That Man of Mine

by Maria Geraci

  “I’ve always wanted a sister,” Mimi said, smiling at Zeke’s little family.

  “You can wear my dress!” Buela got up from the kitchen table and motioned for Mimi to follow her into her bedroom. That’s when she’d taken out the dress and Mimi realized that Buela had no clue that they were also having a baby.

  Thankfully, Zeke had been the one to break the news.

  “Buela,” he said kindly, “That’s a beautiful gesture, but, I don’t think Mimi is going to fit into that dress.”

  “What? Of course she will. She’s so delgada,” she said, using the Spanish word for thin.

  The loose T-shirt she wore hadn’t allowed Buela a realistic view of her six month pregnancy.

  “Buela,” Zeke tried again, “Mimi and I are having a baby.”

  Mimi pressed her hands over the T-shirt, molding the fabric over her abdomen.

  Buela’s brown eyes flared. “I see.” She swallowed hard and looked into Mimi’s eyes. “Do you love my grandson?”

  “Yes,” Mimi said with no hesitation.

  Buela smiled. “Then you’ll get married as soon as possible. And you’ll come live here with me and I’ll take care of you both.”

  Zeke leaned down and kissed his grandmother on the cheek. “I love you, Buela, but Mimi and I are living on our own. And I’ll be the one to take care of her.”

  Three days later they were married at the Santa Rosa County Courthouse. Much to Mimi’s surprise, her parents showed up for the ceremony.

  “That boy is insufferable,” Momma had said, minutes before the ceremony was scheduled to take place. “He came to the house last night and demanded that we be here. Who does he think he is, ordering us around?”

  “Our daughter’s future husband?” Daddy had said, earning a scowl from Momma.

  Momma eyed the simple cream colored dress Mimi had bought at the mall last night for the wedding. “It’s not too late, darling. You can walk out of here and we can go back to our plan. Just say the word and I’ll take care of everything.”

  Of course, Mimi had gone through with the ceremony. She wanted to go through with it. She loved Zeke, and yes, they were young and didn’t have (as Momma said) a pot to piss in, but for her it was like the beginning of some grand adventure.

  They moved into Zeke’s little apartment and three months later, Claire Sylvia Grant was born. She was named Claire after Mimi’s favorite fictional character—the smart but headstrong WWII nurse in the time travel romantic adventure, Outlander, and Sylvia for Zeke’s mother. Zeke continued to work at Bert’s Garage and even took on a second job on the weekends to help ends meet. He went to school at night and after a year, he applied and was accepted into the police academy.

  Buela helped watch Claire so that Mimi could go to school. She enrolled in the community college and began a part time job working a few hours every morning at Colleen’s Bakery in town. Those early years had been hard. Zeke would come home beat, but always found enough energy to play with his little daughter so that Mimi could catch up on her homework. At night, they’d collapse in bed, too tired to do much more than mumble goodnight to one another. But inevitably, sometime before morning he’d nudge her on the shoulder, or kiss her forehead, or better yet, she’d wake up to find his fingers or his mouth working between her legs. They’d make love, sometimes more than once, and end up exhausted and sweaty. But they were happy.

  Zeke graduated from the police academy at the top of his class and went to work for the Panama City Beach police department. He worked night shifts and took all the overtime he could, even working private security on his off days. Mimi finished her two year degree and transferred to the University of West Florida in Pensacola, where she was able to commute a couple of days a week and finish a degree in English. About that time an opening came up in Whispering Bay’s small police department and Zeke decided to take it. They bought a modest little house close to the beach that had been in foreclosure and Mimi had reveled in fixing it up.

  They’d been married almost five years and accomplished what a lot of other young couples hadn’t been able to. Momma and Daddy had eventually come around and offered to pay off the rest of their mortgage as a belated wedding gift. “It’s about the same amount of money I’d have spent on a big fancy wedding,” Daddy had said. Zeke had refused to take the money, but Mimi persuaded him to accept it on the condition that they put it into a college fund for their children.

  Then Buela died suddenly of a heart attack and it hit the Grant family hard. Allie was eighteen and on her way to college, and Mimi was a few weeks pregnant with a new baby. Buela left Allie and Zeke a life insurance policy that allowed Allie to pay for college and even travel around the world on her summers off. Zeke used the money to pay off their mortgage and invested what was left. They weren’t rich, but they were comfortable enough that Mimi could stay home with the kids and Zeke didn’t have to work a second job anymore.

  The years went by and they settled into a comfortable routine. Mimi became PTA president and Zeke coached little league and soccer. They went on family camping trips and to Disney World and bought a minivan. When the old chief retired, Zeke was promoted to his current job. And because life is so not fair, over time Mimi’s hair began to get those ugly grays around the temple, while Zeke…well, like most men, Zeke only seemed to get better with age.

  At nineteen he’d been gorgeous the way young men could be. Tall and muscular with a strong chin and piercing dark eyes. As a man, though, he grew to be exceptional. With the years came a confidence only hinted at before. Men respected him and people liked him (maybe not Bruce and Larry and the other members of the city council, but that was because they couldn’t bend Zeke to their will). And women…well, Mimi had long since grown used to the idea that women envied her.

  And it wasn’t just the Betty Jeans of Whispering Bay. That she could laugh off. Once, Mimi found a pair of black lace bikini underwear (certainly no laughing matter) in the pocket of Zeke’s jeans. She’d never had reason to suspect that Zeke might be cheating on her and even the damning evidence of those panties (while making her see red) hadn’t been enough to make her distrust her husband. Still. She needed to know exactly whose they were and how they ended up in Zeke’s possession.

  So she confronted him. “Somehow I just can’t see you wearing these.” She held the panties up by the inside label with the tips of her fingers, like they were going to explode.

  Zeke had glanced up from his morning paper. He chuckled and shook his head. “Those belong to some chick who works at the gas station over near the bridge.”

  “And?” she prompted.

  “And, I went to fill the car with gas and when I was paying, she slipped them to me along with my receipt.”

  “So you put them in your pocket?”

  “What the hell else was I supposed to do? There were people in line behind me. Should I have tossed them in the trashcan in front of an audience? I shoved ‘em in my pocket and forgot about them.”

  “You forgot about them? Really? Zeke, she was propositioning you!”

  “No shit. C’mon, Mimi, be real. You can’t be jealous of a pair of skanky panties.”

  No, she wasn’t. But she had a right to be indignant about the whole thing. It was obvious by Zeke’s attitude that this type of “encounter” wasn’t a rare occurrence and that he’d learned to brush it off as inconsequential.

  She was making something out of nothing. It shouldn’t bother her, but it did. After all, she was only human. But it wasn’t Zeke’s fault that the girl at the gas station had no class. So Mimi went about her regular routine and everything seemed fine. But little by little something changed. She didn’t suspect Zeke of being unfaithful to her, but he’d become moody, when he’d never been that before. She asked him if it was problems at work, but he denied it. And with the moodiness came the running every night. At first, she’d encouraged it. Not that Zeke wasn’t already supremely fit, but everyone knew that running released endorphins and that was good f
or you. But the moodiness only seemed to get worse and with it came a new autocratic demeanor with their children. That, she found hard to swallow.

  Was he having a mid-life crisis? He was only thirty-seven, a little on the young side for something like that, but maybe that was it.

  And then came the day she’d found something else she wasn’t supposed to find. And that she hadn’t been able to brush off. Or to forgive.

  *~*~*

  The Harbor House was Whispering Bay’s fanciest restaurant. It was located on the gulf and its specialty was seafood, done up southern style. Mimi had come out here last week to speak to the manager regarding the “urgent” situation going on in the lot next door to the restaurant. She couldn’t do anything about the construction per se, but she was able to speak to Tom, who worked for Pappas Hernandez Construction, the company doing the work, and they promised to have their crew off the premises by five p.m. so that it wouldn’t interfere with The Harbor House’s dinner time traffic crowd.

  The manager had been grateful and offered to comp Mimi a meal. She’d refused the meal (it didn’t seem kosher, what with her being a public servant and all) but revisiting the place had given her an idea. The restaurant had a large deck that overlooked the water and a banquet room that was perfect for not-too-large parties. In other words, it was the ideal venue for a wedding reception.

  As planned, Lauren came fifteen minutes earlier than the time they’d told Allie. Her chin length blonde hair was pulled back in a headband and she wore a red linen sixties style shift dress, which Mimi supposed she either bought at an estate sale or made herself to look like a retro piece. Mimi gave her friend a swift hug. “How’s business?” she asked, referring to Baby Got Bump.

  “Busy crazy,” Lauren said, looking a little flushed. “Is Allie here yet?”

  “Not yet,” Mimi said, instinctively lowering her voice. “Let’s go out to my car.” Meticulously laid out in the back seat of the minivan, was Buela’s wedding dress. “What do you think?” Mimi asked.

  “Oh my God. If Nate and I weren’t already married I’d so steal this dress in a heartbeat.”

  Mimi giggled. “Then let me help you.” She carefully lifted the dress off the seat and between the two of them they transferred the gown to Lauren’s car. “Remember, not a word to Allie.”

  “Cross my heart and hope to die,” Lauren said. “It’ll take me a couple of days to study it and see what I have to work with. Allie’s tall, but I think I can make this happen.” She paused. “Do you think she’ll love it as much as we hope she does?”

  Normally, Mimi would never interfere with another woman’s wedding dress. It was like sacred ground. She’d watched enough episodes of Say Yes to the Dress to know that even the sweetest, most down to earth girl could turn into a Bridezilla when it came to the dress she planned to wear on her special day. She just had a feeling that this was the right thing to do. And she wanted Allie to see the gown in its full potential before she presented her with the idea of wearing her grandmother’s dress.

  Lauren paused to catch her breath. “Do you think we can go back inside and get a seat? It’s hotter than I expected and I’m in desperate need of a glass of water.”

  It was probably about seventy degrees and the humidity was low.

  “Of course.”

  The hostess, a petite redhead, showed them to their table. “We’re expecting one more,” Mimi said.

  “Right.” She handed them their menus. Before she left, she leaned down to whisper loudly in her ear, “For what it’s worth, Mrs. Mayor, I don’t believe any of those rumors about the chief and Cindy. I’m one hundred percent on Team Mimi!”

  “Gee, thanks,” Mimi said.

  Lauren took a large sip of water. “Team Mimi, huh? How much longer is this thing between you and Zeke going to go on?”

  “He wants to go back to counseling,” Mimi admitted.

  “That’s good, right?” Lauren said enthusiastically.

  “I suppose. But it didn’t work last time, so unless Zeke really opens up, then I don’t see how it will make a difference this go around.”

  Before Lauren could respond, Allie came rushing over to the table. She gave them both a kiss on the cheek before sitting down to open her menu with a flourish. “I’m starving! But what else is new?”

  Mimi was glad to see her sister-in-law so happy. She was determined not to spoil Allie’s day with any glum talk of her and Zeke, so she put on her best face and pulled out her planning book. “Why don’t we order some champagne?” she suggested.

  Allie’s face split into a grin. “Good idea!”

  “I’m feeling just a little under the weather,” Lauren said, “So I think I’ll stick to my water.”

  Allie was too absorbed in the menu to catch on, but Mimi couldn’t help but smile. Lauren and Nate had only been married a few months, but it was more than plenty of time to achieve what Mimi suspected.

  The waiter came by and took their orders. Allie dug into the bread basket.

  “So, I was thinking, if we plan the wedding for let’s say, two p.m., we could do a late lunch in the banquet room, then maybe some dancing? And we can end the afternoon with everyone on the deck to watch the sun coming down over the gulf? Do one last champagne toast and send the happy couple off into the sunset?”

  “I love the idea of ending the reception on the deck!” Allie said. “And I know Tom will love it, too.”

  “That sounds wonderful,” Lauren said wistfully. Her blue eyes looked suspiciously moist.

  “Oh, honey,” Allie said, reaching out for Lauren’s hand. “What’s wrong? Is this because you and Nate eloped?”

  “Oh, no, not that,” Lauren said, using the side of her ring finger to blot the tear rolling down her cheek. The diamond in her engagement ring was so big it could be used to send out SOS signals if she was ever in trouble. “I loved my wedding to Nate. It was exactly the way we wanted it. Just Henry and Momma and Daddy and Nate’s mom and Lanie. Not that I wouldn’t have wanted friends there, but I was grateful that Daddy was himself that day. It meant so much to me and Nate that he was able to give me away.”

  Lauren’s father had Alzheimer’s disease and it was progressing at a steady rate. Mimi, along with the rest of Lauren’s friends had been sad not to have been able to attend the wedding, but the important thing was that Lauren’s daddy had been cognizant enough to enjoy the day.

  “Mimi, you’ve never told me much about your wedding. Did your dad make a big fuss when he gave you away?” Lauren asked.

  “Actually, Zeke and I were married twice. The first time was at the courthouse a few months before Claire was born, so it wasn’t much of a ceremony. Momma and Daddy were there, Luke was, too, and of course, Zeke’s grandmother and Allie. But it was more of a stand around and listen to the justice of the peace kind of thing.”

  “I remember afterward we all went out to dinner and I got sick from eating so much cake.” Allie made a face.

  “And the second time?” Lauren asked.

  “The second time was a couple of years later when Father Murphy married us. Zeke really wanted us to get married in the Church, so I converted. It was just the two of us, that time. Quick and simple.” For some women, it might have been a sore spot, but it had never bothered her that she hadn’t had a big wedding with all the flowers and all the fuss. She’d been in love and that was all that had mattered.

  “So, who’s in the wedding party?” Lauren asked Allie. Henry was Tom’s best man, a gesture Mimi personally found adorable. And Mimi was the matron of honor, but other than that, Mimi wasn’t aware that Allie had asked anyone else.

  “Just Henry and Mimi. And of course, Zeke will be giving me away. Small and simple, that’s what we want.”

  Lauren nodded, then hesitated briefly. “Maybe I shouldn’t bring this up, but…did you ever find out what happened to your dad? I know he took off after your mom died, but…all these years, has he ever been in touch?”

  Mimi tried to keep the express
ion on her face neutral.

  “You know, I asked Zeke about that just the other day,” Allie said. “As far as he’s concerned our dad is dead, and I don’t blame him. I mean, if he wanted to get in touch with us it would be pretty easy. Zeke’s lived all his life here and now I’m the editor of the paper. Just about everyone in town knows us, so…I don’t know, either’s he dead or he just doesn’t care. Probably the latter.” She smiled ruefully and reached out for another piece of bread.

  Lauren smiled sympathetically. “Well, it’s his loss.”

  Only, it was Allie’s loss, too. If Allie was given the choice, if Sam Grant was in her life right now, would she choose to turn him away? Or despite all their history, would she want her own father to give her away at her wedding? The fact that Allie didn’t have that choice to make made Mimi tighten her grip on the menu.

  “Have you given any thought to your dress?” Lauren asked. “Or Mimi’s?” She took a sip of her water and caught Mimi’s gaze over the top of the glass. Careful not to rouse Allie’s suspicion, Mimi winked back at her.

  “Not really,” Allie admitted. “I know the wedding is just a few months away, but I thought Mimi could pick out her own dress. Something nice but off the rack so you can wear it again?” She shuddered. “You know that movie 27 Dresses with Katherine Heigl?” They both nodded. “Yeah, well, that’s me and I would hate to saddle Mimi with something hideous.”

  They all laughed.

  “As for my own dress, I have absolutely not a clue. I know you and Zeke offered to pay for everything,” Allie said to Mimi, “but honestly, I think you should let me pay for my own gown.”

  “We’ve already been through this, you know Zeke isn’t going to let you do that.”

  “The thought of spending hundreds of dollars on a dress gives me the shingles. There’s just so much more I could do with that kind of money.”

  “Why don’t I take a day off, say…next week and we can go look together?” Mimi suggested. Hopefully, by then, Lauren would have an idea of how she could alter the dress and they could present it to Allie, who hopefully would love it, making the shopping trip completely unnecessary.