- Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
Date: Saturday, August 11, 2001
- sue hantak <hantaks@mtco.com>
(permission to archive)
One couldn't help but
notice the stark contrast between a wedding in recent times compared
to another one about 20 years and a million dollars apart...
Opposite Ends of the Spectrum
by Suejue
When she heard the familiar voices engaged in a familiar disagreement
approaching, Mildred hurriedly shoved the magazine under some
folders on the top of the reception desk.
Remington extracted the tabloid out from its hiding spot. "Another
alien baby, Mildred or is it man eats own foot this time?"
"Everyone is entitled to a break now and again," Mildred
defended.
She tried to snatch the paper back from Mr. Steele, but he stepped
away and began reading the headline, "Price Tag of Fairy
Tale Celebrity Wedding Rumored to be a Mil. Hmmmph, I could think
of a lot better ways to spend a million dollars."
"Can I help it if I'm a hopeless romantic?" She once
again reached up to retrieve it, but this time Laura grabbed
it to take a closer look.
"Oh good Lord, what could possibly make a wedding cost a
million dollars, renting the Taj Mahal?" Laura scoffed in
disbelief.
"Your close, Miss Holt, it was castle in Ireland."
Laura opened to the directed page and began to read, "The
groom pulled out all the stops for his lovely princess insisting
on only the best of everything. His grand efforts were duly noted
when his bride beamed, 'All of my dreams have come true and now
I have my Prince Charming'. Guests too were in awe of the spectacle.
One in attendance commented, 'This is like a dream, the romance
most could only imagine."
Laura rolled her eyes and folded the paper back, "Makes
you wonder if they are getting married or just staging a PR event
to grab some headlines." Just before she handed it back
to Mildred she assessed the photo on the cover, "Pretty
dress, though." Laura commented with a hint of sadness.
Laura's mood quickly bounced back to a more cheerful tone and
announced, "Well I have to call back Mr. Perkins. If you
two will excuse me..."
Before Mr. Steele could slip into his own office, Mildred jumped
up from her chair and placed her hand on his arm to stop him,
"Did you see that?"
"See what Mildred?"
"That look....and the way she said 'pretty dress, though.'"
"Mildred what are you getting at?"
If she could, she would have grabbed his ear like a unruly child,
but dragged him into his office by the sleeve of his coat instead.
"I think you need to redo that fifty cent wedding you had
and give Miss Holt the wedding she deserves."
Remington shook his arm loose and smoothed the fabric of his
suitcoat. "I think I hear Laura calling." He dodged.
"Don't you want to make her happy?" She no longer had
a grip on him, but had him trapped nonetheless.
"Perhaps Mr. Perkins needs my assistance," Remington
tried to wiggle away a second time.
"Don't you love her?" Mildred persisted
Remington looked at her intently and in a stern, no-nonsense,
lets-drop-it tone, he stated, "Mildred, it's not that simple."
Just then Laura came through the connecting door, sensing the
awkward silence between the two of them. "Am I interrupting
something?"
Just as Laura had done earlier, Remington put on a devil-may-care
smile, "No, just our Miss Krebs gushing on about that outlandish
wedding affair."
"If you could pull yourself away from the hoopla, Mr. Steele,
Mr. Perkins requests the honor of our presence at his office."
*******************************************************
Later that evening Laura pulled a stack of files from her portfolio
with the intent of finishing some paperwork. A few removed from
the top revealed Mildred's magazine wedged in between. An accident?
Highly unlikely. A Krebs-like kick in the pants? Highly likely.
With Remington out of sight for the moment, Laura began to once
again thumb through the glossy pages. The steadfast cynic allowed
herself to be momentarily swept into the idyllic fantasy displayed
among the pages in front of her eyes. Unlike Mildred, she didn't
hear him coming in time to shove the rag back into the pile.
Remington placed a glass of wine on the table near her.
Startled, Laura weakly explained, "It...taah ummm, must've
got mixed in with the files on her desk." She laughingly
tossed it aside and straightened up grabbing a file from the
stack.
Was Mildred right? He scoffed at the notion earlier in the day
that earlier in the day that Laura wanted any of the trappings
that this magazine was exclusively glamorizing. The agreement
to let the chips fall apparently meant to never talk about it.
In the few months since that fateful day, she never made any
statements happy or otherwise. And it wasn't like Laura to hold
in the 'otherwise'.
Remington picked it up and began to flip through it, making seemingly
casual remarks to gauge Laura's reaction.
"Castle looks a bit like Ashford, don't you think?"
"Hmmm" Laura nodded without looking up.
"Nice family photo."
"You mean the one with the couple's children?"
Remington read the caption, "Jovial Groom with son, Dillon,
age four and newborn, Perry in his arms."
"Two kids already? I think they did something backwards."
Laura drolly remarked while jotting something down.
"Well at least we did that part right, eh?"
That comment got her attention, "What part?"
"You know, getting married... before being blessed with
any wee ones."
Laura let some agitation slip into her response, "How comforting
Mr. Steele. Just like you to put a positive spin on that disaster
the INS narrowly determined a wedding. And just for the record,
we are not really married, and there will be no wee ones either."
Given her flicker of temper, he judged just a few more, is all
it would take. He read once again from the caption of another
photo, "Matching platinum wedding bands with secret inscriptions
only known to the happy couple were exchanged in the ceremony."
She closed the file in her hands with more force than necessary
and seized the next one with vengeful purpose. He could swear
her teeth were clenched.
He continued, "During the festive reception, they danced
under the stars, in blissful harmony, intermittent with affectionate
kisses."
Laura slapped the file on the table, "What are you doing?"
"What's that?" he feigned ignorance.
"You and this, this... wedding business. Are you having
fun? Do you enjoy throwing this in my face? ... Reminding me
that my own wedding was so...so unlike what a wedding is suppose
to be? .... Reminding me that you never wanted to marry me in
the first place? (she clapped) Well Bravo, Mr. Steele! You've
succeeded admirably. Now that we are through with the entertainment
portion of the evening, would you mind if I got back to work?"
Oh dear that wasn't what he had in mind. He thought at some point
she would simply confess wanting to get married in a similar,
but far less expensive, manner.
"Laura, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to upset you. C'mere."
He got up and extended a hand to her. She warily obliged.
He led her by the hand behind the sofa enroute to what Laura
thought was the bedroom. "Mr. Steele, if you are just picking
a fight with me in hopes to make up...."
He led her out to the balcony, "I thought we could dance
under the stars, in blissful harmony, intermittent with affectionate
kisses." His arms slipped around her waist and he began
to sway even without any music.
"That won't solve the problem."
"Laura, I can't give you a million dollar wedding."
"I don't want the stars, blissful harmony, or a million
dollar wedding." She pulled out of his embrace.
"What do you want?"
"I want to know that this isn't just a two year prison stretch
for you. I want to know that you're not marking the days off
on some calendar somewhere. I want you to say that you would
have asked me."
"Ask you? I'm lost Laura, ask you what?"
"On the street that day, when you said 'would you have married
me' and I said 'no', and then you said, 'and I wouldn't have
asked'".
"Well how do you think that makes me feel? Don't you think
I wanted you to say yes if I would've asked?"
They stared at each other in a rare moment of unabashed honesty.
Both saying what they had held in for so long. Both not knowing
what to say next.
Laura dipped her toe in first, "Now what do we do?"
"For starters, we throw away that ridiculous magazine..."
"And then..."
"Well I liked your idea about going into the bedroom and
making up."
The End
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