The Old Man and the Widow Read online

  Time had passed, pleasantly for the New Man and I think for the Widow also but it was time to make the trip back to reality. They loaded the car and bid the girls goodbye and were on the road again. They didn’t say much on the trip home although a couple of things broke the monotony of the gentle rain that started to fall.

  While driving along the weather began to change and become violent, the lightening and thunder accompanied the rain and hail made it too treacherous to continue. They came upon a motel with a vacancy sign flashing and she pulled over. Let’s get a room and wait out this storm.

  When they enquired about a room the motel clerk said there was only one room left. Because of the storm people were stopping for the night. The clerk said, “The room is deluxe with two beds and the restaurant would be open all night if they wanted to have dinner.” He said, “We have a generator in case the power goes out so you should be comfortable.”

  The widow said we will take it for they couldn’t go any farther. Once in the room and the heat was turned on it became cozy and she turned on some music which could scarcely be heard for the rain.

  The New Man was very uneasy so he said I’m hungry let’s go eat.

  She said, ‘Its still early but if you want its okay.”

  He ate very slowly and ordered dessert on top of a large meal, she finished and said, “I’m going to the room and dress for bed so come on as soon as you finish.”

  He thought, “I’m going to eat all night.” He finally had to give it up and went to the restaurant’s rest room and stared into the mirror on the wall.

  Finally he thought, “I’ll stay in here all night.” Then someone was pounding on the door and saying hurry up or else. He didn’t want to know what or else meant so he gave it up and went to the room.

  As he entered the first thing he saw was the widow with a gown and a negligee on as she watched a romantic movie on the TV.

  She said, ‘There you are, I thought I was going to have go and get you.”

  She then added, ‘You aren’t nervous being here with me are you?”

  Now you have to understand New Man was completely honest and didn’t lie very much, only when it couldn’t be avoided but he prepared himself to tell the biggest lie ever told when he said, “No I feel very comfortable with the situation.”

  She said, “I’m glad to hear that, come sit here beside me and snuggle.”

  His mind went ballistic, “Oh lord not that, I couldn’t stand that.”

  She said, “First change into your pajamas and get comfortable.”

  He said, “That’s a good idea.” Anything that would break the mood at this moment was welcomed.

  She said, “Don’t be long or I will come in and help you.”

  After hearing that, he quickly took his clothes off and dressed for bed.

  When he came out he said, “I think I will hit the hay for it has been a long day.”

  She said, “Okay I will come to bed with you and we can snuggle for a while before we go to sleep.”

  Panic stricken he said, “Maybe we should finish watching the movie before we retire.”

  She laughed and said, “You know, you are a man I would trust with my daughters. Go on to bed and I will see you in the morning.”

  After hearing that his blood pressure dropped about sixty points and he went off to a restful sleep. The next morning the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful. He had gotten up, dressed and ate breakfast before she had wakened.

  When he returned she was in the shower and he packed his bag. She came out of the shower and he couldn’t turn his back quick enough to avoid seeing more than he should have and to make it worse the mirror on the wall reflected her full form.

  She quickly slipped something on while he sat on a chair with his hands over his eyes. She said, “I didn’t realize you had returned but no harm done.” Are you alright she asked because he wasn’t moving.

  He got up and looked directly at her and said you are the prettiest woman I have ever seen and I mean seen. With that he said I have to call the office.

  She wondered what has got into him. Then she giggled and thought it must have been something he saw. He came back and loaded their suit cases and said as soon as you eat we can hit the road for I have settled up with the manager. He had coffee as she ate her breakfast but their small talk was limited to her asking questions and him giving short answers.

  How did you sleep? Fine. How was your breakfast? Good. And so on.

  On the way home he sat nearer to her than before. He reached over and touched her hand on the steering wheel and when it dropped it landed on her leg and he didn’t remove it for a second.

  She looked at him, a look that he thought it said, “Back up a bit sucker.” Anyway that was what he did, he backed up.

  She could only shake her head and smile. She surmised that this is the most frustrated man she had ever met but said to herself; this will have to go and soon.

  Chapter 8 We need to Talk

  He was a little late for work but quickly caught up for Monday mornings were usually slow.

  He got a phone call from the widow and she said she wouldn’t be able to seem him tonight but tomorrow he should come over for dinner. She went on saying we have a lot of things to discuss and future planning.

  After she hung up he thought, “I don’t have anything to talk over and the future will take care of itself.”

  As the day wore on his thinking began to change. There were a lot of things to talk about and the future needed to be planned for if there was one. Then he realized that was just what she said and wasn’t original with him.

  When he arrived for dinner she gave him a kiss like welcoming a husband home. He felt disarmed after that and figured he was done for the evening. It was like the song; ‘What ever Lola wants Lola gets.”

  New Man figured the best way to get by during the evening was to agree with her. He wasn’t very hungry but ate enough to make her think he wasn’t uncertain about the agenda she had for the evening.

  “First off,” she said, “Let’s get one thing out of the way; we are getting married aren’t we?

  In his weakened condition he managed an “I hope so.”

  She said, “Good that’s settled.” Then a strange look came over her and she drew closer, straddled his lap and proceeded to kiss him madly, and to his surprise he responded with like fervor. As soon as it started it stopped.

  She said, “I think it best if we were married this weekend to which he agreed most heartily.”

  Then most business like she said, “You will have to quit your job for it wouldn’t be right for you to work as an underling while I owned the company. The management in place now will remain for they are doing an excellent job.”

  He said, “I like working for the Veep, but I have gotten to know several CEO’s that have tried to hire me away from your company and it would be best if I pursued that venue.”

  She said, “As for the honeymoon I would like to be old fashion and go to Niagara Falls for a few days then go up to Montréal and enjoy the French influence that remains there.”

  He said, “It sounds good to me.”

  She said, “Let’s call the girls and tell them now.” She dialed the number and when daughter number one answered she handed him the phone and said “You tell them.”

  He managed to say hello but after that he was thankful that the daughter took over and carried the conversation forward. She asked, “Is mum there I need to talk to her about the wedding.” He said, “Wedding? Did your mom say something about the wedding?”

  Daughter number one said, No, she doesn’t know about it yet.”

  He said, “Who is getting married?”

  She answered, “Our maid of course, who else? You would think I was talking about you and mother.”

  He said, “Here is your mother she will be glad about your maid.”

  “Hello mo
m isn’t it great about the maid. The only thing that would be better is if you and New Man were getting hitched.”

  The Widow handed the phone back to New Man and said, “You better tell her.”

  He took the phone and said, “Me and you mom are getting married, good bye.”

  He said I never realized how hard it would be to break the news about out nuptials. He said, “Let’s get out of here in case they call back for I don’t want to go through that again.”

  She said, “Let’s do something we’ve never done before.” Only one thing ran through his mind as she said; “Let’s go dancing.”

  Being relieved he said, “That sounds interesting, let’s do it.”

  She said, “I haven’t been dancing since before the death of my husband.”

  He said, “The same for me, not since her death.”

  She said, “Well I hope we still know how.”

  They spent half of the night going to different clubs and discovered that it was still as much fun as it used to be. She said I will stay at your place tonight and tomorrow and I will fill the girls in on our plans.

  He said, “I will turn in my resignation and get ready for the big event this weekend.” He gave her his bed and slept in the guest room.

  At his usual time New Man got up and went through his usual routine and then headed for his last day at work. His desk had been cleared so there wasn’t anything he needed to attend to but the Veep couldn’t understand why he was leaving. He told him by next week everything would be clear. About all he needed to take with him was his brief case for he was finished with this episode of his life.

  Chapter 9 New plans

  After resigning his job New Man came home to find that the widow woman had gone.

  She had left him a note to call her when he was through with his morning business and they would cement together some of their plans.

  By the time he was finished she would have settled the girls down for they were going to want to plan a huge wedding with everyone they had ever heard of.

  She called them and they answered on the first ring and both of them had an extension and were talking over each other. She finally got them to be quiet enough for her to explain what the wedding plans were.

  She said, “I have already had the trip down the aisle with a large number of people gawking at me and I don’t want that again. The wedding will be at our home with only a few guests.

  First of all don’t tell anyone for I will be too busy to deal with them. It will be just as exciting to tell everyone after the wedding as before. New Man might cop out if he saw a large crowd waiting for him and that would never do.

  All I want there is mostly you girls, a minister and of course the groom for it wouldn’t be much of a wedding without him.

  The girls asked, “What about his kids, won’t they want to be there?”

  He has already told me, “No, they won’t. They disowned him during the time of them losing all their money and their friends turning against them. They took the money that New Man had been put in an account for them and have made their own way. They refuse to talk or visit him for they blame him for all the problems that developed by their mothers actions.

  There will be a few more friends who will be invited but until I talk to New Man I won’t have the final list.”

  She got a call from New Man after she got off the line with the girls and she said to come over and they would finalize everything.

  When he arrived she laid out a list of must do things. Included was get a license today. Arrange for a minister and for a caterer to feed us after the ceremony.

  She said, “I will only have about ten people coming now I need to know how many you want to invite.”

  He said, “One or maybe none.”

  “Who did you have in mind?” she asked?”

  “Do you remember Roommate? She had something to do with me thinking about ever getting married again and I thought I might ask her if it was alright with you.”

  She said, “Ask anyone you want but you better ask her right away.”

  After thinking it over he said, ‘No, I don’t think I will ask her.”

  She asked him, “Why?”

  He said, “No reason except I don’t think I want to listen to her gloat about telling me that the right widow woman would change my attitude about wedded bliss again.”

  He said, “Let’s go eat and get that license.”

  The guy at the license bureau had them fill out a form and then gave them the license after which he said, “I can marry you right now if you want for I am also a justice of the peace.”

  After they stared at each other for a moment New Man said, “Let us talk it over for a minute and we will let you know.”

  What then ensued was a fast review of their plans that were in place and what difference would it make if they had two weddings instead of one. One for us, and one for everyone else.

  She said, “It might be a little impulsive but I’m all for it. We could have a honeymoon afternoon.”

  He said, “Well we probably ought to hesitate on doing this but I’m also all for it if you are.”

  The Justice of the Peace asked, “Well, have you decided to go for it?”

  They said, “Yes, let’s do it.”

  The Justice of the Peace said, “Okay that will be ten dollars in advance for I have had some run out after they say, “I do.”

  The next three minutes were little more than a blur but both managed to make their vows. Though it was quick it was more meaningful than they expected. He asked the widow, “Do you love him, are you going to keep him and are you going to mess around with anyone else?”

  She answered, “Yes, yes, and no.”

  New Man did the same thing and then came the most important words of all; “I now pronounce you husband and wife.”

  She said, “From now on I will be married woman instead of widow.”

  As they left she said, “Let’s go to my place and think over what we have done.”

  He said, “Yes we need to think.”

  When they arrived they went up in the elevator and suddenly he embraced and kissed her and kissed her again. When they got in the apartment she said we must think!

  He said, “The thinking is over Married woman, now the living begins.”

  While being hugged and kissed she said, “Let the living begin.”

  It was dark thirty before they came up for air and he said, “I could use a little food,”

  She said, “Me too. If it’s alright I’ll just order in, Chinese okay?

  He said, “Sure.”

  After ordering they looked at each other and started to laugh hilariously.

  She said, “We did it.”

  “We sure did, didn’t we?” he replied.

  She said, “Should we tell anyone or act as if nothing has happened.”

  He said, “Best if we go on as if nothing has happened except I will be staying here from now on.”

  She replied, “That sounds like a plan to me.”

  The next couple of days went by slowly, finishing up the plans for the second wedding and listening to the girls say things like; “Ma are you ready for the honeymoon? Can you remember; you know what,” and everything else they could think of but it was all in fun and everybody enjoyed their teasing.

  The day finally arrived. The girls had one more shot at New Man telling him what a woman needs and expects from a man. He had to laugh at that but loved them for doing it anyhow. There were about fifteen people there and the both walked down to stand before the minister.

  She wore a blue suit with a corsage while he was wearing a new dark blue suit in fact he had a completely new wardrobe.

  After having new suits made he went to the mission and gave them her first husband’s suits that she was she bringing there when he took them for himself.

  The ceremony was considerable longer than what the Jus
tice of the Peace did. I suppose he dealt with people in a hurry. Once again they made their vows to each other but they kind of like the way the justice did it.

  There again they were in a hurry to get on with the honeymoon so that might have had something to do with it though they would deny it. With the ceremony and the reception over they needed a moment to relax.

  She went over to a full length mirror and told him to come over beside her. She asked; what do you see?

  He said I see a young middle age woman who is just beginning to live.

  She said, “Do you want to know what I see?”

  He hesitantly said; I guess so.

  She said I see a young middle age man that is just a couple of years older than me who is going to be “one happy feller.”