Right Beside You, page 14
“Good morning,” I said shyly. “I hope you didn’t have too much trouble getting home.”
“Aw, it was rough but I made it.” He paused and I heard some mumbling in the background on his end. “My girls are here. Do you mind if I put on the speaker?”
“Not at all,” I said quickly.
“Hello, Felicia. This is Marva.”
“And Carol.”
They sounded cheerful, but I could still feel my chest tighten. “Hello, girls. I guess your father broke the news about us.”
“Yup! And it’s about time,” Marva chirped. “You’ll really like him when you get to know him.”
I was tempted to confess that I’d really liked him for years, but I saw no reason to go into that.
“Some nights he snores like a moose,” Carol warned. “Mama used to wear earplugs when they went to bed. I’ll buy you a bunch before the wedding.”
“He’s forgetful and he tells lame jokes,” Marva tossed in.
“I don’t know if I snore, but I’m forgetful and I tell lame jokes, too,” I said with a lump in my throat. We all laughed. It pleased me to know that Richard’s daughters were so receptive.
Richard and I spoke on the telephone several more times Saturday and Sunday. But when I woke up Monday morning, I wondered if I’d dreamed the whole thing. The beautiful ring on my finger squashed my concerns.
When I boarded the commuter bus Monday morning, Richard and Pam looked up at me with Cheshire cat grins on their faces as I sauntered down the aisle. “Hello, Mrs. Grimes,” Pam started with a familiar mischievous expression on her face.
“Don’t jump the gun. I’m not there yet,” I told her. I flopped down beside Richard, bumping his knee with mine. “Hi,” I said to him.
“Hello, Mrs. Grimes,” he said in a low voice. I almost melted into the seat.
It was an interesting week. We had planned to announce our engagement at the Christmas luncheon, but by nine a.m. almost everybody had heard the news. Coworkers swarmed into my office like locusts to congratulate me. Even the young secretaries who had been flirting with Richard for years. “We were wondering when you two would get together,” Sandy gushed. She stood in the doorway of my office with Marybeth and Ramona in tow. Three other coworkers had left a few minutes earlier.
I did a double take. “What made you girls think Richard and I were going to get together?” I asked, looking from one face to another.
“Come on, boss lady. We’re not blind. I’ve never seen a man look at a woman the way Richard looks at you!” Ramona hollered.
“I don’t know about the rest of our coworkers, but we knew it was just a matter of time before you and Richard got serious,” Marybeth chimed in. “You two were made for each other.”
I heard similar comments the rest of the week.
* * *
Our office Christmas luncheon was a big hit. We’d ordered more than enough Chinese, Italian, and soul food to accommodate the ninety people who showed up. But it didn’t take long before every single container was empty.
At every office event, Sam would encourage people to share any information they thought their coworkers would like to know. One of the technicians Richard supervised raised his hand and literally ran to the podium at the front of the room. He revealed that he’d be transferring to the home office in February. The job Richard had turned down had been offered to him and he had accepted it immediately. One of the trainers announced that his son had recently passed the bar exam. A secretary in the payroll department shared the news that she was in the process of purchasing her first home.
“I’m sure everybody already knows, but do you still want to go up and formally announce our engagement?” I whispered in Richard’s ear. We occupied a spot in the back of the room.
“Of course!” he answered, bobbing his head to an instrumental version of “Joy to the World” playing in the background.
When the secretary finished sharing her news, Richard and I held hands and started to inch forward. But before we could plow through the crowd, Sam trotted up to the podium. “I’m sure you’ll all love to hear what I have to say.” He rolled his eyes up and cleared this throat. “This year, our office will be closed for the whole week of Christmas, starting with Christmas Eve. That’ll be my gift to you all.” Nobody reacted until they heard what he said next. “And all five days off will be with pay.” People whistled, cheered, and stomped like they were at a rodeo. Sam was beaming like a lighthouse. He rambled on a few more minutes about things of no interest to anyone except himself. When he finally stopped talking, he looked directly at Richard and me and asked, “Do we have any other announcements?” By now, almost everybody present was fidgeting and checking the time.
“Over here!” Richard yelled. We held hands and skittered up to the podium. “Felicia and I are getting married next year.” The crowd cheered even louder this time. Then Richard hauled off and kissed me like I’d never been kissed before.
EPILOGUE
RICHARD
December 25
Felicia quickly became my daughters’ newest best friend. Marva and Carol couldn’t believe that I was going to marry a woman they thought was “real cool” and so pretty. They had helped her prepare the meal we’d planned for a few of our relatives and friends to celebrate our engagement and the holiday today.
Felicia and I had decided to get married in April next year. As picture-postcard beautiful as Ohio was in the wintertime, it was never a good time to get married. My brother’s wedding had occurred in December. Half the people on the guest list had not been able to make it because of the severe weather conditions that day.
Felicia didn’t want a big church wedding and that was fine with me. Had we been ten or fifteen years younger, I would have thought differently. We agreed to exchange vows in my living room. My house was where the dozen people we’d invited would gather today in less than a couple of hours. Marva and Carol were in their room enjoying a video chat with their grandparents. My former in-laws had previously planned to spend the holiday with other relatives. Otherwise, they would have been in the house long before now. They were as happy for us as everybody else.
Despite the fact that Pam had cooked up a feast and had guests coming to her own house later in the day, she and her husband and two of their grandchildren had already arrived two hours early. He was in the living room with the grandkids watching game shows and Pam was in the kitchen with Felicia and me.
“Felicia, I’m glad you didn’t want to get married before Marybeth and Ramona. They were so afraid that if you did, all our coworkers’ attention would be on you,” Pam said. She and I and Felicia were at my kitchen table. There was an empty eggnog carton on the table in front of us. We’d drunk two glasses each.
“I can understand why they’d feel that way,” Felicia replied. “A girl’s wedding is a big deal, especially at their ages. Some older people like us don’t want their wedding to be too elaborate.”
“Speaking of older people, guess who else is going to get married?” Pam piped in, bouncing up and down in her chair. She looked like she was going to burst wide open if she didn’t get the information out fast enough.
I didn’t waste any time asking, “Who?”
“Clyde is going to marry that woman in Cleveland he’s been seeing!” Felicia exclaimed.
“Pffftt! Not hardly,” Pam responded with a dismissive wave. “That boy has it too easy living at home. But now that it’s happening for you two, there’s hope for him.”
“Then who is it, Pam?” I asked. I was so antsy I could barely stand still.
“Regina.”
“Regina?” I boomed. I had seen her out and about several times since our dim sum lunch. We’d been cordial to each other, but each time she’d rushed away from me within seconds. Despite how she felt about me now, I would always consider her a friend.
“Who is she going to marry?” Felicia asked.
“A used-car salesman she met online last year. They dated off and on, and he helped her find a car to replace her old one. Last week they finally decided to get engaged. When I was at Macy’s on Saturday, I ran into the young intern who works with Regina. Susan told me that, and she said Regina couldn’t be happier.”
“I’m happy for her,” I admitted. And I was.
“Felicia, your mama’s on the telephone,” Carol yelled from the living room. Felicia jumped up out of her chair and grabbed the extension above the counter.
“Mama!” She didn’t speak again for about half a minute. And then her eyes got big and her mouth dropped open. “Is it everything you thought it would be?” A few more moments of silence passed. “I’m so glad to hear that, Mama. Tell Daddy to enjoy himself. And please take plenty of pictures.” She covered the mouthpiece with her hand and said with her voice shaking, “My folks made it to the Holy Land today.” She listened for a couple more minutes and when she hung up there were tears in her eyes. “This is the best Christmas I’ve ever had.”
“I feel the same way,” I said.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
1. If you loved someone from afar, do you think you’d ever let that person know your true feelings?
2. Do you think Pam was out of line by telling Richard that Felicia was in love with him?
3. Do you have any busybody friends like Pam? If so, are they just as harmless and comical?
4. If you had a secret admirer and someone told you, would you let your admirer know you knew?
5. When Felicia told Pam how she felt about Richard, she didn’t tell her not to tell him. Pam was a blabbermouth, so she couldn’t keep it to herself. If a friend told you something personal that involved another person and didn’t tell you to keep it to yourself, would you?
6. Felicia had a great relationship with her meddlesome, fussy grandmother and was very patient with her. What are your relationships with elderly people like?
7. Regina frequently “bumped into” Richard in public. It was obvious that she was trying to have a more serious relationship with him. Richard was always nice to her, even when he didn’t want to be in her presence. Were you happy when he finally told her that they would never have a future together?
8. Felicia and Richard always looked on the bright side of things. When Felicia thought Richard was going to marry another woman, she didn’t get jealous. She was happy for him. How would you feel in the same situation?
9. If someone you were secretly in love with asked you to help them pick out an engagement ring for them to give someone else, would you?
10. It’s nice to be “just friends” with a member of the opposite sex. But do you have any male/ female friends in your life you’d like to be more than friends with?
11. For most people Christmas is a spiritual and joyful time. Was this an uplifting story to you because of when it takes place?
12. Would this story have had the same effect if it had occurred during a different holiday?
13. Richard was an excellent father. But do you think he was a little too strict with his daughters?
DON’T MISS
Remembrance
In this moving, unforgettable novel from New York Times bestselling author Mary Monroe, a successful, happily married mother suddenly finds herself feeling far from joyful. But Christmas brings an unexpected chance to rediscover herself and what happiness really means.
Available wherever books are sold.
Enjoy the following excerpt from Remembrance . . .
PROLOGUE
December 2, 1991
“I would leave the headphones home if I were you. Running and not being able to hear what’s going on around you can be dangerous,” my roommate warned me that fateful morning.
“Don’t worry. I keep the volume low so I can still hear everything else.” I scurried out the door, adjusting my headphones so they wouldn’t mess up my hair.
As I jogged down the sidewalk, greeting neighbors and strangers, all I could think about was how wonderful life was, at least for me. I was only nineteen and had so much to be grateful for: good health, a loving family, amazing friends, and endless possibilities. I was an only child and my parents doted on me, but I wasn’t spoiled. It was hard, but I always tried to walk the straight and narrow. I’d missed my curfew a few times when I still lived at home, mouthed off to Mama and Daddy at the wrong times, but nothing more serious than that.
I was happy to kick back at home with a pizza and a good book. People teased me about being a bookworm, but I didn’t mind. Reading was a passion that I had developed in elementary school. I truly believed that I would continue to be happy, so long as I stayed motivated and focused on my goals, and found ways to contribute something meaningful to society.
My best friend, Camille, was a secretary at a law firm and she was already engaged. Her fiancé, Nick Spencer, spent a lot of time at the studio apartment I shared with her in Berkeley, so there was not much privacy. A large portion of my free time was spent in libraries, parks, and coffee shops just so I could have some space.
I was majoring in social welfare at UC Berkeley, and working as a server evenings and weekends at Carlito’s Taco shop. After I’d earned my degree—and before I found a husband and started a family—I planned to work as a social worker for a few years. I wanted to save enough money so I could visit some of the exotic places I read about in my books. I even had a notion to join the Peace Corps, somewhere along the way, so I could spend time in third-world countries doing all I could to help the less fortunate. I was determined to make a positive difference in as many lives as possible.
The light had just turned red when I approached the intersection of Alcatraz Avenue and Sacramento Street, three blocks from my apartment. I wore a baby blue jogging suit and my brand-new white Nikes. I had a busy day planned and I couldn’t wait to get started. That was the last thing on my mind before everything went black....
* * *
I didn’t realize I’d been hit by a car until I regained consciousness in the hospital two days later. A beefy-faced doctor and a thin nurse stood by the side of my bed with somber expressions on their faces. “What happened to me?” I asked in a voice that sounded more like a croak.
“You were involved in an accident, Beatrice,” the doctor informed me in a gentle tone.
“W-what kind of accident?” The doctor’s hesitation puzzled me. Until somebody told me what had happened, I wouldn’t allow myself to think that I’d been the victim of something sinister, such as a mugging, or that I’d gotten caught in the cross fire of a drive-by shooting. My mind didn’t work that way. I assumed I’d tripped over something and fallen and hit my head on the concrete sidewalk hard enough to cause unconsciousness. I even considered the possibility of a dog attack, or a mysterious seizure.
“It was a hit and run.” The doctor went on to tell me that a careless driver had run a red light and mowed me down in the middle of the street. The thought that somebody had injured me, and had left me for dead, made me sad and angry. It was a rude awakening to know that a person as kind, humble, and considerate as I was had encountered such a heartless individual. I didn’t stay sad and angry long, because a moment later, the nurse revealed that an elderly couple had witnessed the crime and had stopped to assist me. According to them, a few minutes later, a handsome young black man stopped and performed CPR, which saved my life. He’d left right after paramedics arrived. I was pleased to hear that the right people had come along at the right time.
I was incapacitated for ten weeks with a compound fracture in my right leg, a broken pelvis, and a concussion. I spent the first four weeks in a hospital bed, and the rest of those weeks in my old bed in my parents’ house.
“Your accident was no accident. It was God trying to get your attention. You’re still with us for a reason,” Mama said as she hovered over my bed spoonfeeding me chicken soup. I didn’t have the nerve to tell her that it was the nastiest stuff I’d ever tasted.
“I know, Mama,” I sighed. I grimaced and forced myself to swallow another spoonful of the deadly concoction. “And I’m going to make every day count.”
“I’m glad to hear that.” Mama shoved the spoon into my mouth again. “I had no idea you would love my new soup recipe so much. Nobody else does—not even me.”
“Whatever is in it, it sure helps curb my appetite. I’ve finally lost some of the weight I started trying to lose last year.”
“Good! I’ll make you a fresh pot every day until you lose the rest of that weight.”
“Thanks, Mama. But you don’t have to do that. The pounds will come off even faster if I join a gym.”
“Humph! You should have joined a gym in the first place. If you had, you wouldn’t be in this mess. I don’t know why anybody would want to gallivant up and down the streets like a roadrunner to lose weight. Thank God you didn’t get hurt any worse.” Mama set the bowl on my nightstand and adjusted my pillow. “Another week in bed and you’ll be good as new.”
I was anxious to get back into the swing of things—except I wasn’t sure exactly what I wanted to do now. My close brush with death had made me rethink my agenda. Roaming around the world as a “goodwill ambassador” no longer appealed to me. I still wanted to contribute something worthwhile to society, but now I wanted to do it closer to home. I’d been given a second chance, and I was going to prove to myself, God, and everybody else that I deserved it.
I had gotten so far behind in my studies, I didn’t have any immediate plans to resume my education for a while, if at all. After being at the mercy of my overbearing mother for so many weeks, I was more anxious to go back to work and interact with other people again. And, for my own peace of mind, I needed to be in a place of my own. The last time the subject of my moving out came up, Mama told me, “You can stay with us for the rest of your life if you want to.” As much as I loved my folks, I had no desire to live with them for the rest of my life. “Thanks, Mama. That’s good to know. But I really do want to be on my own again,” I told her. I couldn’t move back in with Camille because she and Nick were married and living together now. I didn’t return to the taco shop because the salary was too low for me to pay rent on a decent place by myself.
