Chapter 14 Book 7

Chapter 14

The Big Show

Part 1

I quickly returned to the room and reopened the door pretending I didn't overhear Grandma and Stringham talking. Grandma asked if we had settled in alright and I nodded that we did, but the girls wanted to do their hair and makeup before going down to the lobby. I rolled my eyes, stating it was a waste of time because they would all get their hair done anyway for the wedding.

Grandma laughed at me and Eli's misunderstanding of the ways of women as he yelled for us to hold the elevator. Once the door closed, Grandma asked what we were going to do to kill time. I told Grandma that I wanted to take Eli to see Temple Square and asked if she would like to come along. She rolled her eyes and said, "If you don't mind having to wait on an old woman who can't move as fast as you two?"

I laughed. "Grandma, if you haven't realized, I am the one sitting in a wheelchair. It is you who will be waiting for me."

She smiled and leaned down and kissed me on the head and said. "In that case, we both can slow each other down."

The door opened, and we were met by our adoring fans. Landon greeted us as the hotel security held everyone back. He quietly took Grandma's arm, only to turn around, hearing everyone gasp as Eli kissed me for the first time in public. The cameras went crazy, taking pictures of our kiss as I put my arms around him, deepening the kiss in a sitting position. Grandma rolled her eyes as we caught up with her. She whispered if that was necessary; I said. "Quite, necessary. What did you expect, Grandma, for us only to kiss inside our rooms or in the house where no one can see us?"

Grandma frowned and said. "In a way, yes, because it's just not normal to see same-sex kissing like that."

Eli said. "If it bothers you, we won't do it in front of you."

Grandma said. "Oh, it bothers me," raising one eyebrow that said it as much as hearing her state it clearly. "But is what it is? You cannot be married and not kiss. So, God helps me. I am going to overlook it because you have every right to kiss anywhere you like. It is a free country and even if I don't like it. I cannot forbid you from showing each other affection."

Landon helped her onto the waiting bus and reminded our driver to make sure we made it to the reception hall by four at the latest. It was a little after 12:30 now and the girls would be at the salon from one to three. Tony yelled, honking his horn and telling us to hold up. He quickly pulled along beside me as the driver and Landon were helping me inside and said he was coming with us, said there was no way in hell was he going to sit in a hair salon for two hours.

Dad and my brothers joined us with the rest of my "boy" friends who were boys as all the girls and their mothers were all getting their hair done for the wedding. Grandma wasn't about to sit in a salon with a bunch of twittering hens she called them; she had already been to the salon before arriving at my Heber home. Letting my aunt Lavern do it, who had refused to come to this fiasco.

She didn't approve of my alternative lifestyle among other things. The only thing she did approve of was me not living with my parents more so my father. She would have preferred that I stop involving my grandmother in my problems, period; and would have rather that I had chosen to stay with the Downings. Not chosen to come home to say goodbye, but left when the getting was good. Not even Coach Brady was willing to sit in a woman's salon for two hours, getting a headache from the fumes and the endless chatting.

I had told her several times about how I had kicked myself long and hard for that decision and she said, "Apparently, not hard enough. Because you wouldn't be here now, causing your grandmother to worry like she is now." 

That was the last time we talked when she dropped my grandmother off when I was recovering at the Vincent's from the poisoning. Again, as I have said I am not close with any of my relations or relatives. They see me as nothing but garbage or embarrassment. Not that I care, really. I see them as people who did nothing but hide behind their closed doors as my parents beat me and my brother. Having them refuse to help us or stop them. So, it really doesn't surprise me that they knew nothing about my life. Or even cared to find out. Again saying. "Out of sight, out of mind, not our problem."

Dad took Grandma's arm as we walked the grounds and inside the buildings of the visitor center letting Eli and Tony take it all in. I have been here many times; I liked the pioneer history that brought the LDS church to Salt Lake City and branched out from here.

Eli and Tony were like kids in a candy store; letting Grandma and Dad explain things in a little more detail than the tour guide and keeping an eye on the time. We stopped at a little diner not far from the temple. Tony and Eli told me we needed to come back here with the girls, perhaps on our way back to Heber after visiting my mother and my friends. It was nice to be myself again, but every place we went our adoring fans caught up with us. Having to stop and give them a sound bite answering questions. Like is it true you are marrying this boy that is with you? Are you stating you are gay?

I smiled and answered each of their questions, said. Let me start by stating that I am not gay, and Eli, who is soon to be my husband, is also not gay. We both identify as bisexual, which is an important part of who we are.

"It is not as uncommon as you think it is. In the late 1840s, during a period of plural marriage within the LDS Church, Mormons founded this town, this grand City of Salt Lake. They did so not only to help families that did not have both parents but because God commanded them to do it. Those days are gone, but some still believe and live it like Eli's family and my great, great grandparents. It is their wish we are honoring. I will be a father to Eli's children when Jackie and he have children. Eli will be a father to my children as well.

"We will share a house, and we share a bed as a married couple, and we will share the same responsibilities as you do with your husband and wives. So, does that make us gay because we have chosen to marry each other, or do we kiss as a couple? I would look up the term gay if I were you. Then ask yourself this question. What harm is there in kissing, I assure you, there are a lot of worst things a person can be doing and kissing isn't one of them."

I pulled Eli down and we kissed, proving my point letting the bulbs flash when I released him. I said. "We'd kiss our wives, but they are busy getting their hair done for tonight." Getting the laughs I wanted. Turned around on a dime and said, "Before you ask, just because I have no use of my legs, doesn't mean my penis doesn't work. I believe Rhoda can tell you that, considering she is pregnant with my child. Print that in your papers."

Dad helped Grandma onto the bus that the Marriott hotel had loaned us to use, which had a wheelchair lift on it. The camera flashed as each of us rode the lift and then drove off. Noticing that the news people were following us everywhere, like flies on spoiled fruit.

At that moment, we were all inside the building where the wedding was being held. Security personnel stopped the news people and crowds behind the barriers. The girls greeted us as they pointed at the clock on the wall, showing we were fifteen minutes late. Dad said I had to talk to my adoring fans. Stringham said. "O' and what did he have to say to make you fifteen minutes late?"

Dad quickly explained that someone tried to accuse me and Eli of being gay. Stringham said. "I can understand that, but I also know they are not gay, and neither are the girls they are marrying."

Dad said. "He also told them that Rhoda was pregnant with his child."

Stringham waved it away said. "Good. That should really give them something to chew on; did Eli happen to mention that Jackie was with a child also?"

Eli shook his head and said, "I wasn't the one that needed to prove himself. It was my friend here because he wanted to show that his penis does work."

Stringham said. "Please tell me you least kissed him. We have been over this, Eli. You must get used to kissing each other in public." Eli nodded that he did. Stringham gave a heavy sigh, "more than once I hope?" He held up two fingers, Stringham said. "Not good, but will work on that. You boys need to if we are going to sell this." Grandma cringed when she heard him say that.

Eli said. "It's a little more difficult with him in a chair; than it is standing up."

Stringham nodded, then said. "I have been working on that problem with my engineers. There is a company in Canada that has developed a standing wheelchair, but it is bulky and doesn't have as much mobility as the one he is sitting in. So, we went back to the drawing board and found another solution, which was a collapsible pair of crutches in which we could fit inside a backpack. We have already exposed the fact that Nate Carrion and his brother John need leg braces to walk short distances.

"So, the idea was to make it so they could use these getting around a room like a classroom chair or blackboard. In fact, I had intended for him to use them tonight and Tony. During the ceremony, perhaps you boys could practice that while the girls see to the final details of their wedding. And use the big fancy one for the reception."

Eli and I nodded, and he sent Landon to get them. The rest of our friends had deserted us to go sightseeing. Instead of being cooped inside watching paint dry, nobody was allowed in the chapel or the reception hall other than the people who had to be there. Even though we seemed to be alone, we didn't take the chance of me and Tony walking around the building. Instead, my butt was planted in my wheelchair as we practiced getting up and down as a severely handicapped person.

Tony didn't need to remind me how important it was that I played this role. I knew how important it was; all I had to do was look at my adoptive family and my mother and my brother Aaron to know that if I screwed this up. We could all be dead, including Eli and the girls.

Tony and Stringham were arguing with Jeff about something. To everyone else, it looked like they were either arguing with each other or arguing with themselves. Tony had asked me if Jeff ever bothers me enough to drive me crazy because the guy just talks your ear off and complains all the time when asked to do something. Or if they ask him the impossible questions that only lead to more questions he refuses to answer.

I'll I said was. "Yes, but I warned you that he will only help you so far, wanting you to do most of the work if not all of it on your own." making them even more frustrated and I for one was enjoying it because now they were seeing it from my perspective.

Landon soon came back with my dreaded braces and that made the work even harder. I had thought I was doing a pretty good job until they were strapped onto my legs. The only fun I had, was zipping up and down the aisle to my mark where I would stand, which was marked with green masking tape.

Dad too was just as nervous as Jody was, because it was his turn to walk Jody down the aisle like he had done with her sister Kerry even though Jody and Dave were married last night for real, this was going to be the real deal and it meant that Jody too was all grown up and leaving the nest for good even though she moved out to go to college. I would catch Dad crying every so often and Jody holding him, telling him she loves him and will never truly leave him. Dad would say, "I know it's just not the same."

I had been told that Eli's Dad was coming tonight so he could see his son and his daughter walk down the aisle. It was supposed to be a big secret, and I was told not to say anything. I knew they both missed their father, but the only way they could see each other was in secret. Tony and Stringham were still trying to get the government to work out some sort of deal, considering he was willing to give intel on the Satanic Church which they really wanted. Yet, the problem was he was a criminal who did bad things and had given orders to other people to do them as well. Yet he wouldn't be the first criminal in witness protection, so he can testify at each of their trials. In some ways, he was a great big crime boss, turning stateside evidence. Not a person that they really wanted on their streets or to be someone's neighbor.

So, it was kept hush, hush to protect him and us because without a doubt the Satanic Church will be here tonight witnessing that our marriage is done civilly, so when we do it again in the Satanic Church in Heber. They had no choice but to accept us as the real thing, which is common among churches that people sometimes have two weddings because their friends and families are of different faiths. Jody and Dave, too, will be married again, but it will be a temple marriage. I won't be allowed inside, and neither will most of my friends or my brothers; because it's only for the grownups, so they say. Mom and Dad will and the people like them because they have temple recommends.

Yes, nudists have temple recommends … For now, Stringham and Tony will have to pay their dues as to speak before they can get one and go. Today isn't about that. Today, it is nothing more than a big show for the world to see and recognize what you can do if you have enough money to pull it off.