WG2E All-For-Indies Anthologies: Viva La Valentine Edition (9 page)

“I’m going to take Jan for a walk around the
neighborhood before we turn in,” he said when he returned. “We’ll
see you in the morning.”

Jan complimented Ruth on dinner, and Mac
whisked her out the back door.

“Why the quick exit?’ Jan asked once they
were outside.

“I want to spend some time alone with you.
Tomorrow is going to be like Thanksgiving Day at the Atlanta
airport around here.”

He put his jacket around her shoulders to
shield her from the evening chill common in Texas in the fall. They
walked hand in hand enjoying the stillness of the night until she
said, “Your parents are nice. What do you think they thought of
me?”

“Major Sinclair is in love. Couldn’t you
tell? My mother is harder to read.”

The leisurely stroll around the block ended
with them back at the house where Mac left a slow, delicious kiss
on her lips before they went back inside.

“I was just thinking about tomorrow. I hate
being on display, you know?”

“It won’t be like that, baby. Don’t worry.
Get some sleep and be prepared to get up early for a huge
breakfast. My mother gets off on doing that stuff.”

He kissed her again in the doorway to the
guestroom. His lips lingered on her cheek, and he whispered in her
ear, “Are you sure you don’t want some company tonight”

“In your parent’s house? Are you insane?” She
pointed across the narrow hallway. “Go to bed. I’ll see you in the
morning.”

• • •

Just as Mac had predicted, his parents were
up at the crack of dawn. Tempting aromas wafted from the kitchen
down the hallway and gently nudged Jan to consciousness. She
quickly showered and joined them in the kitchen for coffee as the
Major gave a rundown of what needed to be done before the guests
started arriving.

“Tell me what I can do to help,” Jan
offered.

Ruth raised her hand. “Don’t be silly. You’re
our guest. Pat and Grant should be here in a few minutes. The three
of them can help John with anything that needs to be done. Stay in
here and keep me company.”

Just as they sat in the dining room for
breakfast, Mac’s brother and sister came through the back door.
Their love for each other was evident by the way they embraced
their big brother and welcomed him home. After he introduced them
to Jan, they filled the two empty chairs at the table and fortified
themselves for a morning of toting and lifting.

It didn’t take Jan long to warm up to Pat.
Her friendly, outgoing personality reminded her of Mac. Grant
seemed to be somewhat shy and didn’t talk much. When breakfast was
done John began barking out orders and the work began. Jan did as
Ruth asked and stayed in the kitchen.

“Please let me help you, Mrs. Sinclair. I
don’t feel right just sitting around while everybody works.”

“All right, if you insist, and please call me
Ruth. There’s a bowl of potatoes in the refrigerator that I boiled
yesterday. You could peel and cube them for salad while we talk.
Here’s an apron.”

Jan retrieved the huge bowl and positioned
herself on a stool at the counter where she watched the Major
deftly orchestrating the set-up of the yard through the window.
While she skinned the potatoes and chopped onions and celery, Ruth
iced numerous cakes lined up on the counter. They talked about
Mac’s childhood growing up as an army brat and living in eight
different places until Ruth changed the direction of the
conversation.

“Mac is the first of my children to marry.
He’s waited a long time to take the plunge and since he’s a grown
man, I’m trusting that he’s making the right choice. I just want to
know why you think he’s the man for you.”

Jan had anticipated this moment since Mac
first announced the trip. She took a deep breath. “I know Mac told
you I’ve been married before, and I imagine that might concern you.
Let me tell you about my first marriage.” Ruth’s hands stilled and
her gaze rested on Jan’s face. “Robert and I were only twenty-two
and twenty-five when we got married, and we were totally naïve when
it came to the realities of marriage. Of course we thought we were
in love. No one could’ve convinced us otherwise. Unfortunately, as
time went on and we got to know each other better, we discovered we
wanted drastically different things out of life. Then the babies
came, and the pressure to be successful started weighing on him.
His career became the most important thing in his life. He needed
the kids and me to hold that position. Robert wanted a corporate
wife to hostess boring cocktail parties and to join the other wives
for golf outings. That just wasn’t me. I went along with the
program until I couldn’t stomach it anymore. Naturally, he was
disappointed in me, and I was angry with him for trying to turn me
into one of the Stepford Wives. We went for counseling, but it was
useless. I decided to divorce him, and I’ve never regretted it for
a minute.”

“You said, ‘as time went on and you got to
know each other,’ How do you know the same thing won’t happen with
you and Mac? You haven’t known each other that long,” Ruth asked
without looking up from the cakes.

“Because I’m older and wiser now. I know what
I need from a man, and Mac is everything I need. He’s a man who
expresses himself. We talk a lot, and he values my opinion. That’s
very important to me, because I need to feel that I’m important to
my man. He’s successful in his career, but his life is balanced. He
doesn’t allow work to rule his life, knows how to relax and have
fun. The fact that he’s drop dead gorgeous doesn’t hurt at all.”
Jan smiled.

Ruth returned her smile then lay the
icing-covered spatula down on a plate and inclined her head with a
sympathetic look. “How did the divorce affect your children?”

“Roberta, we call her Bobbi, is the oldest,
and she handled it very well. Valerie had a much harder time. Until
recently she was still secretly hoping her father and I would get
back together.

“Poor baby. Divorce is so hard on the little
ones.”

Oh, brother. I guess I’d better get this
out in the open. It wouldn’t be right to let her show up at the
wedding expecting to see two little flower girls preceding me down
the aisle.
“Ruth, my girls aren’t babies. Bobbi is twenty-two
and Val is nineteen.”

Mac’s mother kept her face composed but
slapped a generous dollop of icing onto the last bare cake and
furiously spread it in a circular motion. Jan wanted to warn her to
be gentle or she might destroy the layers, but she reconsidered and
addressed Ruth’s unspoken question.

“I’ll be forty-seven this year, eleven years
older than Mac.”

Ruth took a few seconds to compose herself
before she lay the spatula down and revealed her true feelings.
“I’m sorry if I seem shocked, Jan, but Mac didn’t mention your age
difference and, to tell you the truth, I never would’ve guessed.
You look much younger. My son is obviously in love with you. It’s
just that –,” she stopped and seemed to weigh her words carefully.
“It’s just that John and I were looking forward to having
grandchildren. That’s not part of the plan, is it?”

“Honestly, Ruth? No it isn’t. I’ve been
there, done that and don’t want to go back. Mac understands how I
feel.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. He’d be a wonderful
father.” The sadness in the older woman’s voice was palpable. A
painful silence lingered between them for a few minutes then Jan
excused herself.

She found Mac and Grant busily hooking up the
stereo as Pat finished taping colorful plastic tablecloths under
the corners of the long tables arranged around the yard. John
attended to a variety of meats on the grill.

“Can you take a break for a minute?” she
asked taking Mac by the elbow.

“I’ve got this,” Grant volunteered. “Go
ahead, man.”

Jan steered Mac toward the covered swing on
the side of the house, sat and patted the seat for him to sit
beside her.

“What’s the matter?”

“Your mother and I just had
the
talk
.”

“What talk?”

“The
oh my God, you’re eleven years older
than my baby
talk.

“How’d that come up?”

“She asked me how old my girls are, and one
thing led to another. Now the cat’s out of the bag.”

“Stop it, Jan. You’re talking like your age
is a CIA secret or something.”

“Her knowing my age doesn’t bother me. It’s
just that she seemed so disappointed.”

“Disappointed?” Mac’s face crinkled into an
offended frown. “What could she possibly be disappointed
about?”

“Grandchildren.” Jan let the word hang in the
air.

“Oh,” Mac groaned. “I should have known this
was coming.” He put his arm around her and drew her into his chest.
“Don’t let it upset you. She’ll get used to the idea
eventually.”

“It’s not her I’m worried about, Mac. It’s
you. Your mother is right. You
would
make a wonderful
father. I don’t want to be responsible for cheating you out of that
chance.”

“Baby, how many times have we gone over this?
I meant it when I said I want you more than I want kids. What more
can I say to convince you?” Mac rubbed slow circles on her back.
“Don’t let her upset you. She’ll get used to the idea and sooner or
later get over it.”

“Maybe.” Jan glanced up at the kitchen window
where Ruth was watching them. “Maybe not.”

The guests began streaming onto the
Sinclair’s property right around Noon. Each one carried a pan or
bowl of something and gradually the food tables groaned under their
weight. Grant served disk jockey and cranked up the sound system as
loud as he could without getting the evil eye from his father.
Several of the younger guests ordained the patio as the official
dance floor. Most of the older men watched the girls dance and
congregated around a makeshift bar where one of Mac’s uncles served
as bartender. The older women found seats in the shade of the
cottonwood trees dotting the property eyeing their husbands
pretending they weren’t eyeing the girls. Mac introduced Jan to a
myriad of boisterous, friendly aunts, uncles, cousins and
neighbors, none of whose names she’d remember once the day was
over. Jan felt at ease even when one of Mac’s cousins made a big
fuss over her engagement ring.

“Ooh, will y’all look at this rock! What are
you trying to do Mac, give Jay-Z a run for his money?” she shouted.
The entire female contingency of guests crowded around Jan and
offered compliments. Mac gave them a few minutes then came to Jan’s
rescue by whisking her over to the swing where the two of them
could eat in peace. Later on in the afternoon John gave a toast and
the crowd joined him in officially congratulating them.

Chapter Five

Mac loved Texas evenings when the shadows
descended and the temperature cooled. The crowd thinned and he said
goodbye to old friends and family. Two of his uncles and their
families relocated inside the house for coffee and dessert. Pat and
Jan exiled themselves to a corner in the living room. His mother
saw this as an opportune time to call him and his father into one
of the bedrooms.

“I think I know what this is about,” Mac
said, as she closed the door behind them.

“Mom says she has some concerns about your
marriage plans.”

His mother sat on the bed and spoke in a soft
but determined tone. “With all that’s been going on today, I
haven’t had a chance to tell your father about the conversation I
had with Jan a little while ago.” She turned to his father with a
grim expression. “She and I were talking about her first marriage,
and the way she referred to her daughters made me curious. So I
asked how old they were. Her answer shocked me.”

“All right, Ruthie. Just spit it out, will
you?”

“They are nineteen and twenty-two, only a few
years younger than Grant.”

“You don’t say?” John’s face broke into a
grin. “So how old is she, son?”

“Forty-six.”

“I never thought I’d see you in a
May-December romance. Always imagined you bringing home some young
thing, but you’re clearly in love with her.”

“I am, Dad. Her age is irrelevant to me. Mom
seems to think I’m making a mistake because Jan’s been down the
motherhood road twice before and doesn’t want to do it again.”

“Is that what this is all about Ruth,
grandchildren?”

She glared at him. “It’s a legitimate
concern.”

“For who? You or me?” Mac challenged her
defiantly. “Do you want grandchildren more than you want me to be
happy with the woman I love? Come on, Mom. How can you be so
selfish?”

“MacArthur Sinclair, how dare you accuse me
of being selfish?” She rose from the bed and pointed a finger in
his face. “All I want is your happiness, and I’m afraid once you
commit to her, you may find yourself desperately wanting the family
you can’t have.”

Mac came back at her yet kept his composure.
“Why is it I’m the one who has to be responsible for carrying on
the family name? You
do
have two other children, you
know.”

John jumped in and shifted to his commanding
officer voice. “Hold it you two! This isn’t accomplishing anything.
Sweetheart, can’t you see the decision’s already been made? Mac was
good enough to bring Jan here to meet us. He didn’t have to, you
know.”

“Why did you have to pick a woman who’s only
ten years younger than your own mother?” she whined.

“Because that’s the way it happened. I’m not
about to throw her back and tell God I don’t want her. I’m very
happy with what He gave me.”

“I have to agree with him,” John interrupted.
“She’s a smart, good-looking woman. Any man would be proud to have
her as his wife.”

“Oh shut up, John! You’re not helping this
one bit.”

Mac took her hand. “Mom, I don’t want to ruin
our visit here, so I’m not discussing this anymore.” He opened the
door, walked back to the living room blowing out a frustrated
breath. Jan and Pat abruptly stopped their animated conversation as
he approached, and he straightened his shoulders.