Single Dad's Bride

by Melinda Minx

  I feel Aidan grab my arm—which is flexing and winding up for a punch—and he whispers into my ear. “I don’t think they have much, unless you do something utterly stupid right now, then they’ll have a real shot.”

  I dig my nails into my palm. “Elsie, go with Grandma and Grandpa. You’ll stay with them for the weekend, and a few days after that.”

  “I don’t want to,” she says. “Can’t Aunt Anna or Rita watch me?”

  “No,” I say. “We all have something important to do, you’ve gotta stay with Grandma and Grandpa, just for a little while.”

  Elsie, Rita, and Anna all have tears in their eyes.

  Michael reaches for Elsie’s hand, and she shrieks, hitting his hand and running away.

  I chase her down and scoop her up into my arms. “Look, Elsie, I’m so sorry this is happening to you—to us…”

  She is crying so loud I don’t even know if she’s listening.

  “You have to stay with them for a little while. They are your grandparents, you’ll be fine. It won’t be long…”

  I fear I’m lying to her. Again. I fear I’ll lose the case, and that she’ll come to hate me as she grows up. That Michael and Sheryl will turn her against me, and the last thing I said to her while she was still with me was a lie.

  But no, I will not lose. She is my daughter, and I’ll die before losing her.

  I take her over to Michael’s and Sheryl’s car. The cop moves toward me, as if he’s going to tear her out of my arms. I give him such a threatening look that he backs away without a moment’s hesitation.

  I help Elsie into the backseat, and buckle her in.

  “I don’t want to,” she says, her face red and wet with tears.

  “I know,” I say. “I don’t want you to either, but you have to trust me, okay? I know you’re a big girl now, and I know you can understand what is happening, right?”

  “Grandma and Grandpa want to take me,” she says. “They don’t like you.”

  I nod. “The police have taken Grandma’s and Grandpa’s side.”

  “But you’re my daddy!”

  “I know I am,” I say. “And I always will be, and I’ll never give up on you, Elsie.”

  “So don’t make me go!”

  I look back at the cop. “If you don’t go, that police man will arrest me. If he arrests me, I’ll never get you back, do you understand?”

  Her lip trembles, and she looks up at me. She hugs me. “Please get me back, please, please, please!”

  “I will,” I say.

  Rita, Anna, and I stand there as Michael and Sheryl get into the van. Elsie doesn’t stop crying, and she doesn’t look away from me as the cop shuts the door for her. The SUV drives off, taking my daughter away from me.

  The CPS agents and the cop leave as well, leaving what’s left of my family and me alone with Aidan.

  “How did this happen?” I say, staring Aidan down.

  “Your in-laws must have paid someone off,” Aidan says. “Not Lawson, but another judge.”

  “Great,” I say. “They’ve got CPS and the cops, but not Lawson, thanks for the great fucking news, you asshole.”

  “Hey,” Aidan says. “Don’t shoot the messenger! And Lawson will still be the judge who makes the final decision. Look, as far as I can tell, this is all they could pull. They panicked that you were going to win the hearing, and they bribed whoever they could. If that guy hadn’t been clogging your toilet and if there hadn’t been a fire, I don’t know that they could have done a single thing against you.”

  “Great,” I say.

  “They were sent to find something, anything, and they pulled this, alright? Maybe if they hadn’t seen what they’d seen, they’d try to antagonize you and get you to fly off the handle.”

  “Why does everyone think I have such a raging fucking temper?” I roar.

  All three of them look at me like I’m an idiot.

  “You do,” Aidan says. “And they will be trying to use that against you. Don’t let them. These next few days are absolutely critical. You need to be on your best behavior. I would cancel all your appointments—we can’t risk another biker brawl.”

  “Fine,” I say. “Done. What else?”

  “Like I said,” Aidan says. “The judge is not in their pocket. She can’t be bought, so as long as you can make a case that the environment here with you and Rita is a safe and good place for Elsie to grow up...then you’ve got this.”

  “We’ve got this then,” I say, grabbing Rita’s hand.

  “Good job on the fake wife,” Aidan says. “By the way. Very wholesome-looking. How much she cost you?”

  “Excuse me?” Rita says, glaring.

  “Oh,” he says. “Not fake? Even better.”

  22

  Rita

  We all go inside after Aidan is gone. The house feels so empty without Elsie. Quiet and empty and cold.

  And Deacon is a simmering pot, waiting to boil over. I don’t know how to calm him down or comfort him.

  I put a hand on his arm, and he tenses and tightens.

  Anna starts cooking, not that I think any of us want to eat. She probably just doesn’t know what else to do. I sure as heck don’t know what to do.

  “I’ve gotta get out of here,” Deacon says suddenly, standing up. His chair slides against the wooden floor.

  “Where are we going?” I ask.

  He gives me a look, opens his mouth, then closes it.

  “Deacon?” I ask.

  “I need to go somewhere alone,” he says.

  “Where?” I ask.

  “Give me some space, Rita, alright?”

  “I just wanted to know where—”

  “Out,” he says. “Okay? I can’t deal with all this shit, I just need to, to—”

  I remember what he said. Drinking or drugs were never his vices—women were.

  “We can,” I say, feeling awkward and girlish. “Do something...together, if you know what I mean—”

  He scoffs. “I’m leaving. Don’t worry about me.”

  He walks out, nearly slamming the door.

  I start to cry as soon as he’s gone.

  Anna rushes out of the kitchen. “What just happened? Did Deacon leave? You’re…” she looks down at me.

  She sits beside me, pulling up a chair, and hugs me. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know where he went, but, but—what if he’s, you know? Going out to hook up with another woman?”

  “He’s crazy about you…” Anna says, not sounding entirely convinced.

  “Then why is he leaving me when he should need me most?”

  Anna frowns. “Men don’t always make sense, Rita. Sometimes they think they should have to take on all burdens on themselves. They think they’re inconveniencing you by sharing their grief with you. When Stacy died, it was the same deal. He didn’t want to talk to me, even though I’m his sister.

  “I’m his wife,” I say, feeling empty and dejected. His fake wife, did you hear what that stupid lawyer said?”

  Anna pats me on the back.

  “And Deacon didn’t even say I was real! He just let the dumb lawyer think whatever he wanted to think.”

  “Let’s forget about the lawyer,” Anna says. “No one cares what that asshole thinks.”

  “Do you want to drink with me?” I ask, sniffling. “It’s been a while since we drank together.”

  “Sure,” Anna says. “Let me just go turn the stove off before it catches fire again.”

  23

  Deacon

  I get out of the car, feeling guilty as sin. I shouldn’t feel guilty, but I do. I walk through the darkness, between pockets of light cast by the streetlights. I pass through the well-oiled gate without a sound, and I walk onto the dew-soaked grass.

  It’s late already. I’ve been driving around for hours. I’m useless to Rita when I’m like this. The last thing I need is to take my anger out on her. Elsie being basically abducted away from us has got to be traumatic enough, she doesn�
�t need to see the full extent of my rage.

  I’ve swallowed it for now. I need to focus. I need to channel it. My rage will have to become my resolve. I can’t risk wasting any of my energy or resources. Everything I have needs to be focused and guided toward getting Elsie back.

  I step further in, and I see that familiar silhouette. Stacy’s tombstone.

  I stop just short of it. The flowers I laid on it last time I was here are already gone. I have no fresh flowers to lay down. I’ve only got my sorrow to bring her this time.

  “It’s been too long,” I say. “Sorry.”

  I feel suddenly as if I’m just talking to myself. “Shit, I don’t even know if you can hear me, Stacy. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Deuteronomy. Those are the only books in the Bible I know, and I don’t even know them that well. Does it say somewhere in there that if you talk to a tombstone that people can hear you in Heaven? Or did people just start doing that in movies, and people assumed it worked? I don’t really know…”

  I’m just talking nonsense now, utter shit. I’m stalling. I don’t want to have to tell her what I’m here to tell her.

  “I’ll just say it, Stacy,” I say. “I got married again. To Rita. It was supposed to be fake, but I think it’s real now. Well, maybe she doesn’t agree...but I think she’ll come around. I know you guys weren’t exactly best friends, but she’s good for me, and she’s good for Elsie. Shit, Stacy, if only you could have been with her for a few more years. She’s beautiful, she’s perfect, and she’s my whole world…”

  I feel my lip tremble. I’m almost choking up. Almost. Okay, so one tear snuck out, but just one. It drips down into my stubble, but I don’t wipe it away.

  “I don’t know what your parents are doing, Stacy. I just don’t understand it. Can’t they see that I love her? That I’d give the world for her? Why are they doing this to us? You leaving broke the family once, and now they want to shatter what’s left of it. I know the Bible doesn’t say any of this, but if there’s some way you can get a message—or a thought, the hint of an idea—into your parents’ heads: that I’m a good dad and that Elsie belongs with me...I gotta ask you to do it for me, Stacy. I know it’s a long shot, and I know you might not even be able to hear me, but if there’s anything you can do for me now, now’s the time. Maybe God only gives you one single message for all eternity to send back down here, and if he does, this is the time to use it.”

  I feel the rage bubbling up, and I press it back down.

  “I’ll tell Elsie you love her. You don’t have to use your message for that, I tell her it all the time. That one’s free, it’s on me. I won’t let her forget that you loved her—that you’ll always love her. Alright? So tell your parents—tell them to let me be a father to our daughter.”

  I stay there a while longer, as if it will somehow strengthen my message.

  Then I leave. I’ll have to bring some flowers back later. I knew I’d have to come here, and I knew I didn’t want to bring Rita. Not yet at least. She’ll have to know that there will always be a place in my heart for Stacy, even as I give her all I can.

  24

  Rita

  Deacon comes into the room as Anna and I are on our fourth or fifth margarita.

  “Oh,” I say. “You’re back. We’re getting drunk.”

  He looks at me, then at the drinks. “Whatever you’ve gotta do.”

  “You going to tell me where you were?” I ask. “I know that drinking isn’t your vice.”

  “You think that’s what I was doing?” he says, putting a hand on his chest. “You think I was cheating on you?”

  Anna picks up her drink, takes a long sip, and walks out of the room.

  “Can you really even cheat on a fake wife?” I ask, laughing.

  “Come on, Rita,” he says. “It’s—”

  “Where were you, Deacon?”

  “I can’t believe you think I’d do that,” he says. “Right after Elsie was taken away?”

  “You did it last time, right after Stacy died!”

  “You’re mean when you’re drunk,” he says, turning sharply and walking away from me.

  I get up and grab hold of him. “Deacon, tell me where you were. If you cheated, I need to—”

  He turns around and stares me down. “I was with Stacy,” he says. “At the cemetery.”

  “With Stacy…” I mutter. “Oh, I thought—”

  “I know what you thought,” he says. “You made your suspicions pretty clear. And maybe you have a right to. I did ask you to be my fake wife, didn’t I? And I did sleep around last time something bad happened to me.”

  I look at him with my mouth hanging open. I feel like shit, but mostly because of how much my head is spinning from the alcohol.

  “Sorry,” I say.

  “Don’t be sorry,” Deacon says, grabbing my hand.

  He starts to pull the ring right off my finger.

  “Jesus!” I shout. “What are you doing? How bad can you freaking overreact, Deacon!”

  He clasps the ring into his hand, bends down onto one knee, and holds the ring up in the palm of his hand. “Rita,” he says. “Will you marry me? For real? Will you be my real wife? No faking, no lies, I want you in my life forever and always. I want you to know that I’ve grown up, and that you don’t have to worry about me sleeping around. You’re the only one I want to sleep with now, for as long as we’re both able to, and then I’ll take some Viagra, and we’ll do it even longer, and—”

  “I got it,” I say, laughing and hiccupping. “Can I put the ring back on now?”

  “So that’s a ‘yes?’” he asks, looking up.

  I take the ring and slide it right back onto my finger. “It’s definitely a ‘yes,’” I say, smiling. “That’s probably the first time in history anyone’s ever proposed with a wedding ring.”

  Deacon stands up and grabs me, hugging me tight against his body. We kiss long, deep, and passionately.

  I hear Anna step in as we are kissing, and I pull away from Deacon. “We’re making it real, Anna. Deacon proposed, again!”

  Anna smiles. “I saw it coming, you know.”

  I pout. “You’re no fun, act surprised!”

  “I’m not surprised,” Anna says. “But I’m super fucking happy for you!”

  She gives me a hug, not letting go of her glass. Some margarita spills over, but none of us care.

  “I think,” Deacon says, “I think when the judge sees this, sees that we’re a real family, I think she’ll realize Elsie belongs here. She’ll see what’s between us, and she’ll know that we have a lot of love to give...and—”

  “You’re saying you love me?” I ask, grinning.

  “Don’t fish so hard for it!” Anna snaps.

  “He all but said it!” I say. “He might have forgotten he didn’t say it yet, and he was assuming he had. I wanted to remind him in case—”

  “I love you, Rita,” he says, and he kisses me again before I can get a word out.

  When we stop kissing, after a long moment, Anna is gone again. Deacon smiles at me. It’s a suggestive smile, and I know exactly what’s he’s suggesting we do.

  “I love you, too, Deacon.”

  I laugh. “Gosh, I never thought I’d say that to you, of all people!”

  “You always had a crush on me,” he says. “You must have at least fantasized about it, or at least about the stuff we already did with each other.” He winks.

  “Shut up,” I say, punching his chest. “I did not have a crush on you, idiot!”

  He smirks, then takes my hand and leads me upstairs to his bedroom.

  We are out of our clothes in record time.

  “Any other positions you haven’t tried?” I ask. “I think we’re quickly knocking them all out…”

  I laugh nervously, thinking of quite a few ideas.

  “There’s one thing I wanted to do,” I say. “Not a position, not exactly.”

  “Oh,” Deacon says, arching an eyebrow.

  “Not that,”
I say. “I’m talking about the shower.”

  “Ahh,” Deacon says, grinning. “I’m always down for a good shower fuck.”

  “You just said you loved me, do you have to still call it a shower fuck?”

  “A shower loving,” he says, smiling wide.

  “That’s even worse,” I say. “Just don’t call it anything.”

  “Brian wouldn’t do it in the shower?” Deacon asks.

  “He said a shower is for getting clean, and that our sinful premarital sex was dirty.”

  Deacon laughs, a little too much. “Wouldn’t those two things cancel each other out then? Wash away the sin?”

  “That’s the argument I tried to make!” I say. “He wouldn’t have it.”

  “You don’t have to argue with me,” Deacon says, turning the water on.

  I look down at his body, rippling with muscles and covered in ink. His cock is only semi-hard now, it’s the first time I’ve seen it in a state other than fully hard and throbbing.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  “It’s hard to get Elsie off my mind,” I say. “Aidan said I’m not even allowed to call her.”

  I step into the shower, take his hand, and pull him in beside me. “I’ll make you feel better right now, and then we’ll get her back, together.”

  We step under the water, and I take his big, thick cock into my hand. I run my hand gently along his manhood, and I feel as it grows and hardens as I trace my hand along it.

  After only ten or so seconds, I can see his veins bulging, and his cock is so big that I can no longer wrap my fingers around it.

  I cup his balls, and he reaches his lips down to my neck. He kisses up my neck until he reaches my earlobe. He bites down, and I feel his tongue lightly move against my ear. He nibbles on my ear as I begin to stroke his thick cock in a steady rhythm.

  The hot water hits our skin, and I pour some body wash into my palm. I lather it up, and go back to work on his cock.

  “Your cock is so dirty, Deacon,” I whisper. “I need to clean it off.”