CHAPTER 24

BILLY BOB

Willa and I celebrated our engagement with the most intense, wonderful kiss of my life. The thing that made this kiss so special was its significance, for it signified a beginning. That beginning was our lives together, along with the child we shared in her womb.

“I love you with all my heart, soul, and mind, Willa,” I said, grinning from ear to ear.

“I love you, too, Billy Bob,” Willa crooned with a dreamy look in her eyes that made me go weak in the knees, “with every fiber of my being.”

Our lips came together again as if there was a magnetic pull. In less than a minute I reluctantly separated from Willa.

“I wish it was forty-eight hours from now,” I said.

“Why is that?” Willa asked with a coy smile.

“So we can consummate our relationship for a second real and official time,” I said with a smile as I brushed hair off of her cheek.

“You mean so you’re not sleepwalking while having an erotic dream about me.”

“Exactly! This next time I intend to be fully awake and enjoying every second. Before and after with no question about reality, or a guilty conscience.”

“Let the countdown begin!” Willa said with a grin as she spread her arms wide like a circus entertainer.

“Can I make a request?”

“Of course,” Willa said.

“Since we are now going to be together forever, when you say my name going forward, can you please drop the Bob? Just call me Billy.”

“Wow, I didn’t realize the depth of your dislike of that nickname.”

“I never liked it, to be honest.”

“You’re kidding! How come you didn’t say anything until now?”

“Oh, I’ve become used to it,” I said with a shrug. “Everyone I know is used to it.”

“So. why are you just now telling me?”

“Like I said, since we’re gonna be together until death parts us,” I told her as I gently put my arms around her, “I thought I would fill you in on my true feelings.”

“Are there any other true feelings you need to fill me in on?” she asked as she laced her arms around my neck.

“Not off the top of my head.” Our lips were slowly coming together once again when Willa stopped, and her eyes got wide.

“So that’s why Carly always called you William? She knew you didn’t like, you know?”

I nodded as I laughed. “You can still call me that, I’m not offended. It’s just I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with my wife calling me Billy Bob?”

“Hey!” she beamed. “What about B.B.?”

“Ah, no I don’t think so. How about simply Billy or Bill?”

“How about Willie?” she giggled. “Then we’d be Willie and Willa.”

“I like it, actually,” I confessed. “But because I got stuck with Billy Bob so young, nobody ever called me Willie. I have been called just Bill or Billy from time to time.”

“Just so you know, now that we are actually a couple, I’m sure we will come up with pet names for each other,” she said, and then frowned. “Did you and Carly have pet names for each other? The little bit I was around her she just seemed to call you William.”

I shook my head. “Not really.”

“Well Shnookums,” Willa said with a grin, her lovely golden amber eyes dancing with merriment. “What do you say we go talk to the pastor?”

“Sounds like a plan Pudding Pop.”

“Pudding Pop?” she replied with a frown as we began to make our way to my truck.

“You don’t like it? It’s better than Shnookums.”

“It sounds cold and fatty.”

“I was thinking sweet and delicious.”

“How about we both think on our names for a while?”

“Okay,” I replied as I started my truck. When we were a mile from the Pastor’s house, I began to whistle a song that had been circulating in my head.

“My angel is a centerfold …” Willa added words to my tune with a slightly amused, yet puzzled frown. The song had been still going through my head from the oldies station when I drove to Dollar General to get Willa’s car started.

“Well, she WAS a centerfold anyway,” I grinned.

“That’s right. She was,” Willa said solemnly. “Regretfully so.”

“Behold, all things become new,” I said cheerily. Willa gazed at me with intense sentiment as she rubbed her belly. Her lips curled into a smoldering smile as we pulled into Pastor Samson’s driveway.

“I can’t wait until we’re married,” Willa suddenly said with a sultry voice. “I so want to demonstrate how much I love you.”

After I put my pickup into park, our faces came together so fast that I’m surprised we didn’t break any facial bones. After several seconds of passionate kissing, we separated abruptly.

“We’ll be married in a few dozen hours,” I gasped. “Lets control ourselves in the Pastor’s driveway.

“Right,” Willa purred as we moved away from each other with reluctance.

Our plan, if Pastor Samson, AKA Captain Kirk agreed, was to be baptized before Friday night’s prayer service, and then be married the next day after the fellowship meal.

We had heard that when Captain Kirk approves of a marriage request in his office, he typically goes to the piano and plays the wedding march. If not, he instructs the requesting couple to get counseling first. I honestly thought there was a good chance that he would do the latter. Willa and I had known each other for only seven months. I hadn’t even been going to Cotton Creek Cove for a full year, and Willa considerably less than that. He also knew about my situation with Carly. And he was yet to learn about the baby on the way. But I figured that would only help with our intentions to marry.

Captain Kirk had a reputation as an unconventional pastor. He thought outside of the box. After we explained everything that had transpired, and then we explained how we ended up pregnant, we concluded with a request for him to marry us. To our relief, a big smile grew onto his face. Then he went to the piano and played the wedding march. Willa and I smiled happily at each other. But then the smile evaporated from her lovely face.

“Pastor, do you truly think I’m ready?” Willa asked Captain Kirk as her voice squeaked a bit with emotion. This surprised me! Was she getting cold feet?

“For which, daughter, baptism or marriage?” he asked as he stroked his long white beard a couple of times.

Captain Kirk was an amazing man. He tended to call younger people son or daughter so that no matter their situation, they knew they at least had a substitute father with him. And since he was around eighty years old, most people were younger.

“Baptism,” Willa croaked as her eyes filled with tears. “After all, I was more culpable in the story you just heard. You know, on how I ended up pregnant.”

“Daughter, have you ever dropped soap while taking a shower?”

Willa frowned. “Of course, who hasn’t?”

“Did you stop taking a shower?”

“No, of course not,” Willa replied, then smiled when she began to understand his object lesson.

“Then as you get spiritually clean, and happen to drop the soap, pick it up, turn your eyes on Jesus, and keep on getting clean.”

“Thank you, Pastor,” Willa said. Then she moved toward him, hugged him, and then kissed his cheek, causing him to both blush and chuckle.

“Sweet girl, I’ve been around a long time,” Captain Kirk said as he smiled softly and gently put a hand on Willa’s upper arm. “I spent ten years as an army chaplain, two of those in Vietnam. I spent forty years ministering to prisoners. Although I’m still a fallible human being, I’ve developed a pretty good feel for the human spiritual condition. I usually can tell the disingenuous from the genuine. Daughter, when it comes to baptism, I think you are ready.”

“Thank you, sir,” Willa squeaked. “Now what about marriage?”

“Well,” Captain Kirk sighed. “That’s where I trust you two. I’ve known Billy a little longer than I’ve known you, Willa. But he strikes me as a man who truly loves The Lord. He explained the situation about how you two have come to be with child together. I think it’s a good idea for you two to become a family. Without this incident, Billy very well would have made the biggest mistake of his life.”

“Tell me what you really think, pastor,” I grinned.

“Okay,” he replied utterly serious. “I think Carly has commitment issues. I don’t just mean with her romantic partners, but I mean with following God as well. Although I found your ability to forgive her commendable, I regret not being more blunt with you when you were involved with her a second time. Even with counseling, I would have declined a request to officiate a wedding involving you and Carly.” All I could do is nod sheepishly. “Buck up, my boy,” Captain Kirk grinned as he slapped my upper arm. “It all turned out right.”

Captain Kirk talked us into getting baptized after the Saturday morning service. Cotton Creek Cove fellowship was a renovated barn nestled into a hill. The sanctuary was on the first floor. Captain Kirk had turned the old hay loft into a fellowship hall with a kitchen and a little recreation center. It had a very large hot tub that was used as a baptistery if it was too cold to use Cotton Creek. Although it was a lovely looking autumn day, it was too cold and windy to be dunked in water outdoors. Unless you were polar bear.

After the service on Sabbath morning, Willa and I shared our testimonies as well as our love story. Captain Kirk voiced his observations, and then he petitioned Willa and me to climb into the baptistry. Willa, the pastor, and I wore gym shorts and t-shirts with long, thick, white robes over them. I hiked the robe to my knees as I prepared to enter the tub. I intended to climb in first so I could take Willa’s hand and assist her in. Before I could do this, Willa interrupted.

“Can I say a few more words?” she asked timidly.

“Of course, dear,” Captain Kirk replied. Most of the congregation had stayed after the service to witness our baptism. Willa turned to them.

“Sorry,” she began with a little laugh. “Thanksgiving is still a month away. But I just wanted to acknowledge that today is the most special day of my life, and I’m very thankful. Today is not just the start of a new chapter in our lives, but two new chapters. By this ceremony right now, we are publicly committing ourselves to Jesus Christ and acknowledging that we accept him as our Lord and Savior. By getting married in another couple hours, this incredible man and I are committing our lives to each other. So, we are, in a sense, starting new with our earthly lives as well as our spiritual lives. How many of you know this wonderful man known as Billy Bob?”

The vast majority of hands went up, as did my eyebrows as I wondered where she was going with her little speech. “Just two days ago,” Willa continued, “right after we confirmed that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together, Billy asked me if I would refrain from calling him Billy Bob. I discovered that he never really liked the moniker, but he was more concerned about possibly hurting feelings if he asked people not to call him that. So now, with our lives going in a new direction, I will be calling my man Willie, and I invite you to join me. If you forget, or just plain don’t want to, we understand. Thank you.”

“I love it!” Captain Kirk beamed. “Let’s hear it for Willa and Willie! I’m gonna think of them as the double Ws.”

Everyone began to applaud loudly. Interspersed in the clapping, I heard a few people say, ‘Praise God’ and ‘Amen.’ Willa hugged me, and I kissed the top of her head. “You’re one of a kind, Willa,” I told her. “How about the little horse ranch that’s in our future be called the ‘Double W.’

“That’s wonderful, Willie!”

We invited the congregation to return that afternoon if they wanted to witness our impromptu wedding. Since it felt a little like we were eloping because of the sudden decision to marry, Willa and I were surprised to find a large number of people at our wedding. It seemed that most of Cotton Creek Cove’s congregation had turned out.

My family was there as well as Willa’s aunt and cousin, Whitney. Zella was there of course, and she was sitting next to Lyle. Next to Lyle, and to my surprise, sat Devin. This surprised me because after Willa and I literally caught them with their pants down, both were adamant that we keep our discovery secret. Not that anyone would suspect they were or had been more than friends. Especially with the spooky, yet familiar looking woman nuzzling into Devin on his other side.  

After the pastor had Willa and I say our vows, he had us face the congregation. He spoke for a minute or two before he led everyone in prayer. I couldn’t help noticing that all eyes were on Willa and me, except for the spooky dark-haired woman. She was staring expressionlessly at Amy Easton. Then I realized the similarities in facial structure between them. Were they related?

Amy had been attacked a few months previously by some rogue members of the cult that had tried to kill her in a satanic sacrifice. She was about six months pregnant when the second attack occurred. Although she suffered a concussion, the baby was fine, and the pregnancy proceeded without a hitch. Fortunately, Dirk and Destiny had been with her, and they staved off the assailants. I feared the strange woman was another rogue cult member. Come to find out, that wasn’t exactly right, though she would become quite a nightmare for Devin in his near future.

No one knew it at the time, not even Devin, but the woman was Amy’s half-sister. Since they were sitting in the back, and came in last, nobody seemed to notice her. This was the same sister who wanted to turn Amy into a stripper first, and then a porn star. Amy had not only refused, but she had fled the house that the two had shared and moved in with Destiny and Brock.

In a fit of revenge, the witch set up Amy to be gang raped. So, what was one of Amy’s two vicious half-sisters doing with Devin at Willa’s and my wedding? Devin and his diabolical companion left not even a minute after I spotted her staring at Amy. Although they were gone, I told Brock Storm what I witnessed as soon as I had a chance. He calmly thanked me, but I could tell that my observation had left him more than unsettled.