Wyoming Nights (7 page)

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“W
ould you calm down,” James, her brother, commanded her. He had arrived on Thursday night to purchase her son’s car and drive it back to Virginia Beach.  She didn’t want to admit it, but of her two brothers, James, who was only older by a year, was her favorite. He was also less bossy than Roosevelt. 

“I can’t!  His plane will be landing in less than an hour!”  She squealed.  “How do I look?”  She glanced at herself in the mirror again, checking her teeth, then under her eyes for bags and dark circles. Darlene pinched her cheeks to add a bit of color.

“What is wrong with you?” Roosevelt asked.  “I have never seen you like this.”

“I have never felt like this...he is so...handsome...and big,” she said with a smile. “Did I mention he was big?”

“Yes!” Both brothers said at the same time.

Darlene could not stop fidgeting.  She felt like a 17 year-old on prom night. In some ways she was glad her brothers were staying the weekend as well.  At least that way she wouldn’t make a tart out of herself by pouncing on the poor man. As crazy as Krysten was, she had raised a valid point, how long was a reasonable wait before she made love with him.

That’s stupid; you are going to be his wife.

Wedding night.

Oh yeah.

She was grinning as she thought about being intimate with him. The new feelings coursing through her body was awakening the woman in her. The grown woman. The woman with a focus on herself and some much needed happiness.

“You are really digging this guy aren’t you?” James asked her.

“I plan to marry him, so yes,” she said as she giggled a bit more. 

James and Roosevelt stood staring at her in an awkward amazement.  They had never seen their sister act this way.  Even as a child she had a fierce determination to take care of everyone around her, including the weaker smaller kids in the neighborhood, stray animals, and the earth. The more of an activist she became, in their opinion, the less sociable she was. Every conversation with her was almost an argument on the reduction of their carbon footprints, recycling initiatives, and doing good deeds for their fellow man.  This was the first time in many years, the brothers had ever seen her excited about something in her own life.

“James, I hope you are planning to put something on the grill,” she told him.  “I made a kale salad, cooked some green beans and bought some corn that we can roast in the husk as well.”

He raised his eyebrows to Roosevelt mouthing, “
She made it herself
?”

Roosevelt only responded by mouthing, “
last time I was here she cooked me breakfast
.”

“I can’t wait to meet this man!” James shouted over his shoulder as he walked out the back door to start up the grill.

Darlene didn’t respond but checked herself in the mirror again.  A quick glance at her watch and she realized his plane would be landing in a half hour. “Oh crap!  I need to get to the airport,” she said as she grabbed her purse and keys.  She gave her vehicle choice a second thought as she paused and put back the keys to the car and grabbed the ones to the SUV.  “He may not fit too comfortably in that car,” she said with a wink as she exited through the basement door to the garage.

“Be back in a jiff!”

Roosevelt looked at James. “I’m with you.  I can’t wait to meet him as well. He has to be one helluva man to make her react like she was 16 again.”

“In all honesty, she didn’t act like this when she was 16. It is just good to see her up, around and smiling,” James said. “For that alone, he has my vote.”

“We have to make sure her assets are protected before she signs on any dotted line,” Roosevelt cautioned.

“Seriously man?  She is an attorney.  Environmental or otherwise...she is not one to mess with,” he said.  James paused for a minute.  “Did you see that smile on her face?”

“Hell, did you see that she was checking her makeup.  I didn’t even know she wore makeup!”

Laughter filled the room as they prepared the kitchen to meet the man who would be their new brother-in-law.

D
aniel stood on the curb of Dulles airport partially in shock from the landing of the plane, the other from what Darlene drove to pick him up.  When she said a black SUV, he was looking for a Ford Explorer or a GMC, he didn’t expect her to pull up in a Range Rover.

“Hey lovely lady,” he said as he opened the back seat to deposit his well-worn overnight bag.

“Hey there Park Ranger,” she said with a bright smile. “Going my way?”

Daniel slid into the passenger seat and looked over at her.  She didn’t disappoint him as she quickly leaned towards him for a friendly peck.

“I thought you’d never get here,” she confessed with warm cheeks as she glanced at all the man which was to be her husband.

“The way that plane landed, I wasn’t sure if I was here or if the pilot had parked at the wrong airport.  I think I got whiplash,” he said as he rubbed his neck.

Darlene knew exactly what he was talking about. “I meant to warn you about that. Dulles has one of the shortest runways in the world.  Pilots have to have a lot of flight hours before they are even allowed to fly into DC.  Are you okay?”

“My neck isn’t but a hot shower should loosen it up a bit,” he said to her as she pulled into traffic. He paused for a minute as he watched her handle the vehicle.  “I couldn’t wait to get here to see you either.”

Darlene wore crisp black slacks with a peach colored twin set and set of pearls. Daniel could tell the pearls were expensive. As she took side streets and drove into a gated community, the homes in which they whirled past were also very expensive. Brick homes with lots of glass and modern features.  She pulled into the driveway of an extremely well maintained home with a three car garage around back. At a push of a button, the first garage door rose inviting her to park the equally expensive vehicle.

Next to a black Jaguar.

A black Jaguar that was parked next to a black BMW.

“That is my son’s car.  My brother James, who is upstairs, bought it and is driving it back to Virginia Beach,” she said as she touched the Jaguar. “I am selling this one back to the dealer next week.”

She headed towards the stairs, “Come on in.  My brother Roosevelt is upstairs as well. You know they are anxious to meet you.”

He wasn’t excited about meeting them. His excitement at seeing her again also waned as he entered the state of the art kitchen with shiny copper pots hanging from racks.  He eyed the sub-zero fancy appliances including the refrigerator with a television in the door.

“Come on this way to put your things down and get washed up before we have lunch,” she said with a smile.

Daniel walked down the wide hallway towards the guest room on hardwood floors that almost shone under the directional lights which bounced soft illumination off of posh art in gold frames. The walk took him past an office that had large pictures of Darlene with the President.  He stopped to look into the office. 

“Darlene, is that you with the President?”

She turned to come back to the office, sliding by him, careful to not allow any of their body parts to touch. “Which picture are you looking at?”

He stepped inside the office to look at the walls.  There was a picture of her with Presidents 41 through 44.  Daniel was impressed.  “You met all four of them?”

Her brow was furrowed, “No, I fought with all four of them.  The sitting one is the only one whom I was able to get to designate some new National Park Sites. Brown’s Canyon in Colorado wasn’t on my list, but I will take it as a victory,” she told him as she led him to the guest room. A guest room that was more luxurious than any hotel he had ever spent the night in.

“Join us in the kitchen when you are ready,” she told him with a pat on his arm as she walked by.

Lord that was one fine specimen of a woman. 
Daniel was worried if he was truly going to be enough man to be her husband. The concern he felt showed on his face.

“What are you thinking Daniel?” she knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from his mouth.

He sat on the corner of the bed, a look of defeat was on his face. “You will give up all of this to live in a sparse cabin in the middle of nowhere...with me?”

“Yes, that is my intention,” she told him as she stood rooted to the floor.

Daniel was shaking his head. “I don’t know Darlene...I mean...what could I ever give you that you don’t already have?”

“Hope,” she told him.  “You have given me hope.”

She watched his face closely as he processed her words.  As she had taken in his and connected with him, she wanted him to connect with her. “Daniel, I’m yours if you will have me.”

A sliver of a smile came to the corner of his mouth. “Of course I will have you.  I’m here.  I’m ready right now.” His hands rubbed across the denim legs of his jeans as if he were warming his hands.

“Well, I hope you are ready to meet my brothers.  You have to get through them first. Are you prepared for that?”

He chuckled a bit as he watched her taut little back-side leave the room.
Yep, that is a fine specimen of a woman
. Bring on the brothers.  In his mind, he would take on an angry mother bear to call Darlene his own.  Coming home to her every day was going to change his life in so many wonderful ways.

Darlene was going to be his second chance at happiness.

I
t was now or never and Daniel wasn’t sure what was going on in Darlene’s life that she would want to walk away from such a posh and cushy lifestyle to come and live in a cabin where snow could come up as high as the window sills in winter. Uncertainty caressed his ego making his stride stumble as he made his way back to the kitchen.
Am I going to be enough?

The smile she gave him as he stepped on the patio was plentiful enough to fortify him to try.
I can make her happy.  I am more than enough.

“Hello,” he said to the two brothers. “I am Daniel.”

“Come on out Daniel.  I am putting some steaks on the grill,” James said to him.  Daniel stepped out onto the complicated deck that housed a hot tub, seating for twenty and grill which was surrounded by a sink, a mini bar, and an outdoor fridge. 

“Daniel these are my brothers, James on the grill, and Roosevelt on the couch,” Darlene said to him.

Roosevelt rose slowly. “Hey man. A park ranger huh?”

He shook his hand. “Yes, for nearly thirty years.  I have two years before I retire.  What do you two do for a living?”

“I am sheriff in a small town in south Georgia,” Roosevelt told him with pride. 

“I am a police officer in Virginia Beach,” James said as he flipped the steaks. “You want a beer?”

Before accepting, Daniel looked at Darlene, “Are we going back out tonight Darlene?”

She shook her head no as she stood still watching him with her brothers.  He was solid.

And virile.

I like the hair on his forearms.

She spotted strands of hair on his chest.

A manly man.

“Sure, I’ll take one,” he said, accepting the beer.  He waited before he sat down.

“Go ahead, take a seat while we finish up,” Roosevelt told him as he watched the man very closely.

The air was thick with unsaid thoughts and no one wanted to break the ice. Daniel took the lead, “So I guess that would explain the two back ground checks on me in the last two weeks.  Who pulled my financials and did the additional credit check?”

Both James and Roosevelt raised their hands.  Everyone started to laugh which lightened the mood. The brothers had questions for him and they began to rattle them off. James went first.

“So, am I understanding correctly that DJ Wilstrom, the actor, is your son?” James wanted to know.

“And his mother is that sexy Angie Chihuahua?” Roosevelt asked.

Daniel swallowed hard, but his attention was on Darlene.  Her eyes kept staring at his thighs, then his chest, roaming back to his thighs. He extended his right arm to her and she quickly moved to sit on his lap. Her head lay upon his chest as his arm cradled her close.  He planted a light kiss on her forehead while he inhaled the soft scent of her perfume. It felt so natural that he almost forgot they were not alone.

He did not look up at the brothers.  His eyes were focused on the top of her head, looking down her nose to those kissable lips. He spoke slowly, “My son is Daniel Jr, and like that made up Hollywood name, his mother is Angela Morrison.  The Chihuahua was given to her by one of those sleazy agents that said she had the tenacity of same said dog,” he answered.

“Whatever,” James said. “Is she coming to the wedding?”

“God, I hope not,” Daniel responded.

This interested Roosevelt who moved closer. The whole scenario was perplexing him starting with his sister sitting on Daniel’s lap. He didn’t know what to make of her behavior.  She was being so clingy to this man.  George and she never had PDA.  He was concerned that at any moment she was going to lean upwards and lick the damned man.

“Are you two on bad terms?” Roosevelt asked.

“Not in the least, but this is Darlene’s wedding. She is the star of show. Angela will be a distraction from my beautiful bride,” he said as he kissed her on the lips this time.  Darlene was waiting for the kiss as she looked up just in time to receive it.  Her hand stroked his chin as her fingers ran through the fine hairs of his beard. Roosevelt wanted to throw up.

“Will DJ be there?” James wanted to know. “I saw his last movie.  He is really moving up.  There were a lot of big names in that last flick.  The kid had lots of lines and plenty of screen time.  He is going to be the next action hero!”

“He is my best man, so yes he will be there,” Daniel said softly.

Before anything else was said, Darlene’s cell phone rang. It was in the pocket that was pressed against Daniel’s belly.  The gentle vibration brought a small smile to his face.

“Excuse me while I take this,” she said.  She rose slowly, as if she didn’t want to leave the comfort of his embrace.

His hand rested on the arm of the chair as the warmth of her body left him.  Daniel’s eyes went to the beer in his hand that he’d barely touched.  Her brothers eyed him closely to see if he would watch their sister’s backside as she walked away.

He did not.

“She really digs you,” James said as he pulled the steaks from the grill.

“I really dig her,” he told them.

“You aren’t worried that you can’t give her all of this?” Roosevelt asked him.

Daniel sat the beer down, “It seems to me gents, that she doesn’t want all of this.  What she wants is a calmer, easier life with me where living is simple and loving is uncomplicated,” he told them. His ego had decided to stand back up and take its place in the center of the menfolk.

Roosevelt only nodded. “I guess you are right.”

“She said yes, so I know I’m right.  With your blessing, I would like to make it official, propose and get our life underway,” he told them. “I’m not poor by any means. She will have a good life and want for nothing.”

“I’m good with it,” James said.

“Works for me,” Roosevelt said.

Darlene returned with a smile. “That was my real estate agent.  I just sold the house.  I have 30 days to clear out so, if there is anything in it either of you want, you better call dibs, because I am selling it all.”

Daniel stood up when she walked back out to join them. “I was going to ask if I needed to rent a truck to drive out the things you wanted to bring to Wyoming.”

“I am driving the SUV, and bringing a suitcase and some family photos.  James, if it’s okay, I may want to store some family things in your attic,” she said firmly.

“Are you certain about this Darlene?” Roosevelt asked.

“Oh yeah,” she told him. Her eyes wandering back to Daniel.  She moved closer to him and wrapped her arms about his waist. “I am sure.”

“I will drive the vehicle back with you after the wedding,” Daniel said as he stared at her. Her gaze was soft as he pulled away from her to take to one knee.  From his back pocket he withdrew a hand crafted ring, made of polished wood with a jade and diamond flanked stones. 

“Darlene Hill Patterson, will you marry me?” he asked her.

She eyed the hand crafted ring and it was possibly the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her life.  He took the time to sit and polish and shape a piece of wood to be the symbol of his connection to her as well as his connection to the earth.  The filigree of gold was hand spun as it caressed and embraced the polished stones. Tears came to her eyes because this man had made the ring just for her.

No store. 

He made it.

“Yes, Daniel.  I can’t wait to be your wife.”

James, not one known for his tact, asked, “Man, did you make that ring out of wood?” His face was twisted as he said it.  Roosevelt punched his younger brother in the arm.

Darlene answered for them both, “This is made from the same wood you showed me from the 200 year old tree branch isn’t it?”

“It is,” Daniel said to her.

“It is the most perfect thing anyone has ever given me,” she said as her lips pressed to his.

James was still outdone. “If I gave a woman a wooden ring, she would hand that shit back to me and tell me to get lost!”

“You need to date less materialistic women,” Roosevelt whispered.

“Naw, I need to find a chick that would be happy with a wooden ring!  That’s what I need to do!”

“Leave it to you to always throw some shade, James. Let’s just have lunch, I’m starving,” Roosevelt said.