But then of course, in some ways the mayor’s job seemed harder than ever. Her contact person at the Leon County Civic Center had moved to Miami a couple of years ago, so that was a bust. But she had managed to establish a line of communication through email with Billy Brenton’s assistant, Crystal, who seemed like a lovely person over the Internet (it was always so hard to tell what someone was really like online!). Mimi gave her all the details for the festival and Crystal had emailed back, “I’ll see what I can do.” Which was a lot better response than No Way. But, Mimi wasn’t getting her hopes up.
Doug had encouraged her to not give up and she wasn’t. But it was probably past time that she got serious about looking into some backup entertainment.
Today, however, she wasn’t going to think about the Spring Into Summer festival. Today she was devoting entirely to her sister-in-law’s wedding. She was having lunch with Allie at The Harbor House. It was one of the places on her short list to hold the reception. She’d also invited someone else along—Lauren Miller, Tom’s ex-wife.
The situation between the two women wasn’t typical. Lauren and Allie had long since become friends. Tom and Lauren’s son, Henry, had made that a necessity, but inviting the ex-wife along to plan a wedding migh
t have caused Emily Post to choke on her own book of etiquette. Still, Mimi had her own ulterior motive for asking Lauren to join them. She was staring at that ulterior motive right now.
It was Allie’s grandmother’s wedding dress. A floor length off-white nineteen-fifties gown that looked like it could have been worn by Elizabeth Taylor in the original Father of the Bride movie. With its dropped shoulder satin bodice, cinched waist, and flared chiffon skirt, it was a dream come true no matter what decade you were married in.
Mimi remembered the day she’d first seen this dress. Buela had reverently brought it out of her closet, offering it to Mimi for her own wedding. The gesture had brought tears to Mimi’s eyes. Partially because she’d been so touched by Buela’s kindness. But mostly because there was no way at six months pregnant that Mimi could have fit into the gown.
It was the same day Zeke had confronted her about the pregnancy. She’d been at home packing for her summer trip to the North Carolina cabin when he’d come to her house, ringing the doorbell like a madman. Her parents had come home in the middle of it all and Zeke had basically asked her to choose between a life with him and a life without him and her baby. The choice had been ridiculously easy. She’d walked out the door holding Zeke’s hand with nothing but the clothes on her back. She’d sat behind him on his motorcycle (the only time he’d allowed her to do that while pregnant) and driven straight to his grandmother’s house.
Buela had been both surprised and happy to see her.
“Mija,” she said, giving Mimi a tight hug. “I thought I’d never see you again! I’ve missed you. I told Zeke, ‘You’re never going to find another girl like that Mimi!’” She’d laughed, and immediately rushed off to the kitchen to make them Zeke’s favorite meal, arroz con pollo.
“We’re more than just dating, Buela,” Zeke had explained later, “Mimi and I are getting married.”
Allie had been thirteen then, already tall with large brown eyes and a pale creamy complexion with no hint of teenage acne on the horizon. She’d jumped up and down and squealed. “I’m going to have a sister!” And Mimi’s heart had instantly been won over.
“I’ve always wanted a sister,” Mimi said, smiling at Zeke’s little family.
“You can wear my dress!” Buela got up from the kitchen table and motioned for Mimi to follow her into her bedroom. That’s when she’d taken out the dress and Mimi realized that Buela had no clue that they were also having a baby.
Thankfully, Zeke had been the one to break the news.
“Buela,” he said kindly, “That’s a beautiful gesture, but, I don’t think Mimi is going to fit into that dress.”
“What? Of course she will. She’s so delgada,” she said, using the Spanish word for thin.
The loose T-shirt she wore hadn’t allowed Buela a realistic view of her six month pregnancy.
“Buela,” Zeke tried again, “Mimi and I are having a baby.”
Mimi pressed her hands over the T-shirt, molding the fabric over her abdomen.
Buela’s brown eyes flared. “I see.” She swallowed hard and looked into Mimi’s eyes. “Do you love my grandson?”
“Yes,” Mimi said with no hesitation.
Buela smiled. “Then you’ll get married as soon as possible. And you’ll come live here with me and I’ll take care of you both.”
Zeke leaned down and kissed his grandmother on the cheek. “I love you, Buela, but Mimi and I are living on our own. And I’ll be the one to take care of her.”
Three days later they were married at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse. Much to Mimi’s surprise, her parents showed up for the ceremony.
“That boy is insufferable,” Momma had said, minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to take place. “He came to the house last night and demanded that we be here. Who does he think he is, ordering us around?”
“Our daughter’s future husband?” Daddy had said, earning a scowl from Momma.
Momma eyed the simple cream colored dress Mimi had bought at the mall last night for the wedding. “It’s not too late, darling. You can walk out of here and we can go back to our plan. Just say the word and I’ll take care of everything.”
Of course, Mimi had gone through with the ceremony. She wanted to go through with it. She loved Zeke, and yes, they were young and didn’t have (as Momma said) a pot to piss in, but for her it was like the beginning of some grand adventure.
They moved into Zeke’s little apartment and three months later, Claire Sylvia Grant was born. She was named Claire after Mimi’s favorite fictional character—the smart but headstrong WWII nurse in the time travel romantic adventure, Outlander, and Sylvia for Zeke’s mother. Zeke continued to work at Bert’s Garage and even took on a second job on the weekends to help ends meet. He went to school at night and after a year, he applied and was accepted into the police academy.