The Last Bachelor

by Judy Christenberry

  “So did you have a good day?” he asked.

  She smiled again, thinking about the discussion with her sisters-in-law, and their opinions that Joe really did love her. “Yes, I had a wonderful day.”

  “Good. That’s what I wanted.”

  “Then I guess we both earned our dessert.” She cleared the table and brought an apple pie to the table.

  “I’m a lucky man,” he murmured, and leaned forward to kiss her lips.

  She realized more than ever that she was a lucky woman.

  Fifteen

  Every day when Joe came home from work, no matter what time, Ginger had a great dinner ready for him. And a smile on her soft lips. And every day he asked her if the INS men had called.

  And every day she said no.

  “Maybe I should call them,” he said. “We could choose the day they’ll come out and finish our interview. It must be driving you crazy not to know.”

  “No, Joe, I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think it would irritate them and make them more suspicious.”

  He stared at her, wishing he could think of something to counteract those arguments, because he was going crazy. Every time he walked in the door and Ginger, more beautiful each day, greeted him with a smile and a terrific dinner, the more frustrated he became. But he’d made a promise….

  He called himself all kinds of an idiot. Didn’t he know women could drive a man crazy?

  He’d thought of Ginger as too young for him. He’d thought he was just helping out a kid. But he didn’t think of her as a kid now. Too often lately, he actually thought of her as his wife. But he’d promised not to touch her, just to help her get her green card. But now things were different. Still, he’d keep his promise.

  That was why he wanted to contact Mr. Fisher. Once she had her green card, when she didn’t have to be married to him, then he could ask her to take back his promise. Then he could open the door and give her the opportunity to leave. The opportunity to live here, as she wanted, with him or without him. Then he wouldn’t have to fight his urges every day and drive himself crazy.

  Friday morning, they had a leisurely breakfast as usual. Mornings were becoming the best part of the day.

  As they cleared the breakfast dishes, he asked, “What has Mom planned for you today?”

  She gave him a startled look and hurried away. He followed after her. “Ginger?”

  “Um, all the girls are going over.”

  “Why does that make you panic?” he asked, keeping his eyes on her.

  “I—I’m teaching everyone to make my cinnamon buns.”

  “That’s generous of you. Is that it? Is it a family secret you don’t want to share? Do you want me to tell Mom?” He watched her carefully for her reply.

  Relief gleamed in her eyes and he knew he hadn’t found the right answer.

  “No, I don’t mind.”

  “Then why did you give me that look?”

  “No reason. I hadn’t told you about it and I thought you would be unhappy with me. Do you like to play golf?”

  He’d noticed her playing that trick before, changing the subject to something about him. He usually fell for it, too. She always acted as if she were very interested in whatever he liked.

  “It’s okay. Do you need to take some of my pots and pans to Mom’s?”

  “Oh, no, she has plenty of pots and pans.”

  “I was hoping you’d go to the movies or something. Didn’t you want to see that new chick flick?”

  “Yes, but I thought you might like to see it, too. Amy said she and Bill usually take in a movie on Friday night without the kids. She wanted to know if you and I might go with them tonight.”

  “I suppose we could, if you’re not too tired.”

  “You really don’t mind?” she asked, excitement in her voice.

  He couldn’t keep himself from swooping down for a kiss. “Of course I don’t mind. I’ll tell Bill this morning.”

  “Wonderful. When will you be home?”

  “Probably around five. Take a nap if you want and I’ll wake you up in time for the movie.” He opened the door, moving away from her so he wouldn’t be tempted to kiss her again.

  “Wait! You’re supposed to take me to your mom’s,” she called out.

  He felt really dumb. Of course he was. How could he forget? But he knew how. His mind was on Ginger. “Sure. You ready?”

  “Yes,” she assured him, and tucked her hand in the crook of his arm.

  He hurried her out to the car.

  Joe relaxed after he’d joined his dad and brothers. Then he told Bill he and Ginger were joining them at the movies tonight.

  “You are?” Bill asked, sounding surprised.

  “Yeah. Didn’t you know Amy had asked us?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Bill said, but he sounded disappointed.

  “I don’t get it, Bill. Why ask us if you didn’t want us to come?”

  Bill muttered, “Amy asked you, not me. Friday night is our date night. Mom keeps the kids and Amy and I go out without them. I get her all to myself.”

  “So you want us to stay home?”

  “No! She’d be mad at me.”

  As he pulled out a driver to tee up on the first hole, Rodney grinned at Bill. “Hey, what did Amy bring to the shower today, bro’? Kitty gave her a bottle of massage oil.” He grinned at Joe. “You’ll like it, Joe, and it can come in handy one night.”

  “Shower?” Joe asked, puzzled. “The wives are giving Ginger a shower? But massage oil isn’t a standard gift for a wedding shower. More like towels or some steak knives.”

  Rodney laughed. “It’s not that kind of shower.”

  “What other kind of shower is there?” He looked at his brothers and realized they were all laughing. “Okay, come on. Someone tell me what’s going on.”

  “We thought maybe you needed some ideas to get things going. You know, you haven’t ever been married before. After all, it’s been a long time since you needed any encouragement.”

  “But Ginger is the one—Oh, no! You mean the girls are all giving her suggestions on how to…”

  He paused as he considered what they’d said and his father finished off his statement “…to seduce you, son.” Ed beamed at him.

  “Damn it! They can’t do that. Ginger’s a virgin!” Joe turned around and headed for the parking lot.

  Rodney called out to him. “Hey! Where you going? You just proved our point, bro’. You’ve been married to her for a couple of weeks and she’s still a virgin?”

  “Pay attention, stupid,” snapped Joe. “I married her so she could get her green card. And I promised I wouldn’t touch her. She’s only nineteen!”

  “And she doesn’t want you to…you know?”

  “No!” Joe roared, now really upset.

  “But she told Amy she wanted you to do something!”

  “Yeah, because she thought that would make her unattractive to that fifty-eight-year-old man. For no other reason.”

  His father grabbed his arm. “Here now, boy, no need to break up the party. Your mother isn’t going to let her be embarrassed. If she thinks the girls are getting carried away, she’ll call a halt. You know she will.”

  Joe stood there, his hands on his hips, trying to decide what to do.

  “Shoot, you know Mom will,” Rodney agreed. “Besides, Kitty doesn’t know enough to embarrass anyone.”

  “Well, since you’re expecting a baby in a couple of months, she must know enough,” Ed pointed out.

  Unbidden, the image of Ginger, pregnant with his child, came to Joe’s mind. He knew she’d look beautiful. For sure he wouldn’t protest, but Ginger might.

  “Look, I’m sure they meant well, but Ginger’s from Estonia. I shouldn’t have left her with the wives.”

  “Get your wood out and tee off, boy. I’m not letting you mess up Vivian’s fun. She already loves Ginger. She’ll protect her better than you would in these circumstances.”

  After a moment, Joe, with a sigh, agr
eed. “Okay, Dad. I’m sorry, guys, if we’ve caused any trouble.”

  “Trouble?” Bill echoed. “Heck no. We’ve had as much fun as you will.”

  Ginger did take a nap when she got home at one o’clock, but it wasn’t because the day was such a strain. She knew more than some of the younger wives, especially about birth control. Her mother said she didn’t want her getting pregnant and adding another mouth to feed, as if her mother paid for the food.

  The embarrassment came from her imagining doing what they suggested with Joe. She would have liked to do those things, if Joe would like it. Especially the candles. She loved the scented ones. And she already had several beautiful nightgowns from when she went shopping with Vivian. But she liked having more.

  During her nap, she dreamed some delicious dreams. Her in a lovely blue silk negligee, scores of candles casting a romantic glow around the bedroom, and Joe leaning down to capture her lips in a toe-curling kiss. The kiss seemed so real…until she realized she was no longer dreaming. Joe had awakened her with a kiss and was sitting beside her on the bed.

  “I’m sorry about the shower,” he said softly. “They didn’t mean any harm.”

  Harm? Ginger thought. It certainly didn’t seem like harm in her dream.

  “I appreciate you taking it that way. They don’t understand about our agreement.”

  She got up and headed for the kitchen, figuring food would take her mind off the shower. “I think we only have about half an hour before we’re supposed to meet Amy and Bill at your parents’ house.”

  After they got to the theater, Joe discovered several other reasons to avoid the movies on Friday night. It was crowded. They found four seats together, but they had to squeeze in. Joe put his arm behind Ginger’s seat so he’d have enough room. But halfway through the movie, Ginger was pressing against him because the movie depicted children in horrific circumstances. They were homeless and hungry, causing her to close her eyes and bury herself in his chest. At other times, she cried against him. When they got up to go home, he had both arms around her and she leaned against him all the way to the car.

  “Did you like it?” Ginger asked.

  “It was okay,” he said, trying to hide his rapid pulse rate from holding Ginger all night.

  “It reminded me of home,” Ginger said softly. But everyone heard.

  “You’re kidding!” Bill exclaimed, staring at her.

  “She probably doesn’t mean about the children being harmed or going without food,” Amy reassured her husband. “Right, Ginger?”

  Ginger was surprised by Amy’s words. “We didn’t have a lot.”

  Joe pulled her even closer to his chest and shook his head at Bill over Ginger’s red hair. “At least it had a happy ending.”

  “Yes, that’s right,” Amy agreed. Then she leaned over and kissed Ginger’s cheek. “I’m glad you’re staying here, Ginger, and not going back there.”

  “Yes.”

  In Bill’s car Ginger started to sit up away from Joe, but he wasn’t ready for that much distance. He pulled her back into his arms. He couldn’t think about the violence without thinking of Ginger in such danger. He didn’t regret what he’d done to keep her here, even if she decided to leave him. At least she’d be safe in the United States.

  When the two of them returned to their condo, he wasn’t sure what to do, but Ginger pulled away from him and went to her bedroom, bidding him good-night. He would have at least given her a good-night kiss, but she didn’t give him a chance.

  Ginger leaned against the closed door. She couldn’t do it. Amy had told her to lean against Joe during the movie. Cuddle, cry, pretend to be frightened. After they got home, she should use their closeness to lure him into her bed.

  But the vivid scenes that reminded her of life in Estonia also reminded her how much Joe had done for her. How could she trap him into marriage when he’d already been so generous to her? Amy had no idea how much she’d already received from Joe. Nevertheless, the time in the movie had been delightful. But she had to stop it now, before they went too far. No more hugs, no more casual kisses. She didn’t have the discipline she needed to be honorable.

  After she got into bed, she tried to think of other things, but she drifted off wrapped in Joe’s arms. And he held her all night long. In her dreams.

  Ginger got up very early and immediately went to the kitchen and began making cinnamon buns for Joe. While she was waiting for the rolls to rise one last time, she noticed their neighbor collecting the mail from the mailboxes in the center of the condos. She decided to get their mail, too. She grabbed the key they kept in the kitchen window and slipped out of the condo.

  It was a wonderful late-spring day, much warmer than April days in New York City, and most especially in Estonia. She had been blessed by coming to Mission Creek, Texas, and not just because Joe was here. When she didn’t have Joe, she would still have the beautiful weather. But she didn’t want to think about not being with Joe. She reached the mailboxes and unlocked their mailbox.

  She took out the pile of envelopes. Joe seemed to have a lot of mail. She slowly strolled back, thumbing through the envelopes. She came to an abrupt stop when she found an envelope from the Immigration and Naturalization Service addressed to Virvela Turner.

  Looking around, she walked over to the children’s playground and sat in a swing before opening the envelope. A long legal-looking letter was folded around a small book. A small green book. Her fingers shaking, she looked at her picture, her name in black print, and the wording that gave her the right to stay in the U.S. and to work for her living.

  Her green card.

  Even though Mr. Fisher had told her it would come when he called on Wednesday, she hadn’t really believed him. She looked up again, to be sure no one was watching her. She lifted her shirt and shoved the green book down the front of her jeans. Then she folded the letter and the envelope into her jeans pocket. After making sure nothing could be seen by Joe, she hurried back to the apartment. She felt like a teakettle ready to explode with steam. She could stay! They could no longer make her leave.

  She could stay…

  But not with Joe. She had to tell him that she didn’t need him to get to stay. She needed him, and always would. But not for that reason. She chewed on her bottom lip. He wouldn’t want her. He thought she was a child. He didn’t love her. But she loved him. So much.

  The door to the condo opened and Joe stood there. “Hey there!” he called, a smile on his face. “I couldn’t find you.”

  “I went to collect the mail.”

  “I see. Anything interesting?”

  Did he know? Had he seen her hide it? Of course not. He knew nothing. She rushed past him, but he caught her arm and lowered his lips to hers. She’d promised herself she’d avoid such kisses, but she opened her mouth to him. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity to taste him again.

  When his arms went around her, she came to her senses and shook her head. “We’re outside, Joe.” She pushed past him, into the condo, and put the mail on the table. “I must put the dough in the oven.”

  “You’re making cinnamon buns?” he asked, his smile growing.

  “Yes, it’s Saturday.”

  Once she had the buns in the oven, she offered to call his parents to come have breakfast with them. She felt safer with company.

  By the time Ed and Vivian arrived, the buns had turned a fragrant brown and she’d cooked strips of bacon and round sausage patties. She had put on a pot of her special coffee, too.

  The four of them lingered over breakfast for almost an hour. The family feeling she’d always longed for was there in abundance, she realized—until she told Joe her happy news. Then it would go away.

  “Something wrong, honey?” Joe asked, staring at her. “You look sad.”

  “No, not at all. I’m very happy,” she said briskly. “Mom, have you and Ed seen the movie showing at the theater?”

  “No, we haven’t, but my friend said it was a real tearjerker. Did
you enjoy it?”

  “Oh, yes, it was wonderful.”

  Ed growled, “How come you call her Mom and me Ed?”

  Ginger stared at her father-in-law, worried she’d upset him. “I didn’t know if you wanted me to.”

  “Of course I do, unless it—Your own father—”

  “I never knew him, and I’d love to think of you as my father.”

  “Good, then call me Dad,” he said, beaming at her. “Now, did you cry at this movie?” he asked.

  “Yes, I did,” she admitted.

  “She said it reminded her of Estonia,” Joe said softly. “Especially the fighting.”

  Ed patted her hand. “Oh, no, that’s terrible. I didn’t know things were so horrible for you there. I’m so glad you’re not going back. You’ll be safe here.”

  “She might not think so after several kidnapping attempts,” Joe reminded.

  “But she has you to keep her safe,” Ed said. “In fact, all of us will fight for you if they try that again. Your entire family.”

  Ginger felt so loved and protected, even without Joe joining in with his father’s words.

  “Thank you, Dad,” she said. “That makes me feel so good.”

  Vivian stretched out her hand to Ginger’s and then Ed extended his to Joe and pushed for Joe to take Ginger’s hand, so they formed a circle. A circle of love.

  A knock on the door drew everyone’s attention. Joe stood. “I’ll get it. Probably some kid selling something for the school band.”

  Ginger relaxed again, trying to tell Ed and Vivian how much she appreciated their warm welcome.

  “Well, of course. You’re Joe’s wife,” Vivian explained. “That makes you family.”

  “Joe’s a wonderful man. He’s so patient and kind to me,” Ginger said, her lips curling in a smile. Then she stood. “Dad, do you want some more coffee? Mom?”

  “Oh, yes.” Vivian stood and reached for Ed’s cup. Then she followed Ginger into the kitchen. “Well, did Amy’s plan work last night? Did Joe put his arm around you at the movie?”

  “Uh, yes, Mom, but it didn’t mean anything.”

  “Oh,” Vivian said in disappointment. “I thought for sure he would—”