Another Engagement

Exhausted, Riley was very much looking forward to this coming weekend.  Who gets married on a Wednesday, anyway?  Only Eden.  Her little sister.  True, Riley was only there for two days, Tuesday and Wednesday, but her flight was delayed getting into Pittsburgh, then she had to pick up her car and drive to her place, where some idiot had taken her designated parking space.  Then work the next morning, and Friday.  Complicated by phone calls she had to make.  Well, really only one that was most important, to Frank, to let him know that Eden was married.

She didn’t blame her brother for being upset.  Justifiably, he thought he should have at least been given notice, even if they didn’t want him there.  “It’s not a question of not wanting you there,” Riley tried to explain.  “No one was there from either side of the family, except me.  As her sister.  Steve’s brothers weren’t there either.” As if that was some consolation.“It’s what Eden wanted, since both sets of parents were causing so much trouble, along with Mom flaunting her new sex life.”

“What!”

“Oh, Frank, where have you been!  Her amour is Herr Professor, the one she went to Germany with.  Mom was demanding that Eden wait to get married until his semester ended, as he was now going to be part of the family.  How can you not know any of this?  You live closest to Mom.  Aren’t you only an hour away?”

Sighing, Frank said, “The last time I heard from Mom she castigated me for dragging the Franklin name through the mud by accompanying Lily to the sentencing hearing for her father.  Somehow my name got into the local rag.  Fifteen years, by the way.  I thought the absence of her phone calls meant she was just throwing one of her snits. But isn’t it nice that she’s so involved in her own life she’s willing to leave us alone?  On the other hand—has there been any blowback about Eden’s wedding?”

“Let’s just say I’m thinking of blocking Mom’s number,” Riley replied.  “You’ve seen the photos, haven’t you?  Instagram, Facebook?”

“Not my thing.”

“Well, get Lily to show them to you.  Mom saw them.  The reaction was swift and knife-like.  Since she couldn’t reach Eden, I got the brunt of it.  So consider yourself lucky that you weren’t at the wedding or in the wedding photos.”

“So how was the wedding?” Frank wondered.

“Very small, quite fun.  Eden’s really changed, actually has become a grownup instead of the whiney little brat we knew and occasionally loved.”

Ending the call, Riley pondered what Frank’s wedding to Lily would be like.  More family issues, she was sure.  But Frank already seemed disconnected from their mother.  Maybe it was a male thing.

Friday night, after that arduous week, Mike came over.  He was there in time to catch Bernice Franklin saying, via voicemail, “If you refuse to answer, I’ll never talk to you again.”  He shrugged, thinking she should answer the calls, but Riley just waved that away.  Her mother had already clogged up her voicemails.  As fast as Riley deleted them, more arrived.  Besides, she was more interested in the subs and beer Mike carried in with him than she was in listening to her mother’s never-ending rants.

They ate, mainly in silence because she was ravenous and tired, not having gone to the grocery store since she’d been back.  Her frozen food supply was dwindling.  After they recycled what they could, then put the messy wrappers in the garbage, they cuddled on the couch, so that Riley could show him photos from the wedding.

“Wow, you look great,” Mike said.

“It’s the bride you should be focusing on,” she chided him.

“She looks nothing like you.  But she looks great too,” he added quickly.  He peered more closely.  “That’s Steve?  He looks rather geeky. In fact, his friends—“

“Don’t say it,” she warned.  “They might look like geeks but they’re bringing in the dough.  Right now, Eden and Steve should be on a plane to Brazil, where they’ll pick up a cruise ship bound for Antarctica.”

Frowning, Mike wondered, “That’s a honeymoon?”

“Not Eden’s choice.  She probably hoped they’d end up some place where she could wear her bikini, but Steve swung into gear with this whole last minute thing, made a few phone calls and off they’re going.  I hope Eden will be a good sport about it.  It’s some scientific explorer cruise.  She texted the site.  Lectures, bird watching, animal tagging.  The emoji she attached was gagging.”

Ruffling her hair, Mike laughed.  “Poor Eden.”  Then he asked, “Where would you like to go on your honeymoon?”

She wasn’t even going to answer that question.  If he was going to make a proposal, he should propose.  Properly.  Not that he had to drop to one knee.  But still—

“We should—you know—get married.”

“Oh, Mike,” she said sweetly.  “That is the most romantic proposal I’ve ever received.”

He laughed.  “Okay, so what about—let’s go to bed.”

“That sounds absolutely delightful.”

And it was.  Who knew an orgasm could act like a powerful sedative.  Or, contrarily, maybe it was just the week catching up to her.  Still, it was comforting to have a warm body lying next to her, someone she could hold onto.  When she woke the next morning, Mike was nowhere, but then the smell of bacon wafted up from the kitchen.  He must have gone to the shop down the street, convenient but pricey.

Breakfast was filling, and she could have gone back to bed; but he urged her to get dressed because they had things to do.  “If we’re going hiking—“ she was about to protest.

“Not today.  Maybe tomorrow.”

So she got into jeans and a hand-knitted sweater she had purchased at a craft show.  Mike had on his green plaid shirt and slacks.  Perhaps she should have worn something less casual, but he gave her no clue where they were going, even after they got into his car.  Except soon she discovered they were driving downtown, on a Saturday!  So parking structure here they came.  Even though sadly, most of the downtown lost out to the suburbs now.

“What are you up to?” she asked him, after he parked.

“Get out of the car and find out.”

So she did.  They walked a few blocks and they weren’t meandering.  Mike had set a course, but was still keeping the destination a secret from her, until they entered the Clark Building.  Her mouth dropped open.  “You’re joking.”

“Maybe it’s not what it used to be,” Mike agreed.  “But I still think you can find a mighty fine engagement ring here.  Money no object.  But let’s keep it under ten thousand.”

She laughed.  “Mike!”

“Riley!”  He paused.  “Will you marry me.”

Smiling broadly, Riley said, “Yes!”

Oh, what fun they had, or rather maybe she had, going from shop to shop in what used to be the jewelry district but still had enough stores to make it an adventure.  In the end, they went back to the first shop they had been in, and Riley chose a three-diamond ring, the center being the largest but not overpowering.  However, she liked the way it sparkled—and the price was right.

Then it was off to Primanti Bros to celebrate with stacked sandwiches that Riley couldn’t finish, even if Mike could.  Fortunately, the ring needed to be sized, so she didn’t get it greasy.  She couldn’t believe this was happening to her.  Finally.  Getting married.  To Mike.

But then—  Did she want to get married just because she was still in the glow of Eden’s marriage?  Did she love Mike enough to make a life with him?  And with the Aherns?  What a tribe they were.  Would she even fit in?  Was that part of the bargain?  On the one hand, she was friends with Mary already.  On the other, despite all the time they’ve spent together, Mike hadn’t introduced her to the whole tribe.  Would she just suddenly show up with him while he announced, “Hey, I’m engaged.”

Mike, on his second root beer, asked, “Where’s that cloud coming from?  Second thoughts about the ring?  Or—about me?”

She looked up from her pile of napkins.  And smiled.  Then  “Just thinking about your family.  You know.  The tribe you belong to.”

“Sort of belong,” he reminded her.  “You know Mary.  You’ve met some of the others.  They’ll love you.”

She almost threw up her hands.  “Oh, Mike—  First, I’m not Irish or Catholic.  I don’t want a church wedding.  Or to raise our children Catholic.  Subjects we’ve never discussed.”

Nodding, he said, “That’s true.  I never go to church anymore.  Except when one of my nieces or nephews is getting baptized, confirmed, whatever.  Sometimes I skip that and just go to the party afterwards.  So I can’t say I’m devoted to the religion of my birth.  I think children need some moral grounding, but all religions have that.  What is important to me, if we’re fortunate enough to have children, is having them be members of the tribe, as you call us.  I know big families can be a pain in the ass.  But also having cousins to run around with, that’s something I loved.  So, you would have to endure the Aherns to a certain extent.”

Riley gave that some thought.  Her family was small, and the people she hung around with were her girlfriends.  So she had to consider what Mike was asking of her.  They both had good jobs in Pittsburgh, so this would probably be their home, where their kids would grow up.  However, she didn’t need to be in the Aherns’ pocket because, if they had kids, they would need a house, preferable in a suburb, a suburb away from the Ahern hub—if she planned it right.  Yeah, this was doable.

“Just not every Sunday?”

“Of course not,” he said, as if he thought that was a ridiculous idea.  Now.

“And your mother?”  And all that his “mother” entailed.

“Well, she’s still my mother in her own way.  I’ll tell her I’m getting married.  I’ll bring you over for a Sunday lunch.  She’ll cross-examine you and then complain about you to her daughters and daughters-in-law, we’ll invite her to the wedding, and she’ll be shocked we’re not having it officiated by good old Father Matt.  It’ll be a grand old time.  You’ll see.”

Riley shook her head and laughed.  “Oh, Mike.”

“I don’t want a long engagement,” he warned.

“Me either.  But there’s planning involved.”

“As a civil engineer, planning is my specialty.  I do it for the city, I can do it for us.”

“Not on your life!  That’s my job.  I shall inform you of the details as they come along.”

“So a deal then?”

“A deal,”she agreed.

“Dessert?”

She looked down at her half-eaten sandwich.  “You’re joking.”