Ann Martin - Kristy's Big Day

smooch, I might add), and people were beginning to rise from their seats with congratulations.

The ceremony was over.

I dared to turn around.

MorbiddaDestiny was standing behind me in full black dress, with her snapping eyes and herfrazzly ,witchy hair.

"Themagics !"Karen wailed. "Themagics are going to crash!"

MorbiddaDestiny looked at Karen, puzzled. Then she turned to me. "I brought the bride and groom something," she said, holding out a box.

"Don't take it!" Karen cried. "It's a wedding spell! It's a- "

A hand was clapped over Karen's mouth. Watson had broken away from the celebrating.

"Why, thank you, Mrs. Porter," he said, accepting the box with one hand, while keeping his other hand over Karen's mouth. "That's very nice of you. Won't you join the guests for somerefreshm -Ow! "

Karen had tried to bite her father's hand. "Daddy- "

I pulled Karen away. Watson regained his composure, and Mrs. Porter did stay at the party for a while. (Karen ran in the house and wouldn't come out until she was gone.}

Later, the caterer wheeled out the wedding cake. The guests gathered around to watch Mom and Watson cut the first slice. They did it together, both pressing down on the cake-cutter. Then they each took a bite of cake, their wrists intertwined. I could see their wedding rings shining in the sunlight.

They're joined, I thought. They're part of each other, and our families have come together to be part of each other, too.

I felt tears spring to my eyes.

And at that moment, I knew what to give Mom and my stepfather.

Chapter 14.

"Good-bye! Good-bye!"

One after another, our relatives' station wagons pulled away from Watson's house. The wedding was over, the guests were gone, and now our family was leaving, too.

"See you, Luke! 'Bye, Emma! Behave yourself.Bye-bye, Beth!"

TheMeiners were gone.

"Take care of your leg, Ashley! 'Bye, Peter! 'Bye, Grace!"

"May the force be withyou! " (That was David Michael saying good-bye to Berk.)

The Millers were gone.

A friend of Watson's pulled up, picked up Karen and Andrew to take them to their mother's, and then they were gone.

Last to leave were Mom and Watson. They were going to spend their honeymoon at a little inn inVermont . My brothers and I would be on our own for a week!

Before Mom got in the car, she ran through a list of last-minute instructions.

"Don't forget to walk Louie before you go to bed. And don't forget to change his water. And lock up the house if you're all going to be out. Charlie, you're in charge. David Michael, remember your vitamins."

"Aw, Mom."

"And Sam- "

"Mom, Mom, we know even/thing," I said. "Trust us. We won't leave the burners on- "

"Oh, I hadn't even thought of that," exclaimed Mom.

" -and we'll run the dishwasher, and we know where the emergency money is."

"And I'll be on call," spoke upNannie , who was standing behind us.Nannie was going to drop my brothers and me off at our house, and then go home. She looked tired.

"Honey, let's go," said Watson.

"Oh ... all right." Mom tried to hug all of us at once.

I kissed Watson on the cheek and he told me I'd been a beautiful bridesmaid.

Two minutes later, Mom and Watson were gone, too. Watson honked the horn all the way down the street.

WhenNannie dropped Charlie, Sam,David

Michael, and me off, we waved to her as the Pink Clinker hummed down the street. Then we went inside, and all four of us collapsed on the floor in the living room. Louie joined us, lolling on his back.

Just when I thought every last one of my brothers was asleep, the silence was interrupted by a snort of laughter from Charlie. Then he said in a deep voice, "All right, you guys. You heard Mom. I'm in charge. These are the house rules."

I raised my eyebrows. Leave it to Charlie to let a little responsibility go to his head.

"Dinner every night will be pizza. Everyone must go to bed an hour later than usual. Sam, no eating in the kitchen; food is permitted only in front of the TV set while it's on. Kristy, you must, I repeat must, spend three hours a day talking on the phone. David Michael, go through the TV Guide and make sure you don't miss a single cartoon show."

"Do I still have to take my vitamins?" he asked, inspired.

"Yes," replied Charlie. "Don't press your luck."

The four of us were laughing hysterically. It was a good thing, because I'd been just about ready to leak a few tears over the wedding,

andMom's being gone and all.

Instead, when we recovered from Charlie's rules, I went to my room and began working on my idea for the present. Eventually I'd need Claudia's help, but I might as well get my thoughts together before I talked to her. I looked through ourencyclopedia for information on family trees. I doodled a bit. I hoped I would have the present ready by the time my mother and stepfather came back.

That night, before David Michael went to bed, he stuck his head in my room and said, "Hey, Kristy, I know what to give Mom and Watson."

"What?" I asked.

"Goldfish," he replied.

And that's exactly what he did give them.

The next day, I talked to Claudia about my idea. I went over to her house so we could look at her art supplies.

"See? It'll show both families," I said, "and how they became one. But I need help with the design. And I need you to draw a bow and show me how to make those little flowers you drew on that art project for Mr.Fineman last year."

"Or maybe you should use a real bow," suggested Claudia.

"Oh, that's an idea! And maybe the background could be a really pretty piece of wallpaper or something."

Claudia and I bent busily over our work.

We were interrupted later by the sound of the doorbell. That was followed by the sound of feet - lots of them - running up the stairs. Stacey, Dawn, and Mary Anne appeared in the doorway to Claudia's room.

"Hi, you guys!" said Dawn. "We were looking for you."

"Look what I've got," said Stacey."Pictures." She held out a fat envelope. "They're from the wedding. Mom and I took them to that one-hour developing place downtown. It was open this morning."

"Ooh!" I shrieked. "Let's see."

Claudia and I abandoned our project. The five of us plunked down on the floor, and my friends peered over my shoulders as I opened the envelope.

"There you are, getting ready to walk up the aisle," said Stacey. "And there you are, walking up the aisle."

"Look at the expression on my face!" I cried.

"You look so nervous!" said Mary Anne.

"No, she looks like she's going to cry!" exclaimed Dawn.

"Both, I think," I said. "Gosh, the dress looks pretty, though, doesn't it?"

"Beautiful."

"Perfect."

"Where is it now?"

"What are you going to do with it?"

We were all talking at once.

"It's in my closet in a plastic bag," I told them. "I don't know what I'm going to do with it. I'll probably outgrow it pretty soon."

"Oh, don't!" wailed Mary Anne. "If you start growing, then I'll be the class shrimp."

"Hey, there's Mom and Watson kissing!" I exclaimed. "Stacey, I can't believe you took a picture of them doing that!"

Stacey grinned slyly. "I thought you'd want the moment captured forever."

I poked her.

"There'sKaren and you and Watson andMorbidda Destiny," said Mary Anne softly. She shuddered.

"It's hard to believeMor - Mrs. Porter is going to be myneighbor soon," I whispered. I quickly stuck the photo on the bottom of the pile. "Here are Mom and Watson cutting the cake," I said, looking at the next picture. "That's a great photo, Stacey. Hey, you guys,

that'swhat gave me the idea for a wedding present for Mom and Watson."

"What is?" asked Stacey.

"Mom and Watson, when they linked their wrists like that and stuff.Like in the picture. I thought of how their coming together brought our families together to make another different family. And then I thought I could make them a sort of family tree to show the new family. Claudia's helping me. See what we're going to do?"