Chapter 30

My best man was David; well, I kinda owed him, I mean the name thing. Anna’s maid of honor was, as previously arranged, Lea Hanson.

The “I do’s” said, the reception was on. I was fifty-seven years old, and in love, and—unbelievably—married for the first time. But in my defense, I had been in prison for twenty-five years; kinda hard to find a suitable mate, or any mate, in a situation like mine.

We drank, we ate, we drank some more. It was one heck of a party. And then I got the look.

“Anna?” I said. We were actually kinda alone for the moment; she’d asked me to follow her out onto the patio—oh, and the reception was being held at the Waterbury. Anna had okayed it, so it was a done deal from the gitgo.

“No, nothing. I just had me a random thought, and I wanted to run it by you,” she said.

Now, I have never made any claim to be able to read minds, but I was beginning to think that I might be justified in doing so, making the claim. I knew exactly what she was going to say.

“Okay?” I said.

“It’s been good today. I’d kinda like it if we could keep the feeling going,” she said.

“Lea?” I said. She nodded.

“I won’t be making any waves. I know she’s your friend, and she didn’t say anything negative about you that day, so...” I said.

“Andrew, I’m not talking about just not making waves. I would love you even more than I already do ... I mean ... if you could see your way clear to forgive her those stupid remarks. You know this one time,” she said. I stared at her kind of coldly, but she was now my wife, and she did have the keys to my heart instead of to my cell.

“Anna, I guess, okay. Just don’t get all mushy about it and expect a lot of overt enthusiasm on my part. This thing, that you’re asking of me, will be kind of a long-term work in progress. Twenty-five years behind bars was one hell of a work in progress and being asked to forget all of that as well as the words ... well, it’s a lot. But I do promise to try, but only because it’s you asking,” I said.

“Okay, my darling man. You’re the best,” she said.

I know it wasn’t any big deal for him, Carlton, but the cost of the wedding that he’d arranged in collusion with my now wife ran in the neighborhood of fifteen thousand dollars. My original plan for the wedding and the reception, at a nearby local bistro that had a small but nice meeting hall, was closer to fifteen hundred dollars. But the man did pick up the whole tab and he didn’t even look askance at me after the fact or any of it. I did of course thank him profusely for his largess.

But now I was on the hook to be nice to the woman who held me in obvious contempt, her denials as to that notwithstanding. But I’d promised to do my best, and I would. I figured, Lea, would screw me over again some way or other, and when, or if, she did; well, that would be the end of things and Anna would have to be lightening up on me not the other way around.

It was Sunday and Anna and I were with the new mommy adoring my sort of namesake.

“Well, Daddy, so how does it feel to be in the grasp of a female woman?” she said, her gaze flitting between my wife and myself.

“Feels great. And, I should ask how does David like night duty?” I said. “I was thinking back to the days, so long past, when I had night duty for the woman I was talking to.

“He’s okay with it. Stepdaddy cuts him a bit of slack when he goes into work dragging,” she said.

“Your father, talks about his granddaughter all of the time. I think he’s about as proud as he can be,” said Anna, butting in.

“Well, good, we want him to be proud of his little grand-girl. I need him to be a kind of role model for her. I do,” said Sarah, her tone earnest.

“It’s Sunday, where’s the man of the house?” I said.

“We didn’t know you guys were coming over, so he’s at the big house talking to Stepdaddy about something that they’ve got going on the job,” she said.

“Hmm, work, work, work,” I said.

“Yes, well kinda. But David likes the work and Stepdaddy treats him good. Well, he is a member of the family now,” she said.

“For sure,” I said. Her look switched to one of high—something.

“And you and Mom?” said Sarah.

“Okay, as far as I know,” I said.

“He’s trying,” said Anna.

“Dadddyyy...” said Sarah.

“It’s like Your mother-in-law says, I’m trying and I think things are working out,” I said.

The talking and semi-arguing went on for some time, but then we had to leave. We had made plans for a little date night for ourselves, at the Waterbury; we had reservations.