“Wait, you stole her man and now are besties?”Ella asked.
“He wasn't technically hers.Megan was hoping, but he wasn't interested,” Mae said.“He helped her get set up in a new space and looked out for her.I didn't know anyone here and neither did she, and it worked out.She's marrying Jiminy who is over the moon with a woman who actually likes him, and his porcupine has come home.”
Her mother, drinking plain lemonade, asked, “I'm still missing something.I’m not getting what made you quit your job and move here?That part is confusing me.”
Mae shrugged.“Simple.I stayed the weekend here in the guest room.He cooked me dinner and put on some Miles Davis, and we had a meal and said nothing.After, we sat on that long ass couch, and he put on that toadstool song and started singing.The more he sang, the more I moved down the couch.”
Sherryl and Fae chuckled, encouraging her to continue.Mae shook her head, surprised at her own honesty.“Mom, sorry, but I asked to make out with him.Cover your ears, girls.I was pushing the envelope and he turned me down.”
“What?”Sherryl said, shocked.
“Yes, he did,” Mae said, smiling.“He said if we were to share an evening, it needed to be intentional.He wasn't going to be a memory of my weekend where I met some guy, talked about Miles, Alton, and the 9:04 line.He said he was serious about me and coming to Chicago, and if I was sincere, he wanted to see my intentions.”
Bae Weston didn't know what to make of it.Mae knew exactly what to make of it.She was smiling.
“He came to Chicago and we spent a weekend, and the next weekend, we visited his family in Kansas and I got to see who he was as a person, meet his family and understand what he wanted and needed in a wife.We slept in separate rooms at his Aunt Sue’s house.He showed me the life we’d lead and if I wanted to be part of it, he would support any decision I made.When I went into the office the following Monday, I quit my job, packed my shit, and moved in,” she said, laughing.“Thom said he was not having a live-in...so I said fine, let's get married.The next morning, we got married.”
Fae was perplexed and said, “You actually walked into your job and quit.Just quit and moved to another city to marry a man you just met two weeks prior.”
“Sis, everything was going to pot,” Mae explained.“People I didn't know and never spoke to were giving me the stink eye, being hostile to me, and even my own team was turning on me.The day I quit, some woman was in my Boss's office, a smirk on her face, up to no good.When I handed my resignation in, the wind was sucked from her sails.It was time.It was time for me to make some changes.”
“You seem so relaxed and at peace,” Sherryl said shooing her daughters to go to the barn and check on their cousins.The moment the girls were out of earshot, her sister-in-law leaned forward.“I don’t mean to be indelicate, but he is missing some melanin.We all have questions we are trying to be polite and not ask.”
“Then allow me to answer your question indelicately,” Mae said.“Thom Brown is a details man.He pays attention and dots all the I’s and double crosses the Ts.Look around you at the thought process which went into all of this, the Museum, the butler’s pantry with a wine closet in the kitchen plus the barndominuim.Imagine that kind of focus and attention to detail with a woman he loves.Damn right I quit my job and walk around this house is a loose dresses barefoot!I bake fresh every other day, too.”
The women all laughed.
“I am content and where I’m supposed to be,” Mae replied, looking at her watch.It had been a long day for her husband, and she knew he was tired.She rose as the universal signal of it was time for them to go to the barndominuim.Mae began walking off the deck and her family followed behind.
Thom spotted her coming and knew it was time to call it a day.Fae, full of ideas, marched up to her husband.She poked him in the chest.“Your lottery ticket spending is over.We are going to start saving, and I want a valley of peace where I can look into my not have to going forward.”
Rick was frowning.“I knew it.I knew the moment you saw all of this you would start coveting and wanting what she had.This is why I didn't want to come down here, Fae!”
“Listen, it's time for you to become financially responsible.You can get it with it or you can get gone,” she said and looked at Thom.“Please give me your sister's business card or phone number.She has a new client.I want a portfolio and to start planning for my not have to.”
“Sure thing,” Thom said.“It's been a long day.We're calling it a night.Please stay inside at night.It's really dark out here, and it doesn't take much to get turned around.Rest well.”
Mae passed out hugs, and she walked hand in hand with her husband to their home.He showered, coming to bed with his hair damp.Thom looked tired.
“So, how long did it take your Mama to wander in here and start going through my underwear drawer?”he asked.
“Man, I had to run her out of here,” Mae said, chuckling.“How did you know?”
“Moms,” he said, turning to his side to look at his wife.“Mae, are you good?”
“Good?What do you mean?”
“Mae, are you good?”he asked again.
She wasn't certain how to answer the question.Was he asking if she was content or a good person at heart? Mae had an answer for her husband.
“Thom, I'm in love,” she told him.“My heart is bursting with joy.I am hosting my family, and there has only been one half of an argument.My sister is finally looking toward her later years and reigning in her stupid husband who spends up to five hundred a pay period, if not more, on lotto.My sister-in-law looked relaxed, and my mother was using her full voice when she talked.I am more than good.I am in my valley of peace, overlooking my world of not have to and my garden is blooming.Life is nice.I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said, snuggling close.
“Thom, are you good?”
“Yeah, I'm good,” he said, growing quiet.The quiet meant he was done talking for the day, and it was time to rest.She couldn’t imagine her life being any better than it was, and this weekend, her family's minds would be put at ease, and she could move ahead with planning her family.
