The McClane Apocalypse Book Five (18 page)

“You clean up good for a young punk,” Reagan
jabs at Cory’s shoulder from the back seat.

“You look
nice
too, little Doc,” he offers with a bright
white smile.

“Heck yeah, she does,” John says from the
front. “She’s my little hottie.”

“John!” Reagan reprimands with an ornery
laugh.

Paige smiles at their playful mood and
teasing. Reagan is wearing a short, emerald green dress and ballet
flats. Her messy, wild curls are piled high on top of her head in
an elegant fashion.

“You know I like that dress, woman,” he
teases right back.

“Shut it, mister,” Reagan warns.

“Get a room,” Herb says from the passenger
seat.

“I’ve got one,” John says with a grin.
“Unfortunately, it’s in your house… full of twenty other people,
Herb.”

Doc chuckles as he removes his glasses and
slides them into the front pocket of his button up shirt.

“You’ve got a point there,” Herb says with a
nod.

They continue to razz each other. Kelly
even joins in. Paige still feels self-conscious of her dirty boots.
Hannah looks so clean and
pretty
in her long white dress and pale pink cardigan. Everyone
looks great for having survived an apocalypse. Everyone except for
her. She tugs down the hem of her borrowed, slightly too large gown
and tries to wipe at some of the dust on her left boot. Cory
reaches down and takes her hand as the chaos of teasing and
laughter ensues around them.

“You look
fine
,” he says and places her hand back in her
lap.

“I…”

“For a beanpole,” he adds with a smirk.

She is about to
retort
a response when the SUV comes to a stop at
the neighbor’s farm. Paige squints her eyes at Cory as he helps her
down.

“Better get going. You’re the maid of honor,
whatever the hell that is. Seems important,” he jests as he
tenderly aids Hannah in climbing down next.

Hannah literally beams up at him and doesn’t
release his arm. He seems content to have her hold onto him as his
brother exits the other side of the vehicle and helps Reagan and
Sam.

“It
is
important,” Hannah corrects him. “Being the maid of honor
is
very important
,
Cory.”

Paige
chuffs
with disbelief through her nose at Hannah’s
hearing abilities. She doesn’t seem to miss a thing. Hannah
probably overheard them discussing her haphazard appearance. Paige
leaves their group, finds Bertie near the front porch and is
ushered inside to the upstairs bedroom where her friend awaits
her.

“Oh, Talia,” she exclaims as she comes
through the door. “You look
amazing
. You’re so beautiful.”

Her friend’s hair is pulled back into a
French twist. There are tiny sprigs of white flowers arranged with
care throughout her hair. Bertie’s gown fits her perfectly,
clinging to her curves, curves of which Paige has many times been
envious. Bertie even let Talia borrow her short white veil. She is
a picture to be
certain
. Paige’s
eyes fill with tears.

The other women leave the two of them alone,
and Talia immediately rushes to Paige and asks, “Am I showing? Be
honest. I feel like I have a bump already. Do you think anyone will
be able to tell? I know it’s not like before, but the Reynolds
family and Dr. McClane are really religious. I would hate to upset
anyone.”

“Well, beings Chet knocked you up before
marrying you, I’d say his conviction may have waned just a little,”
Paige teases and hugs her friend. “You can’t tell at all. Don’t
even worry a second about it.”

Talia sighs with relief and smooths her hands
over the front of the dress again against her flat abdomen.

“Can you believe I’m doing this?”

Paige smiles gently and says, “No, not
really! But I’m glad you are.”

“If someone had told me five years ago that
I’d be marrying some white boy redneck from Tennessee I’d have
asked them what they were smoking,” Talia jokes.

Paige laughs at her friend’s dry humor. “No
kidding. But Chet’s great. I’m so happy for you, for you both.”

“Yeah, me too. I’m so crazy in love with that
fool,” she says, her own eyes filling with tears.

“Better to be a fool in love, right?” Paige
asks as she hugs her friend close.

“That’s the rumor,” Talia answers.

A few moments later, Bertie comes to
announce that they’re ready for them. Paige walks her friend down
the aisle, which is nothing more than a grass path leading to a
quaint, pretty spot beneath a huge hickory tree in the back yard of
the Reynolds family home. There are about fifty people present,
more than she’d have thought. The McClanes, the
Reynolds,
and the Johnsons are all present and
accounted for, as well, and the wedding ceremony is intimate and
personal. She’s never been to a wedding, however, where nearly
every guest carried a gun of some sort either on their hip or slung
over their shoulder.

Chet’s brother, Wayne, stands on his other
side as his best man. Doc McClane reads words from his Bible. She
has no idea if he is even licensed to perform a marriage in the
state of Tennessee, but nobody seems to care. Tradition and
ceremony seem important to him. He hadn’t liked the idea of Talia
moving into the Reynolds’ farmhouse, especially not once her
romantic feelings for Chet became apparent. Doc’s old-fashioned,
but it feels right to Paige that he is this way. So much of their
country is different, broken and in such disrepair that she’s glad
that men like Herb McClane still believe in the sanctity and
necessity of marriage and propriety.

Everyone
claps,
and a few of the men hoot and holler after
they kiss. The women immediately begin setting up the dinner buffet
in the hayloft area in the top of the big barn while the men bring
out more chairs, carry trays of food and offer
seating
. They also somewhat keep the children out
of the way and in control. Somewhat. Even the kids are excited. The
younger generation of the Johnson family
mingles
with the McClane children and some others
who came with their parents from town. Condo Paul and his family
are present, but the Navy Seal is back in their village keeping
watch. A couple of the new people from the armory that Cory invited
to Pleasant View are even present. So
are
Jason and his drunk uncle, who actually seems
sober for once. Two more trucks full of townspeople pull in a few
minutes later. Everyone seems happy and glad to be gathered for
this celebration, and there must be at least a hundred people
present.

Paige stands back and surveys the long,
very long, table of food choices that has been provided. She tries
to hold back those same feelings that she had the first day on the
McClane farm when she’d bawled like a baby at their dinner table.
There is such an abundance and variety of food. The people
from
town
have given generously
of what they have. There are two stuffed geese, a glazed ham, jams
for the
breads
, many trays of
vegetables, some fresh and some probably from people’s canning
supplies and bowl after bowl of mashed potatoes. Hannah’s baked
goods and their contributed fresh vegetables including the tomato
salad that she made is also set out. The Reynolds brothers have
cooked enough roast beef for a small battalion. It smells divine.
So long to her old vegan lifestyle. She’d like to jump in and swim
in that vat of beef and broth. It’s nearly big enough that she
could.

She swallows the hard lump in her throat at
the plentitude in front of her and dabs at her eyes. Simon wraps an
arm around her shoulders, startling her.

“You ok?” he asks with concern.

She nods and tries not to start crying again
at the sight of so much food. Paige glances up to see Cory on the
other side of her brother. His expression is a puzzled frown aimed
at her. He probably thinks she’s insane.

They take their seats after filling
their plates, and Wayne Reynolds offers up a prayer and
a toast
to the new couple. Conversations
ebb and flow around her. The people from town discuss town events
and their families. The farmers discuss the harvest, which is in
full swing. She even helped process tomato sauce with Hannah and
Sue the other day. They’ve been stockpiling fresh produce in
straw-lined crates in the cold cellar. The men have been busy
putting up the last of the hay and harvesting corn for the
livestock.

Food gets passed around for seconds and
thirds. She passes on even seconds. The meal is hearty and
delicious
and wonderful, better than any
wedding reception food she’s ever tasted. Her best friend is
smiling ear to ear while talking with her new husband. Maddie sits
with the children on bales of straw. Her little white dress was
sewn by Bertie, who
seems as
proficient with a needle and thread as Sue. Her former charge
giggles at something Arianna says. The children are in
exceptionally high spirits. It’s a good day. Paige only wishes that
she could’ve sat next to Jason. She’s wedged between Cory and Sam,
who keeps talking
around
her to
Cory. She’d like to move so they can sit together but refrains from
making a scene. Jason
is,
unfortunately,
sitting across from her next to his
uncle on one side and Jackie from the armory group on his
other.

She is a fair blonde who is rather pretty
with big brown doe eyes. Paige has seen her hanging on Cory when
they go to town. Her behavior toward Jason is the same. She’s very
flirty, which is probably just her personality. Jason catches
Paige’s eye and winks. She returns it with a grin.

Her brother nudges her arm, reaching around
Cory to do so. When Paige looks at him, Simon is scowling. He has
taken on the role of protective father figure which is mostly
annoying. She just goes back to her meal, pushing food around, too
full to eat another bite. She takes a peek at Cory beside her. He’s
glaring daggers at Jason, although the other man does not seem to
notice his ill regard. Is he jealous of Jason talking so animatedly
with Jackie? She’s quite sure that Cory is sleeping with that
woman. She suspects that’s the reason he invited the group to their
town in the first place. She wonders if he is in love with her.

As the sun is setting when the meal
completes, everyone gathers dishes and utensils, taking them
outdoors to the hand crank pump which is seeing plenty of action
with the younger kids all on dish duty. She doesn’t envy them. They
have their work cut out for them. The men gather tables and chairs,
lining the chairs along the stacked walls of hay. Some of the
people from town bring out musical instruments. Talia smiles widely
and claps. Paige hadn’t known this was going to be a full evening
event with music and dancing. She’s tired and would rather go back
to the cabin, but she also doesn’t want to disappoint her friend,
who seems so uncharacteristically happy. The young children, Maddie
included, immediately begin twirling in circles before the last
table is even removed. They know not of inhibitions or a valid
reason to have any. They are just joyful and content to twirl in
their fancy dresses for a change of the usual
post-apocalyptic
pace
. Paige
hangs back with Sam on a bale of hay. Sam just goes on and on about
how romantic it all is and how beautiful the barn looks. Paige can
still see a touch of sadness behind her blue eyes that Sam
typically
attempts rather successfully
to hide.

It doesn’t take long before the lights
are dimmed, and the dance floor, which is just a dirty,
straw-covered barn floor, is filled with dancing couples for the
next hour. Lanterns have been attached to the big barn posts, and
Sam was right because the
clear
Christmas lights wound around the beams of the ancient barn’s
interior lend a very romantic touch to the atmosphere. Mostly the
music is country western ballads she recognizes from before the
apocalypse that ran on the radio. This is apparently a big country
music area because they don’t seem to play anything else. It’s
still an enjoyable respite from security meetings and talk of the
harvest season. John even volunteers to sing a few songs. His
heated gaze never leaves his wife for more than a few seconds. He
is so smitten with her. Reagan is dancing like a dork with her
little son, Jacob and acting foolish and silly and motherly. She
seems oblivious
of
anyone else in
the room except her son. That little boy
seems
to bring this out of her. She’s a fantastic
mother, even though Paige understands that Jacob isn’t really her
son at all but an orphan that she and John took responsibility
for.

Sam continues to chat amiably in her ear as
Paige allows her eyes to drift through the crowd, sifting and
searching and observing the people all having a good time. She’s
noticed that Cory has danced twice with Evie Johnson, one of the
Johnson daughters who is a widow. The way that Evie looks up into
Cory’s smiling face makes Paige think that something is probably
going on with them. He is apparently sewing his wild oats
throughout the county. The attractive woman even laughs at
something he says. Paige just scowls and returns her attention to
Samantha.