Sonny's Secret Page 3

  “Now, Sonny will be behind her, with the ring,” she said.

  Sonny stood behind Patty. He pretended to be carrying a little pillow with the ring.

  “Behind them will come the bride and groom,” added Mrs. Peters.

  All of the Pee Wees waved their hands. They all wanted to be the bride and groom.

  “Molly,” said Mrs. Peters. “You will make a good bride.”

  Now Molly turned red. She had dreamed about being a bride, but she never thought it would happen. All the boys were whistling and wanting to be her bridegroom. Molly hoped Mrs. Peters would choose Kevin for the part. It would be fun to pretend Kevin was her bridegroom.

  Mrs. Peters looked down the row of Scouts. “Roger,” she said. “You be the groom today.”

  Roger! Anyone but Roger, thought Molly. Of all the people she didn’t want for a pretend husband or a real husband, it was Roger!

  Roger had a big grin on his face. He came and stood beside Molly.

  All the Pee Wees were snickering.

  “The groom will stand at the front of the church,” said Mrs. Peters. “Waiting for the bride to come down the aisle.”

  Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Betz lined the Scouts up two by two and started them down the aisle, scattering make-believe flower petals.

  Rachel walked with Kevin.

  Next came Tracy and Tim.

  And Kenny and Mary Beth.

  After the Pee Wees, the flower girl and Sonny followed.

  “We don’t have any real organ music today,” said Mrs. Betz. “But we will hum ‘Here Comes the Bride,’ so you will get in step.”

  Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Betz hummed. Mrs. Peters put a lacy white scarf from the Lost and Found on Molly’s head. She gave her a fold-up umbrella to use as a make-believe bridal bouquet.

  Then she gave her a little shove to start her down the aisle.

  As Molly moved down the aisle, she started to feel like a real bride. This was a real church! What if she really were getting married? And to Roger, of all people! But there was no minister, and no ring. No one could get married without a ring. Could they?

  When Molly got to the front of the church, Mrs. Peters called, “Now, Roger, you step out and take Molly’s arm and stand in front of the minister.”

  Lisa was the minister. She had a piece of paper in her hand.

  “Do you take Roger to be your husband?” she asked Molly.

  The Pee Wees were snickering in the aisle.

  Molly didn’t dare say yes. Even if it was pretend.

  “You answer, ‘I do,’ ” called Mrs. Peters.

  I’m silly, thought Molly. Lisa wasn’t a minister, she was a Scout. And there was no ring.

  “I do,” said Molly.

  “Do you take Molly for your wife?” Lisa asked Roger.

  “You bet!” shouted Roger.

  “Then say, ‘With this ring, I thee wed,’ ” said Lisa.

  Roger pretended to put a ring on Molly’s finger. A make-believe ring. “Hi, wife!” he said.

  “I now pronounce you husband and wife,” said Lisa.

  Mrs. Peters started humming organ music again, and just as she did, Roger grabbed Molly and kissed her!

  Before Molly knew what she was doing, she took her umbrella-bouquet and hit Roger over the head with it.

  “Ouch!” yelled Roger. “You aren’t supposed to hit your husband on your wedding day!”

  Now the Pee Wees were rolling in the aisle, laughing.

  “I only hope this doesn’t happen at the real wedding!” said Mrs. Betz.

  CHAPTER

  7

  The Real Wedding

  Outside, all the boys sang, “Roger’s got a wife!”

  And Roger said, “What’s for dinner, honey?”

  Molly was disgusted. “He’s the last person I’d marry,” she said to Mary Beth and Lisa.

  “You were married in a church,” said Lisa.

  “Ho, ho,” said Molly. “There was no ring.” But in the back of her mind, this wedding was too close to real, even if it was pretend.

  Mrs. Peters waved good-bye and said, “I have called your parents about what you should wear to the wedding. Be sure to remember good manners.”

  “I am going to have the best manners of anyone at the wedding,” said Rachel. “That’s because I have good manners naturally. I don’t have to work at it.”

  “Ha,” said Roger. “I’ll have a lot more good manners than you do. Just wait and see.”

  “It’s not a contest,” Mrs. Peters said, laughing. “Let’s all just do our best. And let’s remember to smile. A smile makes a rainy day a sunny one.”

  This was another saying that wasn’t true, thought Molly. Just smiling did not change the weather. But Molly wanted that badge, and she wanted to have more good manners than anyone else when she got it. She would smile, all right. She would smile a smile bigger than anyone there. And she would watch everything that Rachel did, and do it better.

  “Good, better, best,” she sang. “Never let it rest. Until your good is better, and your better, best.”

  That saying was her grandma’s. She could believe her grandma.

  Saturday grew closer and closer. The Scouts did not have to have new clothes for the wedding. But they had to wear their best clothes. Their Sunday clothes.

  “I’m getting new shoes for the wedding,” Tracy said one day after school.

  “I wonder what Tim is wearing,” said Lisa. “He hasn’t got a good suit. I’ll bet he comes in jeans.”

  “I heard he’s going to wear one of Sonny’s suits,” said Kenny.

  “Sonny’s fatter than Tim,” said Patty. “It might not fit.”

  “I’m wearing the dress I wore for my cousin’s wedding,” said Rachel. “It’s organdy.”

  Molly had an almost-new blue dress with little daisies on it. Her mother said it was just right for a wedding. She had blue shoes to match it.

  “My mom’s going to curl my hair with her curling iron,” Molly told the others.

  “I’m going to my mom’s hairdresser in the morning,” said Rachel. “She’s going to style my hair.”

  It was hard to keep up with Rachel, thought Molly. But she was going to try. Especially with manners. Rachel wasn’t going to have one single better manner than she did. No matter what.

  When Sonny’s mother’s wedding day came, it was raining.

  “Dear me,” said Mrs. Duff. “Our curls will straighten out in the dampness.”

  “We’ll have to run between the drops,” said Mr. Duff, who was going to the wedding too.

  “We’ll take umbrellas,” said Molly’s mother.

  Molly remembered Mrs. Peters’s words. “A smile makes a rainy day a sunny one.” Molly doubted it. But she’d try.

  Molly smiled. Then she ran to the window. It was still raining. She smiled again. She looked outside again. A bolt of lightning flashed in the sky. It didn’t work.

  As it got closer to two o’clock, Molly got excited.

  At one o’clock she had her bath.

  At one-fifteen she put her best blue dress on.

  At one-thirty she put her new socks and shoes on.

  Then her mother combed her hair and put a ribbon in it.

  Everyone got into the car. Then they drove to the Kellys’ and picked up Mary Beth.

  “I’ve never been to a wedding before,” said Mary Beth. “Except the mock wedding.”

  When they got to the church, the other Pee Wees were running from cars to the front door.

  “I’m soaked!” said Tim.

  Tim’s borrowed suit was wet. It looked a little baggy on him. His hair hung down over his eyes. Mrs. Peters tried to comb his hair back, but it still looked like he’d just come out of the shower.

  “What a nasty day!” said Mrs. Peters.

  All the Pee Wees moved around, trying to get dry. They straightened their clothes. They fussed with their hair.

  Rachel was the last one to arrive. She was wrapped up in a plastic raincoat and her
mother had a huge umbrella over her head.

  “She looks like a package,” snickered Roger.

  But when Rachel was unwrapped, she was bone-dry. Her curls bounced and her dress stood out around her. It didn’t hang limp like the others’ did.

  “I wonder where the bride is,” whispered Lisa.

  “Look at Sonny!” called Roger.

  For the first time ever, Sonny looked grown-up to Molly. He didn’t look like a baby. He had on a brown suit, and a white shirt, and a real grown-up tie. The tie looked a little tight. It made Sonny’s face red.

  Mrs. Peters passed out the peonies. They were pink. She showed the Scouts how to hold them in their left arms, and scatter petals with their right hands.

  All of a sudden organ music began to play. It was starting. The real wedding. Mrs. Betz was going to be Mrs. Stone when it was over.

  Mrs. Peters lined the Pee Wees up two by two. They had the same partners as at the mock wedding. Molly’s partner was Roger. They were first in line, and as the organ music began, Mrs. Peters gave them a little push to start them down the aisle.

  There was a long white runner on the floor. The smell of flowers filled the air. White bows were tied on all the pews. And candles glowed all over the church.

  “You look beautiful!” whispered Mrs. Peters to her Scouts.

  Pink petals fell onto the white runner. Molly could have cried, it was so romantic. If only she were walking with Kevin instead of Roger.

  Sonny followed the other Pee Wees, because he was the ring bearer. He walked behind Terry, the flower girl.

  The Pee Wees stood to one side, and the real bride, with her long white dress and veil and flowers, walked up and took Larry’s arm. The real wedding was about to begin. Before long, Sonny would have a father!

  CHAPTER

  8

  Roger’s Wife

  Mrs. Betz looks beautiful, thought Molly. Not like an assistant troop leader at all. And Larry was so handsome. Even more handsome than he was in his fireman’s uniform.

  The minister stepped forward and smiled.

  He gave a little talk. All of a sudden Molly remembered about good manners. She looked at the other Pee Wees. Rachel was smiling as Mrs. Peters had told them to.

  Molly smiled a bigger smile than Rachel’s. When Rachel saw her, she smiled bigger than Molly. Molly smiled even bigger than Rachel, and her mouth opened up into a grin.

  Rachel leaned over and grinned back.

  What could Molly do that was better? What was bigger than a grin?

  A laugh. If smiling was good, and grinning was better, then laughing would be best!

  Molly laughed out loud. She looked at Rachel. Rachel didn’t laugh. Everyone was staring at Molly. And the more they stared, the more Molly laughed.

  “Stop it!” whispered Mary Beth from down the aisle.

  Even Roger gave her a poke.

  But Molly couldn’t stop. Her shoulders shook.

  Mrs. Peters walked up and tapped Molly on the shoulder and still Molly laughed. Louder and longer. The more she tried to stop laughing, the worse it got. It sounded very noisy in the quiet church.

  Now Mrs. Peters was frowning. All of a sudden Molly stopped laughing. She was embarrassed. Laughing must not be better than smiling. It felt awful. Mrs. Peters patted Molly on the shoulder and went back to her place.

  The minister was still talking. He said some of the same words that Lisa had at the mock wedding. The Pee Wees watched. Molly heard someone sobbing. She looked around. It was Mary Beth. “It’s so beautiful,” she whispered, tears in her eyes.

  “Do you take this man as your lawful wedded husband?” asked the minister.

  “I do,” said Mrs. Betz.

  Larry turned around for the ring. Sonny handed it to him.

  Just at that moment, Roger reached into his pocket. He took something out. A little silver ring from a gum machine.

  “With this ring, I thee wed,” Larry repeated after the minister.

  Roger whispered the words with Larry.

  Before Molly knew what was happening, Roger grabbed her hand and pushed the ring on her fourth finger. As he did, the minister announced in a loud voice, “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

  “We’re married!” shouted Roger, as the organ played heavy chords in the background.

  Oh, no! Was Roger right?

  A real church.

  A real minister.

  A real ring on Molly’s finger.

  Was Molly really married to Roger White?

  Up the aisle they went, with everyone cheering the bride and groom.

  “Meet Mrs. White!” said Roger when they got to the back of the church and stood in the reception line.

  Molly stuck her tongue out at Roger.

  “Ho, ho,” said Roger. “Mrs. Peters, Molly stuck out her tongue in church—bad manners, bad manners!”

  Molly felt like crying. Now she had another bad manner at the wedding, and this one was all Roger’s fault. On top of the bad manners, she might be married to Roger for life!

  “Downstairs!” called Mrs. Peters. “Time for the reception.”

  As the Pee Wees started down the steps, Molly looked outside.

  It had stopped raining.

  The sun was out. Maybe smiling did work after all. If it did, it was because of Molly. Surely no one ever tried harder to smile than she had today.

  “Look!” shouted Patty, when they got downstairs. “It’s beautiful!”

  Patty was right. The room did not look like the place they had seen earlier. There were balloons and flowers and ferns. And white tablecloths and streamers and candles everywhere.

  But Molly couldn’t enjoy the reception. She was embarrassed about the laughing. She was embarrassed about Roger. And what if she was married to Roger? For the rest of her life!

  “Sonny Stone,” said Roger, clapping Sonny on the back. “Hey, that’s his name now. We can call him Stoney for short.”

  “Or Rocky,” said Kenny, laughing at his own joke.

  “Line up,” said Mrs. Peters to the Pee Wees. “Line up for pictures.”

  The photographer set his camera on a little stand. He told the Pee Wees to smile.

  Roger whispered to Molly, “Smile, Mrs. White!”

  Click, click, click.

  Was this Molly’s wedding picture too?

  The photographer took a picture of Sonny’s parents. And Sonny and his parents. Then the bride and groom and grandparents.

  “Time to cut the cake,” called one of the church ladies.

  Everyone followed the bride and groom to a little table with a big cake on it.

  “It’s four stories high!” shouted Sonny.

  Everyone snickered.

  “Those are tiers,” said Rachel. On top of the cake was a little plastic bride and groom.

  “They don’t look like Mrs. Stone and Larry,” whispered Mary Beth.

  “But it’s romantic,” said Lisa.

  The photographer set up his camera in front of the cake. Mrs. Stone picked up a silver knife with a white bow on it. She and Larry smiled as she sliced right through the middle of a pink rosebud made of frosting.

  Click, went the camera. Click, click.

  After that, the Pee Wees each took a paper plate with a silver bell on it. Each napkin said “Louise and Larry” in the corner.

  The Scouts filled their plates with little sandwiches and candies and mints with nuts and wedding cake. Molly took just enough. And not too much. She would not add another bad manner to the list. Or another worry.

  The Pee Wees sat down at one of the long tables with white streamers and flowers in the middle. They all remembered not to talk while they chewed their food.

  Sonny went back for more food when his was gone.

  How can Sonny eat, Molly wondered. A wedding and a new father all in one day.

  “Why were you laughing in church?” Tracy asked Molly. “What was so funny about a wedding?”

  “I was smiling,” said Molly.


  “It was a pretty loud smile,” said Kevin. “It’s bad manners to laugh in church.”

  Molly tried to explain what happened. “I tried to smile more than Rachel. And it turned into a laugh.”

  “That happened to me once, when I was little,” said Mrs. Peters. “I went to church with a friend of mine and she said something funny and I laughed. Once I started I couldn’t stop. The more I tried to stop, the more I laughed. It was awful. I know just how Molly felt.”

  “That’s just what happened!” cried Molly, in surprise. “I couldn’t stop, but I wanted to.”

  Mrs. Peters put her arm around Molly. “Some things we just can’t help,” she added.

  Molly was surprised to hear that Mrs. Peters had laughed out loud in church. A Scout leader with bad manners! Molly felt a little better now. Her own mother couldn’t get cross with her when they got home, if she heard Mrs. Peters had done the same thing.

  “What did Roger put on your finger?” whispered Mary Beth.

  Molly pulled Roger’s ring off her finger and threw it into a potted plant. Not that it would make any difference now. The damage was done.

  “I’m married to him!” cried Molly. She had to tell someone.

  “It was only a mock wedding,” said Mary Beth. “It wasn’t real.”

  Molly shook her head. “Today it was a real wedding. He put a ring on my finger when the minister said ‘I now pronounce you husband and wife.’ He called me Mrs. White!”

  Now some of the other Pee Wees gathered around Molly and Mary Beth.

  “Roger hates mushy stuff,” said Tracy. “Why would he want to marry you?”

  “To make me mad,” said Molly, stomping her foot. “I hate him!”

  “Well, you’re not really married,” said Rachel. “That’s dumb.”

  “She might be,” said Lisa. “It’s in church and everything.”

  “Do you have a license?” demanded Rachel. “A marriage license?”

  Everyone looked at Rachel. They knew about a car license. And a dog license. Even a bike license. But no one knew about a license to get married.

  “Do Larry and Mrs. Stone have a license?” asked Mary Beth.

  “Of course,” said Rachel. “It’s not legal if you don’t get one at the courthouse.”