The Rest of Their Lives: Common Threads in the Life, #7

By Ronald L. Donaghe

The Rest of Their Lives

A Summer's Change book in

Common Threads in the Life Book 7

 

This is the last book in the Common Threads series. This saga began for the characters Tom and Joel in 1965 and ends in 2015—a full 50 years. Along the way the Reece family added adoptive children who grew up married and had children. But more important this is the story of how a mixed family of blood inheritance, adoptive members, and those who come into the family and are invited to stay. In this last novel in the series, we see Tom and Joel come full circle from fresh high school students who are shunned by their friends to the historic public wedding they have in the city park. All the marvelous characters that have been introduced and become part of the storyline in the other six books in the series have important parts in this last novel in the series. We see most of them grown up and the newest members attaining age and personality as the family goes on from fifty years head on into the future.

 

Some series never end, but this one comes to a stopping place, and any books that come after with these characters will be spin offs and stand on their own. This last book includes a lengthy excerpt from a spin-off novel.

 

As with any family, there are births and deaths, marriages and divorce, good times and lean times, and readers will witness it all. But there is more to come...

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ronald L. Donaghe
• Release date: Mar 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201958572

Ronald L. Donaghe

Ronald L. Donaghe is the author of a dozen works of fiction, as well as three biographies,  and a series of interactive workbooks on writing. He has been an editor for over 40 years.

Book preview

The Rest of Their Lives

Common Threads in the Life (Book 7)

A Summer’s Change

Book III

by

Ronald L. Donaghe

All Rights Reserved © 2016, 2022 by Ronald L. Donaghe

––––––––

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express permission in writing from the publisher.

A Two Brothers Press Book

Cover design by Sheriffa Halal

ISBN

This is a work of fiction. All characters and incidents described are strictly the creation of the author, and any resemblance to real people, living or dead, or real incidents of similar nature, is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Part One The Generations

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Part Two Passages

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Part Three Intervals

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Part Four How They Got Here

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Part One

The Generations

Chapter 1

2005

Jared had never flown before, until he and Kelvin decided to go to Massachusetts to get married. He had often seen jets moving across the desert sky, high up and tiny on a clear day and had often marveled that the jets were silent, outrunning the speed of sound and would pass almost out of sight before the sound of the engines came into hearing. As a child he wondered how people could talk on a plane that was outrunning the sound of their voices. His Granny Mack had told him of the time that she’d flown from San Francisco to Atlanta, Georgia, when she had won a talent contest of drag queens and was to perform in Atlanta for the second round. Jared could only imagine what a jet ride was like, and soon he was going to find out.

Jared and Kelvin’s decision to get married came from closely following the news of legalized gay marriage in Massachusetts, and it wasn’t long before JP and Duke also discussed the idea of getting married. Duke had asked if people from out of state could legally marry in Massachusetts, and they learned that Governor Mitt Romney wanted to prevent out-of-state gay couples from getting married in his state, but that issue was finally settled, and by June of 2005, the four young men made plans to fly to Boston, apply for licenses, and get married in the Unitarian Universalist Church on Arlington Street. It was where the first gay couple in Boston had gotten married, followed by many other lesbian and gay couples in the past year. But it was really Sally Ann who lived in Washington, DC, who suggested the church. She said she had performed an interpretive dance in the church on one occasion some years back and immediately thought of it as being the perfect venue for the boys’ double wedding. As wedding plans often do, the boys’ plans soon took on a life of its own, and many of the Reece family and their friends all decided to make a big holiday of the event.

Joe Welling planned to go, as well as JP’s mother and father, Betty and Detrick. Eva insisted that she wouldn’t miss it for the world, and besides, I haven’t flown anywhere in a number of years, she said. In fact, she insisted on buying the tickets for herself, Jared, Kelvin, and Joe Welling. Henry and Kelly, of course, also said they wanted to go, but they had decided that they didn’t need to get married, since like Joel and Tom they had locked their assets and wills down tight, so that no one could contest their inheritance rights. Joel and Tom said that they had made it for almost forty years and didn’t need to legitimize their love with a license, nor even to legally change their names, since they had done that even before Shara was born. Besides, if gay marriage is ever legal in New Mexico, we’ll do it then. But you two should get married, now, Joel said. You’re part of the new generation, and it’s a historic and important step for everyone like us, Joel continued. Patrick and Sudha, as well as Sharon, also said they’d go. They would be on a different plane, however, and everyone else should plan to fly together, which they would. Mrs. Knox surprised Joel one day, when they were visiting, and she said right then, I’m going, too, Joel. I know my husband can’t make it, but he’s got Robert to look after him. Benjamin will hold down the fort at the coffee shop. Shara, Anderson, and Jennifer were also going to make a quick vacation out of the trip, and when Shara had told Cindy Coleman one day when she was showing baby Jennifer to her, Cindy said that she just had to go. I’ve hardly traveled anywhere, she said, her face becoming bright with anticipation, and so what better way to justify a trip, when that marvelous young man of yours is going to get married? Count me in.

So by the time the big day arrived, a caravan of cars left for the airport in El Paso, Texas. Jared was excited about getting married, but for a few hours, he was even more excited about boarding the jet that would take him across the country, high in the sky, and he would see for himself how the sound and speed thing worked. He didn’t want to let Kelvin know that he was nervous, but his hands shook slightly when they were all moving through security at the airport in El Paso, along with rows of other people, placing their belongings on conveyor belts like groceries. He was surprised that he had to take off his belt and shoes, but he didn’t dare ask why.

He grew even more apprehensive when everyone getting on the plane had to go into a metal tunnel and walk slightly uphill toward the entrance of the plane, and then he watched as everyone handed the boarding passes to the stewardess waiting inside the plane. He didn’t take too much time to look around and followed Kelvin through the first class cabin and into the much longer second cabin. It was stifling inside, but Jared worked his way into the window seat, where Kelvin wanted him to sit. I know you’re going to get a kick out of looking down on the ground as we fly, he said.

The Reeces and the entourage all took their seats, which were in the same area, and their number and obvious relationship to one another got the attention of the other passengers, since the group in the wedding party were as talkative to one another as a traveling basketball team. Jared watched the passengers watching them and talking among themselves. But the big surprise came when one of the stewardesses who had been hovering nearby finally went up to Eva Reece and asked her why such a large and apparently diverse party was traveling together.

Eva’s eyes twinkled as she pointed out Jared, Kelvin, JP, and Duke. They’re getting married. It’s a double wedding. Jared watched as the stewardess’s face blanched at first and then as she professionally smoothed it into a thin smile. Eva turned to Kelvin and Jared. All three were in the same row.

Kelvin giggled. Granny! Why’d you do that?

Eva settled back in her seat, still looking impish. She asked, and besides, this is the twenty-first century, and I have a feeling that people are going to have to get used to this sort of thing. It’s high time we don’t have to lie about such blessed events in our lives. I bet I even live to see the day that marriages like yours will be the norm and not the exception.

Jared hoped that was the case, but both he and Kelvin were doubtful as they read about the backlash from Massachusetts taking the big step to legalize it. California had tried it in San Francisco, the most logical city, and the courts had soon stepped in to put all those marriages on hold.

Jared turned his attention to the take off and noticed how the plane started out running slowly at first and then picking up speed as the runway sped past the window. Bells dinged, and he felt the plane lurch, and he kept his eyes glued to the ground and saw that it was dropping away as the plane rose into the air. The plane was airborne and continued to rise and then to bank sharply. His stomach was still back on the ground, but he continued to watch the ground shrink and saw the highways and streets appear and then more of the land around El Paso, and before he even realized it they were leaving the last buildings of the city behind and were somewhere over the desert east of El Paso.

Once they reached their intended altitude, it felt as if they were sitting stationary; the ground below didn’t change much and the tiny vehicles seemed to crawl slowly along the roads below them, like a kid’s set up with toy vehicles. They flew above the clouds, but on this June day, they were thin or like little puffs of smoke, parting to show the massive and barren land below. Jared took long moments to gaze out the plane’s window but tired of the landscape, occasionally glancing out to see if the land changed.

He reached to his left and Kelvin’s hand was right there. They entwined their fingers as the plane continued east and slightly north. Jared figured that should be their direction, since he had looked up Boston, Massachusetts, on a map before they left home and studied what their route might be. They had a stop in Dallas, Texas, where they would all change planes for the second leg of their journey.

Each person on this trip was lost in thought or talking to one another, and Jared saw that their voices stayed in the plane and weren’t left behind as the plane sped toward its destination. He smiled that he had solved the child’s mystery.

* * *

Henry, Joel, and others also wanted to go on the trip to see Henry’s sister Sally. She was still living in Washington, DC, but she said she wouldn’t miss the opportunity to see the family. I’ll be at the wedding ceremony, as well, she promised. I remember meeting Jared back when Shara got married.

Henry called her to let her know they were coming, and why, and he could still hear the child, Sally, in her voice, especially whenever she and Henry talked. They were the ones left alive at their old house when Kenneth went on his killing rampage that hot summer morning, and Henry had taken Sally on the scary trek across the desert from their old house to the Reece farm, afraid that Kenneth was coming after them. But their relationship was also special because they had been with the Reeces several years after their older brothers Detrick and Patrick had gone away to college.

He had no sooner got off the phone than Sally called back. Henry! I have a great idea if those young men will permit it. I’d like to arrange for a double wedding in the Unitarian Church on Arlington Street. It’s near the city hall, where they’ll get their licenses. Henry shared this news with everyone at the farm, and the four boys thought it was a terrific idea. They had followed the news themselves and knew immediately about the Unitarian Church, where the first gay wedding in Boston had taken place. Betty Reece also used this news as an opportunity to teach anyone who would listen about the Unitarian Church. I discovered it in college, she said, and it’s the only religious group that ever made sense to me. And it makes sense that a Unitarian church would make their sanctuary available for the gay couples to marry.

Sally told Henry when they talked that Dillon would also be going to the boys’ wedding, and to Henry’s surprise that she and Dillon were still together, Sally had just laughed. You reach a certain age, Henry, as I’m sure you already know, and you like the way old shoes fit. The same goes for lovers. Dillon and I are comfortable with each other.

But when Henry had asked her if they were ever going to get married, she laughed. We have our own homes and even our own set of friends much of the time. We’re not messing with what already works beautifully. Of his brothers, Henry told her he knew the feeling and would have agreed with her before he met Kelly. I wasn’t willing to let him go, Henry said, and you know that he and I have been together now for six years.

"Then why aren’t you getting married? Sally asked, and Henry was stumped for an answer. We just don’t need to. It wouldn’t make a difference to us. We might later on, though, if it ever gets closer to home."

Like Jared, Henry knew that the Reece family and their friends were drawing the attention of other passengers in the plane, and it just may well have been their seating arrangement and maybe even their behavior. Tom and Joel were the least likely to even remember to disguise that they were together; it would have been as difficult for them to change their ways after decades as a couple as it would have been for any married straight couple. Nor did he and Kelly change the way they interacted physically, sitting close, talking softy to each other. They also held hands and Henry saw that the stewardesses that passed by dispensing drinks and snacks kept their eyes busy on their work, even if they couldn’t help but see what they saw out of the corners of their eyes.

Duke and JP were even more demonstrative, and Kelvin and Jared had actually exchanged quick kisses several times as the plane continued its flight.

* * *

Jared had been equally fascinated with the first landing sequence when the plane touched down in Dallas as he had been with the takeoff earlier. But the landing in Boston was frightening, because they left the land entirely and cruised out over the water, continually banking in a large circle, and Jared saw that it apparently intended to come in low over the water and thread itself among what he thought were numerous islands before he finally caught sight of the landing strip at Logan airport.

When they got off the plane and made their way to claim their baggage, Eva looked up and was the first to see Sally and Dillon waiting for them. Jared followed her gaze and slightly remembered Sally from years before, and he was struck with how sophisticated Sally looked, how she dressed differently in this part of the country than when she came home to Common. And the man with her, who someone in their group said was Dillon, had to be the most striking older man Jared had seen in a long time. Sally was blonde with a light complexion, and she wore a green top that slightly hung over a pair of expensive looking white pants of some silky material. He remembered that someone had said she was a dancer and her figure bore that idea out. He knew she was the sister to Detrick and Henry, but she looked much younger than them. Dillon had dark hair and a darker complexion. Jared thought he could be Italian. He was wearing a light-colored suit of some light summery material, cut in a way that the jacket was short, just slightly below his waist. Jared was not familiar with fashion by any means, except for pictures in catalogues that his grandmother liked to pore over when she was feeling good and related stories of her time as an entertainer, as she often called it, recalling the good old days. But Jared had also figured that finer female fashion, which avoided looking feminine but more businesslike was beyond her interest.

Of course, now that Jared had seen three different airport terminals, he was not overwhelmed by Logan’s somewhat smaller appearance than Dallas’s terminal. So the walk was fairly short from the airline to baggage claim. Sally and Dillon had taken possession of Eva and had her in a wheelchair, but Eva didn’t complain and kept up a running conversation with Sally and Dillon on the way to baggage claim.

Jared was overwhelmed with the immediacy of the city skyline as he caught glimpses of it once they headed outdoors. He was also overwhelmed with the wet heat, the foggy appearance of the sky, instead of the brilliant and blinding clear blue of the sky in the desert. He and Kelvin held hands, as did JP and Duke, but Tom and Joel and Henry and Kelly didn’t. Jared smiled at the nods and smiles from other people they passed on the way to the cars that Sally had arranged to take them from the airport to the hotel. He felt his stomach lurch, however, as other people made a point of revealing disapproval as he and Kelvin walked past. There was no place, yet, Jared decided that would openly or habitually accept seeing two men holding hands, much less kissing openly.

But he and Kelvin seemed in sync in what they were thinking, feeling, and willing to take a chance doing in public, and now that the excitement of the plane rides was over, Jared was excited by the very reason they were in Boston. He and Kelvin would soon be married. We’ll be each other’s husbands, he thought and loved the idea of it. They had bought tuxedos, as had JP and Duke. Sally, Eva, Betty, Shara, and even Sharon had had many telephone conversations, and Jared had learned that the double wedding would be almost traditional. After all, Shara had told him one night at the coffee shop, it’s just as it is for a straight couple. It should be something you and Kelvin will remember fondly, a big event in your lives, a statement to family and friends of your commitment and love for each other.

It wouldn’t have done much good had either Kelvin or Jared objected or tried to plan their own wedding. It was out of their hands. According to JP it was out of his and Duke’s hands, as well, since Betty was in on the planning with the other women in the family.

Although Jared didn’t really think about what kind of cars Sally had arranged to take the family from the airport to the hotel, he was surprised that they were long black limousines, pulled up at the curb, with chauffeurs, ready to take their luggage and load it in the two cars. Eva, Mrs. Knox, Cindy, Sally, Dillon, Betty, Detrick, and Tom and Joel got into the lead car; JP, Duke, Kelvin, Jared, Henry, Kelly, Joe Welling, and Shara, Anderson, and the toddler Jennifer got into the second car. The couples to be married and Joe sat facing the others, and everyone was laughing and joking, as they pulled away from the terminal. Jared looked out the window at the impossibly large, complex city, the road system, and he watched nervously as they entered the Williams Tunnel that went under the bay. No one seemed to remark on the idea that they traveled for more than a mile under all that water, but Jared was relieved when they came out on the other side. It was a bright late afternoon when they arrived, and the city was almost free of clouds, which Jared figured was unusual. In a way the city reminded him of Berkeley, but only because it was a city. Here there were skyscrapers, but he figured these were much smaller than those in New York City. He remembered the visuals the news showed when the Twin Towers came down in Manhattan, and the buildings here at least didn’t look quite so imposing as those.

Kelvin had traveled quite a bit from his little corner of the world in North Dakota and had said he’d been to Boston once that he recalled. Joe Welling said he had also traveled quite a bit, shortly after he got his bachelor’s degree, a kind of reward for finishing that first step in his journey. Henry said he had traveled to Washington, DC, and New York a few times to see Sally perform, and Kelly admitted that he had grown up in the southwest and never really made it anywhere but the west coast.

Still, Jared felt he was the least experienced of anyone in the car, and Kelvin and the others pointed out some of the sights as they drove. It was a relatively short drive to downtown and the Marriott Custom House hotel, and when the limousines pulled up at the front of the building, Jared and the others stepped outside, individually retrieving their own luggage as the chauffeur set it out on the sidewalk. Jared observed the protocol of tipping the driver, as Anderson folded a bill and slipped it quietly to the chauffeur, and then they entered what had to be one the most marvelous buildings Jared had ever seen, including those in Berkeley at the university. He was struck by its beauty and décor, as if they had entered the center of a wheel hub and everything encircled it, including doors to various parts of the ground floor, sweeping, wide staircases that he traveled with his eyes as they spiraled their way to the next level, elevators, massive check-in desks, and the general busy-ness with people coming and going everywhere. He wondered how Sally had managed to arrange reservations for everyone, and he assumed that Sharon, Patrick, and Sudha would either be staying here or might have already arrived. But he was even more aware that he had arrived at a new place in his life; he had come a long way from just a few years ago, and he spoke softly in his head one more time to Granny Mack. I think you’d be surprised to see how things are turning out for me, Granny! I know you’re with me in spirit. Jared did not see that Kelvin was aware of a few small tears that tracked down Jared’s face before he quickly wiped them away.

* * *

Kelvin felt his heart melt at the sight of Jared secretly crying about something, but when he took Jared’s hand, Jared took it willingly and turned and smiled enthusiastically at Kelvin.

Can you believe we’re actually going to be husbands in just a few days?

That was about all Kelvin could think about, and even though he did not know what Jared had been thinking, Kelvin had also been thinking about how far he had come, and oddly he was thankful for his father for taking the action he had. Out of the bargain, he had gotten a true father in Joe Welling, a family in Joe, Rosita, her children, and even Jack and Kyle. The two cowboys had told him they would have gone to his wedding if they could have all afforded to leave the ranch, but the summer season meant that the livestock had to be watered and kept comfortable in the triple-digit heat. Kelvin was less demonstrative with tears than Jared was, however, which had come from attempting to suppress his hurt and anger at his father for as long as he could remember, and long ago he had decided that he would never give his father the satisfaction of seeing his tears, but one of the things Kelvin loved about Jared and the way his Granny Mack had raised him was to allow his heart to feel intensely and his tears to mirror those feelings, sometimes inappropriately, Jared had said, but which Kelvin denied. People cry for all sorts of reasons, Jared, even happiness.

And so when Jared said what he did, Kelvin was relieved to see that Jared had been crying because he was happy. Kelvin was also glad that he and Jared had been enfolded in the arms of such a loving and diverse family as the Reeces. Their party alone numbered almost twenty people, and that didn’t include Sharon, and Patrick and Sudha from San Francisco. Nothing like this would have occurred in his own family, and he smiled just a bit wistfully that it certainly would never have occurred to his mother and father to celebrate Kelvin getting married to Jared. Kelvin had contemplated sharing his good news with his sister Claudette, but then he didn’t want the news to get back to his father just yet. He wanted it to be an accomplished fact before his father found out. Kelvin was not quite sure what he would do if his father shut down the ranch. It would surely take Joe with it. Kelvin’s life news would have to wait for a different time, but he felt certain his big sister would be all right with the news. He missed her sometimes, and she always answered his emails when they exchanged them.

When Sharon, Patrick, and Sudha arrived, Kelvin pointed them out to Jared. "Let’s go give Sharon a quick hug before she’s drowned with family.

Sharon, of course, looked beautiful to both boys, and even with her mid-cut blonde hair, casually dressed with a horizontally striped blouse of many colors with short, summer sleeves, skinny jeans, and a combination high-heel/sandals, she looked cool, and when she saw them approaching she pushed her oversized red sunglasses to the top of her head and gave them both long hugs. I’ve missed you two boys more than I can tell you, Sharon said, and then she stepped aside, and Sudha and Patrick greeted them.

You just didn’t like the city life? Sudha said, somewhat shyly. She was wearing a colorful red and gold sari, a thick gold necklace that looked good against her swarthy skin, and Kelvin noticed a similar style of sandal to those that Sharon was wearing. Patrick shook the boys’ hands.

You know in a way I envy you two returning to Common, but we miss you too, Patrick said. Gone was the beard, and Kelvin wondered why he didn’t always go clean-shaven. He was quite handsome and had a nice face. He was dressed even more casually in a polo shirt and mid-thigh khaki shorts. He was also wearing sandals and sported what Kelvin had come to call a man purse of dark leather over his right shoulder.

Paddy, tell me you don’t have a tablet in there. Don’t you ever stop writing? Jared said. He and Jared had developed quite an interest in each other, especially once Patrick saw what an intelligent and information-hungry mind Jared had. Kelvin had observed this camaraderie on the few occasions when he and Jared had dinner or an outing with Patrick and Sudha.

Just tell me, Patrick said with a smirk, that you won’t stop learning just because you’re back in Common.

At about that time the rest of the family surrounded the three new arrivals, and Kelvin pulled Jared back. They made way for Cindy Coleman, just after she hugged both boys and planted a kiss on their cheeks. I am so excited for you two and JP and...is it Duke?

Yes...Duke, Jared answered. I hope you get a chance to get to know him. He’s perfect for JP.

After that, Cindy turned her attention to Sharon, and the two women hugged long and hard amid laughter and even tears that Kelvin saw brighten their eyes.

They finally backed away. Let’s go see our suite! Kelvin said, once he saw that Sally had stepped away from the check-in desk and held several key cards and paperwork, which she was handing out to everyone. They got their key cards from Sally and joined JP and Duke.

You guys want to check out our suites? Kelvin asked.

JP and Duke were wearing their new signature T-shirts, literally their signatures, which JP had ordered from the Internet with their married names written in white across a deep blue background. JP’s said Joe Patrick Reece-O’Donnell, and Duke’s said Duke Aaron Reece-O’Donnell. They were wearing new Wrangler jeans, which Kelvin supposed was the dressiest they cared to be on their flights, as well as when they all went exploring the city later. They both had on freshly polished roper boots, and he had to admit they looked good together. The burnish in JP’s hair picked up the red in Duke’s hair, but Duke’s deep blue eyes were startling as he smiled at Jared and Kelvin.

I like your T-shirts, Jared said. So you’re going to change your names like that?

Indeed, we are, aren’t you? Duke asked.

Jared and Kelvin had decided that they liked their own name combinations. It’ll be Rory-Riggs, Jared said.

Looking around as the others in the party received their key cards from Sally, Kelvin was struck, as he had been when he first began meeting the Reeces and those associated in one way or another with the family, that it was a diverse and quite beautiful group of people. In Eva, Sharon, Shara, and now the toddler Jennifer, along with Sally and Betty, were four generations of women. Eva’s biological daughters couldn’t make it to the wedding, but someone looking at the women in the party would be struck by what seemed a contingent of strong, self-confident women, who had literally come from opposite coasts and the middle of nowhere. Kelvin also realized, with a smirk, which he didn’t share with Jared, that the Reece women, their daughters, and granddaughter, were the real power in the family, unlike his own mother, who was a doormat. These women had planned this wedding, and they no doubt only allowed the gaggle of men hanging around them to believe they made decisions. But Kelvin knew different. The women in this span of generations held the families together. Betty led her husband and three sons toward the light of reason and kept them in line with her loving and strong mind. Eva was the welcomer and storyteller and vessel for the many memories in the family’s passage of time. Sharon was the creator and inspiration to the other women, with her up-from-nothing beginnings in Mexico to a powerful attorney in San Francisco, and she had held the outer edges of the Reece family together, acting as both a collector of those who moved away from the farm and one who occasionally brought them back together.

Kelvin figured he loved Sharon as much as he did his own sister, and in a way considered her like the wiser of his sisters, but Claudette and Sharon were similar in what they would become, keepers of the law, flexible enough to fit the law to the needs of their families. Sharon had been the one to arrange for Kelvin and Jared to apply for a name change in their marriage arrangement. This was new territory, and Sharon assured them that there would be much less hassle, even from homophobes, if they presented unshakable proof of a familial surname, hyphenated though it might be. Kelvin and Jared were not Reeces; they were two of the members of the large family by a bond that was just as strong, in a way the same as Sharon Minninger was a member of the large family with her own surname. So it was generations made up of Reeces, Allen-Reeces, Minningers, Kreteks, Rory-Riggs, and Reece-O’Donnells.

And then there was Cindy Coleman, Joe Welling, and Mrs. Knox, who had welcomed an association with the family by also being part of the wedding of two male couples.

The reservations for the Marriott Custom House hotel were six nights for the two couples, somewhat less for the other members of the wedding party, and on the seventh day the newly married couples would fly back to Common and Cloudcroft as newly-weds, ready to enter the stream as tributaries of the unfolding Reece family history as it flowed into the future.

Jared brought Kelvin out of his reverie, and he took his hand and they followed JP and Duke into a waiting elevator to their floor. Sally had arranged for their suites to be next to each other, to look out over the bay in the close distance, as well as to get a view of the city lights at night.

We’re supposed to join everybody for dinner in a couple of hours, after everyone freshens up, JP said. Meet back in the lobby.

Kelvin laughed. "Yeah, Jared and I are going to freshen up, for sure," he said, and JP and Duke and Jared laughed, knowing precisely what he meant.

Chapter 2

Sharon had helped Sally make the reservations for the hotel, because she had certain ideas of the proximity she wanted to be from her daughter and granddaughter, as well as to Cindy Coleman. They so rarely got to visit, this would be a good opportunity.

Like everyone else, she took the elevator up to her suite, which was next to Shara and Anderson’s. Cindy’s was on the other side. First, Sharon knocked on Cindy’s door, and Cindy let her in. The two women hugged again.

"Can you believe the