by Cee, DW
“Visitors?” I heard Estelle say, though I couldn’t quite see her yet. “Who would be visiting me?”
“Oh Gram!” Laney spoke now. “I think your prince has arrived.” Laney walked over to her future grandfather and spoke with the highest respect. “Your Grace.” With a sweet embrace, she linked arms and walked him to her Gram.
“Harry.” To say Estelle was shocked to see her soon-to-be husband was the understatement of the century. “What brings you to the States?”
“You’re asking a man, who could die at any moment, why he flew thousands of miles to see the woman who’s been avoiding him the last seventy years? You’ve always been a cheeky one, Estelle Cowper.”
“I don’t know if that statement is going to win him any points, Michael. Maybe he should tone it down.”
Michael held my hands even tighter and said, “We Benningtons have our cavemen-like ways. Trust me, it scores a lot of chicks.” I held back the giggle and the eye rolling.
“Gigi, who’s that?” Lilah, who had just come out of the pool, asked. She also made sure to wave to her Uncle du jour.
“You must be Delilah.” Grandpa surprisingly picked up his soon-to-be great granddaughter. “You look identical to your mother.”
“Sir. You can’t call me Delilah. My daddy says that name is only for him. You may call me Lilah.”
“As soon as you agree to marry me, we’re trying for a little girl immediately.” Michael wasn’t the only one in love with Lilah.
His Grace said, “You’re as sassy as your mother, Lilah. Did your mom tell you about her life in London?”
“Uh, that would be a negative, Harry.” Donovan appeared out of nowhere and helped His Grace to a seat. “How are you, Duke? From the looks of it, you’re going to outlive Michael.”
From here, everyone took turns greeting their future family member.
“There’s so much love in this family. I can’t tell you how happy I am for Grandpa Harry.” I leaned into Michael and he returned the embrace.
“I am too, Chlo-No.” Once again, he kissed my temple as we watched the love unfold.
“Well?” Estelle asked impatiently. “Why are you here?”
“Damn woman pushes me off for seventy years and now she’s trying to hurry me up.” Estelle was not pleased with her suitor’s tone and let him know. The duke declared, “I’ve come to live out the rest of my life with you, my duchess. I don’t give a damn anymore if you don’t love me. I love you and have always loved you. I’ve waited too long to make my declaration. From this day forth, I will be cohabitating with you until you or I die—which could be tomorrow.”
“You Bennington men sure do have a way with proposals,” I commented. That earned me a tight squeeze.
“Harry.” Estelle’s complaint wasn’t really a complaint.
“Nope. I don’t want to hear it. You’re mine and that’s that. I’d love for you to marry me and take my last name.”
“Another surname? I have more last names than Jackie O.”
“Fine. Then we’ll live in sin.”
“Harry, be real. We’re almost at the finish line. I can’t go to heaven and find three husbands waiting for me.”
“You plan to outlive me and marry a fourth?”
“Shit,” Estelle whispered. The rest of us enjoyed the show.
“The entire Bennington clan is here, and I’ve been in touch with your grandson-in-law the past few months and everything is set.”
“Huh? What’s set?”
“Estelle Cowper. I’ll give you three hours to get your hair and makeup done. Put on your finest dress and meet me in Donovan and Laney’s backyard. I’m told all your daughter-in-laws are there putting the finishing touches on our wedding.”
“Our wedding?” she choked out. “Did you know this was happening?” She asked all her grandchildren.
“Why do you think Bee came out of the hospital as soon as she gave birth? This has been planned for months, Gram.” Nick gave his Gram a congratulatory hug.
“Did any of you think to inform me?” She was voicing her complaint a bit more vociferously now. “Harry, your life is in England. Mine is here. We are too old to visit one another and too set in our ways to leave our families. This will not work.”
“Estelle.” It was darling the way Grandfather got on one knee and said, “I won’t have the fifty years Jerry had, or the ten Roland had. Most likely, we won’t even make it in the double digits. I couldn’t start my life with you, but all this wait will be worth it if I can end my life with you. Will you take pity on a man who’s loved you for seven decades, and marry me? I am fully prepared to live the rest of my days on this cul-de-sac that bears my rival’s name.”
All the ladies sighed. “Now that’s a proposal,” I told Michael.
“I’ll do better next time. I promise.” Michael whispered.
“Are you sure? What about your family?” That was almost a yes from Estelle.
“Donovan helped me with the purchase of Billy’s home, so my family can come and go often. We are all willing to make this work. I only need your permission.”
“Could there be a more fortunate woman on earth than me?” Estelle wondered.
Hurray! That was her consent!
“Hot damn, I take that as a yes. The wedding is on!” We all cheered. “Jane,” Grandpa ordered, “there’s a hairdresser waiting at your parents’ home. Take your grandmother and don’t let her out of your sight until she is at the altar with me.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” She agreed to do as she was told.
Before we all parted, we witnessed one more sweet moment. His Grace walked up to the girl he once wanted as Michael’s wife and said, “I always knew you’d end up as my granddaughter, one way or another.”
“Welcome to the family, Grandfather.” The familial greeting, along with a kiss, put a smile on His Grace’s face.
“Mommy?” Lilah stopped us all from parting.
“Yes, Delilah?”
“Did Gigi’s prince finally come for her? Is she going to be the beautiful princess who marries her prince? Is Gigi going to wear a white wedding dress and will there be wedding bells chiming?”
“Yes, my baby girl. Gigi’s prince has come…again…” Lilah’s parents both hugged their daughter.
“Hurray!” she clapped. “And they lived happily ever after!” Delilah Rose Taylor declared.
What a celebration this was going to be today!
Brendan: Should I Start A New Beginning?
“Bye Mommy. Bye Daddy. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye, Sweetheart. I’ll come and kiss you good night when I get home.”
“OK, Mommy. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
This exchange made my decision that much harder.
“By, Bud.” I stopped the never-ending hugs and kisses and led my ex out the door. “You still have a weaknesses for Mexican food?”
“You remembered,” she said sweetly and barely kissed my lips. “Yes. I still love Mexican food.”
I pretended the kiss didn’t happen and mumbled, “Let’s go then.”
All was copacetic during the ride, but once I stopped the car at her favorite Mexican joint, Veronica fell into my body and started sobbing. We stood out by the valet with my ex crying on my shoulder, me rocking her like she was a baby, and all the onlookers staring.
“Hey. What’s the matter? You didn’t even cry when we split. Why are you crying here?”
“I’ve made such a mistake, B. For years now I’ve wanted to come back to you, but I was too proud. I knew you would reject me so I purposely stayed away. I love my son. I’ve always loved you. If you could give me one more chance. That’s all I want—a chance to prove to you that I’ve changed. I’m not the selfish girl you married. I’ve become a mature woman. Please, B. Can you give us another try? I want to see our son grow up.”
Well, whatever I was about so say no longer mattered.
It had been a while since we’d separated, but the years we were together were beautiful.
“Let’s go in and talk after a margarita or two.” Veronica quickly grabbed my arm and walked in with me.
As we were led to our table I waited for the supermodel Veronica to show up. She would never, ever, have had her face show anything but perfection. Right now, her mascara bled under her eyes, her lipstick smudged beyond the lip line and her nose was as red as Rudolph’s. To my surprise, she never once looked at her compact mirror, fidgeted with her hair and face, or mentioned needing to clean up. Maybe she had changed.
“Your usual?” I asked. Apparently, I was saying all the right things because there was a huge smile on her face.
“Yes. Why don’t we order the Enchilada Grande and share? That thing is big enough for four people.”
“Chips, housemade guac, extra spicy salsa, and a pitcher of margaritas?”
“You might get lucky tonight if we drink an entire pitcher. Their portions are gigantic here.”
My pants started feeling uncomfortable the moment she talked about getting lucky. Damn. I’d been trying so hard not to think about sex. It was nearly impossible when your ex was a supermodel and whatever she threw on made her look like a sex kitten. I needed to focus.
“All right, Veronica. Let’s talk.” I got down to business.
“There’s not much more for me to say, B. I’m here asking you for another chance. You don’t have to marry me, but I’d like to try and be a family with you and our baby, again.”
“Why? What brought about this change?”
“I’ve always regretted leaving the both of you. Since then, I threw myself into work, but that same contentment was never there. I’ll give up modeling if you ask. I’ll be happy staying home with Nole. Tell me what you want and I’ll do anything. I just want another try.”
“You’ll give up your career?” She nodded yes. “How do I know you won’t resent me?”
“Neither of us knows what will happen; I am willing to take a chance on the future.” My ex was making this hard on me. I felt myself softening toward the idea of us being a family again. Most importantly, Nolan would love to have his mother home. We could work out a compromise where she worked only one shoot a month. Decisions. Decisions. “Is it this Chloe woman who’s stopping you from reuniting with me?”
How to explain Chloe. “Yeah. I can’t say it isn’t.”
“Is she the same Chloe you dated before we met? The one who walked in on us while we were going at it like—”
“Yeah. The one and the same.”
“She’s not married?”
“Nope. Never married. Never had kids.”
“You and Nolan like her?”
“Yep.”
“Has she replaced me already? You think of her as a wife and my baby thinks of her as his mother?”
“No.” I couldn’t lie to the mother of my child. It would crush her to think she had been replaced. In Nole’s heart, his mother was the greatest. “Nolan loves you as much as he loves me.”
The tears appeared again. “Take a chance on me, B. You won’t regret it.”
“I have a dinner with Chloe tomorrow night. Let me talk to her and you and I will talk again, all right?”
Veronica swallowed her tears and agreed.
I’d bought myself another day. After I talked to Chloe, I’d make some tough decisions.
Celebration
Michael: A Long-Awaited Wedding Celebration
“This reception rocks, Chlo-No. I can’t believe what you’ve done to Laney’s backyard.”
“Thank you, Michael. I’m just thrilled the bride and groom look happy.”
“Happy is too small of a word for Grandfather. He hasn’t stopped smiling since Estelle said, ‘yes’ to his proposal.”
“That’s Gram to you, now.”
“It sure is. Shall we dance, my wedding date?”
“Everyone looks content. I suppose I could spare a dance. But before we do, I want to thank you for flying my sister’s family out here. I haven’t seen them in almost a year.”
“I know, Chloe. When I last talked to them, they said they saw you on your birthday and that was it. You’re missing out on getting to know your three nephews.”
“I’ve been a bad aunt.”
“It’s never too late to change that,” I answered and led my date to the dance floor when I was stopped by a tiny three-footer. “Uncle Michael. You wanna dance?”
“I promised Chloe this dance, Lilah. Can I dance the next set with you?” The disappointment on her face was comical. “I tell you what. How about if we all dance together?” That frown quickly turned upside down.
I picked up my pint-sized dance partner and the three of us started with a fast dance, then moved to a slow one. That’s when Lilah began talking our ears off.
“Did you know Daddy wants another baby? I’m gonna be a big sister, Uncle Michael.”
“Do you want to be a big sister?”
“Well...” she thought about that for a long while. “Sometimes I want to be the boss and a big sister like my brothers are the bosses of me. Sometimes, I want to be the baby. I don’t know.”
“You’ll be OK if your mommy has another baby girl just like you?”
“NO!” she hollered. “Mommy’s going to have another baby boy. Then Henry and Scottie can boss him around and stop bothering me.”
“I see.” Chloe and I chuckled.
“You look beautiful today, Lilah,” Chloe mentioned.
She received an aloof, “I know.”
“I see someone thinks I’m the third wheel. Shall I leave?” she asked me.
I whispered, “NO!”
“Delilah Rose Taylor. What are you doing?”
“Uh-oh. That’s Mommy. She told me not to bother you, but I did.” Lilah wriggled her way down. “Bye.” She waved and disappeared.
“That was entertaining.” I said and pulled Chloe closer to me.
“Sorry about that, you two. I told Lilah not to bother you.”
“Laney, she’s never a bother.”
“Thank you, again, Chloe for all that you’ve done. It warms my heart to know Gram isn’t alone. His Grace might love her more than the first two husbands.”
“Of that, I have no doubt. Grandfather has waited a long time for this day to come.” I answered for the both of us.
“Family!” I heard Laney’s father call. “Can we all gather and sit. The groom has a few words he’d like to say.”
“Was this part of the reception?” Laney asked.
“Not that I’m aware,” Chloe responded.
“Let’s hear what my new grandfather has to say.”
Dr. Henry Reid introduced the duke by saying, “Never did I think a son would live to see his mother marry twice.” Everyone chuckled. The bride blushed. “When I first met Harry, he was a cantankerous man who did everything he could to make my daughter a Bennington. Obviously, that wasn’t meant to be, but instead, he gave my mother his name. Just about now, I’m wondering what my father, Jerry Reid, and Roland Ascot are thinking about this wedding day. We, as a family, welcome the Benningtons and are happy to finally be united with them.”
I guess Dr. Reid spoke too long. Grandpa went up and took the mic from him without warning.
“This wedding was seven decades in the making. Estelle, you were and still are worth the wait. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to tell you that I love you.”
All the women let out a happy sigh. “Did you know Grandpa was such a softy?”
“I had some clue, Chlo-No. I’m sure only Estelle will see to what extent.”
His Grace continued, “Estelle’s five sons told me about the Reid family tradition started by my once-nemesis, Jerry Reid. While he gave his bride a paltry,” we all laughed at Grandpa’s joking tone, “pearl necklace, Henry did his bride an even greater injustice by handing out a blue garter.” All the ladies
vocally agreed. “Jake brought up the standards and designated diamonds as his choice of jewel and his bride received earrings. Donovan stepped it up again and gifted his bride a tiara. Max and Nick, the students of the bunch, had to be creative and upped the ‘diamond’ count in quantity and sentimental quality.”
Chloe and I watched all the Reid couples acknowledging one another in love. They were truly a fine example for us.