The Last Bachelor

by Judy Christenberry

  “Uh, well, we can talk about your business idea later, in a week or two, after you’ve had some rest. Things have been kind of hectic since we got married.”

  “In Estonia, the women work as hard as the men. You aren’t taking a few weeks off, are you?”

  “Of course not! The government wants me to start working on the project at once. I’ve got to present preliminary plans in three months. I’m going to have to work overtime to make that deadline.”

  “If I’m busy working, I won’t be disturbing you. And I will make more money for us. Sometimes in Estonia, the government demands things, but they don’t always pay on time. We might need extra money.”

  He raked his hand through his hair. “Maybe you should discuss this idea with my mom. She might be able to explain things better than I.”

  “Of course. I’ll go see her in the morning while you’re working.”

  “Damn, I haven’t started teaching you how to drive. I’ll have to drop you off. But then I’ll have to take you home. Maybe I can talk to Mom and she’ll drive you home.” He reached for the phone.

  Her hand landed on top of his. “Do not worry about it. I’ll arrange everything.” She smiled a sweet smile that made him more anxious for bedtime.

  She stood. “I’m going to take a bath tonight. I missed the tub while I was at your parents’.”

  “Of course,” he agreed. He clicked on the television. “One of my favorite shows is coming on now.”

  “Good. Would you like a cup of decaf before I go?”

  He grinned. “Yeah, that would be great.” In no time, he had his feet up, the television on and a cup of coffee beside him. Ah, married life.

  Married life stopped being so wonderful when Ginger stepped back into the den. She looked beautiful and smelled great when she leaned over him and picked up the coffee cup. Joe wanted to bury his face in her hair and pull her against him.

  Instead, she headed for the kitchen. When she came back she asked what time he wanted breakfast. That was better. “I’ll need to get to work about eight, so why don’t we have breakfast together at seven-thirty. Is that okay with you?”

  Ginger said that would be fine. Before Joe could suggest going to bed, she leaned down, kissed his cheek and said good-night. Then she headed for the bedroom she’d used that first night.

  “Where are you going?” he asked.

  She appeared startled. “To bed.”

  “But I thought we’d sort of gotten used to sharing the same bed.”

  “But my mother doesn’t want me anymore, Joe. I’m perfectly safe here with you. I’m not scared anymore.”

  “Oh, I see. Are you sure?”

  “You’re teasing me, aren’t you?” she said with a chuckle. Then she gave his cheek another kiss and walked into her bedroom.

  He sat there staring at the closed door. This wasn’t what he thought would happen tonight. Where had he gone wrong? He thought he’d had everything planned out. Maybe he needed to talk to Bill or his dad. This married stuff might be a little more complicated than he’d thought.

  Fourteen

  Ginger made another delicious breakfast for Joe the next morning. Then, as soon as she escorted him out the door with a kiss goodbye that made her want to return to bed—this time with Joe—she picked up the phone and called Vivian. “Hi, it’s Ginger. May I come talk to you?”

  Vivian’s voice came singing through the wires. “Of course you can. I’ve been dying to call you, but Ed said I should give you some space.”

  “Joe said I should talk to you. I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” After all, she had to walk.

  When she reached Vivian and Ed’s house, there were several cars parked out front. Was Vivian having company?

  Vivian swung open the door. “What took you so long? I thought maybe you’d changed your mind.”

  “No, and I walked as fast as I could but—”

  “Walked?” Amy asked, coming into the room. “You walked all the way from Joe’s condo to Mom’s house?”

  Several others filed into the room, a look of horror on their faces.

  “I hope you don’t mind, but I invited the rest of my daughters to have coffee with us,” Vivian said as three more ladies followed Amy.

  “Of course I don’t mind, but I thought they were…” She stared at all the wives of her husband’s brothers.

  Vivian laughed. “Married to my sons? They are, but I wanted a little girl so badly that they allow me to call them my daughters. Would that bother you?”

  “I’d be delighted, Vivian. Could I call you Mom?”

  “I’d love it, dear.” She took Ginger by the arm and drew her to the living room where a tray of coffee and cookies awaited her arrival. Everyone sat down, pleasure on their faces.

  Ginger, her hand in Vivian’s, suddenly pulled back. “Maybe I shouldn’t take that liberty until—” She stopped abruptly, slapping a hand over her mouth.

  Everyone stared at her, but it was Amy who wanted to know why she should wait and what she should wait for.

  Ginger hesitated, but there seemed no reason for secrecy now. Everyone’s ears perked up and they exchanged several glances before all their gazes concentrated on Ginger.

  “Why, dear, whatever do you mean?” Vivian asked.

  “I meant, maybe I shouldn’t call you Mom until…You see, Joe and I aren’t really married.”

  All the oxygen was suddenly sucked out of the air. “Oh, no!” Kitty complained. “That means I lost my bet with Rodney.”

  “What bet?” Amy asked.

  “I bet him my new gold bracelet that Joe would marry before the next grandbaby was born.” Several ladies laughed. One of them pointed out, “Since you were the one carrying the baby, didn’t Rodney think you had an unfair advantage?”

  “No, because when we made the bet, I wasn’t pregnant.” The rueful look on her face drew more laughter.

  “You won your bet, darling,” Vivian said calmly. “I saw the certificate with my own eyes. And Joe looked into my eyes and told me they were married. He never could lie to me.”

  “Good,” Kitty said, smiling. “’Cause I love my bracelet.”

  Amy stopped the celebrating. “But if you’re married, Ginger, why did you say that?”

  Without hesitation, she said, “Because we have not been intimate. And so we can’t make babies. So I shouldn’t call her Mom when there’s no possibility of having babies.”

  “Why?” one of the women asked. “You get married so you don’t have to sneak around. Doing it is legal then!”

  Ginger shook her head. “No, we got married for my green card.”

  All the ladies began talking, commenting on what had happened and whether or not they would have done the same. Several of them asked questions about Ginger’s life and her family.

  Vivian quickly defended her. “Her mother is the one who threatened to shoot me if Ginger didn’t go back with her and marry a fifty-eight-year-old man. Doesn’t that tell you something?”

  “So you asked Joe to marry you so you wouldn’t have to go back?”

  Feeling a little embarrassed, Ginger said, “Not exactly. I had planned to run away. I was trying to escape when Joe found me.”

  Silence fell around the room as everyone stared at Ginger. She figured her story would shock them. “I know I shouldn’t have but—”

  “You mean,” Amy said, choosing each word carefully, “you mean Joe is the one who offered marriage?”

  To Ginger’s mind, they all stared at her as if she’d accomplished some miracle. She looked at each one of them carefully. “He didn’t exactly offer it. He stared at me funny and then told the officers that we were running away to Las Vegas to marry the next day.”

  Vivian reached over to hug her, tears in her eyes. “Oh, thank God! My prayers have been answered!”

  Though Ginger returned Vivian’s hug, she didn’t understand. “What is it, Vivian? What did you pray for?”

  “You, my child. I prayed for you.”
r />   Bewildered, Ginger looked at Amy. “What does she mean?”

  “We all wanted Joe to be happy, to find someone he could love, but he resisted.”

  “Yeah, I brought all my college friends here to meet Joe,” Kitty said, “and they adored him. But he never even saw them.”

  The other wives told similar tales. Ginger didn’t get the significance of them.

  “But if he did not love them…”

  “That’s just it, Ginger. He must love you!” Amy said with a beaming smile.

  Ginger felt a similar smile blooming inside her and she wanted to believe them. But she knew better. “Oh…no.” Then reality took over. “No, he does not love me like—like that.”

  “Why do you say that?” Amy asked.

  Highly embarrassed by the question, she finally said, “I offered to—to let him…and he refused. He would not.” She shrugged her shoulders, as if it was a hopeless cause.

  Quiet fell again, then Vivian asked her, “How did he say no? Did he say he was too busy?”

  “No. He said it would not be right. He said he was too old. He said he wanted it to be special for me. That one day I would meet someone…” She let her voice fade away.

  Kitty asked softly, “And you didn’t tell him you already had?”

  Ginger shook her head, understanding exactly what Kitty was suggesting. Then she realized what she was admitting and she froze. “No! No, I mean, uh, I—”

  Amy caught Ginger’s hand. “It’s okay to admit it, we’ve all gone through the same thing,” she said softly. “The Turner boys are pretty potent.” Everyone’s eyes turned to Vivian.

  “Don’t look at me. Their dad was no slowpoke, either,” she explained with a laugh.

  “But he doesn’t love me,” Ginger said mournfully.

  “Oh, yes, he does,” Vivian countered. “My sons are gentlemen, but they’re not martyrs. He loves you. He just told you he loves you more than he loves sex itself. And for a man like him, that’s the most loving thing he can do, exclude himself from great pleasure to make life better for you.”

  “How romantic,” Kitty said with a sigh. “It’s just what Rodney would do.”

  Rodney was the youngest and less mature than the others and Ginger expected to hear protests from the other ladies, but they were all smiling softly and nodding.

  Again, she was almost swept away in agreement. Until she remembered. “No, no, I wish he was, but you don’t understand. He’s going to divorce me after a year. He’s said that often.”

  “So you won’t get your green card for a year?” one of the women asked.

  She’d lied to her husband, but she couldn’t lie here. She just couldn’t. “That’s what I told him,” she said, staring at her hands twisted together in her lap.

  “Isn’t it true? I mean, Joe’s not dumb. He checks things out,” Vivian assured her.

  “I know. But the agents discovered what my mother had done and are allowing me to get my green card because they say my mother abused me.”

  The others congratulated her. Then Vivian asked the question she was dreading.

  “Why haven’t you told Joe that?”

  In a whisper, Ginger said, “I don’t want to leave him. I thought if I didn’t tell him, I’d have a year to try to persuade him to love me.”

  She expected to be condemned by the other wives and her mother-in-law for lying to the man she loved. Instead, several of them said, “Good thinking.”

  “But I’m lying to him,” she pointed out.

  Vivian nodded. “Sometimes you have to, dear.” She began pouring coffee and passing around cups and urging everyone to test the cookies. Then she leaned forward and said, “Okay, what’s your plan?”

  Her idea of starting a business, selling her cinnamon rolls, got a lot of approval…but not to convince Joe that she loved him. “But why not?”

  “Well,” Kitty said, “independence my not be the key to Joe’s heart. You need to rely on him. Men like that. But you want to appeal to his other senses, too.” The wives laughed and nodded. “What kind of underwear do you have?”

  Ginger was shocked.

  Vivian held up her hands. “Ladies, I have an idea. Let’s have a wedding shower for Ginger, just among ourselves. Everyone can wrap up one sexy secret, a piece of lingerie that might make a difference. Kind of like a recipe shower only it will be for lovemaking. When shall we have it? Next Friday morning? Can everyone make it?”

  Ginger stared at all of them, fear on her face. “But I don’t think—You must not buy me anything. That’s not necessary.”

  “You can teach us how to make the cinnamon rolls in return. It’ll be a Turner family secret. Will you do that?” Amy asked.

  “I’ll be happy to, but presents aren’t necessary.”

  Several decided it would be good to ask their husbands and take them along on the shopping trip.

  “Good idea,” Vivian agreed.

  Ginger gave up. Obviously she wasn’t going to get any assistance from Vivian. Ginger knew only one thing for certain—they’d never celebrated a marriage in this way in Estonia.

  After the family wives had gone home, Vivian took Ginger out driving. Her instructions were brief. She put Ginger behind the wheel of her own car in the middle of an empty parking lot. Ginger found it much easier than she’d thought it would be. Joe had always seemed so tense about the idea. Then after an hour of driving, Vivian took Ginger to the DMV beside the sheriff’s office. After they picked up a booklet for her to study, they went back home, where Ginger read the booklet while Vivian fixed lunch.

  Ed joined in the project when he came home for lunch. After going over some of the questions with her at the table, he took her out to drive also. She found him to be a nice, patient man, and once again remarked how much she would have loved to have a man like Ed as her father. Would Joe be the same kind of father?

  She shoved such a thought aside. After all, she knew Joe didn’t have family plans with her. His thoughts would be tied up with his new contract for quite a while.

  Ginger enjoyed both lessons, but she couldn’t see herself getting into the Honda he’d bought her earlier after getting her license and driving around without someone. Ed assured her she’d get used to it. Then he told her amusing tales about Joe’s early driving days. Thinking of her husband as a young, awkward teenager was easier than thinking of him as her virile, sexy husband. But she couldn’t get the latter image out of her mind. She went home several hours early to fix dinner for Joe.

  First she took a shower, then dressed in one of her nice outfits, a light sweater that revealed her figure. Next she cooked a delicious meal of steak and potatoes, one of her husband’s favorites. When he got home late, she assured him it didn’t matter, though he kept apologizing, anyway.

  “I’m sorry, Ginger, I’ll try to be home early the rest of the week. It’ll be no problem Friday. Dad insists all us guys play golf together every once in a while, and he’s suddenly chosen Friday for some odd reason. He called me this afternoon. I tried to put him off, but I couldn’t.”

  “How nice,” Ginger murmured, her cheeks red, feeling guilty, knowing she was ruining his workday for a silly reason.

  “Mom said not to worry about you, she and her daughters would take care of you. She means all the wives. She always wanted daughters so she calls the girls that. You don’t mind, do you?”

  “No, Joe, I’m delighted.”

  She put his plate in front of him and sat down to eat her own food. “I hope dinner is all right.”

  “Dinner is wonderful, more than I expected.”

  He looked uncomfortable, and she changed the subject to stories of his outings with his brothers. Joe was quite a storyteller and she enjoyed herself. Still, she couldn’t help but feel guilty for her easy day.

  “I’ve been thinking, Joe. Maybe I should return to work at the country club.”

  He put down his fork and looked at her. “Ginger, do you need money? I didn’t tell you I keep some in my desk draw
er. I’ll show you where after dinner. You could take whatever you need and enjoy yourself. Maybe take golf lessons at the club—but not with Clark,” he hurriedly added.

  “Why not Clark? Isn’t he any good?”

  “Uh, yeah, he’s good, but he’s got a reputation with—with single ladies.”

  “But I’m not single,” she cheerfully pointed out.

  “Just stay away from him, anyway,” Joe growled.

  Ginger thought he sounded jealous and she liked that. “I will, Joe.” Changing the subject, she added, “Did your father tell you he helped me learn to drive today?”

  “When did he have time for that? He works all day, like me.”

  “No, he took the afternoon off and took me out for my second lesson. Your mother taught me earlier. He said I’m doing very well. Better than you when you were thirteen.”

  He glared at her. “You’re much older, so of course you’re doing better. But I intended to teach you.”

  The regret in his eyes meant a lot to Ginger. She reached out to touch his arm. “I would’ve preferred to be with you, but I know you had work to do. It was nice of them to help out.”

  He covered her hand with his, and the tingle from his touch ran up her arm. He lifted her hand and carried it to his lips. “Dinner is great.”

  “It’s the least I can do.” She raised her gaze from his mouth to his eyes. “Joe, I really think I should start my own business and bring in money also. Then I would feel better.”

  “If you do, people will think I can’t support you. They’ll think I’m a failure.”

  “Really, Joe, surely you exaggerate.”

  “Maybe, but that’s how things work. Besides, I told you I have enough money.”

  “I know, but it seems wrong of me to take your money when you were only trying to help.”

  “You are helping. This meal is great.”

  “But I want to do more.”

  “You will. We’re a team, sweetheart.”

  She smiled, liking the thought that they worked together for a dual purpose.