Chapter 7

Bill’s turn:

I walked into the office at my normal time, that is, half an hour before the ‘official’ start time. Hey, I’m a staff engineer with field functions, so I don’t exactly have to punch a timeclock. I just like to get there early enough to have a cup of coffee, talk with people as they come in, check my email, clean out my distribution box...

And answer personal questions.

“So, buddy, you actually DID it?” Chuck Reisner, another engineer, asked.

“Yep. See? Appropriate jewelry.” I waved my new wedding band. “I got pictures.”

“G-rated?”

I snickered. “She’s sixteen. You can go to jail for the other ones, married or not.” I plugged my iPhone into my docked laptop, pulled up a good picture of me and Haley at the wedding.

“Oh, shit, Bill. She’s precious. “Who’s the old bastard standing there with ‘er?”

“Asshole. But yes, that’s my new wife.” Haley standing there, serene little smile, that blue dress, the wreath of tiny white flowers crowning the perfectly brushed, shiny brown hair.

“I wanna see!” came a feminine voice as one of our analysts comes in on the conversation.

“That’s her,” I told Gwen.

“Beautiful. Just the way a bride should look,” Gwen said. “So sweet. So natural.” Gwen eyeballed me. “You’re gonna be good to THIS one, right?”

“I was good to the LAST one,” I said. But I was thinking to myself, ‘Haley? How could you possibly do something to make that face cry?’

By lunchtime everybody who cared had come by to see the pictures. I’d done the proper things with human resources to attach myself and Haley together for various insurances and programs, steps that seem to solidify and legitimize a marriage.

Somebody slowed time down. The day went on forever before I could see myself heading out the door for home. To my wife.

Our SUV was in the driveway. I pulled my company car in beside it. Thought I was going to have to unlock the door, but I was wrong. It flew open, Haley dashed out, catching me in the middle of the driveway for one of THOSE kinds of kisses.

Giggle. “We can kiss in public,” she smiled. “And I love it!”

“That answers THAT question,” I laughed.

“What question?”

“Whether you’d be sitting at your Mom’s, crying about the horrible mistake you’ve made.”

“Hmmphhhh! Mom told me that I’d better recognize which side my bread’s buttered on.”

“She did?”

“Yeah, two years ago she told me that if we could stand each other, we’d be stupid NOT to get married, and if I did something to screw it up, she was disowning me.” She tossed her arms around me as soon as I got in the door. “And sooooo, to protect my huge inheritance, I have resigned myself to the misery of marrying you.”

“The horrors you must endure,” I smiled.

“Horrors,” she repeated, kissing me.

“So how was your first day at school with your wedding band on?”

“I am soooooo much pregnant, apparently.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” I said.

“Like that’s the only reason to get married, you know,” she said.

“Come sit on my lap and tell me about it.”

Giggle. “That’s how this all got started.”

“Uh, yeah, okay. But whose idea was it to do that?”

“You don’t think it was a good idea?”

“I do now. Back then, I figured prison was a real possibility.”

“It ended up the way I wanted, though.”

“All we have is an eternity, little one. Incidentally, your picture made quite the splash. You’re apparently quite the cutie in our wedding pic.”

She smiled. “To most of the world I’m just a little brown-haired girl. You think I’m beautiful.”

“And so very perfect on our wedding day.”

Aside from the knowledge that we were finally legally married, a satisfying feeling, to be sure, the biggest change to our lives was that now we were open with our affection in public. For the past two years, we’d been reluctant to even hold hands, much less kiss or sit too close to each other. No more.

Realistically, though, we weren’t intending on public displays past the point of the holding of hands, the hugs, the little kisses that a happy couple might wish. We could relax. A sudden burst of happiness from Haley, where she’d had to control the urge to grab me for happy kisses, no longer had to be suppressed.

We made four days like this.

Naturally Laney called while I was at work. I hated this when I was in the office because I don’t like holding personal conversations where they might be overheard. Fortunately, I was on the road, visiting a site an hour’s drive away.

Caller ID gave me the opportunity to steel myself. I never knew what the subject of one of Laney’s calls might be.

“Hello, Laney,” I said.

“Bill, we need to have a serious talk about Deena.”

“What’s up now?” I asked. “She seemed fine when we dropped her off Saturday.”

“Uh, it’s ... Well, she seems to think that Harv’s ... It’s bullshit, Bill. Pure bullshit. Harv would never...” She blurted. I don’t know who she wanted to convince more, me or herself.

“Slow down, Laney,” I said soothingly. “Now, what about Deena and Harv?”

“Deena says Harv is perving on ‘er. I think Deena’s got an overactive imagination, but she told me that if he so much as laid a finger on her, she was going straight to the police, and you KNOW what that would mean if it hit the news. Harv’s reputation...”

I’m thinking that ol’ Harv’s chickens are coming home to roost as far as his reputation is concerned, tagging Laney when she was a paralegal in his law firm, but saying that again wouldn’t help the present situation.

“I can imagine what it would do,” I said, dredging up as much compassion as I could fake. “So what am I expected to do here?”

“Look,” she stated, “Deena’s been talking about moving in with you. Even with your new bride...” That last clause had a thick coat of sarcasm. I ignored it.

“I haven’t encouraged Deena to do that. She’s asked. I explained to her about custody and how much hassle it would be if you and I got in a battle over it.”

“There won’t be a battle,” she said tersely.

“How fast do you want this to happen?”

“I told her that I would talk to you today before your new wife...”

“Haley. Her name is Haley, Laney.”

“Okay...” she huffed. “ ... When Haley picked her up for school. Deena’s under the impression that you won’t have a problem with it.”

“She’s right. She asked Haley if it would be a problem. They’re good friends. Haley said they’d be like sisters. Just like they’ve sort of been since I moved into this house and they met.”

“You’re sleeping with Haley,” Laney stated.

“Uh, yeah. She’s my wife, you know.”

“She’s sixteen.”

“That’s a fact, too.”

“And you’re gonna tell me that Saturday night was the first time she’s been in your bed.”

“Laney, first, that’s none of your business. I don’t make comments about you and Harv...”

“I wasn’t a teenaged girl.”

“I know, Laney. And love leads where it may. Haley’s my wife.”

“And if Deena’s there...”

“Deena will be Deena. My daughter. Haley’s friend. I doubt that Haley wants to change her relationship with Deena at all. Only difference is where she sleeps at night.”

“Then if I send Deena home with your wife this afternoon...”

“Make sure she has clothes for school. We’ll figure out the rest.”

“Bill, you haven’t even mentioned the child support or the custody agreement.”

“This is about Deena, our daughter and a real human being. I’m more concerned about her than I am about the stupid money or some legal crap. But if she’s living with me, I expect...”

“I’ll have Harv recommend an attorney,” she said.

“Oh, I think I’d rather use somebody that Harv didn’t recommend. I know a few ... I’m not getting crazy with this crap, Laney. Just standard stuff. Joint custody? We keep that. I’m the custodial parent. We just cut the child support off. I’ll take care of her from here on out, financially.”

“You think this is rich, don’t you?” she spat.

“Laney, no I don’t. Deena needs to know her mom loves her and her dad loves her. We need to keep that going.”

“I suppose,” she conceded. “How will we work this? They’re in school,” Laney said.

“I’ll text Haley. She’ll tell Deena after school.”

“She can get what she needs for the time being,” Laney said. “In case she changes her mind...”

I’m wondering what kind of mind change Laney’s expecting, but I don’t comment.

“Okay, then,” I said. “We’ll do it that way. If she makes two weeks, we’ll go ahead and treat it as permanent, don’t you think?”

“I suppose,” she said. The phone clicked in my ear.

Now I have those thoughts to entertain me for the rest of the day. Oh sure, I knew that the day was coming. I’m ready for it. Haley talks like it’s a done deal, almost looking forward to it, as does Deena.

That leaves me. It’s not like Haley and I haven’t ever spent time together. We had two years, more or less, of wonderful time together already. Yes, I would have loved to have more days of being able to run around the house naked or semi-naked, chasing a giggling Haley, but we’ve had those already, and no, I am NOT about to tell my daughter that I don’t want her living with me because I’ve got a new wife.

Especially when my wife is good with it.

As soon as I got parked at my destination, I texted the message to Haley. Got a reply a bit later – “OK!!!! J”

That’s a load off my mind.

When I was heading home, I knew that Haley would be done with school. I called her.

“Where’re you at, punkin?”

“Me ‘n’ Deena, we just left her old house.”

“Got some clothes?”

“We got as much as we can carry. We’re gonna have to make several trips.”

“How’d Laney treat you?”

“Very proper. We’ll talk.”

“How’s Deena?”

“She’s good. Wanna talk with ‘er?”

“Sure.”

“Here she is.”

“Hi, Dad. Shocker, huh?”

“Yes it is, baby,” I said, “but we sort of figured, sooner or later...”

“Is this too soon?” she queried. I could hear the apprehension in her voice.

Time to be a father. “No, baby. It’s your home, too.”

“You ‘n’ Haley...”

“Haley’s my wife. You’re my daughter. She knew about this, probably before I did, right?”

“I ... she and I talked a bunch. Before I knew you were marryin’ ‘er.”

“I figured.”

“She told you, huh?”

“Some of it.”

“I have to be a good daughter, otherwise my step-mom will beat me,” she said.

“Oh, there you go,” I chuckled. “I was feeling sorry for you, for all the turmoil in your life, and you lay THAT comment on me.”

She giggled. “Dad? Seriously...”

“Yes, my daughter?”

“We’ll make this work. Really. Haley and I have plans.”

“Okay. We have to be adults about it.”

“But I’m only fourteen...” in her most manipulative ‘little girl’ voice.