Chapter 18

It was the highlight of my life. She was beautiful, vibrant and she was mine. We spent a lot of time in bed, but we did hit the beach a couple of times. She wore the most conservative bikini, the first time, then went with the racy thong bottomed one the next. When she found out tops were optional, it was gone instantly. Men and women stared; she was that beautiful. Oddly, it didn’t bother me as much as I thought it would. I was proud of how attractive she was, and was confident that although others would look, I was the only one allowed to touch.

We went dancing, and though I was a decent dancer she wore me out pretty quickly. We’d shared a lunch with another couple at the resort, and they were there. Her husband was as worn out as I was, so the girls danced together, ignoring the men who tried to dance with them. They danced over to our table and gave a little bump and grind that had us rushing back to our rooms. She laughed the next day on the plane. “I have zero interest in girls, honey. Pam is the same way. I have to admit it was fun, but the purpose was to rev our men up. I think we accomplished that goal, wouldn’t you?”

“Don’t talk. Exhausted. Need nap.”

She cooed and snuggled into my arm.

She came back to the condo I was leasing and never left. A month later she gave up her apartment. five months later, I gave her a diamond. I walked into her restaurant and demanded to see the chef. She thought she was going to be confronted by an irate customer and was surprised to see me on my knee, holding up an open box. The diamond twinkled in the candles of the closest tables.

“Sandy, love of my life, will...”

Well, I think that’s about as far as I got before she dove on me so hard she knocked us both to the floor. She yanked so hard on the box it flew out of my hand and landed under a table. We were on hands and knees scrambling for it while she screamed “YES’ over and over. The whole placed clapped and cheered when she found the box and got the ring on her finger. That’s when the kissing portion of the evening began, followed by her parading through the place, me in tow, while she showed every table there the ring.

My “family” was very happy for me. They had seen how depressed I had been after the break-up with my second wife. The grandmothers descended immediately, grabbing Sandy and spiriting her off to make wedding plans. Her first was basically just a ceremony in a courthouse anteroom. She once expressed to Grandma Greely how she had longed for the full wedding experience and they were determined to give her her dream. They did not hesitate in telling me they were paying and all I had to do was show up when and where they told me. I was more than happy with that.

Ms. Chen lost her grandmother status when she told me she thought she was too young to be a grandmother. “Well, then. I have another position I needed to fill. I need a new Mom, my old one isn’t working out,” I told her. She and her husband were childless. I never asked why, but she was so overcome with the offer she cried in my arms, the first time I’d ever seen her cry. She did, though, become a hell of a grandmother to Mickey. She would have taken him every weekend if I would have let her. Sandy’s mother had passed and she stepped right into the role. There were endless discussions about flowers, color schemes, invitations, venues, until I thought I would go crazy if I was asked one more opinion. Finally they decided to leave me alone. All I needed to do was make sure the tux fit and be there on time.

Mickey was my best man. Jose, Dan, Miguel, Michael and my cousin Billy were my groomsmen. Sandy had two of her college friends, her assistant from the restaurant, Connie, and Alice. Her maid of honor was her sister. I met her for the first time at the rehearsal. We didn’t hate each other, but we had nothing in common. She was pissed at Sandy marrying a white guy, and me for having the nerve to marry her. Probably the first true black racist I’d ever met. Luckily she went to school on the other coast and we wouldn’t be seeing each other that often.