The First Part of Chapter 7: A Turn

It was the day of the dress fittings, a Friday, and James and Clarissa had taken the day off work to travel to Toronto in order to oversee the fittings, making sure everything went well. It would also be the first time that James and Katherine would be seeing Clarissa’s family, and both of them were interested in this. They met at the store at one in the afternoon, and upon seeing her brother and sister, Clarissa smiled brightly. “Jacob and Mary! It’s so nice to see you both,”

“It’s nice to see you too, Clarie,” said Jacob.

James observed Clarissa’s siblings. He thought they all looked quite handsome; they seemed to be a very tall family, for Alice was his height, and everyone else was taller than he was. Clarissa’s brother and sister were both taller than she was, and therefore taller than him, and shared her good looks, which attracted very handsome spouses. They were also very kind people, paying Clarissa and James many compliments on getting together, their good fortune, and everything else.

Alice thought James was a happy man, and the expressions of such happiness were not limited to just his smile; it was in his every movement. Perhaps it was the effect of being with someone as pretty as Clarissa is. Her sister-in-law, Mary, thought very much the same thing, and to her it was very clear that his happy personality had attracted Clarissa, as well as the fact that they were both economists. Things went off without a hitch, and the party, Clarissa’s two siblings, their spouses, the couple, and Katherine went to Margaret’s house, which they found empty. Jacob had a key, though, and went inside after having ordered a takeout dinner from Swiss Chalet.

Like Alice, Jacob considered James to be a buoyant and exuberant person, and had the aura of a sprightly individual, which would be very good for his younger sister. In all cases, he hoped that it would turn out differently from his older sister’s disastrous marriage to Ian; she was now happily living with her software programmer, Andrew.

“That was fun; it was really nice to see you and your dazzling whites,” said Mary, referring to her sister.

“That went well,” said Alice.

“Things are coming along quite nicely,” said Clarissa. “Jim and I will take those back home for storage until the big day,”

“By the way, are you staying overnight?”

“I guess we’ll have to. It’s rather too late to be travelling five hours on the highway.”

“Perhaps I should have packed pyjamas,” said James.

“Don’t worry about it,” said Clarissa. “Mom won’t need to know that we slept without clothes.” Katherine smiled at this.

“Clarissa, you’re making me excited; you wouldn’t want me to get distracted from my chicken, would you?”

“Of course not, darling.”

“Are your parents enjoying the cottage?”

Jacob answered, “Yes, very much. Now that they’re at the stage of their careers where
they are both winding down, they can spend a lot more time there. It’s become a lot cosier now that they’re spending more time there. It also helps that they both like Balsam Lake and all their neighbours. I think the presence of our baby Sean there would modify it. He can be a nightmare at times, that Sean. Right now, he’s probably refusing to let mom put his diapers on. There was one time last year when I was holding a cocktail party with some friends from university. It was after eight, and we had put him to bed. At nine or so, he came down, naked, as he had figured out how to remove his diapers, and screamed, ‘mommy, I need to go peepee!’”

“I bet your friends are still talking about that episode,”

“Oh yeah, they mention it all the time.”

“That’s nice to hear about your mom. My mom and dad have a small cabin west of Perth. It’s not that nice, though: too many mosquitoes.”

The rest of dinner passed without note, and everyone save James, Clarissa and Katherine soon left, as Clarissa’s siblings lived in Toronto and Kitchener and had less than an hour to drive, while James, Clarissa and Katherine would be up all night driving home, which was thankfully not the case.

“Here’s the key so you can lock up after you leave. Give it back at the wedding, okay?”

“Sure thing, Jacob, thanks,”

After Jacob and Alice, who were the last to leave, pulled out of the driveway, James unbuttoned his shirt as he walked upstairs, and Clarissa followed, as they got down to business. Katherine, meanwhile, slept on the pull-out couch in the basement.


The final week before the wedding was understandably hectic, as someone had to purchase the flowers, someone else must prepare the food, and last minute arrangements for who would be staying where needed to be sorted out. Clarissa had ordered the flowers, which were roses, and cheap to get at that time of year; she also ordered the food, while James commissioned the wedding cake, which was to be a butter cream––he liked rich desserts––decorated with elaborate whorls, icing flowers, and inscribed with the date of the wedding; the hardest part of it all was the cake’s size, the fact that it was summer, and that it was to be a butter cream, which meant the icing would be unstable and prone to melt in the summer heat or under a strong halogen light. The key to making it all go would be timing; it would have to be ready right at dinner, the hall would need to be appropriately air-conditioned, and that the icing was to go on the cake just two hours before serving meant the icing had to be spread swiftly and carefully, which entailed a good decorator of high skill. Given that the cake was usually the centrepiece of any wedding, it was crucial that this go well. There was also the issue of guests: who were they to invite had been the subject of much discussion between James and Clarissa, and it was fortunate that they had agreed on an answer shortly after Canada Day: fifty guests, their mutual friends, some neighbours, plus their immediate families, and their bosses.

On the morning of the wedding, James was adjusting his bow tie and had just put on his jacket when Margaret met him. Had James lived in Toronto, he would have met her sooner, but this was not the case; he was unshaven and struggling with his tie when they met, rather than some more fortuitous meeting. His first impression of his future mother-in-law was of a very imposing woman, and her tall stature certainly helped that impression along; she was wearing ballet flats, and stood a head and a half taller than himself; he estimated her height to be six feet and three inches. Her dress also helped: her clothing had a decidedly masculine edge, with a black velvet blazer, trousers, and a starched white shirt. She had a white silk puff in her breast pocket, and an elaborate beaded necklace in the shape of a necktie set off the whole ensemble.

“So, you’re the man who is to marry my daughter. Congratulations,” said Margaret, extending her hand. James thought she sounded like Clarissa, except her voice was slightly lower, and had an air of authority, also helped by her stature.

“Thank you, um…”

“Margaret,” They shook hands.

“Have you met Hyram, my husband? Somehow, I feel like there’s so much to do; I came here from Toronto, and of course, I didn’t do much in the planning, so I would very much like to help with any small details. Is the punch good? You’re all rehearsed? Everything’s ship-shape?”

“Yes, I don’t think we really need that much help; the planning went surprisingly smoothly, this being the height of wedding season and all.”

“That’s good, and you don’t need to worry about me for tonight,”

“Very well,”

“Clarie called, concerned about whether I should be driving home late, but don’t worry I’ll manage,”

“Thanks,”

He seems decent enough, thought Margaret. I wish he were clean-shaven; that would certainly improve things. I also prefer men who spare the cologne, she thought.

“Pardon?”

“Uh, nothing,” said Margaret.

This conversation seems to be getting awkward, thought James; we haven’t hugged yet, and that was the first thing that dad did when he saw Clarissa.

“Well, perhaps I shouldn’t be bothering you anymore. You’ll see me at the wedding; I’ll be the one crying in the pews.”

Well, this is awkward, thought James. She seems just a bit standoffish; I hope this won’t reflect our future relationship; I wouldn’t want to have a stereotypical mother-in-law.

If this is to be my son-in-law, I am underwhelmed, thought Margaret. He’s overweight; a tuxedo is not going to hide that, and she could see evidence in the larger-than-normal waistline, the fleshy cheeks, and the curve of his chin where it came down to his neck; that ought to be a sharp angle. I would be expecting someone with my daughter’s good looks––there’s no denying it, she is pretty––to find someone rather more imposing. Instead, I see someone who only comes up to my shoulders. Maybe she’s attracted to inner beauty, now that she’s getting married. To Margaret, inner beauty meant that the two would always agree.

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