Indelible Love Series + Entwined Bundle

by DW Cee

  “Wait!”

  All three of our bodies turned to Jamie’s loud interruption.

  “What is this about Africa and Seattle on Tuesday?”

  Uh-oh. My mother’s significant other did not look happy.

  “I invited Ian to spend part of his summer with us in Africa when we visit Paul’s parents. And we are spending Mother’s Day up in Seattle with Mike, Sheila, my mom and the cousins.”

  “When were you going to tell me about all of this? Once again, where do I fit in with all this traveling around the world?”

  Boy. Mom and Jamie had a lot of issues to work out. Their relationship was so much more complicated than ours.

  As an apologetic gesture, Mom held Jamie’s hand in both of hers and explained our deal. “We visit Joe and Lydia every summer for about a month. With Paul gone, I was thinking we would stay a bit longer this summer. As for this next weekend, that was planned a while back, too.”

  “If Ian got invited to Africa by you, obviously that wasn’t too long ago. Did it occur to you how much I’ll miss you if you leave me for that long?” His sad puppy eyes made me want to go hug him and tell him that everything was going to be okay. “Do I get an invitation too?” Once again, with crippling sadness he gazed at Mom.

  “I booked our tickets right after Dani came back from Boston, when I thought that we were over,” Mom whispered.

  Somebody had to break this depressing mood. “Mom, Ian and I are going to the beach tomorrow after practice. That okay with you?”

  “Sure.” Perfect. I got Mom to focus on something else but Jamie still looked unhappy. “I thought maybe you, me and Ian could go to the ball game. I guess I’ll see if George and Meghan want our tickets.”

  “I can’t believe this seventeen year old keeps taking precedence over me,” Jamie complained again.

  “Believe it, old man!” We all giggled. Jamie did not.

  “Well, as of about an hour ago, I didn’t think we would be spending much more time together.” Mom treaded lightly.

  Jamie got up from his seat and sat next to Mom, across from us. “Are we done with these crazy notions?”

  “Yeah,” she whispered once again for Jamie’s ears only.

  After hanging out on the swing for another hour, the boys went home and I had to get some shut eye or I wasn’t making it to our 9:00 am practice. In the end, the baseball seats were going to be occupied by Jamie, his brother-in-laws, his father and Mom since Uncle George and Auntie Meghan were not able to use their tickets, again. It was a wonder why they even renewed their seats this year knowing they were having twins. There were six bodies for our five seats. Didn’t know what they were going to do but I suppose I didn’t care.

  “You and Ian resolve your misunderstanding?”

  “Yeah. What about you and Jamie?”

  “I guess.” Mom looked like she was going to say more, but she held back. “We’ll be okay. All I want is for you to be happy. My happiness is secondary.”

  With that, she walked away and said no more. I don’t know what bugged me more – the fact that she wouldn’t explain what problems she and Jamie were having, or the fact that she didn’t care about her well being as much as I thought she should. At this point in the night, I was so tired! I didn’t care as much either.

  OLIVIA 2005

  The sky was blue and the sun shone bright and I’d gotten a perfect night’s rest. After all the drama in my life this past year, today appeared the perfect day to cast off all my burden and start enjoying life. Jamie and I had not resolved all of our issues and his mother was going to be a continual problem unless by some miracle, she decided to accept my “cougar” age and my infertile status. But, that was alright by me. I was going to enjoy life with Jamie.

  That was my morning. About twenty minutes after declaring that the drama was done, all the worries came back and stayed for good. As usual, I was running late for the game. Perhaps I was purposely running late. Within twenty-four hours, I will have met all the men in Jamie’s family. Obviously, I wasn’t on my A game when I let Jamie convince me that it would be fun to invite all his brother-in-laws and his father to join us today. Was I nuts? I needed more of Jamie’s family like I needed a whole in my head.

  More sighs…

  The cell phone buzzed and the temptation to let it go grew by the buzz. I knew who was calling. I didn’t want to see Jamie Hutchison written on the face of my phone.

  “Yes?”

  “Are you on your way?”

  “Not yet.”

  “Liv, the game starts in twenty minutes.”

  “Why don’t you and your family enjoy the game without me? I emailed you the tickets. You can call Seth to take my place.”

  “Liv…” Jamie sounded seriously disappointed.

  “Hello, Olivia?”

  “Yes, I mean, hello, Harold.”

  “Please call me Harry. That’s what my family calls me.”

  I was silent. Since I wasn’t family, I had no right to call him Harry, but since he told me to call him Harry, I didn’t think I should disobey him. Another complication I had to work through when time was plentiful.

  “After last night I’m sure you’re hesitant about meeting another member of our family but I promise we are all nice people. Some have even accused us of being fun.”

  The whole car laughed in the background. I did too.

  “Would it be too much to ask a beautiful young lady to spend an afternoon with this old man?”

  “Jamie, Harry’s making a move on your woman,” one of the guys called out.

  “Olivia, age forty, mother of an 18 year old, the love of my brother-in-law’s life, please join us,” another brother pleaded while the rest cracked up.

  “What do you say, Olivia. Would you be willing to join us clowns today? I’ll make sure Jamie behaves.”

  “Okay, Harry.” Harry, not Harold, it was. “I’m almost done here; I’ll join you guys soon.”

  Harry must have given the guys a thumbs-up or some positive signal because all the guys in the car yelled, “hurray!”

  “Hey, Olivia!” A neighbor ticket holder greeted me with an enthusiastic hug and kiss a little too close to the side of my lips. Eew, was my first thought.

  “Hello.”

  “We haven’t seen you and your daughter in a while. By the way, I heard about your husband. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  “Thank you,” I was going to answer as my parting words when Jamie came up from behind me and pulled me into his body with his hands touching inappropriately.

  “Hey, Livvy.” He kissed me a bit too hard and definitely too long in front of everyone.

  I shuddered at what everyone around us thought of this display. Here I was, a widower of less than one year, bringing a new man into my old man’s seats and behaving tres low class, by making out with him in public. The word floozy came to mind at this very moment and that did not make me happy.

  “Bye,” I called out and walked to our seats, annoyed. “What was that all about?” I angrily asked.

  “That guy was getting too close to you and he had sleazy man thoughts in his eyes.”

  “He, what? Sleazy man thoughts? Are you mad? We’ve known each other since Dani was little. He was just paying his condolences and saying hello.”

  “No he wasn’t. He was trying to poach in on what’s mine.”

  “Seriously? 'Poach in on what’s mine'? Am I now your property? Where do you come up with these lines?” I started cracking up. “I’m here to spend an afternoon with you and the male faction of your family. Let’s not get into another fight, alright?”

  “Okay.” Jamie gave me his famously delicious grin. “I’ll try to behave.” He lightly pecked at my lips this time.

  “Ahem! Hello? Do we get an introduction?”

  My head lifted up with an apologetic smile. “Sorry. Hi. I’m Olivia Kingston, age forty, a widower with an 18 year old daughter, a pain in the ass for your brother-in-law, probably infertile and unable to carry o
n the Hutchison name…what else is there that I can say so you will have answers for your wives?”

  “You’re funny!” said the burly brother-in-law with a kind smile.

  “You’re a hot forty year old,” answered the red headed brother-in-law with lots of freckles.

  “You’re the one who got us out of a garden baby shower at the house and into these fantastic seats so we’re just grateful. You could have three eyes and a moustache for all we care.”

  That brought out a jovial laughter from all of us.

  “Olivia, why don’t you come sit next to me?” Harry asked kindly.

  “I’d love to, Harry.”

  “What about me?” Soon as these words fell, Jamie pulled the red headed brother-in-law out of his seat and sat next to me.

  “That goon over there who thought you were ‘hot for a forty year old’ is Chris, married to my oldest child, Janine. The one that Jamie rudely pulled out of his seat is Josh, married to Violet, my second oldest child. The grateful one who echoed all of our sentiments about not having to attend the baby shower, is Matt, married to my youngest child, Michelle.”

  “Hi all.” I gave my pageant smile and wave.

  “You know you have to go down the line and sit with each and every one of us before the seventh inning stretch,” Chris announced.

  “Yeah? Is that in the Hutchison family hazing rule book?”

  The guys busted up laughing.

  “You finally picked one with a personality, bro’. Much, much better than Melinda.” Josh approved.

  In the course of the day, I’d sat with each brother-in-law and we enthusiastically got to know one another. Matt confessed it was his wife who was having the baby shower, with their first child arriving in June.

  “Girl or boy?”

  “Not going to find out till it comes out.”

  “It?”

  “It until I know it’s a he or a she.”

  “You want a boy, huh?”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “It’s written all over your face.” We laughed loudly.

  Then, it was Chris who professed an apology in advance confessing that his wife, Janine, has sided with Rose already and doesn’t like me because I’m old. Technically, I was older than Janine by a month and she thought it unthinkable that her baby brother was dating a woman older than she.

  “I’ll do my best to tell her you’re really cool, but it’s gonna be tough.”

  “Thanks anyhow,” I replied. “I’m going to move to Josh because this conversation is a bit depressing.”

  “Wait till you hear about Violet and Melinda being best friends,” he dared to laugh.

  “Great!” I groaned.

  Josh didn’t have to say anything as Chris ruined his unpleasant surprise.

  “I like you! Who cares what the Hutchison women think? I think you have the male vote,” Josh put his arm around me and tried to cheer me up.

  “Arm off!” Jamie bit out from the other end of the row.

  “I’m married to your sister – the one who’s best friends with your ex. Be nice to me and I’ll see what I can do to ease the wrath.”

  “Wrath?” I got up. “I think Harry here is the only one with any good news, although it is his wife who dislikes me the most. Forget it.” I pushed my way to the very end of the aisle. “I’m going to sit next to the man who will protect me from all your women. Right?” At this point, I wasn’t too sure what would happen to me when I met the entire family.

  “Of course I’ll protect you. Last I saw, it was me who was in this relationship, not my mother nor my sisters.”

  “Olivia. I, too, apologize for Rose’s behavior. Jamie being the only boy in the family, Rose has been a bit particular about her son. I’ll keep talking to her.”

  “Thank you, Harry.” Though I uttered these words with conviction, there was no confidence that I believed Harry’s help would do any good. I was a marked woman. What had I gotten myself into with Jamie Hutchison?

  After many hot dogs and beer were consumed by all the guys, I went home and sat on the sofa depressed about my newfound dilemma. Having only experienced the love of Paul’s family, the Hutchison antipathy grated on my nerves. With a glass of wine in hand, I stared at the muted TV and wondered if, in the end, Jamie could or would be able to help me fend off his family.

  The doorbell brought me out of my miserable contemplations.

  “Jamie. You’re back.”

  “I told you I would be. You know, you have serious issues with trust.”

  “Come in.” I pulled him in towards the living room, laughing. He had other ideas, of course, and we ended up in the bedroom.

  “Do I get an invite to Africa this summer?” I thought he had fallen asleep after we’d made love but I guess he was laying behind me thinking about us.

  Turning my body around I answered, “Jamie, I can’t take you to meet Joe and Lydia. Paul just died. I don’t want to hurt them. They’ve been like parents to me the last eighteen years.”

  Silence.

  “They do know about you.” With caution, I shared this news.

  “They do?” This brought Jamie out of his gloom.

  “Yes. I’ve told the whole family about you but still, I can’t take you along like we’re one big happy family. You understand, don’t you?”

  “I guess. When do you leave?”

  “Fourth of July, red-eye out.”

  “For how long?”

  “Six weeks. Then I go straight to Boston to get Dani settled and I’ll stay with my mom for a bit.”

  “Where does your mom live?”

  “In Connecticut. You could come visit me there.” Though I wasn’t convinced this was a good idea, I decided to invite Jamie to join me.

  “Liv…that’s almost a two month absence. Won’t you miss me?”

  “Of course I'll miss you.”

  There was a silence that lasted too long.

  “Where do I really stand in your heart? I know Paul and Dani and the rest of your family take up the top ten but am I at least right below them?”

  It broke my heart to see such dejection in his eyes. His forlorn look made my chest tighten.

  “Jamie. There’s so much complication between us but you have my heart and you have my love. I hope that reassures you how much you mean to me. It will be really tough if I have to let you go.”

  “Is that your vague way of telling me you love me?” His sullen face brightened with those words.

  “I love you, Jamie.”

  I rushed off the bed and into my clothes when I heard Ian’s car pull up. After our long talk, we had fallen asleep and lost track of time. Dani did not need to see her mother sleeping with some other man, acting like a floozy again.

  While lacing up my left shoe I tapped Jamie on his rear end. “You need to get up and be dressed!” His half smile gave away his pretense that he didn’t hear me. “If Dani finds you in my bed, I swear, Jamie, I will break up with you,” I threatened but he still didn’t budge.

  “Mom.” Dani was looking for me.

  Jamie’s body lay while I rushed out of the bedroom.

  “Hi kids,” a nervous greeting slipped out. “How was the beach?”

  “It was colder than we thought it would be, Mrs. Kingston. We came home early to thaw out.”

  “Hey, Mom?”

  “Yes?”

  “Ian’s parents invited me to have dinner with them tonight. Can I go?”

  “Sure. When will you leave?”

  “After I shower and change.”

  My heart bottomed out at the thought of Dani running into Jamie walking out of my bedroom. Panicked, I wondered if just closing my bedroom door would resolve this situation. How embarrassing this scenario would be if even Ian witnessed my wanton ways. Ugh. I was forty years old. I did not need this kind of stress in my life.

  “Uh, Dani,” Ian said while looking up from his phone, “we have to leave right away. My parents just texted saying they want to meet us in half
an hour.”

  Thank God for Ian, Ian’s parents, and modern technology. I was saved. Jamie was in so much trouble when I got back up to the bedroom.

  “Alright then. I have sand all over and I feel grubby but I guess a shower will have to wait.”

  “Have a good time, guys.” With that, I shooed them out and ran up to my room.

  Jamie had brazenly stepped into my shower.

  “Are you crazy? Dani could have walked in on you taking a shower.”

  The shower door opened. “Get in,” was the last thing I heard before the showerhead soaked me from top to bottom. The clothes didn’t stay on too long.

  “So, tell me about this new man.” It was a wonder Sheila had the patience to wait an entire afternoon to approach me about Jamie. Since she picked us up from the airport, I saw the sly smiles she sent my way and the casual innuendos she dropped during lunch.

  “It so complicated I don’t know where to start.” Picking up my iced coffee, I gave it a few sips before facing her. “George sent Jamie over to help me figure out our financial situation and next thing I know, we’re seeing each other.”

  “That doesn’t sound too complicated. At the pace that you usually set, it wouldn’t be unheard of for you to be engaged and maybe married by now.”

  “Not funny,” I answered but laughed with her.

  “Well, the complication begins with his age.”

  “And he is…”

  “33 years old.”

  “You, cougar, you.”

  “Yeah, so I’ve been told. Then there’s the fact that he’s never been married and he’d one day like a family.”

  Her doomsday sounding “oh,” said it all.

  “Not only that, he had a girlfriend he’d been with for years and his mother and three sisters don’t like me. I met his parents the other night and she made it clear I was not right for her son.”

  Another “oh” was all Sheila could utter.

  “But, do you love each other? Has the relationship gone that far?”

  I sighed. The conversation had gone as far as talks of being with one another till we were old and gray and yet the relationship stood at a crossroad. Sheila reproachfully awaited my answer.