I looked at her and saw the nervous tension on her face, but I didn’t give a damn about what she was feeling. She’d been too cruel to me for me to care, gone too far for me to give a shit. I’d officially reached my limit with her.
“I’ve already made myself clear,” I said. “But in case you’ve suddenly gone deaf, allow me to reiterate what I said to you in the car. You intentionally set me up on the drive over here. You ambushed me with that CD, you insulted me with it, just as you did with the first CD, and the more I sit here thinking about what you’ve done in the past and how you continue to treat me now, the more I’m considering getting married at that church. Screw your house, Ethel. Tank and I don’t need it.”
“I need to see my son get married. You will not deny me that.”
“It’s my wedding, Ethel. Tank knows everything. And I can do whatever the hell I want.”
“Not when I talk to him. I know the man I gave birth to, Lisa, and he won’t stand for any of this. I know it in my soul that he won’t. After I get done with him, all he’s going to see is who you really are as a person.”
“That’s the thing, Ethel,” I said to her in a calm, confident voice. “That’s what you don’t seem to get. Tank does see me for who I am, and he loves me for it. Just as much as I love him.”
Across from us, one of the employees standing at the gate opened its door, signifying that Tank’s plane had arrived.
“He’s here,” I said.
“Please be reasonable,” she said in panicky desperation. “If I’m not invited to that wedding, Harold won’t go. Think of what that will do to him. What you will do to him!”
And that’s where she got me, because I did love her husband. And I knew Ethel was right. If I did try to keep her out, I’d also be cheating Harold out of seeing his son get married, which I couldn’t do.
Fuck! I thought. She’s right. I can’t do that to Harold…or to Tank.
I might have felt defeated when I stood up, but I nevertheless managed to keep my cool when I looked at her with a stoic face. “If you love your son, I suggest you get yourself together. You’re a good actress, Ethel, so put on your best face for Tank now. Because after what he’s been through after his friend’s death and funeral, he’s going to need each of us to support him now.”
“I don’t need any directions when it comes to you, girl.”
“And you’re in over your head, Ethel. You know that as well as I do. Right now, I’m holding the cards. What you need to think about is whether I’m going to deal you in when it comes to our wedding.”
When Tank came through the door and clocked me with a broad smile, my eyes lit up, and my anger immediately cooled. In a rush, I ran over to him, threw myself into his arms, and told him that I loved him as he said the same to me. When he lifted me into the air and started to twirl me around and around while he kissed me on the lips and on my neck, I caught glimpses of Ethel staring at us—and trying to compose herself in the sheer horror of it all.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
When we returned to Prairie Home, Harold was there in the driveway to greet us as Ethel maneuvered the Navigator beneath the portico.
“We’re home!” she exclaimed. “And there’s your father, Mitchell. He’s going to be so happy to see you.”
On the drive from the airport, Tank and I had chosen to sit in the Navigator’s back seat so we could be next to one another. He and his mother exchanged small talk, but I had said very little, and I had to wonder if Tank could sense the tension between us.
“It’s good to be home,” he said.
“Isn’t it?” she said.
As we got out of the vehicle and I saw the happy look on Harold’s face as he shook his son’s hand before they gave each other a firm slap on the back, I knew in that moment that I had no choice but to get married here. I couldn’t deny Harold the pleasure of seeing his son get married—they were too close. They meant too much to each other. And frankly, as much as I couldn’t stand Ethel, I knew that if I prevented his own mother from witnessing her son’s wedding, there was a good chance I might come to regret it one day.
So, what was I to do now? Tell Tank what she’d done to me today? Ruin the mood before the wedding? Or conceal everything from Tank to prevent that from happening? I was so conflicted that I didn’t know what to do, especially since I never concealed anything from Tank.
Just wait and see how this goes…
“Look at the tent!” Ethel said gleefully as she moved in front of the car and put her hand against Tank’s back. “That’s the one for the rehearsal dinner. Isn’t it grand? And look at how close it is to the house. It has air-conditioning, lighting, seating, tables—everything! The other two are down by the gazebo, which you must see. Lisa and I have worked tirelessly together to make everything just right, and your father and a few of the boys have helped as well.”
“It’s great,” Tank said. “Thank you.”
“You must see the gazebo and the other tents,” she said. “How about if all of us go down and have a look at them? We can take your bags up to your room when we get back.”
“You mean ‘our’ room, right?” Tank said.
“Oh, come on,” she said. “It’s just two days before your wedding. Just to build anticipation alone, I was thinking that you’d each have separate rooms before you got married.”
“Thanks for the thought, but I’ll be sleeping with Lisa tonight. We’ve been living together for a couple of years, Mom. I’m pretty sure you know that we don’t have separate bedrooms.”
“Whatever you wish,” she said with a grim look on her face that she quickly brightened. “So, let’s all go down to the gazebo so you can see for yourself where Lisa and you will marry.”
“Actually, if you don’t mind, I’d like to see it with Lisa alone.”
“Why?” Ethel asked.
“Because I haven’t seen Lisa in days, and I’d like to spend some time with her.”
“But you haven’t seen your father and me in over a year.”
“Ethel…” Harold said with a warning tone.
“Well, it’s true,” she said. “And I’d like to see Mitchell’s reaction myself.”
“You’ve seen me look surprised and happy before,” Tank said as he leaned forward and gave his mother a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for understanding.”
He reached for my hand.
“We might be a while,” he said. “Don’t come checking up on us, OK?”
“Well, that sounds mysterious,” Ethel said. “How long will you be gone?”
“I don’t know—we’ll be back by…three?”
“But that’s three hours from now. Just to see the gazebo?”
“And to talk. And to be alone. We’ll see you and Dad soon,” he said.
“Well, then,” she said, looking vaguely panicky at me. Tank or Harold could interpret her look however they wanted, but I knew the reason behind her panic—with Tank and me alone, she knew there was a very good chance I might tell him everything that had transpired between us today. “I guess we’ll see you in a couple of hours.”
“Three hours,” he said.
“Of course.” She looked at me with a forced smile. “Lisa, since I can’t be there to do it on my own, please show Tank all the efforts we’ve made to make certain this wedding is perfect. Because with all of your New York friends arriving tomorrow, if things aren’t just right, we still have time to make them perfect. There can be no margin of error when it comes to this wedding,” she said. “Not on my watch!”
***
“What’s up with my mother?” Tank asked when we were far enough away from them that they couldn’t hear us. “She’s acting strange.”
“Probably stress,” I said.
“Stress from the wedding?”
“Oh, she’s definitely stressed out about the wedding.”
“How stressed?”
“Really stressed.”
“How about you?”
Angry and overwhelmed?<
br />
“I’m OK.”
“Just OK?” he asked. He put his arm around my shoulders as we walked down the path that led to the gazebo. He drew me in close to him and bent down to kiss me on the mouth, and then we just stopped and held each other. “If there are still things to do, I’m here now and can help, Lisa.”
“No, we’re good. Everything’s set to go. And everyone’s excited to come tomorrow. Even Blackwell, although I have a feeling she isn’t going to know what to do with herself on a farm. I mean, Bergdorf isn’t exactly nearby, is it? So, there’s that. I told her to bring a pair of flats, but she refused. She has no idea what she’s getting into.”
“Actually, that could be kind of fun to watch,” he said as we parted and continued down the path.
“Or a total disaster. And then there’s Epifania. God only knows what she’s going to bring to the table—although I’m secretly dying to see what that is, because you know that shit’s going to be good. But do you know who’s really going to love it here?”
“That’s easy,” he said. “Alexa.”
“I’ve already marked out several trees for her to hug.”
As we continued to walk forward in silence, I felt Tank grip my hand.
“Well,” he said as a hummingbird whizzed past us and hovered above a gathering of pink wildflowers to my right, “that was interesting.”
“The bird?”
“No. What I’m referring to is that my mother was behaving like a manic wreck back there, and you don’t want to talk about it. So, what’s the deal? Because I know you, Lisa. And I know my mother. There’s a reason you were silent on the drive from the airport. And there’s also a reason why my mother didn’t want us to come see the gazebo alone. So, what’s the reason?”
“Tank…”
“We tell each other everything, Lisa. We always have. And we can’t stop doing that now.”
“It’s not that I want to stop. It’s just that sometimes I’m not sure it’s even worth going there.”
“What isn’t worth going there?”
Oh, Christ…
“If I tell you, it will only upset you, which I don’t want to do. What you need to know is that I’ve handled the situation.”
And failed completely.
“What situation? I assume it has to do with my mother. Did she start up with you again? She did, didn’t she—even when I warned her not to?”
I looked up at him. “Do you really want to know? Because if I tell you, you’re just going to get angry.”
“I’m a master at anger management, Lisa. Tell me what happened.”
There was no getting around this now. So, despite the ramifications of what might come in the wake of this, I told him everything that had happened between his mother and me today. The full lot of it.
“Pigs in a Parlor?” he said to me. “Tell me that’s a joke.”
“I wish it were. Apparently, after reading my books, your mother has come to the conclusion that I might have a demonic manifestation.”
“A demonic manifestation?”
“Oh, you know, that I might be capable of all sorts of evil because my spirit has been overcome by the devil. In case you’re wondering what that means, allow me to tell you. At any point, I could hear animals speak, I could levitate or astral-project, I might snarl and growl with hatefulness or viciousness, my eyes might roll back in their sockets, and at any moment, I might foam at the mouth. And that’s just part of it, because there’s a shitload more.”
“She made you listen to that CD?”
“She tried her best, but I refused to listen to it. We had an argument, and I let her have it. What you also need to know is what she’s going to tell you the moment she gets you alone.”
“And what’s that?”
“Two days ago, fearing that something might go wrong between your mother and me again, I secured a church for us just outside of town. We can get married there on Saturday if we want—the church has nothing scheduled, and they’d welcome us and our friends. I told your mother that if she continues to belittle me and humiliate me, we would get married there and not here. And that she won’t be invited.”
“I agree,” he said. “I already told her that would happen if she didn’t back off.”
“But here’s the thing—that might have sounded like a good idea at the time, but we have no choice but to get married here.”
He furrowed his brow at me. “Why? We can do whatever the hell we want. Fuck the tents. Fuck the gazebo. This is our wedding, for Christ’s sake. If she isn’t onboard, I don’t want her there.”
“But your father is onboard, Tank. He’s been wonderful to me since I got here. He’s had my back in ways you can’t even imagine. And because of that alone, I can’t deny him the joy of seeing his son get married. Because he wants to see you get married. He shouldn’t be punished because of his wife’s disapproval of me. If we go to that church and Ethel isn’t invited, whose side do you think your father will take?”
“My mother’s,” he said. “He rarely crosses her.”
“Then it’s done,” I said. “Regardless what your mother thinks of me, we get married here, because I can’t leave your father out of this. He’s been my sole ally while you were gone. And because of that—and especially because I know how much you mean to him and how much he means to you—we’ll continue forward as planned. Your mother will think she’s won a major victory over me, but to hell with it. I’m not going to allow our issues to ruin this for you and your father.”
“You know she’s only going to continue to goad you, Lisa—especially when I’m not around.”
“And I’m prepared for that,” I said. “I just hope you’ll support me if I feel she’s gone too far and that I need to stand up to her.”
“You’ve got my full support,” he said, and then he shook his head. “My mother is seriously fucked up. I just wish I knew why.”
Since I couldn’t tell him why, I didn’t, because I’d promised Harold I’d never betray him when he’d confided Ethel’s past to me. And if one day Tank somehow found out that I’d known before he did, I also knew he would respect me for keeping his father’s secret. He wouldn’t see it as an act of betrayal. Instead, he’d see it as an act of honor.
For several minutes, we kept walking in silence until the gazebo, the tents, and all the white chairs came into view.
“Look,” I said. “There’s the gazebo.”
“It looks so small from here.”
“Trust me, it’s huge.”
As we came upon it, Tank walked around it, marveling at it. “It’s better than it looked in the photos we were sent. It’s perfect.”
“You should know that your mother personally took charge of the landscaping,” I said. “Before I even got here, she saw to every plant, bush, and flower planted around the gazebo. I had nothing to do with it.”
“She did all this?”
“Your mother is a complicated woman, Tank, but yes, she did.”
“It’s amazing,” he said as we ascended the steps and stood at the gazebo’s center. “And it’s also kind of surreal. This is where I’m going to marry you. This is where the rest of our life begins.”
I teared up when he said that.
“I can’t tell you how long I’ve waited for this moment,” I said. “I’m so happy that it’s almost here.”
He embraced me when I said that, and then he kissed me. And when he kissed me, the kiss became so heated that Tank eventually swept me into his arms, walked me down the gazebo’s steps, and started to move toward one of the tents.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“Finishing what should have been finished a few days ago,” he said in a low voice as he put me down on the grass and parted the entrance to the tent on our right. “You know, when we were interrupted by my mother while we were having phone sex. I’ve been aching for you ever since.” He slapped me on the ass. “Inside.”
“But what if your mother comes looking for us?”
I said.
“She won’t. Inside.”
“But I don’t trust her. If we do this, it’s going to have to be a quickie.”
“I don’t do quickies.”
“You’re about to do one now.”
“We’ll see about that,” he said. “Now move. Get naked. I want you.”
And I wanted him, so inside we went.
Thankfully, the bottom of each tent had been covered with plastic drop cloths, so at least I wouldn’t be walking back to Ethel with grass stains on my hands and knees, my back, or my face. But without the air-conditioning on, it was a sauna in that tent.
“There’s no air in here,” I said as he started to undress me and I ran my hands along the curve of his ass. “But who cares? God, you feel good. As in everywhere. I think I can feel you against my thigh right now.”
“You’ll be feeling that somewhere else pretty soon. Lift your arms for me.”
I lifted them, and suddenly my shirt and bra were gone—which actually felt great, because it allowed my skin to breathe.
“Let me take off your shirt,” I said.
“Do it fast.”
He was wearing a white polo shirt that was so tight across his broad chest that I couldn’t lift it above his head.
“Sorry,” I said. “Too tight.”
“No problem,” he said, ripping it off him. “Ditch the pants.”
“Yours or mine?”
“You do yours, and I’ll do mine.”
I unfastened the top button of my pants and started to remove them. “I’m terrified but weirdly turned on that Ethel might come upon us like this. I mean, just imagine it. The sight of actually seeing us do it instead of just over a phone would probably make her rosary beads melt in her hand.”
And then I just stopped when I saw him standing naked and erect in front of me. Tank was so large, muscular, and handsome that he looked like a god to me. “I’ve missed you,” I said. And then I looked down at his crotch. “And I’ve missed you, as well.”
“Lie down on your back,” he said.
I did as I was told as Tank knelt down and covered my mouth with a kiss. I hooked my legs around his ass, pulled him closer to me, and felt my body burn with desire as we started to become one.
Unleash Me: Wedding (The Unleash Me Series) Page 12