Another Wedding: In California!
Annie Baxter was far more nervous than she was letting on. She sat on a JetBlue flight on its final approach into San Francisco International Airport. Beside her was her fiancé, Martin Foster, and in the two seats in front of her were her maid-of-honor, Suzanne Neally, and Suzanne’s wife, Kerry. They were all happy to be away from New York cold for a while.
Annie was nervous because in just under two days she would be married. It was January 23, 2020, and, in fact, each of the four was nervous. Suzanne perhaps even more than Annie. For she was returning to where she grew up and was in many respects a completely different person than when she left over three years before. For the next week, in addition to her wedding duties for Annie, she would try to re-introduce herself to parts of her family. And introduce Kerry to them.
More than anything, though, the source of Suzanne’s nerves was her father. He surely knew she would be here since Annie’s family lived not far from him in Mill Valley. Annie had wavered between getting married in New York or California. She decided it would be more inclusive for her too-rarely-seen family for the latter. Plus their honeymoon would be a drive up to Vancouver. They would fly back to New York from there. Plus plus it would be a break from what was expected to be, and turned out to be, a cold New York January. Not tropical. But not frigid.
Annie had cleared her idea with Suzanne. Suzanne, too, wavered. Given how much she missed her Aunt Lizzie and her family and the overture made by her Uncle Edward—who would come to New York a few months before to receive Suzanne’s forgiveness for how she was treated—she approved Annie’s wedding plans. Because of how late they were flying in, they missed some of the traditional pre-wedding activities, but Annie’s parents arranged for the wedding party to have a dinner at a nearby hotel on Friday night and there would be a hen party, Thursday, for Annie and her friends from high school and college.
Martin was nervous because he was about to get married. And meet a plethora of people close to Annie. He knew enough of Suzanne and her relationship with her own family to sympathize with her plight. His parents and family, as well as his best man, were already in San Francisco, having arrived from London a few days before.
Once on the ground, the four headed to Enterprise and got their dark-blue Ford SUV. They had sent much of the things for the wedding, including Annie’s and Suzanne’s gowns, earlier but still filled the back. Annie drove to the west of the City and let Kerry (in the back) and Martin (in the front) be awed as they crossed the Golden Gate Bridge. “Tourists” was Annie’s rebuke. Suzanne was kind and noted how “She,” referring to Annie, “nearly fainted when we drove across the George Washington Bridge when we got to New York,” earning her an “I did not” rebuke from the bride-to-be.
Suzanne tensed as they approached Mill Valley, though she did not realize it. Kerry did. It had been a while. Kerry tightened her grip and Suzanne placed her head on her wife’s shoulder. Things eased when they pulled into the driveway and Annie’s folks came out to greet them. Introductions to Kerry and Martin were made.
They trooped into the house. It was early afternoon, and a horde of women would be descending at around six and they would be heading into town for the party. It would give Annie’s father, Ted, a chance to get to know his future son-in-law. Ted and Pat had dinner with Martin’s family and his best man in the City the night before. By all reports it went well. As did the wedding and all the associated goings-on, with Mr. and Mrs. Foster-Baxter heading up to Canada dangling empty cans.
Thursday’s hen party was a particular success. Suzanne had forgotten how she missed her California friends. Most were married or living with someone. All were straight, but all were thrilled to meet Kerry. Most knew about the Nelson family implosion and the dominant sentiment was sadness. Kids with whom Suzanne had gone to Catholic grammar and high school could not get their heads around Suzanne’s expulsion. But once they got over that, it was like old times. They all moved on, some keeping in touch with others, some not, but for those hours when Annie was the center of attention it was like they were all teenagers again.
At the wedding, Suzanne enjoyed her maid-of-honor’s dances with the groom and the best man, and Martin snuck in one or two with Kerry. And a surprising number of friends of Suzanne danced with her and with Kerry and in the end they all got pretty drunk and were glad to get to their rooms at the inn. Kerry and Suzanne were blitzed, and both fell asleep promptly after their heads hit their pillows.
The couple was taking advantage of the trip to finally have their honeymoon. Their bosses gave them extra time off. So they were going to stay in San Francisco for a few days before spending the rest of the week in Sonoma County. First, though, Kerry was to meet more of Suzanne’s family. On Sunday, the group had brunch at the Mill Valley hotel that was the base for the wedding and where the couple was staying before heading into the City later in the afternoon for the official start of their honeymoon.
The group. Lizzie and Phil Windsor and Edward and Jennie Pugh. Lizzie and Edward were two of her mother’s four siblings. Lizzie and Phil were at Suzanne’s wedding, and she had seen Uncle Edward only a few months before when they reconciled. She had not seen or spoken to Aunt Jennie in over three years.