Cimarron, Denver Cereal Volume 4 (25 page)

~~~~~~~~

Friday evening — 6:15 P.M.

“
I’m home! I’m home! I’m
home!” Valerie said. “I’m home! I’m home! I’m home!”

Driving his Bronco, Mike turned onto Race
Street. He pressed the button and the Castle gate opened.

“
You’ve been saying that
since we landed,” Mike laughed.

Valerie jumped out of the car.

“
I’m so so so happy,”
Valerie spun in circles.

Scooter came around the corner from the
garden. He gave a sharp bark and took off toward Valerie. Sarah
hurled around the corner and quickly passed Scooter to greet
Valerie first. Buster followed the other dogs. Sarah and Scooter
barked and jumped with joy at seeing Valerie. Buster stopped to say
hello to Mike before joining Sarah and Scooter. Valerie and the
dogs danced in the sheer bliss of each other’s presence.

Hearing the dogs, Jill looked out to see
what was going on.

“
Valerie and Mike are
here!” Jill yelled.

Katy ran out of the open door to join the
dance. Valerie picked up Katy and spun her around. Jill ran out to
greet Mike. Sandy, Honey, Noelle and Nash came out to join in.
Trying for calm, the men - Aden, Jacob, MJ and Sam - sauntered over
to say hello.

They heard a sharp whistle and Valerie
squealed. Delphie was standing at the door holding a chocolate chip
cheesecake. Valerie set Katy down to run across the concrete into
Delphie’s arms.

The family was complete.

~~~~~~~~

Friday night — 9:15 P.M.

“
The lawyer said you
called,” Aden said. He reached out for his soup bowl. “I’ll take
it.”

Taking his soup bowl from her, he went into
the kitchen. She followed him in with the rest of him the
plates.

“
I gave him a spreadsheet
of all the money I spent while you were in prison,” Sandy said. “I
included everything I spent as well as what Sam and Delphie
spent.”

“
Good,” Aden
said.

Aden began rinsing off the dinner dishes and
putting them in the dishwasher.

“
He came by and I signed
the forms,” Sandy said. “We have a joint account now.”

“
Good,” Aden said
again.

Sandy began rearranging what Aden put in the
dishwasher.

“
The account is for the
kids,” Sandy said.

“
Sure,” Aden said. “Is that
necessary?”

“
You put them in wrong,”
Sandy said. “Do you want a full accounting?”

“
Of the dishwasher?” Aden
asked. “How is there a right way to load the
dishwasher?”

“
There is a right way to
get the most dishes clean,” Sandy said. “An accounting of what I
spend. Jill showed me a program that would help me.”

“
No, I don’t need an
accounting. Whatever you need to spend is all right with me,” Aden
said. “Will you knock it off?”

“
What?” Sandy
asked.

“
Rearranging the
dishwasher,” Aden said.

“
Sure,” Sandy said. “It’s
fixed now anyway.”

Aden gave her an irritated smile and
finished the dishes.

“
I’m really glad you set up
the joint account. You’ll get reimbursed for all you spent too,”
Aden said.

“
Great,” Sandy
said.

“
Have you thought about
going to an Alanon meeting?”

“
Because I rearranged the
dishwasher?”

“
Frankly? Yes,” Aden
said.

“
If you asked a hundred
women, they would all say their men load the dishwasher wrong,”
Sandy said.

Sandy raised an eyebrow. With a flip of her
hair, she left the kitchen with two pieces of pie. Aden sent an
irritated look in her direction.

“
You didn’t answer my
question,” Aden said as he entered the dining area.

“
Which question?” Sandy
asked.

Aden sat down next to her at the small
dining table.

“
Alanon,” Aden said. “It’s
a great…”

“
I’ve been to a couple of
meetings,” Sandy said. “Don’t get all up in my program.”

Flushing, Aden turned his focus to his pie.
Sandy laughed.

“
That’s what my client said
to tell you,” Sandy said.

“
Your client?”

“
I have a client who has
been in Alanon for years,” Sandy said. “She goes to a women’s group
at lunch. She said she would take me to her meeting. Molly wanted
to go. So Molly and I went with my client to a meeting at Trinity
Church downtown. Do you want a note?”

Delighted, Aden shook his head and smiled.
This was the first real sign that Sandy wanted to continue a
relationship with him. He didn’t want to push or pry but he
couldn’t help but want to know more.

“
What did you think?” Aden
asked.

“
I think it’s interesting,”
Sandy said. “Molly and I decided we need to go to those meetings.
That’s why I asked for the money. I’m going to stop being such a
martyr.”

“
I don’t know what that
means but okay,” Aden said.

“
To that end, I want to be
legally married before I have my baby,” Sandy said.

Shocked, Aden looked up at her. Without
saying a word, he stood up and held his hand out to her.

“
Let’s do it right now,”
Aden said.

“
Now?”

“
Now,” Aden said. “I don’t
want to miss my chance. You could change your mind
tomorrow.”

“
What about…?”

“
You want to get married,”
Aden said. “You want to do it before the baby. Why not do it
tonight?”

“
Fine,” Sandy said. “How is
that going to happen?”

“
Delphie can marry us
tonight,” Aden said. “I’ll get the license in the
morning.”

“
Don’t think this gets you
out of a big ceremony,” Sandy said. “I want everything. Very
expensive dress. Big flowers. Everyone we know in the audience. A
hand-frosted, elegant made, four tier wedding cake with purple and
pink flowers. And lots of flowers. I mean lots. And I want my baby
to be there.”

“
Our baby,” Aden
said.

“
Right now, she’s my baby,”
Sandy said.

“
You know the technician
said we were having a boy,” Aden said.

“
She’s wrong,” Sandy
said.

Not wanting to argue, Aden took Sandy’s
hand.

“
Let’s see if we can find
Delphie,” Aden said.

“
What about the kids?”
Sandy asked.

“
They can sleep,” he said.
“I’d like this to be just you and me.”

“
Let’s talk to Delphie,”
Sandy said. “She may be asleep.”

Under Aden’s subtle pressure, Sandy followed
him out of the apartment. They went down the stairwell to the first
floor and into the kitchen. To Sandy’s surprise, Heather, Tanesha,
and Jill were standing in the kitchen.

“
There you are!” Heather
said. “I kept asking why you weren’t here with us. Delphie said you
were taking care of the kids. I was just about to go get
you.”

Heather hugged Sandy.

“
What are you doing?” Sandy
asked.

“
Delphie invited us over to
learn how to arrange flowers,” Tanesha said. “Her spring garden is
just coming in. She bought a bunch of flowers at a stand downtown
this afternoon.”

“
I made this bouquet,” Jill
held it out for Sandy. “See, I told you it looked just like
Sandy.”

Confused, Sandy looked at her best friends
and then at Aden.

“
Did you plan this?” she
asked Aden.

“
No, how could I?” Aden
asked. “You brought the whole thing up.”

They looked over at Delphie. She was humming
to herself and working on a floral display of tulips. Feeling their
eyes, Delphie looked up.

“
I asked Jill after
dinner,” Delphie said. “She called Heather and Tanesha. They’ve
built the most beautiful flower arrangements. Just perfect for a
wedding. Don’t you think Sandy?”

Sandy squinted at Delphie.

“
Wedding?!” Jill
exclaimed.

“
Sandy said she’d marry me
and I didn’t want to miss the chance and…” Aden started.

Heather clapped her hands and laughed.

“
Did you get the license
while you got my wedding flowers?” Sandy asked.

“
Now that’s the odd thing,”
Delphie said. “I was downtown visiting the coroner and the license
office was across the street. I thought I’d pick one up in case we
needed it. That’s what living people do.”

“
We were all played!”
Tanesha said.

“
I wouldn’t miss it for the
world,” Jill hugged Sandy.

“
This doesn’t get anyone
out of the big ceremony we’re having next year,” Sandy said.
“Church, dress, cake, everything.”

“
We’ll make it happen,”
Heather said.

“
Now where should we do
this?” Delphie said. “The living rooms is still a mess. The chapel
is… unavailable. That’s what I couldn’t figure out…
where.”

“
Why not right here?” Sandy
asked. “I love this big kitchen. It always smells like flour and
love. I guess getting married here is kind of lame.”

“
Sounds perfect to me,”
Aden said. “I get to marry my baker in the kitchen.”

“
I’m not even dressed up?”
Sandy looked down at her jeans and T-shirt. “I mean…”

“
We’ll do all of that next
year,” Aden said. “Please. Let’s just do this.”

Sandy nodded her head. Tanesha and Heather
moved the kitchen table to the side of the room. Jill set the vases
of flowers around and pressed the bouquet of flowers into Sandy’s
hand. Delphie directed Aden and Sandy to stand in the shaft of
light coming in through the transom window.

Sandy got lost somewhere between ‘Stand
right here’ and ‘You may kiss the bride.’ Every word, every thought
was drowned out by the pounding of her heart. Ten minutes after she
said ‘I want to be legally married before I have my baby,’ she was
married.

Just like that.

And Sandy wept with joy.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED and
FIVE

Mercurial

Saturday – 5:15 A.M.

“
Shh,” Sandy laughed.
“You’ll wake the kids.”

“
I don’t care,” Aden
said.

Aden gave her a hard insistent kiss. She
pushed at his chest.

“
You will when Noelle
doesn’t get enough sleep.”

Sandy pushed him through the hall and into
the living room.

“
You’re not supposed to
even sleep here,” she said. “We could lose the kids all
together.”

“
We’ll talk to Social
Services on Monday,” Aden said.

“
We’ll talk to our lawyer,”
Sandy said. “And we’ll tell the kids tonight. But first, you have
to get to work.”

“
Already bossing me
around?” he asked.

Sandy shook her head at him.

“
I can’t help it,” he said.
“I feel like I’m going to explode. I’m so happy. You’ve made me the
happiest I’ve ever felt. It’s like a drug. I’m
addicted!”

Shaking her head at his antics, she
giggled.

“
Marry me again,” Aden
said. His deep voice echoed through the apartment.

“
Shhh,” she said. “Go. To.
Work.”

Laughing, he kissed her again and left the
apartment. Sandy went into the kitchen to get a glass of cold
water. This pregnancy made her so hot. She refilled the glass from
the bottle in the refrigerator and padded her way back to her
bedroom.

No matter how stern she was with Aden,
nothing could wipe the grin off her face. Sandy felt like she was
in the middle of a fairy tale.

She looked down at her finger. He’d given
her the band to her wedding set last night. The thin band of tiny
pave diamonds sparkled on her hand. Spinning in place, she set her
water glass on her bedside table and climbed into bed.

Last night was not the most passionate night
they’d had. He’d carried her through the apartment and collapsed on
the bed. Laughing, they made promises for a more passionate night.
They fell asleep in each other’s arms. Still, she pulled the covers
over her grinning face.

This morning, she was his wife.

She’d never thought she’d get married. After
everything that had happened, who in his right mind would want to
marry her? But he did want to marry her. And he had married her
last night. She made sure to remind herself that marriage was hard
work and it wasn’t going to be easy and all those other practical
things.

Still.

She grinned at the lavender colored sheet in
front of her face. It wasn’t a wedding little girl Sandy had
dreamed of. It was the wedding that perfectly suited adult
Sandy.

She hadn’t decided if she’d take his name or
not. Not that she loved carrying her father’s name around with her
like a black cloud. She just didn’t want to be owned by another
man.

Sandy rolled on her side and heard…
something. She flipped the sheet off her head to listen. Sitting
up, she heard the sound again.

Noelle was crying! Sandy jumped up from bed
and ran out of her room.

“
Noelle?” Sandy asked at
Noelle’s door. Hearing nothing, she poked her head inside,
“Noelle?”