do that. But I can’t support these decisions. I love you, son, and I ...” He choked up. “I’m going to walk out this door and let you mull over what I’ve said. Right now, I’m lost. I’m lost for words, lost for advice, lost for how I can save you from a devastating blunder.”
Addison turned and walked to his car, his disappointment and anger silently emanating from his body. As the rental car kicked dust, Otis collapsed onto the stoop and cried.
Up to the last moment, Otis wasn’t sure if his parents would attend the wedding. He had many phone conversations with his mother, and he could feel his father stalking in the background, his patience worn so thin, this test surely crushing him. Addison Till had been raised to conquer the world, and he’d set out to teach those same lessons to his son, ushering Otis all the way to a wonderful university, only to fail in the last lap.
Otis sensed the turmoil in Montana as he talked to his mother, a proper American ranch woman who took no shit from anyone, a woman so different from Bec’s mom. She was smart and soft, but like Bec, you couldn’t let that fool you. Eloise Till ran the show in her house, and Otis knew that she was coaching Addison on how to handle losing control of his son.
They flew in a day before the wedding, and Otis was wound so tight he felt like something might pop inside. He wanted his mum and dad to fall in love with Bec and to see this life at the winery and finally understand that he’d indeed found his own calling. He also needed them to get along with Bec’s parents, who were not exactly their type.
They met for the first time in downtown Sonoma, because Rebecca’s mom didn’t want Otis’s parents to see their house. So there they stood, outside of a casual spot called Baby’s Kitchen, where Otis had secured a table for seven. September had brought with it a helping of cool air, and the clouds threatened rain.
“Mum, Dad, meet Rebecca Bradshaw.”
“What a pleasure,” Eloise Till said with a smile, exhibiting an eagerness to snuff out any negativity. Leaving Bec out of it, Eloise was the most charming woman within a mile. She moved back and forth easily between a rancher in jeans and boots who wasn’t afraid to pull a stuck calf from a springing heifer to a classy, stunning, and witty woman in an elegant white dress who could keep up with any Ivy League, big-city intellectual. As she usually did when not mucking about in work boots on the ranch, she proudly showed off her exquisite legs in a dress with stilettos that could double as ice picks. No doubt, she’d threatened Addison with them a time or two, as he seemed to be on his best behavior, smiling and nodding like this was the proudest moment of his life.
Rebecca hugged both of them, showing extraordinary poise, confidence, and beauty, proving she was as much of an anchor as Eloise. Otis prayed his parents could see that he was marrying someone who only comes around once in a lifetime. You don’t pass that up for a degree.
Addison tried his best but could have been warmer. Bec didn’t let it bother her, though she surely sensed it with her magical powers that Otis was seeing more of every day. She might not be able to see the future, but she could see people’s souls.
The dinner went well enough. The electricity of the wedding seemed to put a sparkle in both Eloise’s and Olivia’s eyes. Marshall Bradshaw was on his best behavior, too, sipping slowly on only two beers and proving that he was also under spousal command—or arrest, rather. He could be charming when he wanted to be, and he and Addison started off about the weather, then wound their way toward politics before finding common ground in sports, which dominated their conversation for the rest of the night.
Bec put most of her attention on Jed, trying to include him as best as she could. She had a bleeding heart and worked hard not to get dragged down by her brother’s decay, but she was still doing double duty trying to make up for her guilt for abandoning her family.
The following morning, Otis was relieved to wake up to clear skies. He couldn’t have it raining on their wedding day. The stakes were too high, the opposition and doubters too strong. While the moms took Rebecca out for a spa day, Otis took his father around vineyard country and ended the tour at Murphy Vineyards, guiding him through the vines, showing him what he’d learned. Then he took him into the cellar and tasted him through juice at differing steps of fermentation. In his own voice, Otis could hear all the knowledge he’d gained in the six months he’d been chasing his wine demons. Could his father tell that he was working as hard as he ever had in pursuing this dream?
Otis stood next to a preacher, because all the parents had insisted a preacher marry them, and he watched as Marshall awaited his daughter, whom he would walk down the aisle. Vines bursting with grapes on theedge of ripeness dotted the hills. The sun lay suspended on the horizon, splashing vibrant colors over the sky.
Then she appeared, as radiant as an angel floating toward him.
Otis had no business marrying such a woman, and when she finally stood before him, he said, “You’re so far out of my league we’re not even playing the same sport.” His eyes watered, taking her in, the strength of his girl shining like a comet.
“Will you hush?” she whispered. “Stop trying to be funny.”
Otis had worked on his vows for weeks, tearing up paper, marking through lines, nearly giving up a time or two. Even as he read them before his bride and family and friends, he knew that he could have done better. No words could capture his feelings for her.
Rebecca followed with loving vows she’d scrawled on a napkin but read like she’d been working on them all her life. She ended with, “I can’t believe I’m saying it, but you’ve made me a believer, Otis. I don’t know what’s ahead, but something tells me you’re going to take me places I could have never dreamed.”
As she finished, he made a silent vow to do just that.
When the time came, Bec said, “I do.”
“You sure?” Otis asked, invoking a chuckle from the preacher and a few in the front rows. “No turning back.”
Bec glared at him, but she couldn’t smother the smile that rushed to her face. For some ungodly reason, this woman truly loved him.
They were both grinning as their lips met, and for those seconds, his feet left the ground as his heart thumped joyfully.
Hewouldhave driven away with Rebecca in a state of utter bliss, if he could only shake one image away from the night: the way Lloyd and Rebecca had danced together as the night ended. He saw Lloyd whispering into her ear, and she’d laughed like he was the funniest man on earth.
As Otis drove them away, and as the cans tied to the back bumper rattled on the road, that haunting image wedged its way into his psyche.
Chapter 8 (Interlude)
Pesky Spiders
Red Mountain, Washington State
