“I know,” Mahalia repeated. She had one last piece to hand me—a real diamond bracelet she’d somehow scored from our mother, probably before she’d realized how damned we were. I had to hold my wrist out while she did the clasp. “But remember. We’re not damned eternally in their eyes. Don’t forget, we can still accept their ways on the other side of the veil.”
“Oh, screw the veil,” I said, though I didn’t really mean it. I actually liked the idea of a premortal existence, the idea of eternal progress. I actually embraced some of my parents’ ideas, and rejected others. The idea that I couldn’t marry a man in an MC was one of my rejects, of course. If it meant my relationship with them would be strained the rest of my life, so be it. “I’ve got parents who will never even stoop to meet the man I love. I reject them.”
Mahalia finally caved. Her positive demeanor disappeared for a few seconds. “I know what you mean. We’re thinking of doing our wedding in the fall, once the glamor of yours has faded. I’m not even bothering telling mom and dad about it. You stole all my ideas, though. I was going to do the cowboy boots on top of some Zion steeple, too.”
“Get married in city hall!” The idea actually excited me. “That’ll show those fucking fundies what’s what.”
“Yes, city hall!” Kimball appeared around our side of the portable john. “Oo, I can’t wait. Show those pervs a thing or two. Oaklyn, you look gorgeous. I’ve never seen you this gorgeous!”
“Well,” I said shyly, “normally I wear clothes that make it easy to ride on a Harley’s pussy pad.”
“You guys.” Deloy’s voice made all of us jump. He was Levon’s best man, and he’d ridden to the parking lot down at the trailhead on his Dyna Super Glide wearing a tuxedo. “Levon’s wondering where you are.”
“Is he getting cold feet?” I asked anxiously.
Deloy put a hand on my forearm. “No, no, not at all. You know that, Oaklyn. He wants to hurry up and marry you!”
Kimball said, “The justice of the peace needs to go to another wedding, and he barely made it up this trail.”
The trail had been the source of some frustration. It wasn’t wheelchair accessible, so for awhile we’d thought Levon’s Nana couldn’t come. After a bit, though, the men had decided the trail wasn’t that steep. Levon and Sledgehammer carried her up in a light lawn chair, and all ninety pounds of her was delighted.
I peeked around the toilet and gasped at the sea of faces. It had not been prudent to carry much furniture up the trail, so everyone stood around, milling. Of course booze had not been sacrificed, though. Dingo and a new Prospect named Gomer had carried an ocean of booze up the trail, and a few of those prefabricated hors d’oeuvres, those rolled up turkey things and carrot sticks no one ever ate. These were placed on a convenient flat rock while we waited for the sun to hit the Great White Throne at just the right angle to light it up like a beacon.
“Okay,” I said. “I’m ready.”
“Breathe,” suggested Mahalia. “And ignore the video camera.”
“Oh, why did you have to remind me of the video camera?”
“Shut up about the video camera,” Kimball whispered.
So I went down the “aisle” followed by Mahalia and Kimball to the blasting tune of the Allman Brothers “In Memory of Elizabeth Reed.” Brothers and sisters parted as we moved sedately. I know my bouquet of pale pink roses and jasmine sprigs was shaking like a tambourine, I was so nervous. I smiled at Nana and at Deloy’s mother, who had boldly taken a day pass from Cornucopia to finally see her son again. My boss, Dr. Lee, was there.
There were lots of non-bikers, folks from the community, and other business owners. The new mayor Maximus Antioch was surrounded by his political people, guys who hung out at his barber shop and discussed the future of Avalanche. After Ladell Pratt’s mysterious death in an abandoned elementary school, the fundies had thrown a new hat into the electoral ring, some ancient old creeper with deep ties to Cornucopia. Maximus had won by a landslide anyway. It was the end of an error, as he said. People wanted to meet the new boss, and he wasn’t the same as the old boss.
To be honest, I don’t remember much of the wedding ceremony. It all went in a nervous blur. All I could think was this is the most important moment of your life. You’re pregnant standing on top of a mountain marrying a man in a leather vest. It was completely surreal.
Not many people knew I was pregnant. It was one of those situations where I wanted to be sure of it before announcing it. Anyway, I didn’t want to make it look like that was why we were marrying. Not at all. He’d asked me before I discovered I was pregnant.
He said I was the first woman to make him feel deeply. The more he loved me the scarier it became, but he wanted to move toward that fear, not away from it.
I knew what he meant. I had a new house, a new job, and now I was creating a new family around me. I was terrified, but I knew I was on the right track.