Double-Edged Wedding

By Maria Keffler

“I got married already,” I blurted through the spit and sobs. Mom didn’t say anything. Or move. My chest chuffed up and down like a freight train trying to stop too fast. Her hand came off my shoulder. “What?”

After a surreptitious Wednesday elopement, Julie almost makes it to the Saturday ceremony without her mother finding out. But taking matters into her own hands comes at a price: the added stress of deception, guilt, and ultimately having to face the disappointment and hurt caused by her decision. Will Julie prove to be just one more link a line of broken mother-daughter relationships, or could the truth set her--and her mother--free after all?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Maria Keffler
• Release date: Apr 18, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370439713

Maria Keffler

Maria Keffler lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband and three kids who all wish they were only children. She blogs about things like tarantula-milking lawyers and the savagery of familial relationships at www.wastingmyeducation.blogspot.com, and is presently learning how to cook without the smoke detector finding out about it.

Book preview

DOUBLE-EDGED WEDDING

A Drawn Series Novelette

Maria L. Keffler

SMASHWORDS EDITION

Copyright 2017 by Maria Keffler

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All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Maria Keffler in 2017.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations and events portrayed in this novel are products of the author’s imagination.

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Where would Julie and Damon be without Abigail Knutson, Sally Schlatter, and Melanie Sunukjian? Your editorial prowess cannot be overstated or over-appreciated. Thank you for your love, faithfulness, and merciless red pens. Thank you to my husband, whose proposal of marriage generated the experiential research of planning and executing a wedding. Thank you to the children born as a result of that wedding, who have many times found their own belongings, resolved their own quandaries, and entertained themselves because Mom is working. And thank you, God, as always, for the stories.

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For everyone who had the perfect wedding.

And anyone who didn’t.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

The Crazy-Maker

Out the Window, Down the Ladder

Two More Days

A Grief in the Night

A Saturday Wedding

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About the Author

Other Books By Maria Keffler

Excerpt from Drawn

Connect With Maria Online

THE CRAZY-MAKER

I went through the stack of RSVP cards one at a time and checked each name off the invitation list. In the adjacent column I put either a dash if they sent their regrets, or a number. We may need to reserve some extra rooms.

How many are we up to? Damon asked.

Forty-seven. Eight. Forty-eight. I leaned back against the couch between his knees and stretched my legs under the coffee table.

Barbara tore another page out of a bridal magazine. You weren’t expecting that many, huh?

Hardly. Damon pulled the chart toward him. Need me to check your math?

I smacked him in the shin.

Damon tapped his fingertip on the list. Who’s George and Millie Tufte?

My grandma’s brother and his wife.

They’re coming? He ran his finger down to the address column. All the way from Washington?

I know, right. I slipped the RSVPs back in their envelopes and tucked them in the box with the others. They’re like, close to ninety, I think.

Barbara laid the magazine on her lap. Have you heard from Adam? she asked.

I shook my head.

Damon’s dad came in from the kitchen and put a bowl of popcorn on the table. How many does the chapel hold?

Pam said sixty. That’s if everyone’s really snuggled up.

The phone rang. Again.

I closed my eyes.

Damon chuckled.

Please don’t answer it, I said.

Barbara got up. Her slippers shuffled into the kitchen. You don’t know it’s her.

I know it’s her.

Mom’s hyper-stressed voice carried through the handset, through the kitchen, and into the living room.

Barbara leaned around the doorjamb, pointed at the phone, and raised her eyebrows. Hang on a sec, Sheri.

I gave her a thumbs-down.

She grimaced at me but said, She just stepped into the bathroom.

Damon leaned forward and rubbed my shoulders.

She’s making me nuts, I whispered.

His dad grinned.

I seriously don’t think I can take another week of this.

Mom dove headfirst into Mother-of-the-Bride mode the minute Damon and I set the date. Every day she ratcheted up the crazy a little more.

She took apart my veil, I told Mr. Sheppard. And then sewed it back together. Why? Because she didn’t like how the tulle was gathered into the comb.

He pressed his lips together and shook his head.

It’s not funny, I insisted.

I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about. But yeah, it’s funny.

Maybe from over there.

Barbara came back and sat opposite me again. She’d like you to call her at your earliest opportunity.

Of course she would. I almost said to Barbara, You’re so lucky you didn’t have a mother take over your wedding, but thank you, God, I stopped myself. Both for her sake and for Damon’s.

Though Barbara kind of filled that role for him now.

What do you think of these? she asked, and pushed a dozen or so centerpiece photos across the table.

Ooh, I like that. I held one up to Damon. What about you?

Whatever you want.

You’re not helpful.

Barbara came around the table and sat next to me on the floor. I like the cranberries in the bottom of the bowl, but they kind of scream ‘Christmas’, don’t they?

"Yeah.