Chapter 70

Book:The Neallys Published:2024-5-28

And perhaps getting ahead of ourselves, Kate quit her job, began working for the Episcopal Charities in its New York office—it was not a lot but she was being paid—and on January 2, 2019, instructed Karen Novack to file on her behalf a petition for dissolution of marriage in a California c Court. In the end, she and William (through their attorneys) agreed to a fifty-fifty split of their assets, after an agreed-upon third-party appraised the non-financial assets, with a trust established to pay for Eric’s remaining years at Yale and three years of grad school for him.
On August 1, 2019, Kate was no longer married in the eyes of the law. She would always be married in the eyes of the Catholic Church, but that no longer mattered to her. She did agree, though, to cooperate with William insofar as he sought an annulment from his Church. As for him, he became a regular at the gatherings of his wife’s parents and siblings—all except Lizzie and the rest of the Windsors of course—and they commiserated with him about the unfairness and inappropriateness and evil of all he was put through. And the calls and the Christmas cards to Kate from California were no more. Except from Lizzie and her family.
Getting to the Church on Time
But, of course, that last bit was the unhappy ending of a marriage.
We return to the more happy beginnings of one. That would begin with:
The Wedding of
Eileen Susan Neally
and
Thomas Edward Doyle
At 11:00 am
On November 10, 2018
At St. Mary the Virgin Church
Chappaqua, New York
Kate was taking care of everything, as we said. She planned for rain—the weather being outside of even Kate’s power—and so two ushers were standing at the entrance to the Church waiting for the limo to stop and for the limo’s contents to disembark.
Back to the Chappaqua Spread at about nine-forty-five on Saturday, November 10, 2018. Andi, Suzanne, Kerry, and Kate got Eileen into her gown and did her make-up for her, her hair taken care of the day before. Eileen was, objectively speaking, the most beautiful bride any of them had ever seen. Kate—Kate!—began to cry and the youngsters looked on in amazement as she and Eileen hugged. Eileen ended the trance with “it’s time” and the five went downstairs to await the carriage that would take her to the church.
It was not a carriage, of course, but a black limo and Kate had plugged some nerves/hugging time into her schedule so when it appeared out front at ten-thirty for the short trip to the Church, they were ready and making liberal use of the umbrellas Eileen and the three girls carefully got in back and Kate followed in the girls’ new car.
The Third Wedding
Weddings themselves tend to be pretty standard fare and this one was no exception. James stood with his father and Kerry with her mother. Eileen walked down the aisle alone, following Andi and Suzanne. St. Mary’s was full, largely with members of Tom’s (and now Eileen’s) Chappaqua crowd as well as relatives, including some of Eileen’s and her late husband Michael’s siblings and their families, and work colleagues, and assorted friends.
One person was noticeably absent from the Church’s nave. Eric Nelson was in the choir loft. He had volunteered to play the music at the ceremony and savored the chance to try out his piano skills on St. Mary’s pipe-organ. Early arrivals were greeted by a hodgepodge of jazz and rock and, of course, Bach. He was not alone. Sitting on the organ’s bench with him was Lynn Billings, who had accompanied Eric at Kerry and Suze’s wedding. Eric played the requisite in/during/out music as well as some improvised interludes, with Lynn’s angelic voice echoing through the Church.
Vows and rings were exchanged, the reverend pronounced, the bride and groom kissed, and the happy couple left, after some out-front picture-taking, for the reception at their club.
The reception too was nothing out of the ordinary. Eileen was amused when Simon Douglas, who of course was invited, came to her and after pointing at Tom said, “I could understand losing you to a doctor or a lawyer but to a risk-assessment guy?” and after Tom said, “Hey!” Eileen noted, “He has a lawyer and a doctor in the family so I have all the bases covered,” and Simon ended it all by tightly hugging the bride and assuring her, truthfully, that he was incredibly happy for her and shaking Tom’s hand and saying, truthfully, that he was incredibly jealous of him.
After the dessert plates were cleared and the coffee poured, Eric sat at the club’s Steinway and Lynn stepped up to a microphone and the room quieted. Eric, playing what Jerome Kern wrote, lightly rolled an Ebmaj9 chord then a passing D in the bass to a Cm9 and a G bass note to Fm9 and a C in the bass to Bb9 and then he paused, a low Bb hovering over the otherwise silent room.
With a barely perceptible nod between the two, Eric played a new Emaj9 and Lynn began, slowly but firmly breathing Dorothy Fields’s words:
Someday, when I’m awfully low,
When the world is cold,
I will feel a glow just thinking of you.
And the way you look tonight.
At which point the band’s bassist and drummer joined and Tom led his bride—neither of them having made the song selection, leaving the choice to Eric and Lynn—to the dancefloor and they took a turn about it and most—but not all, this is the suburbs after all—of the couples in the room gave an extra squeeze to their love’s hand and many, including Mary & Betty and Kerry & Suzanne, joined them. Two guests sans dates—Kate and Simon—sat at Kate’s otherwise empty table and talked.