Page 31 of Only Time Will Tell

“You chose that for Alex, didn’t you?” She beamed.

Alex gave us free reign to do whatever we chose for the wedding, but I wanted to throw something special in for him too. Although he was born and raised in Washington, he and his father were both die-hard Dallas Cowboys fans. He’d even custom ordered his baby Ford F150 truck in silver and blue, accessorized in Cowboys memorabilia, just as his home office was.

“Charlie, do you have time to go to the printer with me after we finish eating?”

“Absolutely, Mom. Today is your day. Well, it’s technically about Alex and me, but I put the whole day aside to spend with you.” I stood to dump our trash and as we walked away, I heard her quietly say, “I’m going to love having you for a son.” When I looked back at her, she was dabbing her eyes with a napkin.

We left my car parked at the mall and drove together in hers to the printer’s. “Mom, what song did you and Dad dance to at your reception?” I asked during the drive.

“Oh my, that was ‘At Last’ by Etta James. It was so long ago, but I remember it well. Adrianna was born ten months later. I almost forgot to tell you, would you be available to meet with the baker Alex recommended tomorrow at eleven? She said she can have samples ready for us, but I need to let her know by four today.” She turned on her blinker and pulled into the parking lot.

“I can make that work. Can you ask her to make sure one of those samples is a raspberry lemon cake?” I hoped she’d be able to. While my sweet tooth wanted to try as many samples as it could, I knew that would be the one I’d choose. Favorite martini, favorite cake, favorite flavors—period.

“Absolutely.” We parked and walked inside. “Hello, I’m Anne Travers and this is my son-to-be Charlie. We’re here for our appointment to look at wedding invitations,” she told the lady at the front counter.

“Hello, I’m Trinity. It’s nice to meet you both, and congratulations, Charlie. We have some stock binders of samples for you to pick through that can be done in nearly any hue. Do you know what color scheme you wanted?”

“Navy blue and silver. Would it be possible to see something with the Seattle skyline in the background?” I asked. Not sure why that came to me, but it did.

“Absolutely. Please follow me.” She directed us to a table where the samples were.

Mom and I flipped through them, not really finding anything that caught our attention. “Would it be possible to design our own?”

“Yes, of course,” she turned her computer screen to where the three of us could see it. “Blue and silver with the Seattle skyline. What do you think about adding the silhouette of two grooms above that?” Trinity asked, adding the graphics to the outline on the screen.

“Wow, that looks amazing. I love the silver behind the grooms and the blue of the skyline. What about an old English calligraphy lettering go well with that?” This was really coming together nicely.

“Let’s see, what do you want it to say?” She pursed her fingers on the keys, ready to type.

I started laughing when the reality of what I was about to say hit me.

“What’s so funny, Charlie?” Mom asked.

“It just hit me, all your names start with the letter A.”

“You’ve known us how long and you just realized this?” Now Mom was laughing.

Once I’d regained myself, I turned to Trinity to recite our scripting:

Mr. & Mrs. Adam Travers

Cordially invite you to the wedding of their son

Alexander Joshua Travers

to

Charles Thomas DuBois

New Year’s Eve

at sunset

Seattle Museum of the Arts

Reception to follow immediately after at the Travers Residence

(In lieu of gifts, we ask that you consider donating to the LGBTQ Youth Center in Seattle)