The Blossom Sisters (24 page)

Gus was shaking so bad, Barney had to grip his arm in a viselike hold. “What'd she say, Gus?” he hissed in his ear.

Gus struggled to speak. “She said if I screwed up again, she'd personally help Oscar drag me out to the barn to do me in.”

Barney let out a whoop of laughter. “That's Aunt Vi for you. She means it, you know.”

“I do know that,” Gus mumbled. “God, do I know that.”

And then they were standing next to the trellis that smelled so sweet. Gus thought he was going to faint from the heady scent of the flowering jasmine.

“Three minutes and counting,” Albert said.

“Two minutes and counting.”

“One minute, and here comes the bride!”

The seniors burst into song as every male senior at Shady Pines escorted Jill to the trellis to give her away. They sang loudly, they sang off-key, they forgot some of the words, but their hearts were in the rendition. Jill smiled from ear to ear as Gus stared at his beloved. The gorgeous creature coming toward him loved him. Just him. (And the seniors, he added as an afterthought.) She was willing to spend the rest of her life with him. Just the two of them. Forever and ever.

Barney's arm snaked up to hold Gus erect. He looked at Albert and said, “Hit it, Albert, you're up!”

The ceremony was flawless, everything going off without a hitch. Albert had the words down pat and didn't miss a beat. The only time he screwed up was when he kissed the bride before the groom got to do it.

The seniors broke into another rendition of “Here Comes the Bride.” They sang at the top of their lungs. They sang off-key again, but no one cared. They threw popcorn instead of rice because one of the seniors had read somewhere that when wild birds ate rice, it swelled in their stomachs and they got sick. Balloons of all colors sailed high in the air.

Everyone clapped hands as they all made their way back inside to the community room, where the buffet and the champagne toast awaited.

There were only two gifts, one large, one small. The seniors clamored for Jill to open the gift that was from all of them. Tears in her eyes, Jill sat down and undid the wrapping. “Look, Gus, it's an album of our two years with all the seniors. Look, you're splitting wood in this one. Oh, my gosh, I'm cutting Annie's hair in this one. This is a group shot of all of us!” And on and on she went as she flipped the pages. Gus could feel his eyes start to burn. Jill was openly crying.

“Oh, my gosh, I don't know how to thank you. Look at Gus—he's speechless. You guys are the most wonderful family I could ever hope to have. I know Gus agrees.” Gus was bobbing his head up and down.

“One more gift. Your turn, Augustus,” his grandmother said.

Gus reached for the small package, unwrapped it, and opened the box. A key rested on black velvet. Gus's head jerked up as he looked at Barney. “This better not be a key to a new Porsche or even my old Porsche.”

“Not even close, Gus,” Barney replied, laughing.

The seniors were giggling and laughing and jostling each other, barely able to contain themselves.

Elroy Hitchens walked over to where Gus was, took his arm, and led him to one of the side windows of the community room. “Look!”

A big yellow bus stood right outside the window, with a big silver bow strapped to the top. “It's from Barney,” the seniors shouted as one.

“My own bus!” Gus turned to Barney, who was laughing so hard he could hardly stand. “You son of a gun! How'd you know I wanted my own bus?”

“You talk in your sleep!”

It was chaos, then, as everyone started to talk, to kiss and hug the bride, and to offer congratulations. Gus received handshakes, accepted claps on the back, and listened to well-meaning advice.

Two hours later, Iris announced it was time for the bride to throw her bouquet. All the senior ladies and Jill's friend and former secretary, Louise, lined up and waited for Jill to toss the bouquet over her shoulder. A senior named Sadie caught the bouquet, immediately marched over to Elroy Hitchens, and said, “What do you think about this, Elroy?”

“They smell nice,” Elroy said. It wasn't the answer Sadie wanted, but she took it with good grace and moved on so the other ladies could ooh and aah over the flowers.

Rose, Violet, and Iris appeared out of nowhere. “It's time!” they said in unison, the way they always spoke when they were together.

From somewhere, a whistle sounded. It was Albert, who then shouted as loud as he could, “Time to get ready, everyone! The bride and groom will be departing shortly.”

The room cleared, as if by magic. Lynus and Lewis walked over to where Jill was talking quietly with Barney and said their good-byes. Before he left, Lewis handed her a small, flat package. Inside, as she and Gus discovered later, were two framed pictures of their wedding cake, decorated all over with sixty fortune cookies.

Forty-five minutes later, everyone was dressed in casual, comfortable clothes. Barney led the parade out to the parking area. He put his arm around Rose and whispered, “This honeymoon is probably going to go down in history. The bride and groom are driving a big yellow bus to Las Vegas and taking along fifty-three seniors plus the best man and the maid of honor!”

“Are you sure, Barney, that the people you hired to clean up and put everything back in place are reliable? The seniors were a little worried about their personal belongings.”

“Not to worry, Granny; they're bonded and licensed. There won't be any problems. You guys ready?”

“We are. None of us have ever been to Las Vegas before. Can you imagine Jill and Augustus giving each of us a fifty-dollar bill to gamble? And the casino will give us another twenty-five. Jill said it's customary to do that. I might be old, but I don't think I ever saw that in any of the etiquette books.”

“You're slipping, Granny. Even I knew that,” Barney said with a straight face.

“I guess I am getting old, but I'm glad I can learn something new each day. Thank you for enlightening us, Barney.”

Outside, Albert's whistle blasted through the air. The seniors lined up, not sure which bus to get on. They waited for the bride and groom to make the decision. Gus looked at Barney and grinned. “We're going in my new bus. All aboard!”

Gus, Jill, Priscilla, and Barney were the last to board. The workers Barney had hired to clean up after the wedding waved from the front porch of Shady Pines.

“Isn't this great, Priscilla?” Barney asked the woman he hoped to marry. “Getting married, then taking your family along on your honeymoon. In a big yellow bus. I don't think it gets any better than that, do you?”

“You can't wait to drive this bus, right?” Priscilla asked.

“I take over for the second half of the trip. Got my license right here with me.”

“Well, in that case, I'll marry you.”

Unaware of what had just happened, Gus settled himself behind the wheel and turned the key in the ignition. The seniors clapped and whooped when the engine of the new yellow bus growled to life.

Before Gus shifted gears, he took a moment to look around at his big family, two of whom had their arms wrapped around each other and were oblivious to the rest of the world. Then he looked at his new bride, who was grinning from ear to ear. In that moment, he knew that if he lived to be a hundred, he would never ever be as happy as he was then. His fist shot in the air. The seniors clapped once again.

“Next stop, Las Vegas!” Gus shouted.

FERN MICHAELS is the
USA Today
and
New York Times
bestselling author of the Sisterhood and Godmother
series,
Tuesday's Child
,
Southern Comfort
,
Betrayal
,
Return
to Sender
, and dozens of other novels and novellas. There
are over seventy million copies of her books in print. Fern
Michaels has built and funded several large day-care
centers in her hometown, and is a passionate animal lover
who has out-fitted police dogs across the country with
special bulletproof vests. She shares her home in
South Carolina with her four dogs and a resident
ghost named Mary Margaret.
Visit her website at fernmichaels.com.

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One of the most acclaimed storytellers of her time, #1
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Rita Bellamy has had enviable success as an author, but it
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Moving to Washington, D.C. to be with Griff should be the
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FANCY DANCER

On his thirty-fifth birthday, Jake St. Cloud inherits a
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RETURN TO SENDER

At seventeen, Rosalind “Lin” Townsend found herself pregnant
and alone. Her deeply religious father threw her out of the house,
and Nick Pemberton, her baby's father, refused to marry her. Yet
even at the lowest point in her life, Lin vowed to succeed on her
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