Chapter 14

Mimi’s turn:

Only in my silliest ‘little girl’ dreams did I ever think I’d one day be flying off to my honeymoon in a private plane. That chance, I guess, was right up there with princes on white chargers and unicorns farting rainbows on the scale of reality.

Yet here I am. Okay, there’s a propeller spinning away up front, so it’s technically NOT a jet, but I’m sitting in a decadent leather seat in the cabin of 3Sigma’s new Pilatus, facing Johanna and Stoney, the big one, and MY Tommy’s in the seat beside me and we’re watching little Stoney on the floor in the middle of the four of us.

And I’ve been married four hours already. I close my eyes, relishing...

“You okay, princess?” Tommy asks.

“No. I’m way past okay, baby. I was just considering the absurdity of my honeymoon looking like this...”

“Disappointed?” he asked.

I looked at Johanna who was sitting across from me in the executive seating arrangement.

“Hardly. I never expected a fairy tale.”

“We thought you’d like this,” Johanna said. “Me ‘n’ Stoney had a weekend in Galveston all to ourselves...”

“And ended up seeing the inside of the police department,” Stoney said. “Thought you guys’d like something different.”

“A mountain cabin? Soooo different.”

“And this thing...” Johanna laughed. “Bless Uncle Jan.” She said it “Yon”. “He loves our baby boy.”

I looked at the subject ‘baby boy’ who was standing, his pudgy hands holding onto my knee. I clapped my hands, spreading them. He grinned broadly, held his arms up.

Yeah ... Small plane at twenty-five thousand feet, doing three hundred miles an hour, steady as a pool table as we crossed the middle of America. A two year old can stand here, but this one says I can hold him.

I pick him up.

“Mimi, kiss,” he says and plants one on my mouth.

I look over at Tommy. I know he’s thinking. We’ve talked.

“You take care of FOUR of ‘em. That doesn’t put you off?” he asked me one day.

“Four of the most wonderful children on the planet. I want one like that.” I paused. “Of course, that does require ‘daddy’ material.”

“Just the injection, or you wanna bring the dispenser home with you?”

I grinned. The guy’s smart and funny. And cute. A girl could get her skirt blown up by such as this. “Oh, I want the dispenser. The injections are fun. Might want a lot of ‘em.”

Of course, you realize that when we had this conversation, we’d mated and marriage was a given. And I’d seen HIM working with the Munchkins and I’d seen him NOT recoil in fear and disgust when MY charges were around. Matter of fact, he’s picked up little Kathy without being told to do so.

“Watch ‘er,” Terri told him. “We’re still working on the ‘no leak’ version.”

And little Kathy laughed. Yeah, I know, it’s supposed to be because she recognizes the tones and sounds and interprets them as being happy. You can believe that about other two-year-olds if you want. MY kids are past that.

“Tewwi ... laugh...” Kathy grinned.

So he saw me, this girl that decided she should marry him, and he saw that even though I spent much of many days in the company of several toddlers, I was pro-baby. Also pro-kid, as evidenced by occasionally interacting with one or several of the Munchkins.

Tommy and I showed up at the community music and feeding sessions every one of the Saturdays after I met him. It was a window on a new world, one I thought I didn’t deserve, that the people here deserved better than me.

However, I was here with Tommy, whom they respected, therefore I was worthy of respect as well. When they hired me, I told my story about what I REALLY thought I was. They held different opinions. Nobody ever said anything negative.

Anyhow, Saturday, I’m sitting on a bench, Tommy having just left to go establish his male credentials by helping with grilled meats, and Terri slid onto the seat next to me. Cute young thing, is Terri. Disarming.

“You like this, don’t you?” she asked.

“Yeah, I do. Why do you ask?”

“Oh, sometimes people get dragged in, and this is not their thing. Some people put up with us. We’re very strange. Different.”

“It is different,” I agreed.

“Sociology,” she said. “And history. I like to imagine this is the way little communities used to be a hundred and fifty years ago.”

“They told me to watch for you. Tommy did. Says you aren’t just a kid.”

“I’m just me,” she smiled. “And it’s nice that Tommy notices. He’s a good ‘un, you know.”

“I’m seeing that,” I said.

“And Tina-mom says that YOU’RE a good ‘un, too.” She smiled slyly. “Is there an equation that needs balancing?” She watched me to see if I could gather the gist of her statement. Then, “See?!? You get it. So, an answer? Or do you not talk to punk kids about things like relationships?”

“You’re dangerous, and you’re an interesting package, but you’re no punk kid.”

Those blue eyes danced. “Nice answer. Wasn’t the question, though.”

“I think that if I was in the market, Tommy’d be on the table.”

“Okay. See?!? Wasn’t hard. And I won’t blab. I’m actually happy. I think he’s receptive. I can see it when he’s next to you.”

Of course, the path to a destination is seldom straight. I wandered off sideways because my own conscience works overtime sometimes. Mizz Donna set me straight. Like I said – this community is where I NEEDED to be.

“You don’t have to hold him the whole flight, Mimi...” Johanna’s voice, bringing me back into this world.

“Oh, he’s perfectly fine here,” I said. The baby turned to his mom, waved with a big smile, laughed, and buried himself against me. “MY Mimi,” he gurgled.

I looked at Tommy over the top of the baby’s head. He was smiling. After a bit, I passed a sleeping kiddo back to his mom. She put him in his baby carrier. The purr of the plane’s turbine engine was soporific, at least for little Stoney.

We talked the whole trip. Cindy even left the pilot’s seat for a while, sitting on the floor in the middle of us.

“You like this thing?” Stoney asked.

“Oh, it’s beautiful,” Cindy said. “Just almost NOT flying. Flight controller’s got us, we don’t deviate a degree from the flight path, twenty feet from altitude. It’ll take us right to the airport, and all I have to do is land.”

“Welcome to the Brave New World,” Stoney laughed. “How much of our work is like that any more? Machines make all the stuff easy...”

“Until the machine doesn’t, and somebody needs to be there to know the difference,” Cindy said. “You know what happens. Somebody enters a wrong data point...” She smiled. “I did this one – double checked. Brought it up on overview to make sure that the stuff I put in don’t take us to New Brunswick or something.”

“Cindy,” I said, interrupting.

“Yes?”

“When we get back, I want you to teach me to fly.”

Giggle. “I was planning on it. Your book’s’ll be at the office when we get back.”

I turned to Tommy. “You better be careful. I WILL flat pass you up...”

The cabins are marvelous. You walk out the BACK door and there’s the wall of the mountain forest. Out the front door is an open area with a communal fire pit, and the view of the valley is artistically altered by the trees framing it.

They’re right. Johanna’s dad is a huge blonde Viking bear. Johanna’s mom? Well, Johanna in a few years, essentially, and Stoney’s gonna be lucky to still have that on his arm. They’re doting grandparents, too. Of course, Tommy and I met them. These people very graciously provided two strangers a truly memorable location for a honeymoon. Tommy and I did a little socializing and then backed out the door, and these people are genteel enough NOT to hoot and catcall because I am very happily going to my honeymoon bed.

Cindy did raise an eyebrow above the famous smirk, though.

We received information that there were snacks and drinks available in our cabin, and that breakfast would be made available “If you two get out of there before noon tomorrow,” according to Johanna.

Door was locked behind us. My Tommy carried me to the bedroom, deposited me on the bed, lowered himself onto it beside me. I turned and wrapped the boy up.

“You. You poor, poor man. You married me and now I intend to wear us out...”

Okay, so I wasn’t the frightened little virginal bride. I’d been sharing Tommy’s bed for a while now, and have been very happy with everything we do together, but this IS the honeymoon. I think we stepped up our game. Did each other with happy abandon, almost to immobility. Laid in each other’s arms making cooing noises, telling each other in nonsensical terms why we loved each other. Dozed. Woke up, started all over again.

We did get out of the cabin into crisp mountain air, sans sun ... The skies were gray and over cast, and we were bundled up like lost Eskimos, but we walked around the area, deliberately NOT knocking on doors.

Finally got noticed by Mister Anders.

“Did the cabin meet expectations?” he called to us.

“Cabin? What cabin?” Tommy yelled back.

“That’s what I said on my honeymoon. Didn’t give a thought about the décor.”

Mizz Bridgette joined him. “You do look wonderfully happy. Mimi, you have a glow...”

“Thank you, Mizz Bridgette. It’s the mountains. Never been anywhere like this before. Beautiful.”

“If you two wish to come in, we’ll have coffee,” Mister Anders said.

“Sounds good,” I said. “C’mon, baby.”

I took Tommy’s willing hand, followed the Solheims back into their cabin, doffing my coat and hat. Found Stoney and Jo and the baby in the living room, but went back to the kitchen to help Mizz Bridgette with the coffee.

“Dear Mimi, I can do this myself.”

“I’m sure you can, but this is symbolic. I must deliver sustenance to my man.”

The laughter tinkled from her. “Oh, wonderful, darlin’. Just perfect. You keep that up, and things will be very good.”

“They are very good, Mizz Bridgette. This cabin honeymoon exceeds my little girl dreams.”

“I thought my Anders had lost his mind when he wanted to get this place. Now I adore it. And with the new plane, Jo and Stoney can bring my grandbaby up often. Or we can go back with them.”