Stormwatch – A Wedding in The Wood

© 2022 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. This story or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

Stormwatch

A Wedding in The Woods

Unfortunately, incidents occurred which caused the planned September wedding of Josh Gravely and Veronica von Köster to be pushed back a month. Luckily warm weather has prevailed and the woods of the southern tier of Western New York are vibrant and full of color and Veronica's Autumn wedding has become a Halloween themed wedding to be held in the plot of woods that Josh owns. A quick meeting with the members of the wedding party on the status of the ceremony is a great excuse for a dinner at the Groom's favorite Italian restaurant.

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Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant

22 Days before the wedding

Dr. Paul Jarecki and his wife Dr. Adrianna Jarecki were doing something unusual for them, they were driving their Transport van full of passengers, but not a single child was with them. They have twin 6-year-old girls and a ten-month-old boy but they're under the care of their governess tonight. Tonight, is a night to celebrate and help plan a wedding for friends. Paul is a cardiologist and his wife, who goes by Andi, is a pulmonologist. Paul kind of inherited a run-down network of car dealerships that his dad tried to build up and only saw success for his efforts near the end of his life. Paul took over and aggressively built the dealerships into one of the most successful string of dealerships in the state.

With them in the van is the engaged couple, Ephraim Gravely, known exclusively as Josh to everyone, and Veronica von Köster who is known as Ronnie only to her close friends and Nica only to Josh. Josh is a battle-scared veteran from the deep south who suffers from PTSD. His GI Bill education and a push from a friend landed him a job at Andalon.com in Orchard Park NY where he met and fell in love with Ronnie.

Veronica grew up in Erie PA, she and her sister Magda were raised by a single dad. Veronica and Magda started in youth beauty pageants and Veronica had great success and eventually became Miss Ohio while she was a student at Ohio State University. The scholarship money from the beauty pageants and a modeling career paid for her MBA and she was able to drop modeling and become a much sought-after businesswoman. It didn't take her long to find out that her success was due to her looks, and she ignored offers from large corporations and took a job as an assistant for the CEO of an adoption agency.

Her boss, Marj Friedman, was unlike other female executives that Veronica met in that she was a woman that wasn't expecting a lesbian affair and was happily married with seven children. Marj then asked Ronnie if she could take on added responsibility and soon Ronnie was the executive assistant for Marj's husband, the CEO of Andalon.com. Veronica found a home at Andalon.com, a small internet service provider that was aggressively moving into medical software and secure data storage. Her new boss was polite and fun to be with, he was a family man who kept his hands to himself and eagerly assisted Ronnie with her budding romance when she and Josh discovered each other.

Also in the van was Ronnie's dad, Mike von Köster, a retired welder with a heart condition. His savings were pilfered by his ex-wife and daughter Magda and they somehow got control of his pension leaving him penniless. Mike was kicked out of his retirement home, so he ended up living with Josh and Veronica. Riding next to Mike is Audrey Mitchell, a close friend of Veronica. Audrey's father was a VP at Andalon and a co-worker of Veronica but ran afoul of the law. Audrey offered to help out with Mike, and she fell in love with eldercare so much that she began taking nursing classes at the local community college in her spare time. She also fell in love with Mike and their relationship is an open secret among Josh and Veronica's close-knit community of friends.

"Ah, the old neighborhood," sighed Paul, as they pulled off US 33 and entered a wooded neighborhood of split-level houses. "Look familiar Josh?"

"Familiar? I've never been here," said Josh. "All this time we've been coming to Giardini's religiously and you've never taken me through this neighborhood." Before they met the women in their lives, Josh and Paul purchased property near each other as hobby farms near Springville NY and became friends. Josh's property used to be a CCC camp that was converted to a scout camp for a short while.

"Look at the style of buildings. Some of them have been changed a bit," said Paul's wife Andi.

"I know you've seen them before," insisted Paul.

I don't think so..." they were nice buildings, split level duplexes, they were built a bit odd, the front of the house actually overlooked the back yards, the back of the houses faced the little dead-end streets the houses were situated on. Was it an odd utopian designed community?

"Look again," urged Paul as they turned a corner.

"Wait..." the buildings they were now facing were different, big ugly, slab-sided two-story apartment buildings, four apartments in each building, something the Air Force called "four-plexes." Josh now saw something he didn't believe possible, "military family housing in Cheektowaga NY?"

"Yep, that building right there is where John and I grew up," said Paul as he pointed to a rundown four-plex. "This all used to be military family housing for Curtis Wright Army Air Corps Station. The Curtis Wright plant used to be where the airport is now, they built all the P-40 Warhawks and C-46 Commandos right here in Cheektowaga, the housing for the pilots and ground crews was a five-minute bus ride away. When the base closed, they sold off the housing to private concerns."

"Wow," said Josh as he glanced around. These exact same buildings were on every one of the state side Air Force bases that Josh had been to. Many were upgraded but the original design remains. Paul himself was an Air Force veteran also, he was a flight surgeon. "That must have done a number on your head when you got to your first base and found yourself in home sweet home," remarked Josh.

"It really did," chuckled Paul remembering his first assignment as a young Lieutenant. As they pulled out onto Genesee Street Veronica was amazed at all the restaurants of every ethnicity that made up Cheektowaga: Italian, German, Greek, Hispanic, Ethiopian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Japanese, and more. Josh, who has been buddies with Paul for years was familiar with all of them but there's one Italian place that Paul calls home. They pulled into Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant. "This is where my family lives," said Paul, as the six of them, Josh, Veronica, Mike, Audrey, Paul, and Andi climbed out of Paul's luxurious Ford Transport, and they entered the restaurant.

"What do you mean... You're Italian?" asked Veronica. A young hostess counted heads and gathered menus but the cry of "Is that my Paulie and Andi?" rang across the restaurant. With more fanfare than Veronica was expecting, Mama Giardini stormed out of the kitchen crying "My Paulie!" she cried and smothered Paul and Andi with hugs and kisses. She was the short, round Italian grandmother that everybody should have. She was wearing a long print dress; stained kitchen apron and her salt and pepper hair was covered in a hair net. She was the woman that saved a very young Paul and John Jarecki when she found the starving urchins eating out of their dumpster.

When Paul and Andi pried themselves loose, Paul turned Mama around, "Folks, this is Anna Maria Giardini, but we call her "Mama," we've been friends for..." Paul paused at the warning finger Mama raised to him, "...uhhh for a while. Momma, you know Josh, this is his fiancée Veronica, her dad Mike, and this is his nurse Audrey.

Momma Giardini hugged everyone and when she got to Josh, she pulled in Veronica, and whispered, "Such a nice young girl! You must tell me how you do it, do you know any young men that need some loving, eh?" Momma then turned her attention to Audrey. The young, curvaceous brunette stood in fear of Momma, but Momma smiled and pulled Audrey in close and hugged her tight, "You're going to be such a beautiful bride!" Audrey panicked, their plans were still secret, only Josh and Veronica knew for sure, then Momma whispered into Audrey's ear "Momma knows!"

Audrey froze, her skin went pale, and her legs suddenly felt weak. "Please don't say anything," whispered Audrey, "I haven't talked to Mike yet."

"You and me, come on..." Mama then turned to the gang and said, "You go find your own seats, Miss Audrey and I are going to have a talk," and she led Audrey away.

Mike started to follow, a worried look on his face, but Josh stopped him. "Dad, she'll be ok. Momma Giardini is going to become your mother-in-law now," he whispered.

"What do you mean?" asked a confused Mike as he allowed himself to be led away to their table.

"I think Momma just adopted Audrey," said Veronica. She just met Moma Giardini but she was sure momma knew something that Veronica was beginning to suspect.

"Exactly," said Josh, who has been here often enough with Paul and John in the past to understand what Momma Giardini was up to.

The hostess had laid the menus back down when she saw them greeted by her Grandmother Anna Maria, and she led the five back to the small banquet room where a large table was set up. John and Macy were waiting for them, John is Paul's younger brother, he is a pastor with a doctorate in theology and is much shorter than Paul. Macy, John's wife, is a tall, slim, black French-Canadian genius with a doctorate in theology and another in psychology. People kid John and Macy that their daughter Katarina will never discover a single syllable word until she runs away from home.

Soon Anthony and Marjorie Friedman joined the group. Anthony is the founder and CEO of Andalon, the company that Josh and Veronica work for, Marjorie runs an adoption advocacy group that helps people adopt babies. Shortly Momma led a smiling Audrey to the table accompanied by mama's son, Paul's childhood friend and manager of the restaurant Donatello "Donny" Giardini. "Paulie!" called Donny from across the room, "The first time you brought such a group to my restaurant you announced that you were getting married, the next time you did this you announced that you were having a baby, now what? Has my godson been accepted into Harvard?"

The men chuckled as they hugged and patted each other's back, "Not yet, we're waiting on the acceptance letter. No, we have another wedding, you remember Josh, right?"

"Hey bubba!" said Donny, trying to emulate a southern accent as he and Josh fist bumped.

"He and that beautiful blond next to him are getting married soon, that's Veronica. And next to her is her dad, Mike, his nurse is that cute brunette Audrey."

As Donny turned to congratulate the couple, Marj called out, "We just found out that we have a baby to celebrate!" Audrey froze, her eyes bugged open wide in shock before she could cover up her shock she was noticed by Veronica and Andi. Marj continued, "Andi and Paul have applied to adopt a baby and we just got notified that their application has been approved!"

Andi and Paul threw their arms around each other as their friends cheered and clapped while Audrey sagged back in her chair panting in relief, and that's when Mike turned to her and said, "What's wrong honey?" A wave of something washed over Audrey's heart, she didn't know what it was, but the tears started flowing. "Baby, what's wrong?" gasped Mike.

"I'm sorry, it's not you..."and she darted out of her chair looking to exit but she ran toward the back of the banquet room, she went the wrong way and there was no exit and she found herself in a corner weeping. Everybody looked at Mike who was just as confused as they were, then Mama Giardini came up to Paul speaking in rapid fire Italian,

"Sei un medico, un dottore, aiutala, è incinta!"

"Yes momma, I'm a doctor but what?" He was as confused as anyone else. He used to understand and speak some Italian, but he hasn't had to speak Italian in decades and aiutala, è incinta is escaping him.

Anna Maria Giardini was too excited to get her English out properly, she tried again emphasizing each word, but it still came out in Italian, "Avrà un bambino!"

Paul missed it, but Josh caught every word. He lived in Italy for over a year when his gunship was flying out of Aviano and he lived in town, his landlady took it upon herself to teach him Italian (or at least she tried). He got up and said "Mike, come on." Mike was already up, now Veronica got up also, as did Paul and Andi. Both are medical doctors and Mama Giardini requested a doctor. "It's ok," Josh told Paul, "We got this." But Paul and Andi followed just in case.

The five of them gathered around the weeping young woman who stood facing the corner. "Honey," said Mike, "What's wrong?" but that just made Audrey cry harder.

"Let me try dad," Josh stepped up behind Audrey and whispered, "Remember what I said just before you left with your folks?" She turned her back and continued to weep but she nodded. "I said that even though I love Veronica more than anything else that God made, there's still a lot of love in my heart for you, remember?" She nodded again.

Josh remembered too, it was such a sad moment, Audrey's parents were in Niagara Falls trying to sexually abuse Veronica, the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission were waiting to arrest them for their business dealings, and at the same time Josh was sitting with Audrey in a restaurant in Cheektowaga, not far from where they are at right now. It was a wet winter day and the young, confused Audrey confessed her love for Josh. How do you deal with that? He was her first real crush, a girl that had been raised by abusive parents, and now that she's old enough to have a real relationship, and the guy she was in love with is in love with the woman she admired more than anyone.

"I remember too," said Josh, "I said I would be there whenever you need me, that I really want to be there for you. And we've been there for each other, haven't we?"

Through the tears that she couldn't stop Audrey remembered how he was there for her throughout the summer as he dealt with his bouts of PTSD and she with the confusion she felt because of her newfound love of an older man. Without turning she nodded.

"I'm here for you right now, so you can cry on my shoulder all you want, ok?" Nodding again Audrey turned around and buried her face in his chest and tried desperately to stop crying, his deep baritone voice comforting her.

Josh hugged her for a long time and desperately searched his mind for a way to ask her what was foremost on his mind and finally came up with. "Honey... do you have my baby brother-in-law in there with you?" It was such a silly question that she couldn't help but laugh then she nodded yes. "Aww honey, why didn't you tell me?"

"I was afraid, Mike was so sick," she gasped out between sobs. Mike had suffered an attack of cardiac asthma, a condition caused by congestive heart failure. It's called cardiac asthma because a person who develops cardiac asthma can experience asthma-like wheezing and coughing which may cause the doctor to misdiagnose the problem.

"Ok, ok, honey, it's all ok," said Josh. "The time to be scared is over, Mike is better and we're all here for you, it's time for you and Mike to enjoy this baby." Then very quietly he began to sing, she's heard that baritone voice before, he sings to Veronica all the time, and now he's serenading her, softly, slowly, changing the words just for her...

People smile and tell me

I'm the lucky one

But you've just begun

Think you're gonna have a son

He will be like you and him

As free as a dove

Conceived in love

Sun is gonna shine above

Josh gently turned Audrey to face Mike and she suddenly clung to the man she now loves most in the word. Josh continued to sing, and Mike joined in with him.

Even though we ain't got money

We're so in love with you, honey

And everything will bring

A chain of love, oh, oh, yeah

In the mornin', when I rise

You bring a tear of joy to my eyes

And tell me everything is gonna be alright

Josh, Veronica, Andi and Paul began to return to the table leaving Mike and Audrey back in the corner to sort out their feelings. "Are you going to sing like that to me when I'm pregnant?" asked Veronica.

"Of course, I'll sing," said Josh. He's found that singing helps him deal with his PTSD, so he's been serenading Veronica with some country songs that he still remembered how to play on the guitar, "but that song is keyed 'way too high for me." Then he stopped, "Why? Are you hinting or something?"

"Mmmm, you never know," smiled Veronica with a saucy look on her face and a little more swivel in her hips that was guaranteed to give Josh an erection.

Josh grabbed Veronica's arm and pulled her close. After a gentle kiss he asked, "Do you think I'll have an issue with dad?"

"No, why?"

Josh looked nervous, "Well, she turned to me before she turned to him, and she told me before she told him..."

"You wouldn't understand," said Veronica.

"Why wouldn't I understand?"

"Because you're not a woman," said Veronica.

"Try me."

Veronica thought for a long time. How does she present this so that Josh will understand it? "Ok, there's an emotional bond between you two, and she has an emotional bond with Mike. The bond between her and Mike is stronger, she doesn't want to hurt him, but she doesn't care if she pisses you off..."

"Wait, what emotional bond?"

"You were her first crush," started Veronica but Josh interrupted right away.

"How did you know... did she tell you?"

"How could you NOT know?" Veronica shook her head. Men are so clueless, that girl had been mooning over Josh since the day he started at Andalon. "Look, when you let her down that day, you did it beautifully and now you're in the Friend Zone. She's going to be telling you things you probably never want to hear."

"Please don't tell me," groaned Josh as their fingers entwined.

"Girl things, like having to pee all the time and..."

He covered his ears as he walked ahead of Veronica, "I can't hear you! La la la laaaaaa la... Let's go eat."

Overjoyed that her medical skills weren't needed Andi shook her head and laughed as she leaned on Paul. "You have the weirdest friends."

By the time they got back to the table, Josh's co-worker Terri McCarthy arrived with her date Mateo Buran, a programmer at Andalon. All of Terri's previous boyfriends had been jerks, Veronica and Josh told Terri to stop pushing Mateo away and give him a chance and so far, it had been working out. As they sat down Mateo began to panic, Terri had told him that this was a "dinner with some friends that she goes camping with," but as people settled down from something that happened before he and Terri arrived Mateo saw a fellow that he's seen on TV commercials talking about the car dealerships that he owns, Terri's manager at Andalon, the executive assistant to the CEO of Andalon, the CEO of Andalon, the CEO's wife who runs her own company, holy smokes! "I thought you said these are camping buddies," Mateo whispered into Terri's ear.