“Son, you say you love Maggie but part of being a man is knowing how to love someone without clipping their wings. If you want to be with Maggie, you have to accept who she is and that her being in a burlesque revue is something to be proud of.”
“I’m proud of her.” But Kevin’s voice was gruff and unsure.
“From what I hear, she’s a good dancer. From what I know, she’s a wonderful teacher and a great person.” Dad sat back and sipped his coffee. “Is your dream of higher office more important than your opportunity to love a woman like that for the rest of your life?”
“No.”
Dad’s smile was slowly building. “Then you need to win her back with a grand gesture so she knows you have no regrets being her man.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Mary Margaret!”
Darcy, Avery, and Lola greeted Mary Margaret at the back door of the club when she arrived for her shift.
“Kevin told us you’d be here.” Lola hugged Mary Margaret. “Why didn’t you tell me about all this the night I picked you up?”
“Well, I—”
“It doesn’t matter.” Darcy shook her head. “We came to warn you that Barbara is bringing the school board. You know she’s like a bulldog. She won’t let things go until you’re fired.”
“Why are you here?” Avery shrugged deeper into her coat. It wasn’t snowing but the wind was blowing. “You don’t need to dance anymore.”
“Yeah.” Lola knotted her scarf more firmly around her neck. “Kevin said you got all your money back. And Drew said those men who were shaking you down left town.”
“I like to dance. Besides, I can’t let my girls down and not show up for the group numbers.” But it looked like she’d have to if she wanted to protect her teaching job. She’d suspected as much but she’d shown up anyway, hopeful.
“Are you still engaged?” Avery asked.
“No.” Mary Margaret’s voice was strained. She had to clear her throat twice before she could say more. “Kevin only said we were engaged to throw Barbara off the scent. He doesn’t love me.”
“Successful marriages have been based on less than love at first,” Darcy said, a statement which was worrisome given her hasty marriage to the judge.
“Mary Margaret deserves love,” Lola said firmly. “We all do.” But she didn’t look Darcy in the eye.
A horn honk drew their attention. Mims’s familiar, older model Subaru pulled up next to them.
Mary Margaret bent down to look inside. “Grandma Edith, what are you doing here?” And why had she brought the rest of the Widows Club board?
Edith rolled down her window and huffed. “If those closed-minded ladies back in Sunshine want to see what it takes to get out there on the stage and dance, Mims, Bitsy, and I are going to show them.”
“I’m here to support freedom of expression, bad knees and all.” Clarice patted said joints. “This is just like the time I marched in Washington, DC.”
“Oh, snap.” Avery smiled at Grandma Edith. “We can dance too? Do you have an extra mask? Or three?”
“Do I?” Mims laughed. “I ordered a package of ten back when I thought Mary Margaret was undercover.”
Avery and Lola held out their hands. Avery nudged Darcy until she held out her hand too.
“And do you have an extra costume?” Avery asked Mary Margaret. “Or six?”
Mary Margaret held up her hands. “I don’t want to rain on anyone’s parade, but this isn’t my dance club.”
Ned opened the stage door and surveyed the women. “Ah, I’m assuming these are the women interested in performing on Amateur Night.”
Mary Margaret’s jaw dropped. “We have an Amateur Night? Since when?”
“I might have made a suggestion about it the other night when we were here,” Grandma Edith admitted, grinning.
“I’ve received other requests about it.” Ned directed the women inside. “Besides,” he told Mary Margaret as they walked down the hall, “it’s the holidays and my regulars expect special shows at the holidays.”
Mary Margaret smiled. “You remembered.”
“Seriously, Roxy?” Ned called all the dancers by their stage names although he had their real names and social security numbers on file. “You’ve never steered me wrong. I remember everything you’ve told me. Although Amateur Night…” He shrugged. “We’ll see.”
“Amateur Night is going to be a hit.” She hugged her boss. “And then you’re going to bring in classy male dancers, who are going to be a hit as well.”
“Things are moving fast, Roxy, thanks to you.” Ned stopped at the dressing room door. “Merry Christmas.”
“Merry Christmas, Ned.” For the first time this holiday season, when Mary Margaret said Merry Christmas, she felt the joy of the holiday deep in her broken heart.
Ned held her at arm’s length. “Now, you aren’t going to like this but…”
* * *
“I can’t believe Barb dragged the school board here.” Kevin sat at a table near the stage nursing a beer.
“I can’t believe it’s Amateur Night,” Jason groused, which he’d been doing since the host had announced the special program a few minutes prior—newbies mixed in with the regular show. “It’s going to be like the first night we came here all over again. Except for your woman’s quality performances.”
Kevin didn’t explain that the show was ten times better than when they’d first attended. He’d let Jason be surprised.
The Sunshine school board sat in the corner. Barb lorded over them all. Arnold, the school superintendent, put his hands over his ears when the music began.
The lights dimmed. A spotlight swung around the red velvet curtains and then settled on the emcee.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Hanky Panky is proud to host our first Amateur Night. It takes a lot of nerve to get out here on stage, so let’s give a big Hanky Panky welcome to our first group of dancers—the Old Ladies Still Got It!”
The opening chords of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” filled the air as the curtain was drawn back.
“Oh.” Jason jerked back in his seat, holding a hand in front of his eyes. “I can’t unsee that.”
“Clap your hands,” Kevin commanded, taking his own advice as three of the Widows Club board took the stage in dominatrix wear, masks, and blond wigs.
Jason clapped but he squeezed his eyes shut. “I paid ten dollars for this?”
“What did you expect on Amateur Night?” In costume, Clarice hobbled by and snapped her riding crop close to Jason’s head.
Since the cowboy had his eyes shut, Kevin pushed him back in his seat.
“What happened? What’d I miss?” Jason peeked again. “Ack!”
“Suck it up, man.” Kevin was used to emceeing or judging unusual events. He went back to clapping as Mims stumbled around the pole at the end of the runway. She’d be lucky not to fall and break a hip.
Thankfully, the song ended, and the Widows Club made their exit. The red velvet curtains fell back into place.
“Wow,” the host said, smoothing his blue velvet lapel. “Way to go, ladies. You can cross that off your bucket list. And now for a younger take on Amateur Night. I bring you the Ladies of Shaw’s!”
The deep bass of “I Kissed a Girl” shook the room. The curtains came back. Three younger women in blond wigs, masks, and fringed flapper dresses began dancing center stage.
“Shoot me.” Jason drank half his beer. “That’s Darcy. I’d recognize those legs anywhere.”
The Ladies of Shaw’s were brave enough to take the stage but stayed main stage. Far, far away from the pole.
“If Darcy woulda danced down here, I would’ve tipped her,” Jason said when the dance was over.
“She’s married.” Kevin shook his head.
“If the judge saw this…” Jason shook his head. “She’d be widowed.”
The Widows Club board, minus Edith, now sat at the reserved table next to theirs, crowing about their success on stage. A
group dance opened the main show, saving Jason and Kevin from commenting too much. The Ladies of Shaw’s sat down with them next. Jason gaped at Darcy, robbed of all speech. The show went on. Maggie had yet to appear on stage.
“And now…the act you’ve all been waiting for…” The host was drawing his introduction out longer than an announcer in the WWE.
Kevin caught a glimpse of Maggie in the wings. Something about her seemed out of place.
“Here for her last engagement…Fox-xy Rox-xy!”
The crowd applauded enthusiastically. Maggie had built quite a following.
Edith leaped out from the curtains in a purple spandex gown, a white demi-mask, and Mary Margaret’s platinum blond wig.
The air was sucked out of the room.
What Edith lacked in choreography, she made up for with enthusiasm. She earned every hoot of appreciation and every thunderous beat of applause. That woman had been born for the spotlight.
The song ended. Edith blew kisses to the crowd and skipped off.
The school board looked to be having angry words with Barb. They left in a pack.
Kevin stood.
“Where are you going?” Jason found his voice.
Kevin didn’t answer. He headed for the side door leading backstage.
* * *
Mary Margaret and Edith joined the Ladies of Shaw’s and the Old Ladies Still Got It in the audience as the main troupe of dancers did a throwback ode to “Step Up” in sneakers and street clothes.
“Where’s Kevin?” Mary Margaret didn’t want to ask but couldn’t stop herself. She’d seen him from the wings while her grandmother danced as Foxy Roxy.
“He went looking for you.” Jason watched Darcy, ignoring the performance. “I could tell he was wondering why you weren’t dancing.”
Ned had told Mary Margaret he wasn’t going to allow her to dance anymore, although he was keeping her on as a consultant and choreographer.
“Hey.” Grandma Edith, who was still wearing her mask, nudged Jason and shouted over the music. “I’ve always wanted to ask you about your animal magnetism.”
Jason’s gaze swung to Mary Margaret’s grandmother and turned wary.
“What would happen if you used your magnetic charisma for good?” Grandma Edith noticed something on stage she liked and hooted. “I want to hear more about your dating advice.”
Jason looked like he regretted showing up this evening. “You want me to advise you?”
“No.” Grandma Edith hooted some more. “I want to make sure your column isn’t full of bull.”
The dance ended, the performers ran off stage, and then Ned appeared.
“We’ve got one more brave dancer coming on for Amateur Night,” he said.
Mary Margaret and her friends all exchanged confused glances and shrugs. The women from Sunshine had been the only ones on the roster for the event.
“Let’s give it up for The Mayor and ‘Stayin’ Alive.’” Ned cued the music from his remote.
“The Mayor?” Mary Margaret froze. It couldn’t be.
The Bee Gees song filled the room as the curtains were drawn open. Kevin stood on stage in a powder blue tuxedo with a matching ruffled shirt. His hips and shoulders were moving, and then he lifted his face revealing no mask. His gaze found Mary Margaret’s as he strutted down the runway, owning it like John Travolta.
The Sunshine contingent erupted in appreciation and glee.
“Dude, have you lost your mind?” Jason shouted as he passed.
Unable to move, Mary Margaret stared at Kevin. This was the same man who’d wanted her to quit dancing burlesque to protect his career? What was he doing?
Kevin swung around the pole nearly as gracelessly as Mims had done. And then he held the lapels of his jacket to the sides and moved his jacket back and forth as if he’d just gotten out of the shower and was toweling off.
As dancers went, he was bad. The crowd loved him anyway.
And Mary Margaret…She’d never loved him more.
Kevin struck the classic John Travolta pose, and then he extended a hand toward Mary Margaret.
Everyone turned their attention toward her.
“Go on,” Grandma Edith shouted. “He’s doing this for you.”
Mary Margaret’s heart swelled with love. She reached up, clasping Kevin’s hand. He drew her to the stage. There wasn’t much left of the song but they danced together anyway.
The song faded away. The audience filled the void with applause and shouts of “More!”
With a firm grip on her hand, Kevin sank down on one knee, silencing the crowd.
If Kevin thought she was going to run away, he had another think coming. She couldn’t move. She could barely breathe.
His gaze softened to a warm smile. “Maggie, you’re a far better dancer than I’ll ever be. But you’re not one-dimensional. You don’t run from responsibility. You honor your commitments, even when you sometimes shouldn’t.” The corner of his mouth tilted up in a half-smile. “You have a big heart, one able to forgive the frailties and imperfections of others. I know I haven’t always made the right decisions to show you how much I care or chosen the right words to tell you how very much I love you but…”
Kevin held out a blue velvet box and opened it to reveal a solitaire diamond ring. “I love you with all my heart. I love you so much I’ll give up my political career for you. Just say the word. But first say one word. Say you’ll do me the honor of being my wife. Say yes, Maggie. Say yes.”
“Yes,” Grandma Edith shouted.
Others took her cue and shouted their encouragement.
Instead of capitulating, Mary Margaret had to point out the obvious. “You dancing here tonight probably ruined your chances at higher office.”
“I don’t care. It’ll mean nothing without you.” His gaze didn’t waver. His smile didn’t slip. “They have to want me unconditionally, the way I love you unconditionally.”
She loved him but this wasn’t wise. “Someone probably took your picture or—heaven forbid—a video.” Her gaze roamed the crowd but all she saw were supportive faces. “You’ve got to protect your dreams.”
“If it means losing you, I’ll make new dreams. I had fun dancing with you.” He squeezed her hand. “I love you, Maggie. Let’s change the way we see the holiday and married couples. I’ll get you a real wreath for your door and you can promise to love me no matter what I do for a living.”
A smile worked its way past her defenses because she loved him so very much.
Kevin got to his feet, sliding his arms around her. “All I need is for you to say you love me too. Say yes, Maggie.”
The crowd began to chant. “Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.”
Mary Margaret swallowed her worries for Kevin’s dreams and let tears of joy clog her throat instead. “Yes. I love you so much. Yes.”
“I could tell you loved me,” he said, drawing her close. “By the way you catch fire in my arms whenever we kiss.”
And then he proved how combustible they were together with a kiss that had the audience applauding and Mary Margaret burning.
As promised.
Epilogue
I think we found a new charity event—The Foxy Roxy Amateur Dance Revue.” Mims was more serious about her idea than the sugar cookies she was frosting. Green icing dripped down the sides of many a tree. “It’ll be like Amateur Night. Maybe we can rent the club in Greeley.”
“No more dancing. We’re all retiring,” Mary Margaret said firmly, taking a sheet of cookies from the oven at her grandmother’s house. There was no way she was letting Kevin near the dance floor again.
“But it was empowering.” Grandma Edith swiveled her hips as she rolled out more cookie dough.
“I hadn’t realized I had an inner dominatrix.” Bitsy chuckled and sprinkled more silver beads on star cookies.
Clarice snorted. “I hadn’t realized how mortifying it was to be on stage in such a skimpy costume.”
They all reassured her she’d looked b
eautiful.
Mary Margaret finished transferring her cookies to a cooling rack. Kevin had given her back her holiday spirit. And Derek’s actions at the end of his life had led her to a place of love and understanding. Christmas was in two days. She couldn’t have been happier.
“Hello! Merry Christmas!” Kevin called from the front of the house. “We thought we’d stop by with lunch. I’ve got a hungry ninja and enough sandwiches for my gorgeous fiancée and the board of my favorite club in town.”
He and Tad appeared in the kitchen holding a large bag filled with sandwiches from the deli at Emory’s Grocery. They were bundled up for the gentle snowfall outside.
“Cookies!” Tad rushed forward.
Mary Margaret gave him one with a promise of another after he ate his sandwich. For her kindness, she received a kiss on the cheek from both Hadley males.
Edith dusted the flour off her hands and went to give Kevin a hug. “Every time I look at you two, I realize how much our club made a difference in your lives. If it wasn’t for the four of us…” She gazed fondly at her friends before returning to her rolling pin duties. “You two wouldn’t be engaged.”
Kevin and Mary Margaret exchanged glances and tender smiles. The Widows Club was always trying to take credit for their impending nuptials. They knew their love had nothing to do with the Widows Club but they were too fond of them to refute their claims.
“Edith.” Mims set her frosting knife aside. “We’re going to hold an election in January. The board voted to officially add a vice president position.”
Grandma Edith gasped, smooshing her rolling pin into the cookie dough.
“You should know,” Clarice said, “Patti already signed up to run.”
“Not Miss Five Golden Rings?” Edith huffed and set about smoothing out her dough. “Aren’t she and David a thing? Is there any hope she’ll get engaged and drop out of the club?”
“Nope.” Bitsy selected a small container of red sugar sprinkles. “She got smart and realized David’s playing the field. But no matter the club election outcome, we need to think ahead. January’s around the corner, which means…”
A Very Merry Match--Includes a Bonus Novella Page 27
