Chapter 5

It was Caryn's eighteenth birthday and Mike had a special celebration in mind. He had an engagement ring in a little black box that he planned to give her over dinner at Maxwell's, known for the romantic atmosphere as well as the fine food. When he had called to make the reservation, the maitre d' had offered a special dessert, one that the restaurant apparently made often. The ring would be in a special cradle on the dessert, made to look like a black velvet box, but it was actually cake.

Mike was on pins and needles when the doorbell rang. He opened the door to see Deanne. "Hi," he said, opening the door.

"Hi, yourself. Where's Caryn?" Deanne asked.

"She should be home any minute. I have a birthday celebration planned." He showed Deanne the ring.

Deanne cooed over it. "Does she know?"

"No idea," he said.

"I've spent the last year wondering if I was doing the right thing. But I guess it is going to work out," she said.

Mike looked puzzled, "Speaking of the last year, where have you been? What about your visits?"

"Something always came up. You think I wanted to walk in and find you two lovebirds in a compromising position?"

"I never heard of the compromising position. How does that go?" Mike asked innocently.

"I don't want to hear that," she said holding hands over her ears.

Caryn bounced in the front door, "Hi!" she yelled.

Mike grabbed the box and put it in his coat pocket. "Back here."

"Hi, Mrs. Walton," Caryn said as she came in. She leaned over and kissed Mike as she always did when she got home. Then she looked at Deanne, "Oh. I guess I shouldn't..."

"You're eighteen now. You can do what you want, which is why I'm here. And call me Deanne. You are officially no longer a ward of the state."

Caryn threw her arms around Mike's neck planting a kiss on him. She snuggled into his lap after the kiss.

Deanne pulled a pile of papers from her briefcase. "I don't know if you even know any of this. First, here is the paperwork for your parents' trust." Caryn looked confused. Deanne handed her the sheet. "All of your parents' assets were put into a trust for you. Most of the money comes from the house, their insurance, and their retirement accounts."

Caryn looked at the bottom number and up at Deanne.

"Yes, it is quite a bit of money," she said.

"I had no idea," Caryn said.

"It will pay your way through college if that's what you want to do," Deanne said.

Caryn was looking at the paper, "I want a Jetta." She looked at Mike, "Can I have a Jetta?"

"It's your money," he said.

"Blue. I want it blue," she said.

Mike and Deanne shook their heads. Deanne pulled out another paper and handed it to Mike. "Here's your official notification that the monthly supplement stops from the county." She looked to Caryn. "You'll notice that the county has taken the monthly payment to Mike from your trust. We are allowed to seek reimbursement for the costs."

Mike jumped in, "What? Caryn's had to pay me to live here?"

"Yes," Deanne said. "That's the law."

"Well, I don't want the money," he huffed.

Deanne smiled, "I don't care. That's between you two now. But if I were you lovebirds, I'd treat it like joint property and wouldn't worry." She looked pointedly at Mike who blushed since he was about to turn their assets into joint property. Caryn missed it entirely.

Mike realized that Deanne was playing with him about the ring in front of Caryn and glared at her. "Fine."

Deanne stifled a laugh and handed the rest of the papers to Caryn. "Here's all of the other papers from bank accounts, etc. Most of these were closed out and moved into the trust, but you have a complete package now. I guess that's all." Deanne sat back now that her official duties were over, and smiled. "I'm really glad this has worked out. I surely worried that we'd get found out and all of us wind up in the hoosegow."

Caryn came over and wrapped Deanne in a hug, "Thank you for letting us live together."

"I second that," he said.

As Caryn released her, Deanne said, "Well, I better be going. Who knows what's going to happen now." She looked at Mike with a twinkle in her eye. Behind Caryn's back, he wagged his finger at Deanne.

After Deanne had driven away, Mike told Caryn, "I have a dinner reservation for your birthday."

Caryn started bouncing on her toes, "Really? Where?"

"It's a surprise. Go get dressed, a nice dress," he said.

"How nice?" she asked.

"I don't know. Nice. I'm wearing a tie and coat," he said. Poor Mike asked himself, 'Why do women ask questions like that. How do I know how nice. Nice is nice, right?'

Caryn looked thoughtful for a second, then radiantly smiling, hurried off to her bedroom. Mike shook his head and followed her to get dressed himself. When he reached the bedroom, Caryn was discarding dress after dress.

They had kept up the pretense of her having her own room for the first several months after they became lovers. After the incident with Cyndi they had decided the pretense was worth the effort, so Caryn kept her clothes in her room.

"How about this one?" she asked holding up a pink dress in front of her.

"Looks nice," he said.

Caryn looked at it in the mirror and discarded it. "How about this one?" she said holding up a blue dress.

"Nice," Mike said.

Caryn gave him a bit of a look and he quickly scrammed to his room and grabbed a shirt, coat, and tie and dressed. No way did he want or need to be involved with this decision process.