Chapter 6

This was good news, I guess. Mom and Mr. C were falling in love and we were going to move into his mansion and I was going to be living under the same roof with Jean Carlesetti. Actually, down the hall, a mere thirty feet. She was MY love as of yesterday. I sat in my chair overlooking Jean’s late mother’s garden, gathering my thoughts. I watched the butterflies and bees and other garden creatures flitting about.

Their colors were almost hypnotic. I could see why it was Jean’s mom’s favorite place. I looked over at my mother. She had those lines on her brow that she usually got when she was presented with a momentous problem.

“Mom, are you having second or third thoughts already?”

“More like fourth or fifth thoughts. Paul, am I doing the right thing? I mean if I was a man, would I be letting the little head think for the big head?”

That broke me up and my laughter brought mom to the brink of upset.

“Paul! I’m serious!”

“Mom, I know you are. It’s just that you expressed your fears in a most interesting way. I wish I had a dollar for every time I caught my little head thinking for my big one. Let me see if I can help. First, why would you think that in the first place?”

“Paul, I still love your father very much. We talked about this. Am I cheating on him?”

I looked at my mother for the first time not as a parent, but as a woman who was in conflict with her potential future love life and her past one. My mom was a woman who was wondering about love on a whole level different than our mother son relationship. If I had this problem between an old and new girlfriend, what would my dad tell me?

“Mom, I don’t want this to sound crass, but you and dad took vows at your wedding, right?”

“Yes, Paul. For richer or poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health and forsaking all others. And now, I’m thinking of not forsaking another.”

“Mom, wasn’t there also something about until death do us part?”

“Yes, but I’m not dead!”

“I can tell that by the way you’re struggling. But Mom, Dad is dead. I would think that would release you from your vow to him. I would think that your real problem would be how you’re going to potentially take another vow when you’re still in love with Dad.”

“Thanks, Paul,” Mom said as a new burden was on her. “I hadn’t even thought about that. Damn!”

“Mom,” I said with a slight chuckle. “This is a conversation you need to have with Mr. C. I think you will find that he has the same issue with his wife. I believe, from what Jean has said, that he is still very much in love with her, but he now has a real-life woman that he is falling in love with. I wouldn’t be surprised if he and Jean aren’t having this same sort of conversation.”

“What if...”

“Oh no! None of this ‘what if’ stuff! He’s asked you to move in here and you know at some point he’s going to ask you to marry him. I told you the other day that Dad would be proud of how you raised me and kept his memory alive. I also think that he wouldn’t mind if you let your little head lead you into a new love and a new lover.”

My Mom looked at me and shook her head.

“Paul, how did you get so wise at your age?”

“You raised me to be like Dad, Mom. I told you, you did good.”

She stood and I joined her. Her hug was tight and she whispered in my ear, “Thank you, Paul.”

“I’m sorry to intrude. Are you ready to go shopping?” Jean asked, after peeking her head around the corner of the house.

“I think so. Did your dad give us the all-clear?”

“He says that if two security guys come with us, we should be OK.”

“Can one of them be James Dean?”

“We can ask.”

“OK, where is your dad?”

“He is in his den, pining away for your mother.”

That caused Mom’s head to snap around in surprise.

“Oh, come on, Joyce. He has it so bad for you. He watches you come and go and looks like he used to when my mother went to the grocery store. He needs you and I’ve seen you looking at him and you need him.”

“Well, Mom, that’s two people who see it. Jean, let’s find James and get another guy and head to the clothing store, Mom you go and find Mr. C and do whatever two adults in love do when their kids aren’t around for ... Jean? How long are we going to be gone?”

“At least three hours.”

“Mom, go ahead and do whatever adults do when their children are gone for three hours ... Three hours? Really Jean?”

“Yes, really. My daddy is a slow warm-up.”

“OH!” my mother said, blushing.

I walked over to Jean with my mom behind me. I walked straight into her arms and kissed her. My mom looked at us and smiled.

“You know he looks at you the way his father looked at me,” Mom said to Jean.

“Good! I want him to ... for a long time. And in that case, I’m going to start calling you Mom. OK?”

“Oh, but what about your mother, Jean? Isn’t that showing her a sort of disrespect?”

“Nope. I had a long time to say good-bye to her and to get her advice. Everything she told me has been good advice. Now that doesn’t mean that I didn’t ignore it sometimes, but when I did, I regretted it. Otherwise, I’d still be a virgin for Paul.”

“Wow, it looks like I’m going to be the only virgin at our weddings! Maybe I should go out and get some experience before we get too involved.”

The punch to my shoulder was hard and hurt. “Paul O’Dell, I WILL throw you under a bus, literally. You keep your little toy safe and sound and only for me.”

“Little toy, Paul? She doesn’t know?”

“No, she doesn’t.”

“Doesn’t know what?” Jean asked, looking at my mother.

“Can’t tell you. It wouldn’t be right.”

I took Jean’s hand and led her into the house and to Mr. Carlesetti’s den. My mother followed along and when Jean and I entered we saw him sitting at his desk looking at his phone. Jean walked straight up to him and snatched his phone before he could save it.

“Here!” Jean said and tossed the phone to my mom.

She caught it and looked at the screen and let out a loud gasp. I moved next to her and found that the screen had a picture of my mom sitting in the living room reading a book. Nothing else, just my mom and a book. Mom stepped to Mr. C. He had an expression that was a mix of exasperation and embarrassment. His face was a pretty ruddy color and he had trouble looking my mom in the face.

“Leo? Really?”

“Yes, Joyce. Really! I love you. I want you to be my best friend and the only woman in my life. If you feel the same way I would be honored if you would agree to marry me.”

My mom took a few steps back. Not out of anger or fear or anything like that, but from the shock. The man had actually proposed to her.

“Joyce, I want to be the man in those pictures we talked about. Please say yes. Marry me.”

Mom looked at me and then at Jean and back to me.

“Paul, your father and I always talked about having a sister for you. This is a bit of a roundabout way, but Jean would you mind being my daughter?”

Jean had tears running down her face as she nodded and sniffled out a quiet, “Not at all.”

“Paul, would you be embarrassed dating your sister?”

“Step-sister, Mom. And no, it wouldn’t bother me at all. But I still want to be an O’Dell and I want to be able to call Mr. Carlesetti, Mr. C and not dad.”

“Leo, is that good with you?” My mom asked.

“I can’t imagine anything more good.”

“In that case, Leo Carlesetti, I’ll marry you.”

My mom and Mr. C attacked each other with hugs and kisses. They pretty much ignored Jean and me until Jean coughed.

“Daddy, we need to get Paul’s Prom outfit. Can we get James Dean to come with us?”

“Yes. Get Barbara to go along.”

“May I have the card, Daddy, so I can buy your son his outfit?”

“I can pay for my own outfit,” I said.

“Paul, please let me do this as my wedding gift to you from me. It’s a family tradition that the new father buys a gift for the new son.”

“Really?”

“Well, it will be as soon as you let me.”

We all had a laugh over that and Mr. C took out his wallet and gave a plastic card to Jean.

“We’ll be gone for three hours, Daddy. I’ll call before we start home.”

“Mr. C? Do you have protection?”

“PAUL!”

“What? Mom, you are never too late to be safe.”

Jean took my hand and, with only a little haste, pulled me out of the den and towards the security office outside the garage.

“I can’t believe you did that to them!” Jean said hugging her breast to my arm.

“I thought it was funny!”

With James Dean driving and Barbara Edwards in the passenger seat, Jean and I sat in the second-row seat of the large Lexus SUV. We held hands and spoke about Prom and my mom and Jean’s dad. James and Barbara said nothing for the longest time. When our conversation drifted to security and the gamblers, James spoke up.

“You didn’t hear this from me, Jean, but the FBI has been working on catching the various members of the gang here in town. It looks like your schools coaches canceling the seasons for all sports brought the gamblers, and the players who were involved, out of the shadows.”

“They canceled the seasons for everyone?”

“Yeah. They figured that it was the only way to wipe out the entire problem in one move. Several unsavory types showed up at the Athletic Directors home and the Head basketball coaches home. Threats were made and then the FBI and local police snagged the bad guys.”

“There were a few shots fired and two of the bad guys are dead,” Barbara said. “They tried to get the AD and the basketball coach to reconstitute the season. But the FBI had the homes staked out. Somebody threw a brick through a window at the AD’s home and the FBI jumped on them.”

“They shot at the FBI and police? Are they nuts?”

“Well, it appears that there was a lot more money involved than we all thought.”

“Is that the end of it then?” I asked.

“Not until everyone involved with the gang is cleared out of town for good. The few national players, the Las Vegas guys, will take some time, but the local guys should be gone within, I’d guess, about a month.”

A month. I wondered when this was over if we’d all still be in the Carlesetti mansion or if my mom and Mr. C would drift away from each other with the threat gone. No, I couldn’t see that. Not from the way our folks had been acting around us. I wonder if Jean would allow me to wear my Prom outfit to our parents wedding.

James pulled into the mall parking lot and we walked into the complex. I was holding Jean’s hand and James was next to me. Barbara was next to Jean. It was a bit surreal in my mind. I knew James and Barbara were carrying guns and I wondered if the mall cops would have metal detectors at the entrance.

They did. We were about to enter our first store when several men showed up from behind and held guns to our backs.

“STOP WHERE YOU ARE! PUT YOUR HANDS ON YOUR HEADS!”

James quickly and quietly said, “Do it!”

The four of us placed our hands full on our heads and stood stone still. One of the mall cops moved in front of us.

“We’ve detected weapons on some of you.”

“Yes sir. My partner and I are bodyguards for these two kids. We have ID’s and CCP’s in our wallets. The kids aren’t carrying any weapons.”

“Take out your wallet, sir. Slowly and with one hand. Keep the other hand on your head.”

James slowly brought down his right hand and took out his wallet and handed it, unopened, to the head mall cop. The man reached for it and took a couple of steps back before taking his eyes off us and opening the wallet. He examined the ID and concealed carry permit. He shined the light from a black light flashlight he carried.

“Ma’am, may I see yours please?”

Barbara used her left hand to take her wallet out of the small purse on her shoulder and handed it to the head cop. He repeated his examination of her credentials before looking at the men behind us.

“OK, guys. Relax, these two are OK. Folks you can relax as well.”

Jean and I let our hands return to our sides or the others hand and I finally looked over my shoulder to see two men with AR-15 semi-automatic rifles behind us. As I watched they lifted the muzzles to the ceiling while flipping the safe switches at the same time. They then let the rifles rest in their slings and the muzzles pointed to the floor.

“Now what are you two doing with weapons in my mall?”

“We’re guarding these two from the gang of men who killed Bill Cattler and were involved with gambling.”

“I know the story. The FBI briefed us and we’ve been closely watching for people carrying weapons. We also have a few pictures of men who might be of interest to the FBI. Thank you for your cooperation and for reacting in a professional manner.”

“Thank you for the same. We’re going to be here for about three hours, do you want us to check in or let you know when we leave?”

“No, we’ll be watching you in case others bother you. And to keep an eye on any blatant PDAs from these two,” the head cop looked at Jean and I and our interlocked fingers with a smiled and a nod. Jean blushed and squeezed my hand a little as the grinning mall cops walked away.

“We’ll make sure they keep it civil,” James called out to them. “Come on, you two what’s our first stop?”

Jean pointed down the mall away from the direction the mall caps went. We walked at an easy pace and after passing a few stores, Jean led me into a rather high-end men’s shop. I must have had a concerned look on my face because Jean stopped and put her arm around me.

“Paul, don’t worry, I have this covered.”

“What’s covered?”

“My daddy says I can pay for your suit.”

“No, I’ll pay for it.”

“Paul, this is a pretty expensive place. If you want to buy the suit, we can go someplace more reasonable.”

“Jean, we need to talk.”

“About what? You know I love you.”

“I do. But when we sold our farmland, we made a good amount of money. I have enough to buy this suit, unless it is in the five-figure range.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Why? I never was interested in how much money your family had. I was interested in you. So, I figured that you didn’t care about my money.”

A salesman came over to us and addressed James while Jean looked at me in shock.

“How may I help you sir?”

“Not me. This young man is the customer.”

“Really?” I do believe his nose shot straight in the air when he said that.

“Yes, really. I need a suit.”

“Perhaps you should try Men’s Warehouse. I’m afraid that our suits are at the higher end of the market.”

Jean was turning red in the face. I calmed her with a rub of her back and a whisper.

“Jean, why don’t you go and do your shopping and I’ll take care of this.”

“Can’t I stay and kick his ass?”

“Jean!? No. Take Barbara and go do your shopping.”

Jean kissed me on the cheek and after giving the salesman a death stare, she and Barbara left the shop. I turned to the salesman and smiled.