Chapter 22

Over the next weeks my new-old woman and I did everything but the actual deed, some of what we did was actually pretty kinky.

“I honked the horn of my new 1988, Chevy Impala, my ancient pickup was history. Okay, so my new ride was eight years old; it was new to me. She came out. We were on our way to a night on the town to be followed by a late-night snack followed by a serious make out session leading to some well...”

“Let’s go,” she said, evidently in a hurry. I smiled and gunned my hot new road monster.

We headed into town and decided to wine and dine at the Mohave Inn. Steaks were good, service even better and the semi secluded booth we’d gotten seated at allowed for intimate conversation.

After dinner, we decided to cross the river and dance at the Nugget. We didn’t figure to run into the bad guys, well that was the hope. And I got my hope, no bad guys; and we did dance and we did have fun, and then we went home.

“Damn that was fun tonight,” I said.

“Same for me,” said Marian. I leaned in and kissed her. Then I surprised her.

“Oh, here,” I said. “I almost forgot.” I handed her the little box. She stared at it like she couldn’t believe it. I’d surprised her, oh boy had I.

“Will you?” I said. She nodded, but it was a nervous nod. For some reason I felt uneasy.

“Yes,” she said. I slid the ring gently onto her finger.

“Marian, when we were in high school. I thought I loved you; now I know I do,” I said. “I trust you. There is nothing else more important than that, nothing.” She nodded.

“I know,” she said. “I know.”

We didn’t shack up together that night, and I’m not sure why. We did make a date for the following Thursday August 24th 1995, I’d be switching with Hank so as to go to the court house and get the license. I’d been out of prison for year and seven months, and I was engaged to get married. It was a very good day. Oh my, yes it was!

Trust, she thought, as she dropped her purse onto the night stand beside her bed. It was the most important thing to him, he’d said. And it clearly was that at the very least. What would he be thinking once he knew that she had accepted a half a million dollars from his brother, his hated brother?

She loved him, Julian; she was sure of that. She wanted to marry him in the worst way. Maybe she should just give the money back and try to get Julian to mend fences with the family anyway. She had to think. There was the practical side of things and there was the emotional side of things. The emotional side would always trump the practicalities when it came to Julian. He’d suffered so much. Yes, she had to think. And more, she had to tell the man, whatever it was that she decided when she got done thinking.

She smiled her welcome. “Right on time, a girl always loves it when her man is on time; it shows he is anxious to be with her,” she said.

“Anxious would be an understatement,” I said.

“Let’s eat. I spent half the day cooking it,” she said.

“Well, good, I need you to practice for the future,” I said. She gave me a look.

We were just finishing up the pot roast she’d spent the whole day cooking—well the slow-cooker had—and it was super good. The lady was quite the chef, I thought.

“Honey,” I said. “That was great. And I have a proposal.”

“You already proposed,” she said, smiling. She flashed the ring on her finger in front of my face to emphasize her point.

“Yes, well this is a related issue. How about the 14th of January?” I said. “It’s a Sunday, but...”

“Huh?” she said.

“For the ceremony,” I said.

“Oh, okay. Sure,” she said. “Sounds good.”

The kissing and the hugging went on for a good length of time. Then we were sipping our after-dinner martinis.

“Guests?” she said.

“The folks at the Sand Bar of course. But who else would you have in mind?” I said, wondering at her facial expression.

“Your family, maybe, your daughter... ?” she said. I frowned.

“They are not my family,” I said.

“Okay, okay, just asking,” she said. “We’ll table that one for another time. Okay?” I nodded, though tabling something didn’t mean the same thing as never gonna happen. Still, I know she didn’t realize how big a deal it was for me to even talk about the bunch of them, not close to realizing that.

We talked about the venue for the event, and the cost and all of it for the next while. Oh, and that over two more martinis each.

The call from Marian had had the tone of urgency if not the words. He pulled into the bar’s lot and headed inside. Both Henry and Marian were on duty and behind the bar. Blake Willis waved and she waved back. He started to take a seat in a booth across from the bar, but she waved him to follow her outside to the street side patio. He followed her.

She’d already taken a seat as he came up to her.

“Okay?” he said.

“We’re getting married,” she said. “Well if it all doesn’t blow up in my face.” The man nodded.

“Okay?” he said, again.

“He doesn’t know about the money. I asked him, kind of obliquely if the family could be invited, I mean you guys, to the wedding. At first, he said no. But he lightened up a little when I said we should talk about it some more later. He agreed to that, though not enthusiastically,” she said.

“And you say you haven’t told him about the money,” said Blake.

“No, and I’m afraid that if I did, he’d drop me like a hot rock,” she said.

“Hmm,” said Blake. “I see.”

“Yes,” she said.

“Well, I guess we’re at a point where we just have to go for it. It’s not like it isn’t what we expected because it is.”