Кэрол Дуглас - Cat In An Alphabet Endgame

“Father,” Matt interrupted. “Her red hair is always in season with me.” Matt sounded quite definite. “We’ve decided to get married now because—this is quite confidential—Temple and I are embarking on a whole new career together, right here in Vegas, and we’ll have no time to get married that late in the year.”

“Oh, but these things can’t be rushed. Our Lady of Guadalupe is not a twenty-four-hour wedding chapel.”

“Certainly not,” Temple said, “We’re thinking of an evening ceremony so no regular church services are affected. And with my Crystal Phoenix connections, I can pull together a family influx and a gala reception in no time.”

“‘In no time’? But the Church advises—”

“I’ve done pre-Cana counseling for years, Father,” Matt said. “And Temple’s a very quick study, as you note. If you like, we can do the eight-hour online course.”

“Online course,” the priest echoed, dazed.

“You know,” Matt continued, “how much heart and heroism Temple has, when she almost died helping your elderly parishioner and when the convent nuns were being stalked by a profane anonymous caller and poor Peter, the convent cat, was almost crucified like the Disciple he was named for.

“Yes,” Matt went on relentlessly, “our religious backgrounds are a world apart, but the sense of ethics we learned from our families and faiths jibe like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.”

Father Hernandez cleared his throat and looked at Temple. “UU, Unitarian Universalist, you say. Uh, of course no extreme sectarian atrocities have ever been committed by that, er, sort of…non-faith.”

“I must admit,” Temple said in a small voice quite atypical for her. “I’m something of a fallen-away UU.”

While Father Hernandez contemplated how one could be “fallen-away” from a faith that did not even require acknowledgement there was a God, Matt again intervened.

“So there’s still hope, Father.”

The priest threw up his hands. “My failure to keep up with my times before caused a lamentable lapse on my part in the recent past. Who am I to judge, as our Pope Francis has said with commendable humility.”

He glanced at Temple with a smile. “I first remember you bringing your black cat to the blessing of the animals here. St. Francis was a joyous saint, the patron of all living things. When I heard the new pope had taken that name I knew a new era was upon us. A badly needed era.

“Go in peace and in your own time, my children. OLG and I are at your service. We will schedule for your needs and I will try to live up to your faith in each other and me.”

“Wow,” Temple said as they walked down the stone steps on the way out, “a quickie church wedding. His conversion to our cause almost made me cry. We kind of ran roughshod over him.”

“That’s the way the future goes. Are you sure can pull off a wedding by next Friday?” Matt asked.

“You’d be surprised. I’ve got the Crystal Phoenix’s crack wedding team behind me. The groom just has to show up there to be fitted for your tux in the next four days. How does a honeymoon in San Diego sound?”

“Great. I’ll notify Letitia.” Matt liked the idea that keeping Temple busy and dealing with other people and them getting out of town for a while would cool down the Woody stalking situation. Temple and her impetuosity train were gearing up to full speed and he was ready to stop worrying and enjoy the ride.

“Oh, do you have the rings?” she asked.

“I bought them at the same time I bought your engagement ring. You have two guard rings and I have the usual tasteful but boring gold band.”

“Really! You were that sure of me!”

“I was in an agony of doubt, even about the appropriateness of rubies,” he said, taking her hand and watching the rubies and diamonds flash in the sunlight. “The three rings were a wedding set, so I decided to be optimistic.”

“I can’t wait to see them. At the ceremony. Just get me to the church in time.”

Matt grabbed her hand and they ran down the last four steps, breathless and laughing at the bottom.

“You know,” Temple said, gazing around the quiet neighborhood. “Let’s peek in at the church again. It’s been a while since I’ve been a customer.”

“What a way to put it! This way, ma’am.”

When they stood before the brick-and-stone façade, Temple tilted her head back. “The church building seems smaller than I remembered, but there are more steps to climb.”

“And to run down to our waiting Gangsters limo,” Matt said.

“I wonder which model they’ll choose for us?”

“You’re not ordering a certain one?”

“No. I want to be surprised,” Temple said, extending a hand to lead him up the steps.

Going through the heavy wooden front doors immersed them in a cool, dim silent, soaring space. Their footsteps broke the skin of that silence and yet also empowered it.

Matt noticed that Temple dropped her voice to a whisper without thinking. “Look. I’d forgotten how the sunlight shattered the stained glass windows into a multi-color kaleidoscope effect on the floor and pews. like tiny jewels dissolving on the tiles.”

“You UUs miss out on a lot of special effects,” Matt teased her.

“Did I ever miss out. I see I am Goldilocks. Our Lady of Guadalupe is not too big or too small, but just my size. Like the amazing gown I’ve found, which will be your surprise.”

“I’ve never been surprised by the amazing things you accomplish,” Matt said.

They approached the altar on the center aisle.

Said Temple, slowing down to play the part. “I have to make the long, slow approach in perfect time to the music while you slink onstage with a few steps from the sidelines.”

“At least I’m not going to be imported by a Fontana Brother in a pet carrier, like our esteemed Ring Bearer.”

“Poor Louie. He so hates that collar! Still, he looks so handsome in white bow-tie and tails, as you will.”

Temple studied the sanctuary as she would a stage set, which amused Matt.

“Four steps up to the altar,” she muttered. “Lots of space for our small wedding party to stand. And there’s Our Lady of Guadalupe at the back behind and above everything, with her image framed in a fretwork of gold leaf.”

Temple turned to Matt as if he were a docent. “She’s a darker skinned Central American native interpretation of the Virgin Mary, isn’t she?”

Matt nodded. “The legend and the image’s seventeenth-century origins have been controversial, but she appeared to a poor peasant, first speaking an Aztec language, it was said, so she bridged the native Indians and conquering Spaniards. That’s why her Mexico City church is the third most visited sacred site in the world.”

“I love her serene face and star-spangled blue-green cloak. So that’s why the travertine of the altar has inset designs of carnelian and turquoise, really common in Mexican jewelry to this day. And the hanging red light above?”

“The sanctuary lamp,” he explained. “It burns forever, showing that a consecrated host is housed in the tabernacle behind the altar. Listen, I’m sure Father Hernandez would be ecstatic to have me explain Catholicism 101 to you, but I’m also sure that busy brain of yours has many secular details to attend to.”

And he had his own underlying worries that were in danger of ruining the happiest time of his life.

“Yes, we should go,” Temple said. “This will be a small and intimate wedding, but it will have a stunning After Party.” She took Matt’s hand. “I’ve invited both Winslow brothers and their wives, so both your parents will be there, known only to us four, of course.”

“Temple!” Matt turned away.