One Night Stand novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Dottie's Backyard

We were married in Dottie's backyard on the first Saturday in May.

There were thirty folding chairs, a string of paper lanterns and one very old pear tree.

Dottie had been up since four, cooking.

"Two kinds of potato salad," she told Eleanor, who was inspecting the buffet. "People get strong feelings."

"I have strong feelings about the second one," Eleanor said, and ate a spoonful. "Hm. Correct."

I stood at the kitchen window in a plain ivory dress with my hair down, watching Mateo's driver unload a case of champagne into the yard.

The dress had cost eighty dollars, and I had bought it myself.

Mateo had not offered a stylist once.

"Mama!"

Otto came through the back door in a tiny gray suit and a clip-on bow tie, holding a plastic stegosaurus in both hands.

The ring was in the stegosaurus's mouth.

"Is that safe?" I said.

"It's the safest place."

"Why?"

"Because he's a very serious dinosaur."

Dottie, behind him, took off her glasses and wiped them on her cardigan.

"Don't," I said. "You'll start me."

"I'm not starting anything. It's pollen."

The ceremony took seven minutes.

Eleanor sat in the front row with her cane across her lap and did not pretend not to cry.

The judge was a retired friend of Dottie's late husband, with a voice like gravel.

Mateo stood under the pear tree in a plain dark suit, with no board and no cameras.

He had asked the photographers at the end of the street to stay at the end of the street, and for once they had.

"You first," said the judge. "Whatever you've got."

"I didn't write anything," Mateo said.

He looked at me.

"I spent four years believing that nothing I wanted would stay.

"You walked up my steps and proved me wrong in front of the whole city, and I called security.

"I'll spend the rest of my life being the man who calls you back."

His voice cracked.

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