Wedding Bell Blues Pt. 09

The disclaimers: Every character who matters is at least 18. A work of fiction (more or less). Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is coincidental (for the most part).

Part 9 wraps the story up. Marriage or drifting apart in with separate lives in separate cities? RAAC or Revenge for Jennifer and Tom? Somebody's bound to be disappointed. All I can say is that I had to write the conclusion to fit the characters.

I am so sorry for the delay in publishing these latest and the last chapter. Too late I realized that I had written myself into an unacceptable corner, and that I would have to do a fair bit of reworking to fix my mess. And then real life and the need to keep my job intruded on my rewriting and editing time. And then I think I messed up submitting a previous chapter, which sat in Drafts for four days! But as promised, I have finished this series. I said in the beginning that every man has a Hayleigh. May we all be so lucky as to find her, and for her to claim us as her own.

~~~@~~~@~~~

~~~ A FINE WISCONSIN JULY EVENING ~~~

"Assume our relationship continues along its current arc. That means marriage, a family of our own, juggling careers and kids, all of that. I won't be trusting you with just my heart. I will have to trust you with the care of our children, our family's security and happiness, all of that grown-up stuff. Same with you, Hay. You'll have to trust me to deliver for all of us. For some deranged reason, I can't wait."

"We are so going to make it," she purred into my shoulder before drifting off. It was an inflection point for me in my love for her. I held off sleep as long as I could, savoring Hayleigh's rhythmic breathing and the fullness in my heart.

~~~@~~~@~~~

~~~ EARLY AUGUST ~~~

I didn't expect to see Hayleigh's car pull onto the job site, but I was glad to see her, despite my slight anxiety over an unannounced visit. She was in her hospital uniform and in a hurry. I was just about to take my lunch break, so the timing was good. We sat down at a makeshift table set in the shade of an oak tree that the crew used for breaks. She wasn't upset, but she was on edge.

"Sorry to drop in without warning. I tried to call you, but it kept going to voicemail."

"My bad. I've had ear plugs in because of the nail guns, and I can't feel my phone vibrate through these thick work pants. What's up?"

"Jennifer called me. She wants to talk, to both of us. Apparently it has to be tonight because she has to be back in Eau Claire for her job by tomorrow morning. What do you think?"

What I thought was it easily could go sideways, and I liked Jennifer's absence from our daily lives just fine, thank you very much. What I said was that we should jump at an opportunity to repair some damage.

"Do you think Jennifer can have a civil conversation with us?" I asked. "I want to improve things, not make them worse. I won't sit there and be abused by her, or let her abuse you. There are limits, Hay. It is starts going the way it did during the phone call in Nassau, I'm walking away."

Hayleigh was contemplative. "I really think Jennifer is reaching out to try to mend things. It wasn't just what she said, it was the way she said it. So it's a go?" I nodded my assent. "Thank you! Mangiano's at seven. I'll pick you up so we can go together. Sure you're OK with this?"

"Yep. We had agreed on this in principle already, and I told your father that we wanted to try to make peace, for the sake of your family. She's your sister and we have to do what we can to fix things, or at least make an honest effort."

"OK. But just so you know, if she starts any crap or says anything like she did on the phone in Nassau, you won't have to walk away because I will grab you by the arm and we're outta there! No one treats my man that way!" She glanced at her watch. "I gotta hurry back. I had to skip lunch to get over here during my break as it is."

I took one of my sandwiches, a bag of chips, and a cold pop out of my lunch tote. "Here, you can scarf this down in the car. See you tonight. Now scoot!"

Hayleigh gave me a sloppy kiss before dashing back to her car while pulling the sandwich out of the baggie. With a wave she sped away as Angel and a few of the other framers joined me at the makeshift table. The consensus I gleaned from the fractured Spanglish was that there was no way I deserved that, the "that" of course being Hayleigh. They weren't wrong.

Hayleigh and I headed to Mangiano's with trepidation. Hayleigh suggested Mangiano's because Jennifer and I hadn't been there before, so there would be no old memories of better times. Hayleigh and I decided not to hold hands or do anything openly affectionate, either, so it wouldn't appear that we were rubbing Jennifer's nose in our relationship. That still left many landmines. My bestest friend insisted that "what happened in Nassau stays in Nassau," but Jennifer's vicious attack on my manhood and my meltdown permeated my thoughts.

Jennifer was sitting alone at a booth in the back corner. She already had a drink in front of her. She looked nervous, and a bit forlorn. The booth seating forced Hayleigh and I to sit together, with Jennifer opposite us. We didn't like the two-against-one appearance of that arrangement, but no other seating arrangement made sense. We all exchanged polite greetings, and I ordered an appetizer tray that I thought Jennifer would like. Hayleigh and I wanted a resolution, even if it meant extending small courtesies that we otherwise would have refused on principle. Jennifer took the bull by the horns right off the bat.

"I have a lot to explain and get off my chest," she said while mostly avoiding our eyes. "I can get through this better if you let me do most of the talking first."

"I've had a lot of time to think since the wedding, and Aunt Joycelynne knows about everything. She and Uncle Carl have let me stay with them, but the price was that I had to accept a lot of tough love. More like endless hell, but it's been for the best." She wiped at her eyes before continuing.

"So first, I want you both to know I'm not here to make a pitch for Tom giving me another chance. He doesn't want me anymore, and for good reason. I accept that, not that I really have a choice. And to be honest, I'm over him, too. We weren't right for each other. I'm going to answer honestly some of the questions Tom asked me on the phone when you were in Nassau. Aunt Joycelynne had a lot of the same questions for me. You won't like some of my answers though, and I'll understand if you get up and walk away." She cleared her throat.

"The big thing first. I apologize for what I did to both of you. Messing around with David behind your backs was beyond awful. I don't know what more I can say about that. Awful is awful. So why did I do it? I didn't plan on it, not at first. I met him at one of Hayleigh's sorority parties and something just clicked. I should have walked away, but I didn't, even though I knew he was my sister's boyfriend and I was engaged. It was fun to flirt with him, and he can be a charmer, even though he's really an asshole. I'm haven't seen him since the wedding, by the way. We don't like each other much lately."

"Anyhow, I meet him at the party and before long he's talked me into going out with him the next week. Like a dumb bitch, I agreed. Hayleigh, I should have told you that night what he was up to, but I didn't. That was shitty of me, and even worse of me to agree to see him. And Tom, I should never have even been flirting with him, much less agreeing to go out with him. I figured neither of you would ever find out, and it would just be one date. What could that hurt, right? It wasn't going to change anything with us, Tom, so I didn't see it as cheating on you. That's what I told myself. Of course it was cheating." She took a big sip of her Cosmo.

"So I went out with him. We went to this dance club. I'm drinking, he's drinking, we're dancing, the dancing gets hot, and pretty soon we're kissing. I'm not trying to blame the drinks! I knew damn well what I was doing. Like I said, I thought it was harmless fun, and who's going to know? God, I was stupid! I'll tell you the next parts only because I think both of you want me to explain how everything got all fucked up, and why I was such a colossal, heinous bitch. If you want me to stop, I will."

"So David starts getting frisky with his hands, feeling me up and stuff, and I'm letting him. Next thing I know, he puts my hand on his junk and my god, it's just huge. And I'm thinking, if this is going to be my one time to cheat on my fiance, I'm going to make it count. Like I said, I was an evil bitch. So we went back to his place and we did it."

"Tom, this part is so even more awful. Dave treated me like a piece of meat, and I LOVED IT. You were always so gentle and loving with me, and I was so uptight and shy. Anyway, when it was over I felt so guilty about what I did and how much I liked it that I started shutting you out and cutting you off. I felt like somehow you would know that I'd been with somebody else. I couldn't bring myself to do with you stuff that I did with him, and somehow in my twisted up head I turned it into YOUR fault. I should have had the decency to break it off with you clean. Instead I decided to have a fling with David to get him out of my system. I told myself that after I lost my fascination with David's big dick and my head was out of my ass we'd be fine." She took gulp of her Cosmo.

"So I keep seeing him. Every week he calls me, and I figure just one more time and I'm done. And that turned into another and another, and I start to think that I can get away with anything. Then he starts making shitty remarks about you both of you. Really nasty stuff about how I need his monster dick and how Hayleigh won't take care of business because she can't handle his size like I could. And instead of it pissing me off I'm encouraging him because it stroked my ego to know that I was able to satisfy him. There wasn't any emotional attachment, none worth speaking of. I just got off on the sex and feeling like I was all that. I'm so ashamed now, but back then it was a huge power trip for me. The more I did things for him that I refused to do for you, the more exciting it was. I got into the dirty talk, too, what I never would do with you. Do you want me to keep going?"

Hayleigh and I looked at each other and told her to go on. Neither of us gave a damn why Jennifer had done or why, but if a night of Jennifer's True Confessions was what it took for Hayleigh and me to secure a workable future with her family, we'd let Jennifer prat on.

"So there's the answer to why I cheated on you, Tom. I found out that I loved nasty sex, that I liked pulling one over on both of you, and that neither of you would ever find out. Then David tells me that he got a job offer in Chicago, and wouldn't it be great if we could keep seeing each other. I figured why not? So far everything was great, at least for me. When I got tired of it I could break it off to become your faithful wife and you'd never know. I even convinced myself that I deserved to have him around because you would be so busy with school I'd need something on the side. And doing it with my sister's boyfriend only added to my vanity that I was the hotter sister. How fucked up is that? And doing it at my wedding right before the ceremony? That was the ultimate sexual rush. But I got caught, and you know the rest."

There was a long silence, and an unanswered question for me that I couldn't resist asking.

"Jennifer, it's obvious from what you've said that you stopped loving me a very long time before the wedding, and that you needed the kind of nasty, big-dick sex I could never give you. The wedding was off, and you were free to pursue David or whoever you wanted who could give you what I wasn't. Why did you try to get me back? Why were you begging for another chance for us? It's not like you wanted me at that point, and certainly not as your husband."

"Aunt Joycelynne and I talked a lot about that one. It's pretty simple. I couldn't handle that YOU walked away from ME. Can you believe it? After everything I had done, I was upset over being rejected! I understood why you stopped the wedding, but I figured eventually you would cool off and take me back. If you took me back it would be like what I did wasn't all that bad. Also I was emotionally invested in getting married. All the sudden I was going to be alone, with no husband, no job, no plans, and nowhere to go. My mother was ashamed of me, my father was disgusted with me, and my sister wanted to kill me. I was scared, and humiliated, and really pissed that you called me out in front of everyone in the church. Even asshole David bailed on me. You know what he said to me? He said that he hung out with me to fuck me, not to listen to my problems! I couldn't believe that you didn't let me off the hook, as if THAT was going to happen! When you told me to take a hike on the phone it all hit me, and I lashed out."

Then she looked at Hayleigh. "There was something else, too. I always knew that you had a thing for Tom. I didn't know it was this serious though! So when you and Tom were in Nassau it really got to me. That was supposed to be MY husband, and MY honeymoon! Instead of ME screwing YOUR boyfriend it all was turned around on me. It made me crazy that you were there together. If I wasn't going to have him, then why should you? That's why I lashed out so bad and said those terrible things to Tom on the phone when he rejected me. I wanted to hurt him for choosing you over me, and bringing up David would hurt you, too. So I took the cheapest shots I could come up with. I told you, I've been horrible."

"So, what now, Jennifer?" asked Hayleigh. "What is it you want to happen now?"

"I wanted to apologize. I have been talking to a therapist to help me try to be less awful. She says that making amends is a necessary part of my healing. I hope that one day you both can forgive me, for some of it anyway. Mostly, I don't want to lose my sister."

Hayleigh looked at me. "You or me?" she asked. I nodded to her.

"Jennifer, both Tom and I are glad you reached out. We know this was hard for you. It's been hard on all of us. You are my sister. I can forgive you. I mostly have already. Understand though, Tom and I love each other completely. Nothing is more important for us than our future together. We want to be able to have something resembling normal family relationships with you. We don't want Mom and Dad to suffer over this either. We want to be able to celebrate holidays and birthdays together like other families do. One day Tom and I will be parents. We want our kids to know their Aunt Jennifer and for her to be in their lives in a good way. Is that something you can do?"

Jennifer was sniffly. "I can try."

"One last thing, Jennifer, and listen like your life depends on it. If you EVER hurt Tom again I will make you regret the day you were born."

"I understand. I won't. What about you, Tom?"

"Hayleigh and I are on the same page. I agree with everything she said. However, while I've gotten past what happened, sometimes I get so mad at you that I want to spit in your face. The fact of your betrayal still stings, so do not ever joke or make light about what happened. I mean it. But more than that, if you EVER hurt Hayleigh all bets are off. I will go medieval on you."

"I understand. Thanks for hearing me out. I'm grateful that you invited me to stay for dinner, but after all this I don't think we're quite ready yet to have pleasant meal together. I'm going to stop by the house to see Mom and Dad, then drive back to Eau Claire tonight. I'll get something to eat at their house. Hayleigh, I'll try to call you sometime next week."

Jennifer scooted out of the bench seat. "Before I go," she said softly, "I want to say that even though it's tough for me to see you two together, I'm happy it's working out for you. You probably don't believe me, but I am." Hayleigh slid out of her seat and gave Jennifer a hug before Jennifer left. We decided to stay have dinner there while we talked it over. Hayleigh wanted to know if I was OK, and what I thought about Jennifer's story. I wanted to know the same things.

"I'm actually doing fine. I don't think Jennifer was totally honest. I think she carefully rehearsed her speech. So much of it was too convenient. What, she meets her sister's boyfriend at a party and before she knows it, his irresistible charm has her agreeing to go out on a secret date that she KNOWS would blow up her engagement to me and her relationship with you? Then she's unable to summon the will to stop him from groping her in public and even joins in? And once she feels his big dick through his clothes she falls completely under his spell, and decides to fuck him that very night? Then rough sex unleashes a latent size-queen who gets off on cuckholding her fiancé, while also getting a bonus rush by betraying her sister? Basically, we're supposed to believe that she goes from shy and uptight with me to a conniving, remorseless cheater who gets off on turning the slut dial to Level 10? I don't think so!"

Hayleigh nursed her Leinenkugel draft. "Did you notice that she went out of her way to bring up the size of his package? Not even cleverly disguised passive-aggressive."

"I noticed that too. She could have left out all of the big dick stuff and her explanation would have been fine. It was a shot at you, too. 'I could handle a real man, but you couldn't.' I'm OK, it doesn't bug me anymore. As long as I ring your bell, I'm good."

Hayleigh looked upward, quietly saying "ding-ding-ding-ding-ding-ding" to the ceiling. I felt her foot trace along my calf.

"We're also to believe that it was a mere coincidence that David gets a job offer in Chicago, where she was to be going. What was that line from Star Trek? 'I believe in coincidences, but I don't trust coincidences'? Even if it was merely coincidental, she figures they can pick up where they left off without getting caught? Even the stupidest gamblers know that you can't roll the dice forever and never get Snake-Eyes. Oh, here's the next big hole in her story. So after David goes to the trouble to arrange to be in Chicago so she can continue to have this emotionally meaningless but physically addictive wild monkey sex, David will happily let her drop him when it suits her so she can seamlessly become Suzy fucking Homemaker with me? Yeah, sure. NO ONE is that naive. But wait! She's had this moral epiphany because she's been having tough-love chats with Auntie Joycelynne? The only thing missing is seeing the face of Jesus in her oatmeal and having a religious conversion that has turned her away from her sinful former life. There's a lot that isn't right in her story."

"I was thinking pretty much the same thing," Hayleigh remarked with a slight sneer. "Let's stay on our toes, because I'm not buying everything she's selling. I think what's really going on is that my parents have decided to accept you back into the fold as my boyfriend, even if it means she becomes the outsider. They invited you to spend the Fourth with the family, even knowing it meant she would refuse to be there. My guess is that she sees my parents choosing me and you over her, and she doesn't like the new pecking order. So she's going to try to look like the better person by taking the lead in forging the big reconciliation. And if we don't play along, then we become the bad guys for not be willing to forgive her and standing in the way of restoring the family, blah blah blah."

"That would fit her narcissistic personality. She admits that she did horrible things, but she's only a victim of her own unfortunate appetite for abusive guys with big dicks, which of course she couldn't control because it's merely her human weakness, so she will say her therapist says. If we don't forgive her, she gets to say that she's being punished when all she wants is family harmony, and she knows that your parents are sensitive to the 'Jennifer has been punished enough' angle. It tracks."

"There is the possibility that she's on the level, but either way, it looks like we're getting the result we want," Hayleigh pointed out. "But I meant what I told her about what happens if she hurts you any more. They'll need dental records or DNA to identify her body. Are you sure you can forgive her enough to make this work?"

"I've given forgiveness a lot of thought. Lots of thought. I know tons of people would say 'Fuck forgiveness, the bitch has got to pay, and David too!' I know that's how Steve sees it, and that goes double for him so far as David is concerned. Truthfully, I'm slightly surprised we haven't heard news that David was found beaten to a pulp with his nuts in his mouth." Hayleigh's eyes went wide and she covered her mouth, as if to say "Are you serious???"

"Yeah, seriously. I know Steve. I had to talk him and Angel down from following David out of the church and tattooing his ass in the parking lot. Steve's parents recently divorced, and it wasn't friendly. He's prickly about women who cheat and the men they cheat with. Anyway, about forgiveness. I don't want to spend my life looking for payback. Fate is a cast-iron bitch, and her stripper name is Karma. She keeps meticulous records. David Pierson will get his one day. Me, I have better things to do than worry about revenge on him, much less risk our future by getting caught inflicting some borderline illegal payback on the a-hole. He's not even close to worth it."

"What about Jennifer?" Hayleigh asked. "Do you think you can ever truly forgive her? I know I'm struggling with it."

"Hayleigh, until you tell me to go away, my future is with you. You are who matters. As far as Jennifer is concerned, everyone will happier if I make my peace with her, especially you. Forgiving Jennifer isn't for Jennifer. It's something I will do for you, and us, and your parents, and our kids, which is the same as doing it for me. It's another easy decision for me. Anyone who doesn't like or accept my decision can get dipped."

I saw the waitress headed our way.

"Hayleigh, there's really only one other decision we need to make."

"And that is?"

"Pepperoni-sausage-mushrooms, or do you want the Supreme?"

I knew Hay would go for the Supreme, but she wanted extra cheese. What did you expect? We were in WISCONSIN.

"Enough of my deranged sister," Hayleigh declared. "Let's talk about where you're going to live next year." We nibbled on the appetizers while she described her three top choices from the list she made on the Miami-MSP flight. She explained the pros and cons of each, but her favorite was a two-story, four-bedroom shotgun style house converted to a pair of two-bedroom side-by-side apartments. "One of the bedrooms can be converted to a study, or if you take in a roomie, there's the second room," she explained. "It's fairly close to your school, and to grocery stores and all of that. There's a small garage plus a covered parking space, and even a small backyard if you want to sit outside on a nice day."

I had to agree that it looked good in pictures and on paper. The price was on the edge of my revised budget though.

The pizza arrived with the cheese still bubbly, along with fresh drafts. Mangiano's knew their stuff.

"So here's the deal," Hayleigh explained while hoisting a slice onto my plate, "If you can get loose this Saturday, we can drive down and take a look. It would be a fun road trip, and we could check out some other places on the short list if you don't like that one."

We looked at pictures of other short list candidates, but I could tell she really liked the first place. "It's clean and cozy looking. It would make a nice home," she said decisively. We agreed to leave early on Saturday. I was excited about starting law school, but I wasn't looking forward to being separated from my girl. Our talk about making do with weekends and holidays was easy in theory, but the reality of it was sobering. It was going to be a tough, lonely year.

~~~*~~~*~~~

The drive to Chicago wasn't too bad, and we found Hayleigh's first pick with little difficulty. We were surprised to discover that the pictures were accurate. It was clean and in decent repair. The appliances were only a few years old, and the doors and windows were tight. The neighborhood looked OK too. The only problem was that the landlord told us there was a couple who looked at it the previous day, and they were close to signing a lease. We asked the landlord if we could have a few minutes, and Hayleigh and I went into the backyard to talk.

"I think we should take it," she stated firmly. "We won't find much better than this, and it checks all the boxes."

"We should take it? Who is we, Paleface?"

"You and me. Us. We."

"I know you're usually three moves ahead of me, but you're going to have to explain."

"I have a proposal for you. I've already discussed it with my parents and with yours, and they're on-board. When we went to Madison I talked with my advisor, Professor Danning, about transferring to Loyola University's Marcella Hiehoff School of Nursing. It's right here in Chicago, and close to where you will go to class at Pritzker. I can finish my B. S. N in nursing there, and it's at least as well-regarded as my degree program in Madison, better even. I was accepted there, but I wanted to stay closer to home, so I became a Badger. All of my credits will transfer, so I'd graduate this year. With Professor Danning's help I got Loyola to accept me as a transfer for Fall Term, but I have to let them know by this next Friday, or it's too late."

"But... but what about finances?"

"No problem there! The tuition is about the same, and my scholarships make the total cost of school almost a wash. I'd have to pay for room and board at the sorority house anyway, and with us sharing the cost of this place, it's actually cheaper for us to live together. And don't forget that I still have well over $10,000 from the casino winnings that you slipped back into my purse at the airport when we got back. I saw you, you rat!" She laughed her delightful giggle.

"I would work part-time at Loyola's teaching hospital, which I would be doing in Madison anyway as part of the clinical training. The hospital here is holding a position for me if I transfer. Thank Professor Danning for that, too. I worked the numbers, and we'll be able to decently furnish this place and set up a starter household and still be in good shape."

"I can't believe you've been doing all of this! But what about the sorority? It's your senior year, and you will miss out on all of that with them. I'm not comfy with you losing that experience."

"Let me tell you something. I'm ready to move on. I've loved the time I spent there and the friends I've made. But the constant dramas have gotten too much. The thing with Karin was the last straw. I'm more than ready to leave that stuff in the rear view. So what do you think? Should we go for it? Just give me the word, Caveman."

"Hay, I really want to. Being together with you would be incredible. I think all the time about what Carlos said, about not being apart from you if I can avoid it. But are you sure? I mean really sure?"

She got out of her deck chair and sat on my lap. "Whither thou goest, I will go. Whither thou are, I will be." She was getting weepy again.

"Then there's nothing left to decide. Let's grab this place before the landlord rents it out from under us!" She hugged me tight, then leaned back with an odd smile.

"There's a catch," she teased. "Understand, it's not going to be just sun, sand, and surf. There's going to be sex. Lots of sex. We're still catching up!"

~~~ LATE AUGUST ~~~

We moved into our apartment in late August. A small U-Haul was enough to hold the minimal furniture and we wanted to keep, and with judicious choices we were able to get the rest of the must-have stuff and stay comfortably in our budget. We splurged in only two areas, our mattress and two study chairs for the upstairs bedroom we made into a study. It didn't take long before the place was "us", though we each had to make concessions. Hayleigh got the entire upstairs bedroom/study closet to fit all of her clothes and shoes that didn't fit in her half of our shared main bedroom closet, and I got most of the built-in bookcase in the study to put my vintage tube headphone amp and related kit. She thought it was silly to have all that old-fashioned, bulky gear just to listen to music, until I put on recording of Gov't Mule's cover of Etta James' I'd Rather Go Blind and slipped my favorite electrostatics over her ears. Next thing I knew she was going through my entire blues library like a kid in a candy store.

Classes for both of us were a whirlwind. It took a solid month before we settled into a routine for making meals and keeping up the apartment, but I could tell that Hayleigh enjoyed the process learning and accommodating each other's quirks as much as I did. We agreed that Saturday night was "date night." Unless there was an absolute emergency, we reserved Saturday night to spend time together doing something fun outside our apartment, even if it was only to go to a local pub and have a few drinks.

It was on one of those first date nights that Hayleigh dropped a bombshell on me.

"I have news," she said with a measured tone. "And don't freak." Now I ask you, how does someone not to get nervous after that lead-in? "Jennifer is pregnant, about six weeks along."

I immediately started calculating. That put conception around early July, so there was no way it could be mine. Jennifer cut me off in early May, so impossible.

Hayleigh read my face. "That's right, it can't be yours, so stop panicking." She let slip a small smile at my momentary distress.

"The details are sketchy. I only know what Mom told me, and Jennifer apparently hasn't said much to her."

"Who's the lucky guy?"

"She's not sure, or so she says. The two candidates are either our good friend David, or this broker guy who works at the real estate firm where Jennifer is working. His name is David, too, by the way."

"So much for her story at Mangiano's about how your David was an a-hole and she was done with him."

"She didn't say she was done with him. She only said he was an asshole."

"Point taken. What's she going to do? Is she going to keep it?"

"She doesn't know that either, or at least she says she doesn't."

"Do the candidates know?"

"Pierson knows. He's less than happy. The other David knows, too. He's very unhappy, and likely to get unhappier when his wife finds out. That's the third-hand report, courtesy of my mother."

"When Jennifer steps in a pile of shit, she really steps deep."

"The ironic thing is that my mother was having a fit worrying that you were going to knock me up and walk away, and here's Jennifer."

"That crossed my mind. If it is Pierson's, maybe that stripper girl Karma is making a collection on both their accounts."

"Maybe. You have to wonder with Jennifer. Could be that her birth control didn't work, or could be that she messed up and missed a pill, maybe accidentally-on-purpose."

"That's every guy's nightmare. As soon as you cum, you get no more say in the outcome, even if you got tricked into thinking it was safe. If I'm going to be honest though, most guys don't worry about that until after it's too late. One of my Uncle Jim's favorite quips is that any guy who believes her when she says, 'go ahead, it's safe,' deserves what he gets."

Hayleigh looked at me in an odd way. "Every guy's nightmare? Does that include you?"

It took me a moment to realize what I'd implied. I gently squeezed the hand that was holding mine. "Sweetheart, no! I was being way too general. We've talked about this. If we got pregnant, and it absolutely would be we, not just you, it would be an unexpected blessing. The timing would disrupt our plans, that's all."

She squeezed back. "I know. I don't doubt your commitment to us. Jennifer's mess has my mind in a whirl. But before I have at you tonight, we're both going to make a ritual sacrifice to Pill, the goddess of Estrogen and Progestin!"

~~~ LATE DECEMBER ~~~

We had made the apartment into a home. Sometimes our styles clashed (really now, who has lace-trimmed pillows on an English leather arm-chair?), but we came to love all of our quirky combinations. Our studies kept us maniacally busy. In fact, we were both so busy that we didn't think we'd make it home for the Christmas holidays that year. Hayleigh was toward the bottom of the seniority list, which meant she was scheduled for several days surrounding Christmas. Then fate, in the guise of the god Dumbass, intervened. Hayleigh was in one of the supply rooms doing an end-of-shift inventory. As recounted by the Charge Nurse who saw the whole thing, one of the cocky young residents followed her in. Young Dr. Shit-for-Brains hadn't noticed that the Charge Nurse had entered the room, and he apparently decided it would be a good idea to grab Hayleigh's buns and give them a squeeze. A shocked Hayleigh immediately spun around and slapped him so hard that he suffered a dislocated jaw.

That incident led to a minor conniption by hospital management, and Hayleigh was frantic that she would get dismissed from the clinical program and her career would be derailed. The conniption lasted a grand total of four days. I confided to a 3-L who supervised me on research project about the incident, and the next thing I knew a partner at the law firm he clerked for got Hayleigh's OK to make inquiries to the Chief Resident and the hospital's in-house counsel about the hospital's policies on sexual harassment and sexual assault. At warp speed Doc Shit-for-Brains was sent packing to places unknown, and Hayleigh was offered 30 days paid-time-off as a gesture of good will. Hayleigh and I hoped the partner thoroughly enjoyed the bottle of Bache Gabrielsen Hors d'Age Grande Champagne Cognac that found its way to his office.

Since Hayleigh suddenly had a month of PTO, after my final exams we trekked to Wisconsin to enjoy an extended holiday visit with our families. Jennifer made only a brief appearance. She decided to keep the baby and was about five months along. She did not keep Pierson. The other David's wife did not keep him. Apparently his being the paternity test winner was a bridge too far. They were off to Milwaukee, where David II had managed to wrangle a transfer to the real estate company's corporate offices. Everyone wished Jennifer the best, but no one was optimistic.

Over the summer break between 1L and 2L years, I secured a summer associate position with one of the bigger Chicago firms, which brought in extra money that Hay and I hadn't counted on. For the first time in our relationship I fibbed to her. I opened a savings account that she didn't know about and squirreled away what I could. If she found out I'd tell her it was our "Nassau account." That was kinda sorta true.

~~~ LATE DECEMBER, A YEAR LATER ~~~

Hayleigh had graduated with honors with a B. S. N. from Loyola University's Marcella Hiehoff School of Nursing, and immediately snagged a full-time job at University of Chicago Medical Center in the Cardiac ICU. That paid our bills comfortably and let me concentrate on law school. I wanted to take on a part-time clerk job, but Hayleigh was adamant. "My job is to support us until you graduate. Your job is to study hard and be a good enough lawyer to buy me my airplane. I want one of those Beavers, so get cracking!" Some part of the plan must have worked; I got an invitation to join the Law Review after first year, though only by a cat's whisker.

We were able to get back to Wisconsin for Christmas with family without any drama this year. We did our best to divide up our time between our two families. Jennifer and David II made a brief appearance before heading back to Milwaukee on Christmas Eve-eve. Their daughter, Melissa, was starting to walk, and she was a tiny terror. Jennifer and David weren't married, and from what we gleaned, there were no marriage plans on the horizon. God knows what he knew about the The Circumstances, as Hay and I still called the cluster that got us together.

Hayleigh and her parents had dinner with my family on Christmas Eve, and after cleaning up the kitchen, Danni, Angel, Hayleigh, and I settled into our small, oddly-shaped den to watch Christmas movies.

Yeah, Danni and Angel. They became an item over Thanksgiving. Angel and Marci had parted amicably after graduation. They realized they wanted different things, in different parts of the country. Angel called me the day before Thanksgiving, inviting me meet him at a local pub to watch football games and throw some darts before Hay and I headed back to Chicago. He finally asked me if I'd mind if he invited Danni to go out to see a movie. As a favor to Danni I didn't kill him right off. Hayleigh and Danni greeted me with shit-eating grins when I returned from the pub.

"So, anything interesting happening with Angel?" Hayleigh asked innocently.

"Yes," I told them. I used Angel as a dart board and I killed him. What did you think I'd do, you plotters!"

They laughed so hard at me they fell on the floor in tears. Over time I decided that not killing Angel turned out to be the right choice. Not just because Angel made Danni deliriously happy, but because I could tell he loved Danni with all his heart. Who was I, of all people, to argue with that?

Sorry, I digressed. So after dinner we had settled into our small, oddly-shaped den to watch Christmas movies. My parents' house is built was partially into a small rise, such that the den's windows are only about three feet above the ground outside. We got hit with a minor blizzard that dropped a good foot or so of snow, followed by a Canadian arctic blast that dropped the temps into the low single digits. Dad got a healthy fire going in the den's smallish fireplace, and the four of us bundled up in comforters to watch Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life.

I don't know when I dozed off. I think what woke me was my mother coming in to turn off the TV and fuss with the blankets that haphazardly covered us. There was just enough light coming off the fire for my slit-opened eyes to see that Danni and Angel had left. Hayleigh was snuggled up close, her head nestled into my shoulder and her arm across my chest under the blanket. Someone had tossed more logs to the fireplace, so Hay and I were snug and warm. I easily was the most contented man on Earth.

"Hayleigh?" my mother whispered. "Are you awake?"

Hayleigh rustled slightly, and whispered back. "Ooops, we fell asleep. What time is it?"

"Almost two."

"Ooops again. I better get home."

"Nonsense," Mom said quietly. "There's two feet of fresh snow on the ground. I called your mother, and she agrees that you should stay here tonight. Your folks will hold Christmas breakfast until you both get there. I've turned down Tommy's bed upstairs. You two can sleep up there or stay down here."

"Down here, I think. We're too comfy to move."

"That's fine, Sweetheart." Mom leaned down closer to Hayleigh. I don't think they knew I was awake. "Can I see it again?"

Hayleigh eased her left hand from under the blanket and splayed her fingers. That solitaire really sparkled in the firelight.

~~~@~~~@~~~

Epilogue:

~~~ A PICTURE POSTCARD DAY IN JUNE ~~~

"Hayleigh, I take you to be my wife. We were once one soul, split in two, a perfect pair, and now we become one again in marriage. This love between us is a gift that I will strive to honor each day. Today, here before God and our families and friends, I pledge my loyalty and love to you for as long as I live, as your faithful husband and your best friend. I promise to love you, respect you, and be true to you for all the days of my life. I will be blessed to care for you, comfort you, cry with you, laugh with you, play with you, and cherish you. Where you go, I will follow. Where you are, I will be. Those are my vows to you."

"Thomas, I promise you, here before God and our families and friends, to care for you each day forward, to be a comfort to you, to keep a warm and joyful home for you, to be a place of refuge for you, and to be a faithful and honest wife to you, always. Today I pledge my loyalty and love to you for as long as I live, as your faithful wife and your best friend. I promise to love you, respect you, and be true to you for all the days of my life. I will be blessed to care for you, comfort you, cry with you, laugh with you, play with you, and cherish you. Where you go, I will follow. Where you are, I will be. Those are my vows to you."

The emeralds on Hayleigh's wedding ring matched the one in her pendant. Through the wedding veil I saw her getting misty as I slid the wedding ring on her finger. I had to blink away a few of my own when she put my ring on my finger.

"Thomas and Hayleigh, having witnessed your vows for marriage before God and all who are assembled here, by the authority invested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Thomas, you may now kiss the bride! Everyone, it is my great pleasure to introduce you to you for the first time... "

~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~

I said before that a wedding is supposed to be the bride's day, but for me, that's just crazy talk. Have I mentioned that I was more than smitten?

Steve couldn't make the wedding. Whatever hush-hush stuff he was doing in some Middle East hell-hole kept him there. That's about the last thing I envisioned Steve as doing, and about the last place I'd envisioned him doing it. Hayleigh and I said another prayer for him before the ceremony.

Angel stood as my Best Man, and Danni was Hayleigh's Maid of Honor. I have to hand it to both of them, their speeches at the reception were great, and somehow managed to avoid any mention of "The Circumstances" or what led to it. And yes, they're still together. They became exclusive soon after that first movie date. Angel confided in me that he was going to ask my father for permission to marry Danni after Hay and I got back from our honeymoon. They didn't want to steal our thunder, so Hay and I were sworn to secrecy. When I met Angel a few years back, the last thing I would have imagined is that he'd end up as my brother-in-law.

Jennifer did make the wedding, with Melissa in tow. David II was not in tow. As everyone expected, that relationship came to a drawn-out, cringing death by suffocation. Jennifer moved back to Eau Claire and got her own real estate broker license. Word is that she's "doing OK" as a single mom. She dates, but finding a decent guy who wants to take on her little kid has been a search for a unicorn. Hayleigh and I feel sorry for the way things turned out for her. If being pitied for your unhappiness is a form of revenge, then Jennifer has been paid out in full.

Kellie and Brian sent congratulatory messages, along with a bottle of champagne that mysteriously appeared in our wedding night hotel suite. We're certain Danni was somehow involved in those machinations, though for the life of us we can't figure out how.

Carlos and Rosalinda also sent congrats. They eagerly awaited our planned meet-up in Nassau in a few days to share a few bottles of honeymoon champagne. A real honeymoon this time. They still didn't know the whole story. We figured if we drank enough champagne we might tell it to them.

After my graduation Hayleigh and I headed to Kentucky. I had good job offers in a number of places, and Hayleigh had an opportunity to join the cardiac service at the University of Kentucky's Albert B. Chandler Hospital. I had an offer of a law clerk position with the United States District Court of the Eastern District of Kentucky, also in Lexington. It didn't pay as well as most of the private-firm job offers in other places, but the experience would more than make up for that and pay off down the road. Still, Hayleigh felt that she could get a good job just about anywhere, so we should go where I wanted. But I knew she really wanted the job in Lexington. "Whither thou goest, I will go. Whither thou are, I will be," I told her. "We're going to Lexington." And that was that.

Did I mention that Hayleigh was doing her ground school self-study, and was taking flying lessons? The "Beaver Fund" is up to almost $40k. She might have to settle for a gently used Cessna 172.

That was four years ago. Last night at dinner Hayleigh told me that we were going to have to be more flexible about our Saturday Date Nights.

"Schedule change-up in ICU again?"

She smiled as she handed me the white plastic stick. The two vibrant blue-colored lines were unmistakable.

I think Carlos heard my whooping and hollering all the way in Lima.

~~~@~~~@~~~

I know this has been a very long series. To those who have followed me after my first submission, V is for Victory-Not!, and this series, thank you all for your generous words and support, and for your thoughtful critiques.

I am compelled to say a few words about Hayleigh. In the opening of the first chapter, I posited that every man has a Hayleigh. You have met mine. She's an impossibility, of course. Pretty, but not gorgeous. Incredibly intelligent, but not a geeky genius. Emotional, but grounded. Confident, but not arrogant. Sexually adventuresome and willing, but needing an emotional connection to give herself fully. Witty and clever, but never cruel or demeaning. Intuitive. Playful. Silly. But most of all, she loves relentlessly with all her heart and soul, and your trust in her can be absolute. As I conjured Hayleigh, an episode of Star Trek TOS came to mind, Requiem for Methuselah. The character Flint, an immortal, creates the perfect woman, Rayna Kapec, with whom he intends to spend the rest of eternity. Regarding Rayna, Flint says, "Designed by my heart. I could not love her more." I understand completely, Mr. Flint. I cannot love Hayleigh more.

I have a few single-part stories in the works. I hope to publish them in the coming weeks, as writing & editing time allows. Until then, thank you for letting me share a bit of myself with you.