Chapter 6

After dinner, Ronni did indeed roll me out into the evening air as the temperature cooled and the shadows lengthened. A trip up the sidewalk got me several conversations with the neighbors. My accident was the biggest event the block had seen in years. As far as anyone knew, I was messed up worse than I really was, and I guess that Ronni and Rena had been remiss in publicizing my actual (in my mind) rapid recovery.

This made for happy conversations with the neighbors, a couple of whom had heard rumors that I was either paralyzed or lost a leg. Finding me being pushed up the sidewalk by Ronni, wiggling my toes in the sunshine dispelled the rumors. She rolled me back on my front porch and together we held audience for a while before it was time for us to go back inside.

That was dusk. Once inside, she gave me kisses.

"Just makin' up for not being able to kiss you out in public ... yet!" she smiled. "so what'd you think about our talk with Mom and Dad?"

"I think that deep down inside, your Dad wishes you were older or maybe I was younger, but I think he's okay with it. You mom seems a hundred percent on our side, though."

"Kinda what I thought, too," she said. "I need to go talk to him for a while, that's all. Your sister is coming over this evening to visit you anyway, so that'll give me time."

"I'm not totally helpless, baby," I said. "You can leave me for a little while. My only problem is getting to the bathroom."

"I know, babe," she said. "But I'm not leaving you alone if I don't need to, so when she gets here, I'll go for a while. You might want to talk to her about us anyway."

"You're right. I need to break the news. But I'd rather do that when you're here."

"And don't let her bathe you. I get to do that, okay?"

"Okay, sweetie. I definitely need a bath. And a shave."

She grinned. "Yeah. A shave. BOTH ends."

"Uh..." I was thinking of how delicately I performed the shaving of my pubic regions. I wasn't sure that I was ready to give that operation over to somebody else, no matter how much they loved me.

"Uh, nothing! I will be VERY careful. You're getting hairy. And I got used to it being shaved."

"Okay ... I guess you're my future wife. I need to trust you."

"Yes you do, love," she affirmed. "I'll be VERY careful. It's MY toy, too, you know."

We were both laughing at that idea, our foreheads touching, when we heard a car door slam in the driveway, then two voices. That would be Deb and her husband Terry. Ronni was opening the front door when they stepped onto the porch.

"Hi, Mizz Deb. Mister Terry! Come in!" she chirped.

The two of them came and greeted me and then Terry announced that he had to go to the store, so he was leaving Deb for a while.

"Well, thanks for dropping her off, bud," I said.

"I hate to run," Terry said, "but we got a toilet that's runnin' and guess who gets to fix it?"

"I know what you mean. Do what you gotta do. You can buy me off with some of your barbecued ribs later."

He grinned. "Yeah, we can do that. See ya!" The door closed.

Deb's turn. "She looks happy. You look happy. What's up?"

Ronni knelt at the arm of the recliner and wrapped her hands around the bicep of my right arm, leaning her head on my shoulder.

Deb's eyebrow raised. This was an obvious display on Ronni's part and Deb picked up on it. "You two..."

Ronni smiled.

"Deb," I said, "remember when we were in the hospital and you thought that you could see something about how Ronni felt about me?"

Her eyes shifted back and forth between me and Ronni. "Yeah, I remember..." she said warily.

"Well," I said. "It's true. Ronni does love me. And better yet, I love her. I have for years. And best of all, we've decided to get married."

"No shit!" Deb blurted. "But you're almost forty. And Ronni..."

"I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen in a month."

"That's..."

Ronni stepped in. "Mizz Deb, I've loved your brother for years. It might've been a silly little girl thing when it started, but it hasn't been for a long time."

"I can accept that, sweetie," Deb answered. "But Dave's got two nieces your age. You know 'em. Ya'll go to school together."

"Yes ma'am," Ronni stated. "And they're good kids. And so am I. I don't party. I don't run the roads. I am doing great in school. And I know what a good marriage looks like. Mom and Dad have one." She paused. "I watched."

Deb drilled onward. "That's good, baby. But when you graduate from high school, he's gonna be forty. Do you want a forty year old husband when you're eighteen?"

"Mizz Deb," Ronni countered, "Other than the occasional run-in with a pickup truck, he's healthy. I figure he's gonna make eighty, easy. That's gonna give me forty good years with 'im. You an' I both know marriages that didn't make a tenth that."

"That's the point, Ronni," Deb said. "I was here when that happened. He went to pieces. I don't want that to happen to 'im again."

I started to say something but Ronni's fingers gripped my arm.

"Mizz Deb, I was here too. I was ten. And I remember. He was the nice guy next door who set up a kiddie pool for his little girl an' let me play in it, and he came to my birthday party and did rope tricks, and he was the best adult I knew besides Mom and Dad an' when he was messed up when Lisa left, I told Mom and Dad that I'd go be his wife so he wouldn't be so sad."

Deb sucked in a sharp breath upon hearing that confession.

"Mom explained to me why that wouldn't work because there were things I didn't understand when I was ten, but I tried to be his friend anyway. And he's been there when Dad was out of town, and he's been MY friend, too, and he's been my tutor and that's why I do so well in school." She paused, staring at Deb. "So is it okay if I love him? For real?"

"Deb?" I questioned. Deb's face was priceless.

"Ronni, if you want him, and he wants you, I think it's a good thing, then. Have you told your mom and dad?"

"We had the discussion earlier today, Deb," I said.

"Must've not been as bad as I would've imagined. You're still in one piece." Deb said.

"Mom and Dad are good with it, Mizz Deb," Ronni added.

"Well, Ronni, you can drop the "Mizz Deb" thing. You're gonna be my sister-in-law..." She sighed. "So! When?"

I looked at Ronni. "Soon. When I can stand up."

Deb's eyebrow raised. "Wedding? The whole "princess for a day" thing?"

Ronni fielded that one. "No way. Friends. Family. Me. Dave. He can wear his good suit. I'll wear a dress. It might be white, but I'll buy it off the rack at Penney's or something. And it might all take place in our back yard."

"She's practical, Dave. But then I already saw some of that."

"Yeah," I said. "She's a keeper." I got a little kiss for that comment.

"I need to go to the house for a while, baby," Ronni said, standing. "Mizz ... uh ... sorry. Deb's here for a while. You'll be okay."

Deb caught her for a hug before she got out the door. The door closed.

Deb hit first. "Dave, are you SURE? She's such a sweet kid ... but SEVENTEEN?!?!?"

"Deb, I am sure. I watched her grow. The last couple of years, as she matured into a young lady, I prayed that time would warp and I could go back and find her. I never came on to her the whole time I chauffeured and chaperoned and coached. I just watched, and shared and helped. And wished."

"And the whole time, she was doin' the same thing, in the opposite direction. That's something!"

Deb smiled. "Maybe you ARE doing something right."

"I think so," I said. "My heart says so."

"No kids, Dave. Remember?" Deb knew about my vasectomy. "How's that gonna work?"

"We talked. She says we can borrow kids anywhere. Or adopt. Deb, the girl wants ME. It feels good."

Car lights flashing in the window told us that Terry was back. He came in the front door.

"Babe," Deb said, "You ain't gonna believe this news..." And she told him.

Terry shook his head. "I've seen stranger shit than that, Dave. Deb says that girl's been by your side every day since the accident. That says something to me. Either you pay well, or she's crazy. And love counts as crazy, right babe?" And he gave Deb a peck on the cheek. "When's the wedding?"

"The future Mrs. Johnson says as soon as I can walk."

"You're not doing that big wedding thing, are you?" I knew that Terry was thinking of his own two daughters when he asked that question.

"Nope. She says friends and family and a back yard."

"Good," he said. "Maybe my girls will get a clue."

"One can only hope," I said.

"Yeah," Deb chimed in. "You oughtta be happy they wanna get married at all."

"That's not what I meant," I laughed, "but it's a good thought."

We continued talking and laughing for another half-hour before the footsteps at the door announced my Ronni's return. She walked right in.

"Oh, hi, Mister Terry," she chirped.

"Babe," Deb said, "You just as well call him just Terry, too, since he's gonna be your brother in law."

"Oh, so he knows too, now?" She smiled and came to my side, sitting on the arm of my chair. I slid my arm behind her, around her waist. She clasped my hand in hers, entwining our fingers together. She sighed. "Well, good! " She paused. "I guess. You're not mad are you, uh, Terry?"

"Nope. I wonder, though, Ronni. How would you tell our daughters? I mean, they're YOUR age."

Ronni was looking thoughtful when I turned to her. "I think," she said, "that I'd tell them that love comes in many forms and that what's right for one couple may not be right for another. And don't rush."

Terry looked at her. "And you're not rushing?"

"Oh, no sir. I've been planning this for seven years. Dave didn't know it. Now he does." Her smile was sublime.

"You planned this for seven years? How?" Terry was getting ready to get the story.

"When Mizz Lisa left Dave and he was all messed up, I told Mom and Dad that he was my friend and I could be his wife so he wouldn't be sad. And now I'm gonna be." She grinned.

"And we'll be there clapping" Terry said. "And the girls. Right, babe?" he turned to Deb.

"Yep. That's my brother. And my new sister. You ready to go?"

"Yeah, I guess," Terry said, standing. "I have a broken toilet waiting on me."

Terry shook my hand and Deb gave me a careful hug, then Ronni escorted them to the door, hugging both of them as they departed. When they left, she closed and locked the door behind her.

"Well, news is out, Mister David Johnson. You're gonna have a wife."

"A bright, cute one, at that," I said.

"I'm glad you think so, baby," she said. "nobody's ever told me I'm cute besides you and Mom and Dad."

"Come here, Ron," I said. I motioned for her to sit in my lap.

"Can I do that without hurting you?" she questioned.

"I think so, baby. I need you close to me."

She figured out a way to ease into my lap without bumping my bad leg, and curled up against my chest. She was tall, not lanky, but long-legged and she felt good in my arms. Yes, arms. I rested my left arm on her so the fingers of that hand could touch her as my right arm moved over her, touching, caressing.

"I know I'm not cute, Dave," she said.

"Ronni, my sweetness, did I not say that I love you?"

"Yeah, but..."

"But what? What's not cute?"

"Brown hair. Brown eyes."

"The girl I love has hair that is alive and shiny and is a kaleidoscope of browns and coppers and bronzes, and her eyes sparkle with laughter and humor and intelligence."

"My nose."

"Is purely Ronni. Not a carbon copy of everybody else's nose. And it crinkles when you grin. And it made me smile the first time I saw your face when you were seven."

"My titties aren't big."

"Ron, little one, your titties are perfect. Look at your mom. She isn't big there either. That's just a genetic fact, babe. And your future husband thinks YOURS are absolutely perfect. Everything about you ... perfect. For me." I kissed her on top of her head. "Because I love you."

She twisted up to land her lips against mine. "I want you to be happy, baby. You've been with other women."

"And that's all the more reason to appreciate my Ronni. You're not other women. You're you. You've been my friend for years, and if I didn't think you would be my everything, I wouldn't have allowed this to happen, babe. I'm not in this to get in a seventeen year old's panties. This is forever stuff for me."

She raised her face away from mine and a soft smile spread across her face. "Me too, Dave. Forever." Her lips met mine for a long kiss. It ended with a giggle. "I can feel that, Dave," she tittered.

"I can't help that, babe. It knows about you now."

She wiggled her hip against it. "You know, I need to bathe you tonight. And some other things."

"Okay. I guess it's time, then." I recalled her promise to shave my genital area.

She carefully climbed off me and then pushed my wheelchair up, helping me into it. I sat in it next to the bed as she laid down a layer of towels for my coming sponge bath.

The next step was a change from the original routine, because she stripped me completely naked now except for the cast and a bandaged set of ribs. She helped me into the bed and then proceeded to sponge bathe me, rolling me onto my back, then onto my front, changing the water three times. Finally she came back with a fresh basin of hot water, a razor, and shaving cream. My face was shaved quickly. She was comfortable with it now, and I didn't even flinch.