Chapter 20

Ed's turn:

I suppose I'm moving. That's what I get for smiling back at Dana one day when she asked if I needed a girlfriend.

I will absolutely NOT refer to it as a downhill slide since then. If it's downhill, then it's that downhill that my skiing friends rhapsodize about, all fresh virgin(!) powder, the bite of frosty air in the face, the sun glinting off a trillion prismatic crystals, the shhhhhhhhh!!!! sound of snow subdued under skis.

I don't think it's downhill, though. It's uphill, and I don't want to think of it as a burning ember caught up in the draft of a late-night campfire, up, up into the night sky to turn cold and blink out. It's more like dandelion seeds wafting loose on a spring breeze, carried up and away to fields unknown to start life anew.

There's my fellow dandelion seed right there, sideways on the sofa, flexible in that way that lithe, athletic young girls can be, looking over the top of a book at me.

"You're staring, Ed."

"Yes, Missus Allen," I said.

We're married. I can't believe it. There's the evidence, though, a gold ring around her finger shows the fact to the world, as well as copies of various paperwork, including a completed marriage license and certificate.

"You do realize that you have a lifetime of having me around to see, don't you?"

"It will forever be magic, Dana darlin'."

She put the book down and crawled into my lap. Such a neat armful she makes.

"It's great," she says, kissing me. "We actually walk around outside holding hands. I kissed you in PUBLIC! People KNOW we're married."

"Yeah, and most of 'em know you're young, but they don't know you're only fourteen. That little fact disturbs a lot of people."

"Uh-huh," she said, saddening. "Like the lady at school who thinks I MUST be pregnant. Lots of people think I'm pregnant."

"You're not pregnant," I said. "You handle risk very well."

"Ed, Ed, Ed," she said softly, "It's just that I didn't want ANYTHING between us. Those stupid condoms..."

"Never again. And you're so right ... it's better."

Giggle. She put her lips to my forehead. "Yes it is. I can tell. And I LIKE the way I feel afterwards when I'm still glowing and I feel big glops of US dripping out. You sure that doesn't gross you out?"

"Nope. I get more of my Dana. I don't have to abuse the little pink flower with a rough ol' towel, we don't get a wet spot..."

"And you make me come my brains out," she said. "And talkin' about it makes me..." Wiggle. "You, too."

Newlyweds. I've heard about being newlyweds. I find that first, the stories understate the activity level, and second, I'm okay with it. We've missed meals.

Dana does still visit her Gramma. I'm usually there with her for a bit in the odd evenings when Mizz Lee is home. I know, though, that Mizz Lee's working on her friend Jerry about moving to Alabama. Oddly, neither of them is completely averse to the idea.

Seems that as a former prosecuting attorney, he has people he knows all over the place, including Alabama, and being in his mid-seventies, he's not exactly in acute need of a paying job. Plus, he was amused when he looked over the paperwork for Dana's marriage.

"I've heard of this. I think that Judge Lanford did one after the hurricane."

Dana giggled.

"That's funny?" he asked her.

"Yessir. He did. And we know who he did it for..."

"Oh, come on..." Jerry said. He looked to me, reading my face. "She's serious."

"She's Dana. Every day I find out more about what she knows. But yes, sir, we know the couple. That's the other end of this Alabama situation."

His eyes flicked between me and Dana and Mizz Lee. "You all are SERIOUS!"

"Yes, Jerry," Mizz Lee answered. "That's Nikki and Dan Granger. She's almost eighteen now. Has a bachelor's and a master's in engineering. Doctoral candidate in physics."

He looked at my Dana for a moment. "And you, young lady..."

Dana smiled. "I may be able to approach those levels."

Jerry read the document some more. "Peebles. Peebles. That rings a bell. I met a district attorney named Peebles."

"Might be related," Mizz Lee said. "Charles says his son is an attorney."

"I know people all over the place, Lee," Jerry said. "You, however, are a single point of light."

I smiled. I see that the connection between Mizz Lee and Jerry is a lot closer than I previously thought. To publicly state one's feelings, that's something.

"Oh, go on, Jerry! You're making me blush!" Mizz Lee giggled.

After more conversation, Dana and I left. Once inside our own apartment, she turned to me. "Can you BELIEVE? Mister Jerry makes Gramma GIGGLE and blush!"

"Those are sounds of happy people. I think they're happy with each other, you know."

She put her arms around my neck, drawing me in for a kiss. "Promise me that when you're seventy-something, you'll still make me blush and giggle."

"I promise," I said. In the back of my head though, I know she's fourteen years junior to me. I tried picturing a sixty-year old Dana. Okay. Plenty good. The image starts in the heart.

A month and a half, though, from clueless single guy to completely and incontrovertibly married. In the other room is my wife, almost fifteen, clad in a nightshirt and a pair of hip-hugger striped blue and white panties. She's checking on something for the evening's entertainment. It's a starting place, anyway.

I hear giggling as I walk into the living room. Her MacBook's open and the voices coming from it tell me that I would be wise not to expose myself to its camera, even though I'm wearing scrubs. Yes, we do a good bit of running around naked chasing each other. I'm remarkably easy to catch, as is Dana.

On the average evening, though ... We've been married a week. I do not yet know what average will be, really.

I slide onto the opposite end of the sofa.

Giggle. "Ed's here, so behave yourself!" Dana said with a smile.

"Hi, Ed," came the voices of Cindy and Nikki.

"Hello, ladies," I said. "I trust you're not leading my young wife astray."

"No further astray than young wives have been before her," Nikki said.

"We talked with Mizz Aneeta today. She's going to call Dana tomorrow," Cindy said.

"You might consider your load-out for the return trip," Nikki said.

"Well, like I said," Dana answered. "Gramma and Mister Jerry are still discussing ... If she moves, we move. And if Jerry moves, she moves."

Cindy ... why is it that Cindy's always the one on the cutting edge? "So your future depends on the romantic acumen of a seventy-something lawyer?"

"That's HORRIBLE!" Dana squealed. "But kinda, I guess. Gramma's ... she rescued me. I owe her..."

"She gave you Ed for a reason, Dana," Cindy replied. "'Whither thou goest, I will go; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge: thy people shall be my people.' That's the bible, book of Ruth. Woman and her chosen."

"But the only reason Ed would go is because of me," Dana said.

"Your grandma wants you reaching for the stars. We probably have a warp drive to build," Nikki said.

Dana smiled. "Yaknow, since I've been in love, I see how it is with other people. I've seen Gramma and Mister Jerry. If I were a betting person, I'd put my money on them moving. Gramma wants the munchkins. Jerry wants Gramma. I go along as part of the deal." I giggled. "And since I am married to ED..." she smiled at me, "Where I go, he will be also."

The next day, the boss caught me. "You're using up your carry-over vacation pretty fast. That have to do with that new wife you announced?"

"You betcha," I said. "Auburn University's interviewing her for a special program. Dana's, well, special. I had a great ACT score when I went through high school. She beats mine. They're interested. They want a follow-up meeting. That's what the vacation request..."

"And if she's accepted ... What kind of job can you get in a college town?"

"Actually, I have options," I said. "Brian, it's not an easy decision, you know..."

"Oh, hell, Ed. My boss is gonna shit if you leave. After that server room fire, he sees what you do and how well you do it."

"I understand, Brian," I said. "But I have an engineering degree that I'm not using."

"I know that. Ed, if you're that set on using it, I can probably swing a move into the engineering department..."

"That leaves Dana here."

"I've got a channel into the local university. I could get them to look..."

"Brian, I appreciate every bit of that, but I gotta do it this way. She's been recruited very hard by a consortium that, frankly, has no parallels here. My position there is to support that."

"You're not tendering your resignation, then."

"Brian, you and I, we've eaten together and drank beer together and had some good times, work and otherwise. This ain't easy."

"I know, Ed. I've lost good men before. Never is easy. Look, you do what you have to do, okay. If I were in your shoes, I know I would."

Not a pleasant day. Got home, found my teen bride in the apartment reading a college text she'd just received from UPS, the cat making a purring loaf beside her.

"You don't look happy, baby," she said.

I recounted my conversation with Brian.

"Ed, I want YOU to be happy. We can stay here. Maybe this college..."

"Doesn't have Cindy and Nikki and the Mafia and all those nutcases running around. I personally don't even KNOW a real banjo player..."

"There is that," she said. "Such an eclectic place. But Ed ... You. You first. You only. It was all about you before we met them. I was going to be perfectly happy just being married to you and finishing middle school and going to high school and then to college. I was. Still would be."

"Dear little blonde girl," I said, "You're first in my life now. I was all into my job before you. You sort of opened up my horizons."

"Are you sure, baby?" she asked.

I hadn't been 'baby' to anyone since Mom passed away. I like the status, even when it is incongruously bestowed by a girl half my age.

"I'm sure. That's why you have a wedding band."

She smiled, fingering the little gold ring. "I have this little ring, but you should see what you have in my heart."

"You're being all cute 'n' stuff," I said.

"Suppose I put this book down and crawl over there, would that be cute?"

"Probably. And arousing. And delicious."

She started to put the book down and move. DC the cat turned, put a paw on her leg to stop her. She giggled. "DC says keep studying now, fool around later." And she petted him.