Chapter 19

It was a fifteen minute drive to Tootie's house and when we drew near, I saw my brother Jerry's truck already parked. We pulled in behind him. The front door opened before we got to the last step and Jerry stepped out. I grasped his hand and clapped him on the back. "Good to see you, Jerry," I said. "Meet Cindy, your new sister-in-law."

"Hey Cindy!" he said, holding out his hand. When she took it, he enveloped her in a hug, too. "I'm glad to meet you."

Cindy feigned surprise. "Dan! His knuckles don't even REACH the ground!"

"Oh-ho-ho," Jerry laughed. "Toot told me she was fast. Come in. I can't wait to talk to you. I have to straighten out the lies he's been tellin' you."

We went inside and Cindy met Jerry's wife, Sheila, and the two of them joined Tootie in the kitchen.

I sat on the sofa at the opposite end from Jerry. Mike was in his recliner.

Jerry was shaking his head. "Ya know, I figured you'd remarry, but I'll be damned if she's what I pictured you with..."

"Yeah. Me neither. Damnedest thing I can imagine, though."

We were in the middle of catching up on life's happenings when I heard Tootie's voice from the kitchen shouting, "OMIGOD!"

Mike stood up quickly. "Baby, is something wrong?"

"No," answered Tootie, then she said, "Dan, can you please come in here?" The tone was just a little bit more than tense.

I got up, totally confused as to what was going on. I walked into the kitchen. There was Tootie and Sheila, looking like they'd just seen a unicorn, and Cindy, with a smile. A smirk, actually.

Tootie spoke first, in a low voice. "Dan! I thought you said she was eighteen." She sucked in a breath. "She's NOT eighteen."

"What makes you think that?" I asked.

"Oh, I don't know. Let's see!" she said through clinched teeth. "Exactly how'd it go? Oh yeah. As in "Cindy, how old are you really?" and she says "fourteen"!"

Cindy said, "Dan, I didn't want to lie."

Sheila got the next question. "She didn't look eighteen. She's fourteen. A child! You could go to jail."

Cindy fielded this one. "Yeah. If we weren't married. But we are. Legally. The same judge that signed the court order allowing underage marriage is the one who performed the ceremony. Wanna see the papers?"

"Uh..." Tootie backpedalled, searching for words. "Wow! Shit! Wow!"

"Tootie," Cindy said, "Dan didn't do anything dishonorable or wrong. Never coerced me or forced me or tricked me. Ever. And I truly, forever love him."

"And I love her, Toot. I never planned on this. It fell into my lap. Well, maybe that's a bad choice of words."

Cindy giggled nervously.

"But we were in a situation where we just fell together. I found what I was looking for, even if the package was unconventional. And..."

Cindy interrupted. "And I found Dan. I hope you don't hate him because of me. I love him, and I'd do anything for him."

By this time, Jerry and Mike were at the door, having caught most of the conversation. My eyes flitted from Mike to my brother. He was the first of the two to speak. "Damn, bro! You amaze me."

"Yeah, me too!" said Mike.

Cindy stepped beside me. "Okay," I said. "We're one hundred percent legal, just a little unconventional. If we're going to make you all uncomfortable, we can leave." I put my arm around Cindy.

Her expression was serious. "We're husband and wife. He can tell you how I'm NOT your standard fourteen year old girl. If you want to listen. He's ... We're your family, you know."

Tootie popped in. "I thought Mike's dressing was going to be the toughest thing to digest today. Cindy, darlin', you ARE family. And just another of the events in my brother's life. I want you here."

Mike said, "Yeah, me too. We might talk bad about him. But not you."

Sheila and Jerry were standing off to the side of the kitchen now. Sheila said, "You know, I have a niece that's fourteen and pregnant and she doesn't have a clue. You act like you got a clue."

Jerry said, "Yeah, I guess so. Okay. Let's go sit down and talk. I can't wait to hear some of this."

Tootie followed us into the living room, saying, "Give the stupid turkey another half an hour. I want to hear this."

In the living room, I said, "Now some of this might be painful to Cindy, so I'll leave it up to her to talk about her situation."

To attentive and sympathetic ears, Cindy recounted a bit of her situation when I met her last summer. She talked about how Helen helped her and took care of her in the absence of mothering from her natural mom, and how they'd talked when I first showed up.

We talked about our early relationship, how we became friends, how I was the tutor, how we started going places for meals, the time I sent her and Helen to the mall, how the relationship just grew. We didn't talk about sex. Nothing. And we talked about school.

"And that was the part where somebody had ulterior motives," I said. Cindy smiled demurely. "after the first week, after I sort of kick-started her in math, she took off. Straight A's. She came over every day, it took longer for her to write the answers than figure them out. And we talked and got to know each other. It was difficult for her, being the only kid at the RV park, and we just hung out together. I was glad to have a friend to talk to, and she did, too."

Then we talked about Cindy's mom signing over custody. And the whole school thing. When I explained, with Cindy's able help, the way things went at school, they were amazed. Especially when I explained last week's conversation. "You might look at her and see a fourteen year old girl, but she's a much more mature package than any eighteen year old I know of. And a lot of women in their thirties, too, for that matter. But she's graduating high school this year with a full college scholarship."

Mike said, "Dayum!"

"And as of Monday, we are officially married. So that's the story. She knows about my first wife and daughter. She knows about the last girlfriend."

Tootie interrupted. "Cindy, did he tell you how that messed him up?"

"He told me about her. Said when she left, it messed him up bad."

Jerry filled in. "We worried that he was suicidal. He didn't come out for a week."

"Yeah," Tootie said. "It was pretty bad."

"Well," Cindy said, "He sort of rescued me. And I rescued him. And this is the way it's gonna be for us. Forever. I know enough about bad relationships. I watched Mom go through plenty of them, and every time she did, I made mental notes, you know, like, "You don't do that," and "You should do this," and "Couples should be like," and stuff like that."

Sheila asked, "But Cindy, you're so much younger. What about the things kids your age are doing?"

Cindy was in control. "Mizz Sheila ... I'm sorry, but what ARE kids my age doing? Like struggling in school? I'm not struggling. Experimenting with sex and drugs and relationships? I have a very permanent and very happy relationship with somebody who is my match, mentally, emotionally and" she shot me an obvious and theatrical wink, "physically. Bouncing around after every fashion and fad? I am learning what I want to learn. I listen to the music I like. I dress conservatively but well, and appropriately for the situation. Trying to find something that means something to them, or just not caring and going along with somebody else because they're not strong enough to choose on their own? I go to school and I listen and talk to them. I'm NOT that way, and bless 'em, they're who they are, but I'm not trying to be one of those. I get to choose my own path." She sighed. "I got to see all the "good boys" and "bad boys" in relationships. My Mom tried 'em all. I saw what sex meant as far as building a relationship, and that love and sex weren't the same thing, and sex without love was a downhill slide. I ... I was a virgin when I met Dan. I think love should come before sex, and if there's love, then it's NOT sex. I learned that there was a time to look at myself and see what I want. I found that out. And then Dan came along, and all he wanted to do was help me. He never acted like he wanted anything else besides just to help me get the best for myself. And you, know, it didn't take much for me to figure out that HE is the best for me."

The room was silent for Cindy to continue her soliloquy. "He showed me music that I heard and it gave wings to my soul. And darn it! He gave me wings, for real, with that ol' plane of ours. And I went to work and saw what he did and how much he loved it, and how people acted around him, and I want to be like that. And this college thing? Can I be an engineer by the time I'm nineteen? Dan thinks I can. So if Dan thinks so, then I think so. Because it's not just me and Dan. It's us." She turned to me. "Right, babe?"

"Right, love!"

And she kissed me.

Tootie said, "huh! Well I'm not going to say another damned thing! He's yours, and you're part of our family. Forever. HE can go. YOU stay."

Cindy rushed over and hugged Tootie.

Sheila the skeptic had a tear on her cheek. She elbowed Jerry in the ribs. "You old ass," she said, " I love YOU like that, too."

Mike said," Well, people, that gives us something to give thanks about. Wanna eat?"

The appearance of a turkey and a ham and a very workmanlike table had us all seated in anticipation. Mike, being the head of the house, delivered a blessing for Thanksgiving. The conversation around the table became a lot more relaxed. Cindy was quick-witted and acerbic in countering Jerry's jibes at me and her. She was gracious in comments about the food and afterward, helped clear up the mess.

"Hmmph!" said Sheila, "the men should be doing THIS part!"

Tootie said, "Well, they DO have an important football game to watch!" Three sets of hands made short work of tidying up and the ladies returned to the living room. In order to accommodate Sheila on the sofa beside Jerry, Cindy plopped her sweet round butt in my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck.

And kissed me. And said, "This is the best family thanksgiving dinner I've ever had. And the first one in five years. And nobody's drunk, and there hasn't been a fight. Thank you all. Especially Mike and Tootie for letting us in their house."