Julia 03 - Miss Julia Throws a Wedding Read Online Free

for the kitchen phone. “You’re just going to have to make the sacrifice and put off your move until this wedding’s over. I’m going to need you, and Little Lloyd, too. In fact, I’m not sure I can do it in this short amount of time if you’re not here to help me.”
    “Wel-l-l,” she said, her eyes darting around. “I guess I could. I mean, it’s only a week, so maybe J.D. won’t mind.”
    I could’ve cared less whether Mr. Pickens minded or not. This wedding was having added benefits, as far as I was concerned.
    As Coleman came back into the room, he said, “Binkie, Miss Julia, sorry to break this up, but I have to go. They’re calling everybody back on duty—a little problem at the jail. Come on, sweetheart, I’ll drop you off and get on down there.”
    “Wait, wait,” I said, as Binkie got up from the sofa and followed him to the door. “We have to discuss, oh, I don’t know what all, a million things. Come to dinner tomorrow night, and we’ll get it all done then. And bring your invitation lists and, Binkie, both of you need to ask somebody to stand up with you. That’s the law, you know; you have to have two witnesses.”
    They were on the porch by that time, but Coleman turned back. “Lord, Miss Julia,” he said with a teasing smile, “if the two of us don’t know the law, I don’t know who does.”

Chapter 3
     
     
    “A week!” I turned back to Lillian and Hazel Marie and threw up my hands. “Have you ever heard of such a thing? Well, let’s get started; every minute counts. Hazel Marie, when you talk to Mr. Pickens, invite him for tomorrow night. Now, let’s get a pad and pencil and start making a list.”
    “What kind of list?”
    But my mind had already run ahead. “I’d better get over to the church before that associate pastor goes home. Lance Petree, have you ever heard of such a name? What was his mother thinking of, I ask you. Lillian, you help Hazel Marie think of all we need to do, and I’ll go over and reserve the chapel for Friday night. Oh, I know, let’s do it Saturday afternoon. An afternoon wedding would be nice, don’t you think? Yes, I like that, and Binkie could get a good night’s rest beforehand. And people could wear tea-length, the women, I mean. Oh, Lillian, we’ve got to think about the reception. Where’ll we have that?”
    “We could have it here,” Hazel Marie said, without giving one thought to the jumble of construction across the street that our guests would be subjected to.
    “I wish we could,” I said. “But the Inn in the Pines would be easier on us, and it doesn’t have an eyesore to deal with. Well, I’m going to run on over and get this wedding on Pastor Petree’s dance card.”
    As I crossed the street, I fumed at Pastor Ledbetter forbeing off in a foreign land, leaving a beginner in his place. Untried ministers of the Gospel didn’t generally worry me since I was always willing to give them a chance, but this one was hardly to my taste. Too young, for one thing. And too pious, for another. I couldn’t say much for his sermons, either, since they sounded like academic papers he’d gotten A’s on in seminary. He’d stand up there behind the pulpit and read them off to us, word by word. And if he ever looked out at the congregation, his pale complexion turned red from the neck up and he’d quickly look down at his paper again, losing his place in the process.
    Well, I thought, as I walked down the sidewalk past that soon-to-be-permanent eyesore, one preacher’s as good as another for my present purpose. I paid little mind to the workmen crowding the sidewalk, wiping dirt and sweat from their faces and preparing to leave for the day. With the noise level of the construction work easing off, the pigeons that roosted in the steeple were circling the church overhead. I could hear the flutter of their wings as they came in for a landing and congregated on the roof before slipping through the louvers on the steeple for the night.