Straight from the Heart

by Layce Gardner

  “That hand on the heart thing looks like the Pledge of Allegiance to me,” Steph said.

  Bernie laughed. “It’s sweet, though.”

  “I’m just so happy you guys are happy,” Amy said, her eyes still leaking.

  “I’m pretty darn happy about the whole thing myself,” Millie said. She waggled her eyebrows in an exaggerated Groucho Marx fashion. “Not to mention Bernie is dynamite in the sack.”

  Bernie blushed. Steph and Amy’s mouths hung open.

  “I knew my yoga training would come in handy some day,” Millie said. She kissed Bernie on the cheek.

  They were all speechless. But in a good way.

  ***

  “I’m getting married,” Rosa said.

  Surprised, Parker dropped the dumbbells with a clang. “Married? Are you sure that’s not your endorphins talking?”

  Rosa finished her workout on the parallel bars. She was sweaty but elated. She sat down on the bench that Parker had put at the end of the bars. Rosa was using her wheelchair less and less every day. Her determination was paying off. “I’ve been thinking about it. I want to get married.”

  “Does Steph know?”

  “I haven’t told her yet.” Parker sat down on the bench next to Rosa. “I wouldn’t sit too close. I stink,” Rosa said, pulling on her sweaty T-shirt, unsticking it from her back.

  “Yeah, me too. I won’t smell you if you don’t smell me.”

  “Deal,” Rosa agreed.

  “Now, tell me why you decided to marry,” Parker said. She took a swig off her water bottle.

  “Simple. I almost died. It made me realize life is short. I can’t keep putting off the one thing that Steph wants most in this world.”

  “Getting married?”

  “Yes. She’s been going on about it for as long as I can remember. I never thought of myself as the marrying kind, but after that silly thing with Steph thinking I was having an affair, I got to thinking that, if we were married, she’d have felt more secure with our relationship. Now, before you tell me that married people still cheat on each other, I know that Steph views a vow as seriously as I do. If I vowed to stay with her in sickness and in health and all the other stuff, I don’t think she’d worry so much.”

  “You want to get married so Steph won’t worry? Is that the right reason?” Parker asked.

  “Why do you want to get married to Amy?”

  “We aren’t going to have bride wars, are we?” Parker asked lightly.

  “Answer the question,” Rosa said. She chugged water and studied her friend’s face.

  “Because I love her and I want to spend the rest of my life with her.”

  “That’s what I want, too.”

  “But you could’ve had that a long time ago,” Parker said. She wiped her face with a towel.

  “I didn’t think it was as important back then.”

  “This doesn’t make complete sense to me. But I can work with it. Do you want to have a double wedding with us? Because we could do that.”

  “Parker, that’s weird. It’s your and Amy’s day,” Rosa said.

  “When then?”

  “I thought we’d get married this Christmas Eve.”

  “Whoa. So soon?”

  “I won’t have to buy her a present that way. I’ll be her present,” Rosa said.

  “This is a lot for me to digest.”

  “I know, but you have to keep it together because you and Amy need to help me. There’s not much time to plan.”

  Parker’s cell phone rang. “Speaking of Amy,” she said. “Do I tell her now or later?”

  “You should tell her now. I’ll need her to pick up a few things.”

  “Hey,” Parker said into the phone.

  Amy didn’t even say hello before blurting, “Millie and Bernie are lovers and they’re moving in together.”

  Parker blinked then said, “Rosa is marrying Steph. It’s a surprise wedding on Christmas Eve.”

  There was silence on the line until Amy said, “I’m not sure which one is more of a shock.”

  “Me either,” Parker said.

  “Did she order a cake already?”

  “Did you order a cake?” Parker asked Rosa.

  “I was hoping Amy could do that for me.”

  Parker relayed the message.

  “Okay,” Amy said. “I’m here at the bakery anyway.”

  “It’s great about Millie and Bernie. Blows my mind a little, but it’s great,” Parker said.

  “Yep,” Amy said. “My mind is officially blown.”

  “You all right?”

  “I don’t know,” Amy said. “I’m happy for them, but it’s still a shock.”

  “We’ll talk at dinner. I’ll get wine.”

  “Good idea. Tell Rosa I’m really happy for her.”

  “She’s really happy for you,” Parker told Rosa.

  “Tell her not to tell Steph. It’s a surprise wedding,” Rosa said.

  Parker told Amy. Amy said something about not being able to handle too many more surprises.

  Rosa smiled. Despite the hard times she’d endured this past year, she felt like she was growing into herself. She wasn’t the same Rosa she was before she suffered her injury, the loss of her partner, and her job. She was a different woman. She understood more things now. Her inner life was fuller and more introspective. It was why she’d decided that putting Steph off about getting married was not about thinking she would fail at being married, but about trusting herself to be the best partner she could be. For Steph and for herself. For them both. It was like she had grown into her best self.

  Rosa had lacked confidence in her heart to take Steph in fully and let her inhabit those secret places she hadn’t wanted anyone to ever see. Seeing Steph try so hard to help her get better made her heart swell, knowing that she could be so loved. Steph could have agreed to put her in a rehabilitation place and let their relationship fade away. Steph could have abandoned her, not wanting to have her life constricted by a disabled partner, but she hadn’t. Instead she tried hard to adapt and kept trying. Steph would always look out for her. There was no reason to be scared. Unless…

  “Do not look like that,” Parker said. She’d been sitting quietly on the bench next to Rosa.

  “Like what?”

  “Like it just occurred to you that Steph might say no to your proposal,” Parker said.

  “It makes me nervous when you’re in my brain.”

  “I should be the one concerned. You’re always moving the furniture around in there,” Parker said, lightly knocking on Rosa’s skull.

  “She’ll say ‘I do,’ right?” Rosa asked in a tiny voice.

  “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”

  “Parker!”

  “Just chill.”

  “I’m not very good at that,” Rosa said.

  “I hadn’t noticed. Oh, by the way, Millie and Bernie hooked up.”

  “Hooked up? As in…”

  Parker nodded.

  “Oh my god…”

  “I wonder how many lesbian weddings this town can handle?” Parker asked.

  “I guess we’ll find out.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Is everything ready?” Rosa whispered to Parker.

  They were standing in Rosa and Steph’s living room by the snack table. Rosa was using her sticks for balance. The wheelchair was in the corner like a sulking child who doesn’t get enough attention. The house was decorated for Christmas. And not just decorated, but DECORATED. It looked like Santa and all his elves had thrown a tinsel orgy the night before.

  “Of course it’s all ready.” Parker sipped at her eggnog. She made a face. Eggnog was definitely an acquired taste.

  “I wish I had your confidence,” Rosa said.

  “I’m not confident at all. The potential for disaster is enormous.”

  “What? Why do you say that?” Rosa asked, fighting back the urge to hyperventilate.

  “Because you are wearing the ugliest C
hristmas sweater I’ve ever seen. With the exception of Steph’s. Hers is even worse,” Parker said.

  “You’ll be wearing one soon.”

  “Ugh, don’t remind me,” Parker said. “I’m impressed you got Steph to wear one.”

  “She was delighted. She thinks that I’m really getting into the spirit of Christmas. I usually don’t let her wear her Christmas sweater in public because it’s so hideous.”

  “The world thanks you,” Parker said.

  Mabel came over to the drinks and snack table, saying, “Eggnog, please. Leaded.” Parker dipped the ladle into the crystal bowl with the eggnog and handed a full glass to Mabel.

  “I’ll be needing two more. Edna and Clara would like some, but they’re too busy whispering about the you-know-what to get their own. I’ve got to calm them down or they’ll ruin the surprise,” Mabel said. “Usually, I’m the pain in the ass and have to be babysat. I don’t like this whole role reversal thing. It requires a lot more work.”

  “You want to get them tipsy so they’ll be distracted?” Rosa asked.

  “You got it.”

  “People tend to get loose lips when they imbibe,” Parker warned.

  Mabel considered this. She handed Parker the glass of eggnog back. “Maybe I shouldn’t.”

  “There’s sparkling cider in the fridge,” Rosa offered.

  “That’s a better idea,” Mabel said, trundling off in the direction of the kitchen.

  Bernie sidled up next to Parker. “Steph did a great job decorating the house.”

  “There must have been a sale on tinsel. But, on the bright side, it kept her busy,” Parker said.

  “She bought out the store, I think. We already had a zillion doodads and now we have two zillion. It’s like she wants this to be the best Christmas ever by decorating it into existence. The arrival of the Christ child is not enough,” Rosa said.

  Rosa had a point. Overkill was not a word in Steph’s vocabulary. Christmas lights hung on the outside of the house and smaller ones on the inside. In the front yard, there were twenty Santa statues, varying in size from twenty inches to six feet, two Frosty the Snowmen, a complete set of reindeer pawing the roof with another Santa in his sleigh, and a wreath the size of a truck tire on the front door. And, of course, there was a Happy Holidays doormat that sang “Jingle Bells” when you stepped on it.

  The inside of the house looked like a tornado had blown through a Christmas store. The Christmas tree took up a quarter of the living room and that was after Steph cut two feet off the top. It resembled more of an evergreen box than an elegant tree. Its branches were drooping under the weight of all the ornaments.

  Bernie smiled. “I like this idea of a buffet and people wandering around socializing and gorging themselves.” She winked at Rosa. “Sitting at the dining room table might have made all of us look like the Last Supper.” She chuckled. “Steph still doesn’t know, right?”

  Rosa shook her head. “She has no idea.”

  They abruptly stopped talking as Steph came over. She put her arm around Rosa’s waist, saying, “Babe, you should really sit down. Those sticks are hard on your forearms.” She pulled one of the dining room chairs over and Rosa obediently sat down. Steph was right about her arms hurting. Her triceps and forearms were stronger than ever before, but they could only handle so much standing up.

  “I’ve noticed there’s a lot of candles,” Bernie said. “I’m glad you’re a firefighter. Makes me feel safer.”

  “They’ll be all right. Ruth, my coworker, and I set them up. It’s safe.” There were different scents of candles: apple spice, cranberry, mango, and pine forest. The candles were scattered about the room in strategic places designed to tickle the nose. Steph thought they made the room smell like a fruit salad left out in the woods, but they made Rosa happy so she didn’t say anything.

  “I’m sure it’s safe,” Bernie said.

  “As long as there isn’t a cat around,” Steph said. “Swishing cat tails cause more home fires than anything else. Did you know that?”

  Bernie emphatically shook her head. “Negatory, good buddy. I did not know that.” She looked at Parker and grinned. Parker shrugged as if to say the ways of Steph’s brain were a mystery.

  Millie came over. “Mabel evidently misunderstood my drink order. I wanted eggnog, not sparkling cider. It’s a holiday, for Chrissakes. What’s a holiday without rum?” She picked up the ladle and filled a glass to the brim.

  “I was just telling Steph what a wonderful job she’d done with the decorations,” Bernie said.

  Millie chuckled. “That she did. That she did.”

  “Rosa helped,” Steph said, smiling down at Rosa. “Usually she stays away until I finish, but this time she helped with the little town,” she said, pointing at the coffee table where a tiny village was lit up.

  “I was just admiring that,” Millie said diplomatically. “I like tiny things, don’t you? That’s why I always steal those soaps and shampoos from hotel rooms. I don’t need the stuff, but I like the way those tiny bottles look on the counter. Tiny things tickle the crap out of me.”

  “I love to decorate for Christmas. We didn’t celebrate too much when I was kid. That’s why I make up for it now,” Steph said.

  “Well, staying busy always helps with the jitters,” Millie said. Suddenly, she widened her eyes, realizing her mistake. She guzzled her eggnog.

  “Jitters?” Steph said. “Why would I have the jitters?”

  Parker looked away, pretending not to hear. Bernie nervously cleared her throat. Rosa sat frozen in the classic deer-in-the-headlights look. Her mind had gone blank.

  “I think I’ll go call Amy and get an ETA on her arrival,” Parker said, taking her phone out of her back pocket. She walked off to the kitchen.

  Millie stepped into the vacuum Parker had left. “Rosa’s just nervous about your Christmas present. She wants you to enjoy it, that’s all,” she said, trying to cover up her mistake.

  Steph narrowed her eyes. She wasn’t buying Millie’s explanation. “We’ve been doing Christmas together a long time. Last year, she got me socks, a gift card for Amazon, and three John Carpenter movies. I can’t imagine this Christmas will make anybody nervous.”

  “Those were all things you had said you wanted,” Rosa said defensively.

  “What did you get Rosa?” Bernie asked Steph.

  Rosa answered for her. “A shoe shine kit and a cross bow in case I wanted to take up archery.”

  Millie raised an eyebrow at Steph.

  Steph shrugged. “She loves Geena Davis, who is a world class archer. And I was desperate,” Steph said.

  “Yeah, I’d say you were,” Parker said, coming up behind them.

  Steph scoffed. “Like you should talk. What did you get Amy this year?”

  “An elegant set of night clothing for every night of the week,” Parker said nonchalantly. She ladled herself a glass of eggnog.

  “You mean sexy lingerie,” Steph said.

  Parker did not respond.

  “Damn, I wish I’d thought of that,” Bernie said, giving Millie elevator eyes.

  Millie slapped Bernie’s arm. “Not on this old body.”

  Bernie smacked her on the tush. “I worship your body.”

  Millie blushed and giggled like she was a teenager again.

  “I’d recommend purchasing them for Valentine’s Day,” Parker said. “It makes an ideal gift.”

  Rosa derailed the conversation by asking, “When is Amy coming?”

  “When she’s finished having a bourbon and cigar with Jeb,” Parker said.

  “Cigar?”

  “That’s what she said. I did not inquire further,” Parker said.

  “Cigars are no better than cigarettes,” Steph said.

  “I am certain she is aware of that fact,” Parker said.

  “I do occasionally chew on one when I play poker,” Bernie said. She cast her eyes down like she’d admitted to being a serial killer.

  “You play po
ker?” Millie asked.

  “Just a few of us gals get a game up now and then. But now that I’m living in Fenton I’ll put that behind me,” Bernie said looking penitent.

  “Hell no, you won’t. I’ll round up some of the gals here,” Millie said. “We’ll start our own poker league.”

  “I wasn’t aware that you were a gambler,” Parker said.

  “What on earth do you think bingo is?” Millie retorted. She snagged a handful of olives from the middle of the crudités plate.

  “Point taken,” Parker said.

  Mabel sauntered over to the table and squinted her eyes at Millie in obvious disapproval. “I thought you were getting us some cookies,” she said.

  “You get the cookies. I’m busy talking about poker,” Millie said thrusting an empty plate at Mabel.

  “Poker?” Mabel giggled. “You brought ‘er, you poke ‘er.”

  They all groaned at the joke.

  “Bernie plays poker. She’s going to teach us,” Millie said. “We can start a weekly game.”

  “Count me in,” Mabel said. She loaded up her plate with Christmas cookies.

  Parker eyed Mabel’s growing plate. “You might want to lighten up on the sugar.”

  “Why would I want to do that?” Mabel said. She shoved a Russian tea cake in her mouth.

  “So you don’t become a sugared-up maniac who ends up crashing. We’ve got a big night ahead of us,” Parker said.

  “She’s right,” Rosa said, giving Mabel meaningful look.

  “I’ll share,” she said, adding two more pieces of chocolate fudge. As if to prove her point, she called out to Clara, “Honey, you want a snickerdoodle?”

  “That’d be nice,” Clara said.

  Mabel smirked and walked off with a full plate.

  Steph rolled her eyes. “She’s been a brat ever since I’ve known her.”

  “Which is why she’s so entertaining,” Parker said.

  “True. I hope Susan and Tess can show up. I know the doctor thing is hard and Susan’s sworn a hypocritical oath to save lives, but I don’t want them to miss the party,” Steph said, looking at the clock.

  “I think it’s Hippocratic, not hypocritical,” Parker said.

  “Whatever,” Steph muttered.