Chapter 18

The next morning I called the church office, and arranged to meet with whatever elders would be available at noon in a conference room downstairs. Most of the elders worked for wages, and so whether they could be there would be a question. Tyrone, before he'd retired, had been on a full-time salary from the church; Darvin Carpenter was self-employed and probably could get away most times he wanted to; and Earl Carrington was retired from his secular job. But the rest had to do their church work around the necessity of earning a paycheck, so who would be there would be up in the air.

It was a nervous morning. I didn't have to worry that the elders would turn down our request on moral grounds. I knew that the church's policy was to marry only those couples who were genuine Christians and were getting married for the right reasons, though there were exceptions from time to time. 'Berto Vargas, the fourth person I'd planned to talk to, but never did, about whether I loved Max was – with his wife, Toni – one of those exceptions. I knew just enough about him to be aware that he'd barely become a Christian before the wedding, and that he'd been living with Toni for a while before then. Max and I didn't have anything like that to concern us – we both were Christians, and we both were putting our whole minds into the matter of remaining pure.

But I was still nervous. Anyone who doesn't get nervous when he's working on such a dramatic change in his life is probably not fully human. I was nervous.

But the time came, and I set off in the chill of a February forenoon for the church. I pushed the button on the intercom, and identified myself, and there came the buzz as the electronic lock disengaged. It's a sorry thing when churches have to lock their doors against people, but these days it is very necessary. My father had told me of a time when a church would have left its doors unlocked 24 hours a day without any large possibility of damage, but that wasn't true now – at least it wasn't true in Albuquerque.

I knew my way downstairs, and walked that way, toward the stairwell on the left side of the auditorium. There was a turn halfway down, and then at the bottom a hallway, with elders' offices and Sunday School classrooms along it – the offices mostly on the right, taking up what had once been storage and a room for children's church. It was years before my time, but I'd heard about the elimination of children's church in favor of teaching the kids to be attentive and quiet during the regular service. It seemed to have paid off, for the teens those children now were had been, during my time at MJT, as well-behaved as any I'd seen anywhere.

The conference room was at the end of the hall on the left, next to the kitchen and the fellowship hall. I stuck my head in, and saw Earl Carrington and Darvin Carpenter. "Come on in," Earl said. "It looks like we're the only two who'll be able to make it today."

I went on in, and shook hands. We all took seats, and Earl said, "You understand our policy regarding unanimity, right?"

"Right – no decision the elders make is binding unless it's unanimous, at least on the major things."

"Correct. So if we make any decisions today, they'll only be provisional, until and unless the other elders agree."

"I understand."

"Then why don't you tell us what's on your mind?"

"Well," I said, "you know that I've been seeing Max Bois d'Arc – the Air Force lieutenant who's visited here a couple of times."

"Right." Darvin still hadn't said anything; he was leaning back in his chair, his eyes on me.

"Well, she and I have decided to get married, and the circumstances of it mean that either we do it quickly – in a month, or less – or else we put it off indefinitely. We don't want to put it off."

Now Darvin spoke. "What are the circumstances?"

I grinned. "If you're thinking that she's pregnant, I can tell you definitely that she's not. We're both determined to come to our marriage pure." I laughed again, less nervously. "You wouldn't believe how many times that's come up for us, when we've felt ... I guess you'd call it internal pressure, to give in to our urges. But we have this resolve that we won't do that till after the wedding." I might be less nervous, but not un-nervous, as I could tell by the fact that I was saying more than I'd intended.

"No, the circumstances have to do with the Air Force. I don't know if either of you know the policy, but the Air Force doesn't allow officers and enlisted people to become romantically involved. They'll accept it if one member of an already married couple gains a commission, but not if an officer and an enlisted man form a relationship. And that's exactly what's happened with Max and me. So I'm leaving the Air Force – I'm on terminal leave right now – and I'll need to find another job. We want to get married, and have the honeymoon, while I'm not tied down, because if we don't there's no telling when we'll be able to do it."

"Those ain't circumstances to be ashamed of, I don't guess," Darvin said. It was strange, the way he mutilated the language ordinarily, but spoke perfectly good English whenever the situation required it. "What you think, Earl – should we do it?"

"I don't see why not," the other elder said before turning to me. "Do you have any preferences as to who performs the ceremony?"

"No."

"And your fiancée?"

"She's authorized me to take care of this side of things for her."

Earl nodded. "Okay. I happen to know a few dates when the building will be available in a month – I had an inquiry earlier this week from a couple, but had to turn them down when he flatly refused to consider listening to the Gospel." I knew that was one area where the elders had made a unanimous decision in advance, and as far as I knew had never found any exceptions. "When's your last day in uniform?"

"The 18^th of March." I knew that by heart already.

"And I remember that the 19^th was one of the open dates – all day, in fact. Do you or your fiancée have any preferences as to time?"

I could have smacked my forehead, like the V8 commercials. "We've never even talked about that – I guess neither of us thought of it, with all the other things we have to consider. Would you mind if I checked real quick?"

Earl shook his head, and Darvin waved a hand and said, "Go right on ahead."

I pulled out my cell phone and called Max. "Honey, I'm with the elders right now, and we've forgotten to think about what time of day."

"I could kick myself. But instead of doing that ... what's your preference?"

"I'm ready to get it over with."

"All right, then, let's do it in the morning ... how about 0900?"

"That's fine with me. Okay, thanks, Max. I'll talk to you later."

I closed the phone, and because I was talking to civilians I said, "Nine in the morning. We're both eager to finish it."

Darvin grinned. "I can remember my own wedding. One of the reasons we did it after the first service was that once we were set on it, we didn't wanna wait either." He smoothed his mustache. "Okay, then, the 19^th at 9 AM. Earl and I will call the other elders, and see what they say, but I can't see any reason for 'em to say no. Do we got your number?"

"I don't think so. If I could have something to write with..."

Darvin pulled a card out of his pocket and flipped it over to me, and slid a pen across the table. Before I turned it over I saw it was for his private investigator business, rather than for his position as an elder of the church. I scribbled my phone number on the back, and pushed the card and pen back. "You can get me there almost any time. When you've come to a final decision, please let me know immediately, because we've got to arrange things and time's passing."

"We'll let you know as soon as we can," Earl said, rising and extending his hand. I shook it, and Darvin's, and went out, pulling out my cell phone as I walked.

"Max?" I said when she answered. "I couldn't get all the elders together on short notice, but I did talk to Earl and Darvin. They're going to talk to the rest, but it looks like the day after I ETS, at 0900."

"That looks good. I'm sure you told them to call you ASAP."

"I did, and I think they will – and I think it'll be soon too. I certainly hope so. If we can do it I want to know and invite people, and if not we need to know so we can put things on hold and get ourselves under control."

Max breathed into the phone. "If we can't, I'm not sure I can get myself under control. Derek, I've pushed so hard all through this because I need you. I need to be your wife. I need to be with you forever. It's not lust – that's manageable. My soul needs you, beloved, and I don't know if I could stand having to put the wedding off indefinitely."

"I know what you mean, babe. I'm dying for lack of you too. But what we can or can't do is what we can or can't do." I thought for a minute. "If you need to, talk to the elders. They can't change how you feel, but maybe they'll be able to help you deal with how you feel."

"I might do that," she said. "But for now I think I'll just go work out. That's a very good way of getting rid of stress."

"And it makes you look wonderful." I remembered the look of her shoulders and arms, how firm and solid they looked, even though she wasn't at all bulky. "Go work up a sweat, then, sweet – I'll talk to you later."

"You call me all sorts of things, don't you?" She giggled over the phone. "That's all right – just so long as you love me, I can deal with unexpected endearments." And she was gone.

By now I was outside, and I folded up my phone and put it in my pocket. I had no idea what to do, so I decided to go to the library. There wasn't one close to where I lived, but there was one on Juan Tabo north of the church, and when I pulled out of the parking lot onto Menaul I got into the left lane, and turned onto Juan Tabo, and rode north.

That was Wednesday. On Friday, while I was eating a bowl of cereal, my phone rang. I picked it up off the table, saw that it was MJT's number, and answered.