chapter NINE
SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1963
Me and Curtis are getting married!!!! Married! Today!
“I’m so nervous,” Lorrie whispered, her belly fluttering as she stared at herself in the mirror.
She was getting married. Today.
“You look so pretty,” Kathy told her as they sat in their bedroom, putting the finishing touches on Lorrie’s hair. Celeste had been there with them, but she’d run outside to see if she could find flowers for Lorrie’s bouquet. Although Lorrie had told her she didn’t need one, Celeste had argued, insisting that she did.
When Lorrie had woken up that morning, she’d waited for Kathy to open her eyes so she could tell her the good news. Not long after Kathy had woken up, Celeste had, too. Then, the three of them had talked for almost an hour, whispering from beneath the blankets on Lorrie’s bed, until Kathy had finally convinced her that she needed to tell Momma and Daddy. So, with her nerves rioting, she’d gone into the kitchen to find her parents sitting at the table, both of them smiling. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen them smiling that brightly before, but she didn’t ask questions. The good news was that they were in a good mood, so she’d hoped her announcement wouldn’t set her father off.
Unable to keep the words in, Lorrie had blurted that she was marrying Curtis. Her mother had nodded but quickly turned her attention to Linda, who was sitting in her lap, sucking her thumb. Her father had stared at her momentarily, then said, “Yes, you are.”
It hadn’t even registered that he’d seemed to already know; her excitement had blinded her to that initially. Lorrie still didn’t know how their conversation had gone when Daddy had told Curtis that he had to marry her, but she was too happy to even care. The only thing that mattered was that she was marrying Curtis.
“Today,” Daddy had said.
Today?
“That’s right,” Daddy had explained. “And it’s time for you to go get ready. I already talked to Curtis. He’ll be by to pick you up in a bit. Pack your stuff. A married girl can’t live at home.”
Talked to Curtis? How was that possible?
For a moment, Lorrie had been shocked. She wasn’t sure how she’d gone from sneaking out, committing to marry Curtis, to actually getting married all in such a short period of time, but from the look in her father’s eyes when he’d told her that, he’d been serious.
“Did you get all your stuff packed?” Kathy asked now, not meeting Lorrie’s eyes in the mirror.
“I did.” It was sad that everything she owned fit into a small suitcase, but she couldn’t think about that due to the other pressing issues on her mind.
Like how she would get money for things she needed. Girl things. Things she was too embarrassed to talk to Curtis about.
Or how she would get more clothes when the ones she had got old and tattered. Her mother had made all her clothes up to this point, but luckily Lorrie had learned how to sew. Maybe she could make her own.
But most importantly, she wasn’t sure where they would be living.
That was the scary part.
The thought of moving in with his mom and his brothers and sisters made her uneasy. What would they think of her sleeping in Curtis’s bed? Would she be sleeping in Curtis’s bed? That was what a wife was supposed to do, right?
Or would they live alone? And would that be worse? She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to act around him. Was she supposed to cook his dinner? Wives did that, right? Did she have to clean his clothes? Momma handled all of that for Daddy.
A nervous flutter ripped through her again, making her hands shake.
“I’m gonna miss you,” Kathy said.
She took a deep breath, swallowing her panic and forcing a smile. “I’m gonna see you at school, silly,” Lorrie told her sister. She still wanted to go to school. Curtis had said she could.
“Lorrie!”
Her father’s roar made her jump. Kathy ran to the window and pulled back the curtain.
“He’s here,” she muttered. “Curtis is here in his daddy’s truck. Well, I guess it’s not really his daddy’s truck anymore.”
No, it wasn’t.
There was a knot of emotion lodged in her throat as she moved to the window and peeked out. Curtis had already climbed out of the truck and was walking up to the front door. He looked nice in his church clothes.
“He’s so handsome,” Kathy said wistfully. “You’re so lucky, Lorrie.”
That she was, but she knew there was so much more to Curtis than his good looks.
“Go!” Kathy giggled, throwing her arms around Lorrie. “Go get married.”
“Yes. Okay.” Lorrie laughed, but it sounded strangled. When Kathy released her, Lorrie grabbed the handle on her suitcase and lugged it toward the door, smiling back at her sister.
When she got to the living room, Celeste was the first to greet her, handing over a small bouquet of flowers she’d apparently picked herself.
“Thank you,” she whispered to her sister as Celeste hugged her tightly.
When Celeste let go, Lorrie pivoted around to find Curtis standing in the doorway, his hat in his hand as he watched her. He smiled the moment their eyes met, and all of her nerves dissipated instantly. The next thing she knew, he had taken her suitcase from her.
“You look pretty,” he said approvingly. “Ready?”
Lorrie nodded. When she looked back at her mother, she noticed Dorothy was crying. For a brief moment, she thought about running into her arms and hugging her, but her mother would frown on that.
“I’ve already signed the papers giving my consent,” her father said, nodding toward Curtis.
That was it? Her father had signed papers and was just sending her on her way? Was that how it really worked?
“My mother is goin’ to the courthouse with us,” Curtis said, as though he could sense her tension. “The judge’ll be there to expedite the marriage license, and he’s agreed to marry us today.”
“Okay.” She didn’t know what else to say. It hurt that her own parents weren’t going to be there, but had she really expected them to?
“Take care of him, Lorrie. It’s your job now.”
Lorrie frowned as her father’s words sank in.
She didn’t like the fact that her father saw loving someone as a job. But that made sense now that she thought about it. Her parents loved each other; she knew they did. Even though they never acted like it. But her father did have the outlook that a woman was supposed to be at his beck and call.
As she glanced back at Kathy, Celeste, Linda, Rose, Adele, Mitch, and Bruce, Lorrie took a deep breath. Then she vowed right then and there that her husband and her children would always come first. They would always know exactly how she felt about them. Not for a single second would they ever wonder whether or not she loved them.
And with that parting thought, Lorrie took Curtis’s hand and allowed him to lead her out of her parents’ house and to her new life.