Chapter 13

Crying eats up a lot of energy, and to replenish, the twins bulked up on carbs at dinner, tearing into their spaghetti like they haven’t eaten in months. Andi and Paul just watched the girls demolish their dinners at the table, the twin’s little eyes opening wide as they forked in the noodles and didn’t even slow down when they came to the venison meatballs.

Paul’s heart filled with love as he watched the little ones devour their dinners. He now knew why Andi had them remove their t-shirts and eat dinner topless. There was spaghetti sauce everywhere. Mama Giardino is going to be so proud of them.

“Mama Who?” Andi asked.

Paul was shocked. Can my bride read minds? “Pardon?” Paul asked uncomfortably.

“You just said that Mama Giardino is going to be proud of them.”

“Wow, I was thinking out loud. A long time ago when dad’s business was on the skids we lived in a real low-rent area called Tiorunda in Cheektowaga. They call it “the projects.” It was military housing left over when they moved the Army Air Corps out of the area. It’s where I grew up really. I had a paper routes, and on the south edge of Tiorunda on Genesee Street where there were all these Italian and Greek restaurants. My mom let me take John with me and we’d go into Giardino’s and Mama Giardino would say “You boys are too skinny, come eat!” and she would make us sit down and eat her spaghetti. Of course, we’d wash dishes to pay, but hey, we were making the best of a bad situation.”

“That sounds wonderful,” said Andi wistfully wishing her sterile upbringing included Italian grandmothers and neighborhoods with little restaurants.

“Mama Giardino is still there. Her son Danny is running the restaurant now and he married a Tiorunda girl who manages the kitchen, but we still have Mama Giardino greeting folks at the door and serving as hostess. We will go there some evening so the girls can try some real spaghetti.”

“You never told me much about your brother John. Are you hiding him from me?”

Paul drew back and smiled. “No, I love my brother John. It took me years to do so, but I love him. He’s the reason why when I retired from the Air Force, I ended up here in Springville. He’s the pastor in the Springville Conservative Congregational Church.”

“A celebrity in the family!” smiled Andi.

“Originally he was a failure,” said Paul.

“Oh?”

“We packed him off to Jesuit seminary expecting to get back a Roman Catholic priest which would have put us on the social register in Buffalo, but what we got back was a married protestant minister who loved Jesus more than the catechism, and a Canadian sister-in-law. After I retired from the Air Force, I went to him ... actually his wife Macy dragged me to him ... and I talked about what happened with Melony and he helped me, and convinced me to wait for you.”

“Me? What do you mean me?

Paul took a long drink of his water and said, “I was so lonely, and I asked John what to do, and he said, ‘Don’t worry about it, when she comes you’ll know her and she’ll know you, and God will bless your union.’ I asked him what he meant, but he said, ‘That’s how it’s going to happen.”

Andi rose and walked to his side of the table and sat side-saddle on his lap. “Are you sure it’s me? Am I the one you have been waiting for?”

“I’m sure of it,” said Paul. “It’s only been 70 hours since we met, and I can’t conceive of a life without you. If you find that creepy, I’m sorry and I wouldn’t blame you if you left.”

“What creeps me out it the thought of a life without you,” said Andi, as her nose touched his. “I can’t wait to become Mrs. Adrianna Jarecki and...” she slipped her reading glasses on “ ... Doctor Roberts is considering going into practice with Doctor Jarecki.” She took off the reading glasses and smiled. “That’s my goofy way of saying that I’m going to change my name when we marry, but I will remain Doctor Roberts, it’s just too much work changing your name in the medical field.”

“You’re going to love the area once we can get out of this snow globe,” and they kissed again until Paul noticed that Sandy and Madeline were gone, they slipped off the stack of medical reference books they had been using as boosters and were heading upstairs. “Hey you two!” called Poppa Paul.