Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 1 The Beginning

Harvey's mother, Madeleine, had made a lovely suite for Harvey and Lori out of his and Holly’s old bedrooms. Holly’s large room became their bedroom with a large attached bathroom. Harvey’s old room became their living room/game room. Right next to it was Harvey’s old bathroom. There was also an exercise room with two exercise machines. It really gave them a lot of privacy. When she came to visit, Lori couldn’t get over all the work that had gone into the transformation. Harvey was already using the rooms since his bedroom had been made over into their small "living room".

The day of the wedding Harvey, by tradition, was not supposed to see Lori before the ceremony so he was banished to his parents’ room/bathroom when it came time for him to get ready. Lori arrived early with her gown in a big box and got ready in their bedroom with the adjoining bathroom; Melanie came upstairs to help her out. For her big day Lori styled her hair just as she wore it at sixteen. This was a special request from Harvey and she was happy to please him.

The day was sunny as they met at the wedding arch. (There was one wedding crasher, a young woman in a black and white dress that no one seemed to know. However; she was quiet so they said nothing. She wondered off after the ceremony and hung around the greenhouse for some reason and eventually disappeared.) After the ceremony, Harvey leaned Lori back in his arms and kissed her thoroughly. “Happiest groom I’ve seen in some time,” John mentioned with a grin to Melora after the ceremony.

Some of Lori and Harvey’s friends were there; two newlywed couples and one engaged couple. Harvey’s sister Holly and her husband Andy were in attendance; Lori’s brother Trey and his new wife, Chelsea came also; and the engaged couple were Melanie and Gareth, his long curly hair recently cut short so he could look more professional. Harvey’s kid sister, Debbie, wore a lovely silver gown. Lori’s parents and Harvey’s dad were resplendent in their best clothes, but for some reason Madeleine never put on her mother of the groom gown she’d chosen. Perhaps it was because, ever the homemaker, she ended up acting as the caterer’s server. Perhaps she simply ran out of time. It made it difficult for the wedding photographer, though. He kept trying to hide her behind people.

When it came time for the cake-cutting, Lori acted most unlike herself when she suddenly shoved wedding cake halfway down Harvey’s throat. After choking for a second he chuckled with good will, but spent the next couple minutes trying to get icing out of his eye. He thought with all the excitement Lori might possibly be a trifle manic today. He’d have to watch her on that. Gareth Caswell was looking at Harvey as if to say, “Told ya”.

There were many toasts to the couple and lots of people tapping their flutes musically with silverware. Harvey was always glad to oblige when it came to kissing his bride. He’d been waiting six years for this day.

Fortunately it did not rain but, what always seemed to be a problem in Pleasantview with summer weddings, did occur; people began to overheat and headed indoors to drink ice water. Some even grabbed a drink from Shep’s outdoor sink. No one passed out from heat stroke, so that was good. After they cooled down they enjoyed more cake and some of the buffet.

Because it was a morning into afternoon wedding Harvey and Lori had plenty of time to relax after all the guests left. They played some games in their combination living room/game room in their third floor suite.

Later on they gobbled a little of the leftover feast for supper, then said goodnight to Shep, Madeleine and Debbie and headed back upstairs. 

Once in their bedroom Harvey caught Lori up in his arms and swung her around. They snuggled on the bed, making sweet talk,

“I’ve always known you were beautiful, Brat, but when I saw you walking toward me across the lawn in your wedding gown, you blew me away; you looked just like a Princess,” Harvey whispered.

Lori looked down for a moment, rather soberly, but then smiled and said to Harvey,

“You’ll probably never give me a nicer compliment our whole married life, Sweetie. You know you are the dearest man, Harvey, the absolute dearest.”

They kissed happily, eventually completing the memorable day by making love.

Life at the Ferguson house was pleasant if a little more hectic than at the Lassiter house (at least when Lori had been the only child left living there).   Harvey had always been very close to his father, Shep, fishing with him at an early age. They took time now to spend some hours every day fishing together before Harvey and Lori moved out.  Lori kept in practice by using Holly’s old upright piano in the dining room. Harvey was having fun learning to paint. Lori loved watching him and always refrained from giving him hints and tips culled from her own experience painting since she was a teenager.

Their new house was to be ready in a couple months.  When they first viewed it they loved the downstairs but thought the two bedrooms on the first floor were rather small. However the upstairs was only partly finished with one bathroom and a separate room on one end with windows on two sides, they thought maybe it had been some sort of indoor greenhouse. This meant they could redesign most of 2^nd floor, which they did; making a master bedroom and master bath, an art studio where the greenhouse had been,  and a very small room where they put an exercise machine. On the other side of the master bedroom they had the large nursery which they planned to furnish for twins. Since both Harvey and Lori were twins, it seemed the most prudent in their case to be prepared. Then when it came to the smaller bedrooms downstairs they decided to knock through part of the living room wall to open it up to a music room for Lori with a beautiful white baby grand piano ( a gift from John and Melora). The other room was set up as a game room for Harvey. Both rooms could be reconverted to make bedrooms again if necessary. They had designed all this with the help of an architect, Benjamin Long he had optioned carpenters, electricians and whatever else was needed to do the actual remodeling. Harvey spent a lot of time over there with Mr. Long; he thought the architect’s work was fascinating. He’d been unhappy in the natural science career especially when he learned of Andy Lomax’s adventures wearing only fig leaves and so he’d tendered his resignation. Harvey was thinking now of going into the architectural field.

Meals were pretty lively affairs even when Debbie was not in attendance. Lori was growing very fond of Madeleine and Shep. When Lori and Harvey wanted privacy it was a simple matter to go up to their small living room to watch TV, play games, or have time to cuddle and talk. 

 

Then, unexpectedly, Benjamin called to say all the work was done on the house, all the inspections completed and Harvey and Lori could move in immediately. Harvey was excited and happy to hear this, but Lori suddenly had a few strange qualms. They talked in their bedroom about this.

“It’s just that your mother made this wonderful area for us, redecorated the rooms just to please us and, well, now we’re leaving so much sooner then we thought.”

Harvey teased, “Honey, I thought you’d be ecstatic to be able to play that baby grand!”

Lori smiled a little, but grew serious again, “It feels like we’re being so ungrateful…”

“Lori, they knew this was just a temporary thing. Besides, my mother loves redecorating! She just got done redecorating Debbie’s room, the art studio and the new game room downstairs.”

“But what will they do with all this room?”

Harvey shrugged, “They’ll think of something. They’re going to have to move after Debbie finishes school, anyway. The house is too big for two people who probably shouldn’t be going up and down two sets of stairs all the time anyway.”

“Oh, your father could never give up his pond and his greenhouse!” Lori sounded shocked.

“Well, honey, I don’t know what to tell you except the house we’re paying for is finished and we need to move in.”

“I know. You’re right.”

“When we’re in our own home I won’t have to cover your mouth with my hand like I had to on our wedding night,” Harvey laughed. Lori was a moaner. A loud one.

“I know, I know,” Lori said with embarrassment, “That was tacky of me.”

“No way! I loved it, you know that. I was just afraid my folks would come tearing up the stairs to see what was wrong.”

Lori giggled.

"And once we move in you’ll be able to arrange the new furniture just the way you like,” Harvey wheedled, “You’ll have a brand new kitchen just for yourself—no sharing—and we can try out the new hot tub.”

“That’s right—we’ve got a hot tub!” Lori exclaimed and rubbed her hands together, “Goody!” She was finally ready to move on.

They made the announcement to Madeleine and Shep, who understood completely. Debbie was of two minds…would her parents let her take over Lori and Harvey’s third floor suite for more privacy? On the other hand she had enjoyed having Lori around who liked a lot of the same things that Debbie did, like discussing hair and makeup and fabulous clothes plus their various favorite TV shows.

The morning they were leaving Harvey and Lori ended up eating breakfast alone; Debbie was at school; Shep out in the greenhouse and Madeleine cleaning the house, starting upstairs as usual. Lori always beat her to the punch by cleaning the bathrooms on their floor and making the bed, but Madeleine always checked anyway. Madeleine was compulsive; but kindhearted.

Lori seemed to be worried again about “walking out on the your parents” as she saw it,

“If only I knew they had some other purpose in mind for the rooms we used.”

“I’m sure they do, or they will,” Harvey said and smiled slightly, “Honey, you’ll just have to decide; either you want to live here with Mom and Dad or you want to move to the new house with your husband.  Because I’m not staying here, so make up your mind.”

That made Lori realize she was being a little silly and one thing she knew; Harvey was not going anywhere without her. 

 

Soon the taxi was there to pick them up and it delivered them to their new home. The house really was beautiful. Lori could not think why she had been stalling. There was a large living room with a dining area at the other end.  They’d put up portraits painted by Madeleine and Melora. The ones by Madeleine were one of Holly and Harvey in their playroom as toddlers and one of Harvey playing Mary Mack with a school chum. The one by Melora was the portrait of Lori at sixteen. It was Harvey’s favorite picture of her. Lori’s beautiful pristine baby grand waited for her in the room she’d chosen and painted her favorite color. Harvey still missed Horrible House a little so when they were choosing wall coverings and flooring for his game room, Lori suggested that he use the colors he’d liked so much in his bedroom there. So wood planks were on the walls and there was a black floor and love seat. Posters from his college days went up on the walls.  The art studio on the second floor was big enough for two easels and one pottery wheel.

 The living room:

Lori's music room:

  Art Studio (upstairs):

Master Bedroom & bath (upstairs):

Nursery for twins:

The heretofore mentioned hot tub:

 

That night they cuddled in their new bed in their new house and Harvey said, 

“Well, we’re in our own home, Brat; no noise constraints, so when we get a little frisky tonight—you can let’er rip!”                               

Harvey really did enjoy his new game room and Lori practiced often (on her days off) on her piano.  Another thing she was doing on her day off was making meals ahead just as her mother had done, that could be taken out and heated up at a later date. Especially on the nights she worked and was tired when she came She was doing quite well as a director these days. They had late lunches on her days off, now that it was fall and getting cooler, she often made grilled cheese or chili. Harvey and Lori still liked to play video games, too.  Harvey, was also learning to garden in the small greenhouse on the side of the yard.

 

First crop of tomatoes didn't do so well, so Harvey composted them and put in cucumbers, which weren't so fussy.

 Off to work as a blockbuster director:

 

The night they decided to check out their hot tub was a memorable one for Harvey and Lori. Good clean fun. Afterward they relaxed some more and talked.

“And can we still have our belated honeymoon on Twikkii Island, Harvey?”

“Sure, your parents said the chateau is just waiting for us.”

“Oh, I can’t wait to show you all the things I’ve told you about since I was a child,” Lori hugged him, “Only this time I’ll be able to share them with you!”

 

“You’d better get busy choosing the dates you want, Brat.”

 

They were very happy newlyweds, every night when Lori came home Harvey greeted her with a kiss. He was still looking for a job in the architectural field, but now Lori wanted him to wait until they had their honeymoon. 

Lori was reading a book on parenting the next evening after the hot tub adventure and Harvey joined her to read the paper.

“Wow,we’re just like married people,” Lori giggled.

“Honey, we ARE married people.”

Next update: Jenny Lomax-Hammond Ch. Married Amour Fou

Harvey and Lori Ferguson Ch. 2 Island Honeymoon

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