The Lassiters Ch. 13 A Wedding

If you need to reacquaint your self with David and Barbara check out the John Lassiter Family tab on the home page~~Author

David Lassiter, John and Melora's second child, had been dating Barbara Bel Geddes for quite a while now; ever since they'd met at the block party in front of Brian Ottomas' house a few years ago. The moment they cast eyes upon each other it was on.

David had been a bachelor--pretty much a swinging one--for a long time. He had his own house, very apt for his purposes. He'd retired from the police force recently and, although he had plenty of money, he was looking around for something else to do. He just didn't know what that would be yet.

Barbara was about ten years younger than him and had moved to Pleasantview several years before. She was working as a receptionist at a health spa in Bluewater Village but decided to go to beauty school so she could open her own shop. She had recently purchased one and, although she loved doing hair and makeup, the results did seem to be a little...uneven. She always made it a "no charge" when things went wrong, but naturally, the customer was upset just the same. On one particular occasion when this happened, she went out to Le Magnifique International Restaurant afterward to get calmed down, have a nice dinner and try to forget about it and there was the nightmarishly coiffed patron from earlier in the day, glaring at her. It was most uncomfortable she told David later.

"She's just disappointed because she thought she'd come out looking as beautiful as you do. Not a chance," he told her and kissed her forehead.

"No, David. She just didn't want to look bizarre. I swear I don't know what happened--it's like my scissors went spastic or something. Maybe I've made a mistake with this whole thing."

"You just need to give it time. Maybe you could reduce your prices until you get a little more...polished? It wouldn't be for long. You're learning every day."

"Now see how diplomatic and encouraging you are?" she smiled, "That's one of the things I love about you."

 

 

David was a dream to have around anyway, since he'd lived alone for years he had no problem whatsoever with cooking and cleaning. And both of them loved games of all kinds.They both kept their respective houses, but spent the weekends at Barbara's as a rule. David had the basketball court at his place, but Barbara had a games room, her art studio and a large pool. She also had a greenhouse and needed to be able to work on it every day. 

They had much in common...they both dearly loved games.

And they had a very potent physical reaction to each other; it was true chemistry...

The salon was coming along better. However she thought she needed more experience and worked on doing freebies at her house, just for the practice.

 Both David and Barbara also shared an interest in sports and physical fitness.

And they shared more games...and more chemistry...

When Barbara got her bird, Baretta, she wondered how David would relate to it, but she needn't have worried. David mostly got along with everyone, animals included. Baretta tended to be constantly jabbering in complaint even though he got lots of attention, but David found it easy enough to read the newspaper while the bird was venting.

"David, I know he's a bit of a pest. You're not going to be nice to him when I'm here and then wring his neck when I'm off shopping, are you?" she worried.

"Yeah, I'm a homicidal man when it comes to birds, guess you'll just have to stay here with me all the time," he grinned, "I can't be trusted."

 

When she continued to look at him apprehensively he assured her,

"Honey, I love animals, even the mouthy ones. Give me a scrappy pet any day. But if he gives me too much trouble I can always give him a swirly."

"A swirly?"

"Yeah, you flush the toilet and hold his little head in there for just a couple seconds. He'll calm right down."

"David!"

He laughed outright,

"I'm kidding, I'm promise you. Now go spend some money."

David wanted to get married. They'd talked about it on and off for over a year. Barbara would look at her oh-so-feminine bedroom with one end devoted to sewing and the other end dominated by her vanity dresser full of makeup and cologne and try to picture sharing it full time with him. She knew she loved him very much, but could she adjust to living with him? With anyone, for that matter. Had she become too set in her ways?

A romantic night at Red's Hideout decided her. It was kind of a dive, but safe enough on her man's arm...and they loved the relaxed atmosphere. Still it could get a little crazy on the weekends so they chose a Monday night. There was hardly anyone there and that was fine with them. They didn't really care about the food. If they had they'd probably have gone to another place. Red had good comfort food, but it was mainly a hamburger joint. But it was the first place they'd gone to when they began dating. It had been an impromptu date anyway, still Barbara was sentimental and liked to go back there from time to time.

David made everything more fun, anyway. He was a good man and she didn't want to be without him; by now she couldn't even imagine that. But she did have a couple hoops for him to jump through; one had been Baretta. And now she told him that if they married she wanted them to live at her place, not vice versa. How would David feel about making her house their home? 

"No problem, I'll put my place on the market tomorrow, so don't think you're going to get out of marrying me that way, honey."

"I don't want to get out of it, you handsome, determined man. I just want to be upfront--I don't want to mislead you. Because the truth of it is I'm crazy about you and so, where's that ring?"

David grinned and put it on her finger; he'd been carrying it around for about 18 months. So now they were officially engaged and began to talk about their wedding plans. Now that they'd made up their minds they wanted to get on with the rest of their life together.

David kissed his bachelor pad goodbye without blinking...it went on the market the next day, just as he'd said.

David's mother, Melora, was disappointed to learn they would not be using the Lassiter home for the wedding, but understood. David had not lived at home in years and years, Barbara had been on her own for a long time, too. The wedding would be at Barbara's house and it would be a small wedding with just the immediate family. Barbara was an only child born to parents when in their late forties. Sadly they had both died within a couple years of each other and that had been before she even met David. So immediate family meant the Lassiters.

Melora was sad that, with the big place they had, none of the children had been married there. She'd held out hope for David until now. His older sister Grace had eloped as had his younger brother, Trey, when it came time for them to marry. Only little sister, Lori, had a traditional wedding and it had not been at the Lassiter home, but at the Ferguson home. Still she was happy about him marrying at last and thought Barbara was going to be a wonderful wife.

Barbara and David planned on the wedding itself being out of doors but the party afterward would be indoors since it was high summer and very hot. To this end she had a moving van take away all the furniture from the living room and dining room for the weekend. Then she decorated both rooms for after the wedding and David took care of the yard and put up a wedding bower in the side yard. The whole family came and it was quite exciting.

Melora commented to her husband, John, how beautiful Barbara looked in her antique lace wedding gown and that David had never looked more handsome.

All the siblings were there including a quite pregnant Grace. She and her husband, Devon, had finally decided they wanted a child...or since twins ran in the family...possibly two children. Trey came with his wife, Chelsea. Lori and Harvey had left their toddler twins in the care of Harvey's parents so they could enjoy the party.

Left to right, David's mother, Melora Lassiter, Devon and Grace Brecht, Chelsea and Trey Lassiter, Lori and Harvey Ferguson and David's father, John Lassiter

The living room was decorated beautifully with antique demi-chandeliers, wedding bells and wedding rings on the wall. Overhead were dazzling firefly chandeliers. Trey was the first to toast the wedding couple.

Left to right:  John, Trey, Lori and Chelsea with David and Barbara

The cake was a golden butter cake with white chocolate frosting and beautiful lavender flowers and there was a groom's cake made by Lori, her "Decadent Chocolate Cake" recipe. When she was asked why she had candles on the cake and why so many Lori grinned,

"Oh, those are to commemorate all the years he was a bachelor and that those days are over. Thank goodness."

They enjoyed the cake in the dining room but it was so crowded there that it was making Grace slightly claustrophobic so she went back to the living room to eat her portion.

                        Lori, John and Harvey           Melora, Lori and John

                    Harvey, Chelsea and the bride             Grace

                      The groom, his brother-in-law, Devon and his mother

The buffet included turkey, Harvey's all time favorite food. Everyone was up enjoying the music and he was still chowing down.

"I want to dance!" Lori fretted.

"Be right there," he mumbled, "Honey, this is some good stuffing--not as good as yours of course."

"Oh, Harvey," she pouted.

John and Melora had always danced well together, people used to remark on it. Now there was something in the look that passed between them. This was their last child getting married. David was one whom Melora had despaired would ever settle down. She very much approved of Barbara. All these things she was thinking and John knew them. She didn't have to speak and neither did he. They knew each other to the ground after this long marriage. Perhaps he'd forgotten that. But he hadn't forgot how she'd looked on her own wedding day so many years ago. When he'd been the happiest man in the world and thought that all he could ever want was her.

John saw his oldest son gazing into the eyes of his bride and hoped that they would they be as happy as he and Melora had been. And certainly he hoped David would never be as stupid as he, John, had been recently.

"What are we going out here for?" Lori asked as Harvey led her out to the small back porch.

"It's crowded in there. And maybe I want to be alone with you so I can ravish you in privacy," he pulled her into his arms for a dance as she giggled, "No laughing, Brat. No laughing when I'm being romantic. It makes me self-conscious."

"Yes, Harvey," she smiled and gently nibbled his earlobe,"I'll be good."

"Mm, you always are."

Everyone, it seemed, was feeling amorous at this wedding, including Devon and Grace. They had been working on renovating their small house to handle a baby, but it was nearly done. Trey and Chelsea had ducked out early so it was assumed they were feeling entirely too romantic for polite company.

Finally the last guest had departed and David and Barbara could be alone. As they cuddled on the bed they could hear Baretta squawking upstairs where his cage had been moved during the wedding.

"I'll bring him back down in the morning, I promise," David shrugged, "He'll just have to wait because I have other things on my mind right now..."

Much later Barbara looked around her room and felt guilty,

"I know I need to fix this room up so it looks like a master bedroom and not a woman's boudoir. I promise I'll do it soon."

"Honey, you don't have to change your bedroom for me; I have no problem with blue plaid."

"But a white four-poster?"

"I can live with that, it's antique, right?" he paused meaningfully and teased, "Now, your pink flowered bathroom..."

"Yeah," she said, nestling her head on his shoulder, "That pink flowered bathroom is history."

It was already easier than she'd thought possible to make adjustments for her new husband. And so worth it.

Next blog update: The Lassiters Ch. 14 Endings Always Come Too Fast