I turned her to look at the imposing structure that was my home and soon to be hers if I had anything to say about it. "Take a deep breath and try to enjoy. Hey shouldn't you be taking notes? This is the beginning of the rest of your life. Don't females keep scrap books of all this shit?" I was trying to be funny and put her at ease but I wasn't sure it was working.
Just then ma came to the door. "Well Wyatt bring her on in here don't keep the poor girl standing out there all day." She was too impatient to wait for us to come to her so she made her way down the steps her eyes homed in on my girl. Now I was getting nervous. Ma's a wildcard you never know what hair brained notion she might come up with.
"Well now, aren't you the prettiest thing ever? Wyatt however did you get her to give you a second look?"
"Thanks ma." She wrapped her arm through Traci's and headed back to the house leaving me to pull up the rear. That's ma for you, steamroll right over any and all insecurities.
"Boy why you holding up my grub? You know your mother would starve us all to death waiting for you and your shiftless brother. Chad get your ass out my seat." Here we go, if the size of the place had given her the impression that civilized people lived here, trust dad to disannul her of that notion right quick.
"You boys go get yourselves together before you sit at my table, we'll keep the girls company ‘til you get back. Jack you behave yourself before I put you at the little kids table." Ma ushered us out the room before I could make sure my girl was ok with being left alone with the loony bins.
I rushed through my shower to get back to her but I need not have worried. When I got back down there, ma was in full hostess mode. She was showing the women around the house and I knew what was coming next as soon as she got that look on her face. "Don't you dare ma." Too late, she was in the family room breaking out the old albums with the embarrassing photos that every child dreads.
"Oh hush." The women were only too happy to laugh it up at pictures of my bare two-year old ass, or me running around in a cowboy hat and boots and nothing else. The good thing was that it seemed to relax Traci a whole lot and she'd lost that deer in headlights look from her face.
By the time everyone else was here and we sat down to eat you'd think these people had known each other forever. Her friends seemed more comfortable in their surroundings, but ma's constant running conversation helped to take her mind off of whatever it was she was thinking.
That's when I learned that my baby was a little brain. Leave it to ma to get the goods. Between her grilling, Lisa's talk about fashion and dad's flirting, she was soon laughing it up with the rest of us. "See I told you, nothing to worry about."
For the first time she gave me a smile free of any shadows as we all dug into ma's stuffed French toast and cheese eggs. There was enough food to feed the neighborhood, which my brother and our boys took care of. I on the other hand caught flack for eating like a teenage girl because of my special training diet.
The women headed for the kitchen when we were done and Marie the cock blocker refused to let me sneak off with my girl. "But ma, we're trying to get to know each other." I gave her the puppy dog look that has been keeping me in good stead my whole life.
"What better way for her to get to know you than from my stories, no you lot take your big feet outta my kitchen and go down there and cut me a tree. You'll come back and help us trim it won't you Traci?" Alright ma, lock her in for a future date.
I knew we were on the same page when she winked at me over everyone's head, so instead of arguing I grabbed my coat and hustled the others out the door. "Well son looks like you found you a good one." Dad clapped me on the shoulder as I pulled on my gloves.
"How can you tell dad?" He was right of course, but it was still good to hear it. Chad had already given his stamp of approval and from the way Lisa had chatted her up I knew she approved. Looked like things were falling into place rather nicely, I wasn't gonna have to put the works to her after all. But if it came to that I had no problem.
I didn't feel even an ounce of guilt at the thought of running roughshod over her to get what I wanted. In the end what I wanted was the best thing for her wasn't it? I was pretty sure that no one else would feel the way about her that I did. No way this was anything less than fate.
"She's like your ma at that age."
"Say what now?" Were we talking about the same two people?
"Don't be fooled son, when I first met your mother she was sweet as pie, had to dig to get a word out of her." Both my brother and I busted a gut at that one. "No she wasn't." The woman is a tyrant.
"I kid you not son, I had to put the Hunter whammy on her to get her to even go out with me. She let me know in no uncertain terms that she wasn't going to be one of my light skirts; put me through my paces that's for sure. I thought I was gonna have to kidnap her or something back then, followed her around like a lovesick puppy until I finally put my foot down and told the fool woman how it was going to be."
"You stalked ma?"
"No you ass, but I didn't give her time to catch her breath though. We met as you know at a party on campus. I took one look and was a goner. I had a girl back then but that night I called it quits with her because I knew. It was one of those things that a man can feel down to his very soul."
That shit was spooky. I always knew how they'd met of course, the two of them never shut up about it. But this was the first time I was hearing these particular details. They seemed to parallel my own situation perfectly and gave me hope for the days to come. "So how did you come to be the Jack and Marie show?" We tramped through the brush that surrounded the back end of the property on our way to the pine trees growing back there.
"I wore her down, never gave up even when she was hurling invectives at my head and calling me every name in the book. She used to try to hide herself away from me, refused my phone calls the whole nine yards. I found out later the silly woman thought she wasn't good enough for me, that she was going to turn out to be just one of the girls I'd bagged in college." He shook his head and smiled in fond memory.
"So how exactly did you wear her down dad?"
"Persistence son and a lot of patience. You young people have no game whatsoever." What the fuck is this old man saying?
"I got lots a game old man, you must be thinking bout your other son he's an ass." Chad threw me the finger.
"A woman like that, makes you work for her, she's worth it, but you better be sure she's the one you want." I looked back towards the house where we could barely make them out through the French doors puttering around the kitchen. "Ma let her in the kitchen." It made me feel overly proud for some girly ass reason.
"Yeah Marie likes her, plus the fact that she's the first one you've brought around here since you became a man. You better not be playing with my wife's emotions, you know how she is. All night I had to hear about her soon to be grandkids, the woman is obsessed."
"No games dad, I felt it, like you said down to my soul. Scariest damn thing since my first pro fight."
"That's exactly how it's supposed to feel son, shows you're really invested. I'm happy for you, she's a good girl."
I don't know how the hell he knew that from just one hour of talking, but I'll take it. I've always been able to trust both my parents when it came to making good choices. That was one of the reasons for me bringing her home so soon. It was one thing for me to feel the way I did, but having my family verify that shit made all the difference in the world to me.
We went after ma's tree and the five of us argued over the best choice, then we argued about how to get it back to the house. They all had a lot to say when I picked my baby wildflowers but I didn't care. Those flowers felt more special than any bouquet I'd ever sent a female before.
By the time we got back a good two hours had gone by. I left them out there and rushed in the house. It had been way too long since I'd seen her and dad's words kept playing in my head, solidifying for me that this was real. That it was possible to take that one-look and know without a doubt that you'd found your one.