Read Home on Apple Blossom Road (Life in Icicle Falls) Online
Authors: Sheila Roberts
Anne could already envision Cam escorting their daughter down the aisle at Queen Anne Presbyterian, surrounded by flowers, Laney wearing a beautiful wedding gown, her long, chestnut hair falling to her shoulders in gentle waves. Anne’s vision conveniently ignored the tattooed artwork running up Laney’s neck and covering her right arm.
“There is such a thing as overkill,” she’d said when her daughter went for her second tattoo, but Laney had just laughed and kissed her and skipped off to the tattoo parlor to commemorate her twenty-first birthday with more body art. Why, oh, why did her daughter have to take everything to extremes?
Because she was Laney. She’d always pushed the boundaries, staying out past curfews, cutting classes her freshman year in high school (thank God they’d broken her of
that
habit), dyeing her hair every color of the rainbow, adorning her ears with piercings. She’d gotten her nose pierced, too, but Anne had persuaded her to get a little diamond rather than the big stake she’d talked about, so at least that looked classy.
She’s another generation,
Anne constantly reminded herself,
and they have their own style
. Except style was such a subjective thing, and it wasn’t only Laney’s generation getting tattoos. Women Anne’s age did it, too. One of her friends had a discreet rose on her ankle. It just seemed that the younger women, especially her daughter, never knew when to stop. It was enough to make a mother crazy. But then, she told herself, it was the duty of every generation to drive their parents nuts. Heaven knew, she’d done it to her own mother. Still...
“What are you thinking about?” Cam asked as he cut off a piece of steak.
She smiled at him. “Our baby’s getting married.” And that eclipsed fashion frustration. Fashion issues could be dealt with later.
“Yeah, I can’t believe it. Seems like only yesterday that she had colic and I was walking the floor with her.” He shook his head. “They’re so young.”
“So were we,” Anne pointed out.
He nodded. “Our parents probably had this same conversation.”
Anne was thankful she’d been spared hearing her parents’ conversation. The one she’d had with her mother had been unpleasant enough.
“Drake’s a good kid, though,” Cam said. “They’ll be happy.”
“If they’re half as happy as we are, they’ll have a great marriage,” Anne said and took a bite of her baked potato, which she’d slathered in butter and sour cream. Sour cream, butter, chocolate cake. She’d have to eat nothing but salad for the next week.
They were watching a romantic comedy and eating their cake when Laney called. “Mom, can Drake and I come over? We’ve got something to show you.”
“Sure,” Anne said, playing dumb. “Come on by.”
“Okay. See you in a few.”
Twenty minutes later, her daughter was walking through the door, dressed for Valentine’s Day in black leggings and a short denim skirt she’d probably scored at her favorite consignment store. Her curls peeped out from under a black tam and she wore red platform shoes and a matching red top under her black leather jacket. She’d accented the outfit with a long, red scarf.
She was followed by her boyfriend, a tall, skinny, tattooed drink of water wearing jeans and a black T-shirt under a black leather bomber jacket. Unlike Laney, he didn’t have an ear full of hoops and cute earrings. Instead, he wore gauges that had stretched holes in his earlobes. Anne had to admit that if she’d gone boyfriend shopping for her daughter she would’ve passed him over in favor of a preppy-looking boy in law school. But what would Laney have had in common with that kind of boy? She and Drake loved each other and that was what counted. Just as Cam said, he was a good kid. Tonight he wore a smile that reached from ear to ear.
And Laney sported a ring with a diamond best viewed under a magnifying glass. “See what I got for Valentine’s Day?” she crowed.
Anne took her daughter’s hand and gave her ring the attention it demanded as Cam clapped Drake on the back and welcomed him to the family. “It’s gorgeous,” she said. Then she hugged both her daughter and her future son-in-law. “We’re so happy for you two. Come on in and let’s have some chocolate cake to celebrate.”
“You’ll never guess where we went to dinner,” Laney said, following Anne into the kitchen. “The Space Needle.”
“Pretty impressive. Did Drake rob a bank?”
“He’s been saving for this since Christmas.”
At least someone in their marriage would be good with money. “Well, how was it?”
“Oh, wow,” Laney said. “The view from up there, you can see everything. Puget Sound, the city, the mountains. And the food was sooo yummy.”
“Maybe you don’t have room for cake,” Anne teased.
“I always have room for cake. You know that.”
Anne cut pieces and put them on plates, and Laney took them to where Drake and Cam sat in the living room. Meanwhile, Anne grabbed two more glasses and another bottle of champagne.
Once the glasses were filled, Cam raised his in salute to the happy couple squeezed together in an oversize armchair. “To Laney and Drake. May you both be as happy as we are.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Laney said, and she and Drake kissed each other.
“Have you set a date?” Cam asked.
“We’re thinking June,” Laney said.
The same month Anne and Cam had gotten married. “An excellent month,” he said, winking at Anne.
But it didn’t give them much time to pull together a wedding.
“We thought it would be really cool to go to Vegas,” Drake added.
The two exchanged besotted smiles.
Anne hardly saw them. Instead, she was seeing her daughter in some tiny chapel, all dressed up like a showgirl with a big, feathery headdress. And there was Drake, wearing a sparkly, white Elvis jumpsuit. To Laney’s “I do,” he responded, “Thank you. Thank you very much.”
Vegas. Aaack!
Copyright © 2015 by Sheila Rabe
ISBN-13: 9781459292451
Home on Apple Blossom Road
Copyright © 2016 by Sheila Rabe
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