Chapter 4: Mrs. Allison Primdale

After the holidays, plans for the wedding seemed to dominate their activities. Greg let Allison take the lead; he had never been big on weddings, so he simply did what she told him and gave input whenever she asked. It was just as well, because she seemed to enjoy planning everything.

The first day of school after the break, all of Jeff's friends asked about the beautiful woman who had picked him up at school. At first he joked that she was his girlfriend, which of course they didn't believe, then after having his fun he admitted that she was going to marry his dad. Then they teased him about having a hot stepmom, their comments ranging from playful jabbing from Rick to obscene suggestions from Jesse. Jeff wasn't embarrassed; he was too happy about the situation to let it bother him, and he had long ago grown used to hearing Jesse's perverted fantasies. Instead, Jeff told them, "You should see her in a bathrobe. It's too bad you'll never get the chance." That shut them up fast. Jesse and Mike grinned stupidly, and Rick looked like he was about to pass out from the mental image.

Brit's friends were too young to understand all of the implications of the change in the family, so for the most part it was just one more item to bring up during their unending prattering. Lissa's friends, however, were all excited that she was going to have a new mother. They had been very supportive during the divorce, and now once they realized that Lissa liked Allison, they were all happy for her.

Things began to settle down into a routine at the Primdale house. While the novelty of Allison's presence wore off after a few weeks, the cheerful atmosphere that she seemed to emit remained. Greg just grew happier and happier as time went on and the pain and anguish of his divorce to his first wife faded, to be replaced by Allison's fun and energetic spirit.

Jeff also seemed much happier than he had been in years, possibly forever. Part of it was simply that Allison was easy to talk to, so he found himself spending more time being social than ever before. It was quite obvious that he really liked her.

In March, Mr. and Mrs. Craven flew in to meet their future son-in-law and his family. They turned out not to be much older than Greg, which was a little awkward, but after joking about it for a bit, they seemed to accept the idea. It turned out that they were very nice and although still a little cautious about the whole situation, they were surprisingly tolerant. Greg had been nervous about meeting Mr. Craven ever since Allison had mentioned he had been an officer in the Army, but the man turned out to be nowhere near as intimidating as the mental image Greg had in his head.

"I want you to know," said Mr. Craven as they sat together in the dining room the day after they arrived, "that we're both opposed to what Allison's doing. Not because of anything to do with you personally, just that we don't agree with her decision. But we've also decided to support her in it. I hope I'm wrong in my apprehensions and everything turns out well."

"I can give you my assurance that Allison's going to be all right," Greg told them. "I'll let her tell you how she feels, but as for me, I feel twenty years younger. She's really the best thing that's happened to me in a long time."

Allison beamed at the compliment.

"Thank you, dear," she smiled. "And I'm so happy about this whole thing. I was scared at first about what I was doing, but Greg's been great. He's made me feel so welcome here that I can't imagine what I was so nervous about in the first place."

"So ... are you two in love?" asked Mrs. Craven, a little hesitantly.

"No," Allison replied immediately. "We've talked it over, and we're both fine with that. There's no telling what the future may bring, but for now, we're satisfied just to like each other. It's not like we're mortal enemies or anything; we're friends. With benefits," she added with a grin.

"And what about the kids?" asked Mr. Craven. "I like the idea of being a grandpa, but suddenly having three grandkids, especially since the oldest is already fifteen, is a little disconcerting."

"I absolutely adore the children," Allison said. "Lissa was hesitant at first, but ever since she decided to like me, she's been wonderful. Jeff's been very nice to me right from the beginning, and Brit's the cutest little girl you've ever seen. Sometimes I just want to grab them all and hug them."

"And the kids all love her too," Greg added. "So don't worry about this relationship not working out. Allison's felt like a part of this family ever since we met her."

The Cravens stayed for Brit's eleventh birthday party on the twenty-second. Jeff had never been a fan of other people's birthdays, especially since Brit invited over several of her bratty little friends. But he promised himself he would be nice to her because it was her big day after all. He even bought her a present, which he and Allison had picked out for her (he even found shopping tolerable with Allison). It was a shirt with the words "I wear my emotions on my sleeves" on the front, and all over the long sleeves were words like "happy," "angry," "competitive," "moody," and "flirtatious." It described Brit perfectly, and it was even more appropriate coming from Jeff, being a subtle joke about her personality. Despite the teasing nature of the gift, she seemed to really like it, and gave him a hug. He didn't particularly like hugs from her, but then, he really didn't like hugs from anyone except Allison. Of course, there were a couple of girls at school that he wouldn't mind hugging, Kari Williams for instance, not that he would ever have the chance with a popular girl like her.

A week or two later, they began sending out invitations for the wedding. Allison and Greg went through their lists, and the kids all helped stuff, seal, address, and stamp envelopes.

It was during that time that Greg made his last bitter comment about his ex-wife.

"Do you mind if we send an invitation to that rotten bitch?" he asked Allison. "I'm sure she won't come. I just want to taunt her."

Allison laughed. "Your ex-wife is your concern. You do whatever you want."

Greg grabbed an envelope, stuck an invitation in, then sealed and stamped it. The others watched in amusement as he proved that it was possible for a person to address an envelope in a malicious fashion.

Later that month Greg had his lawyer draw up the prenuptial agreement. It was pretty simple, since Allison only had her car and a few belongings, and she didn't care to take anything away from Greg if later on down the line they decided it wasn't working out. They did, however, add the unusual clause stating that an affair on Greg's part did not constitute grounds for divorce, since Allison had already told him he could have a mistress on the side if he wanted.

April came and went in a flurry of wedding preparations, and before they knew it, May had arrived with only a couple of weeks before the big event. Greg and Allison met often with the wedding planner that they had hired, with increasing frequency as the days counted down. There were very few snags; the biggest one was that the professional photographer that they had hired had to cancel, but she gave them the name of one of her colleagues, who agreed to fill in for her at the last minute. Other than that, things seemed to go smoothly.

The weather turned out to be perfect for the wedding. Just as Brit had told Allison, the park was extremely beautiful in the spring with the flowers in bloom. The family went down a couple of days early to look it over. Brit of course wanted to go so that she could take some more pictures of the park, this time in the spring. Lissa always enjoyed Allison's company so that she didn't want to be left behind. Greg felt it more a duty than anything else, although he admittedly was getting excited with the wedding only a couple of days away. And of course, Jeff liked to do anything when Allison was around.

There was a covered shelter that they could use in case of rain, but it didn't look like it would be needed, since the weatherman predicted blue skies all weekend. So they picked a large open area in the park where they could hold the ceremony. Allison took Greg's arm and led him all over, jabbering away about where everything would go and how they would set things up. The two of them looked very happy together.

Jeff's feelings were surprisingly simple. Considering that the most gorgeous woman he had ever met was about to marry another man, it would probably have been natural for him to feel jealous. But there were two reasons why he felt only joy. First, he had never really expected for a moment that a romantic relationship between Allison and himself was remotely possible, so he was content to let it remain in his fantasies, where it could do no harm. Second, the very act of her marriage to his father meant that she would become a part of the family, to be with them for the rest of their lives. So he was more than willing to let things continue on their course.

The day before the wedding, Allison's family flew in to town, and Greg and Allison went to pick them up at the airport while the kids were in school. When Jeff arrived home that day, he was in for a delightful shock. Allison's parents had brought their other daughter Rachael with them. She was nearly as lovely as Allison herself. She had the same long, brown hair and big, bright eyes as her sister. Even her smile was the same. It was unfortunate that they would only be staying until after the wedding, when they would fly back home again. Jeff certainly wouldn't have minded spending extra time with Rachael. But she was a freshman in college, and had to get back to school to take her exams. It was only by luck that she was able to take Friday off to fly in with her parents.

Being Allison's sister, that technically made her his aunt, but she was way too young for him to think of her like that. Maybe a cousin, perhaps. Yes, that would do. He would think of her as a cousin.

His grandparents arrived later that afternoon; they had flown in from Nebraska. He liked his grandparents, even though his grandma insisted on hugging him. She was one of the people he didn't like to hug.

The grandparents got the spare room, and Allison's family got the guesthouse out back. After eating dinner and spending a couple of hours talking, they all decided to go to bed to get a good night's sleep in preparation for the big day.

The children went upstairs to their respective rooms. Jeff had stripped down to his boxer shorts and was just climbing into bed when he heard a knock at the door. Allison stepped into the room, closing the door behind her. Jeff suddenly felt a little self-conscious; he was, after all, almost naked in front of her.

If it bothered her, she didn't show it. She merely pulled up a chair and sat down by his bed.

"Jeff," she said, "I wanted to talk to each of you one last time before I marry your father."

"Sure," he said. He always enjoyed talking with her.

"You've been great these last couple of months," she continued. "Always helpful and kind and full of compliments."

"It's easy to give you compliments," he smiled, "because you're so deserving of them."

"Thank you, Jeff. I just wanted you to know that I appreciate how well you've treated me, making me feel right at home. I've never had a son or brother before. And although I've spent a lot of time with teenagers, it's a new experience for me to have a teenage boy as part of my family. I have no problem with Lissa and Brit, because I grew up with a little sister so I just think of them like I think of Rachael. But with you, it's different."