Lynn and Leif Forevermore Ch. 53

Garrett took the microphone from Lyle and called everyone to order.

"We know you two want to get on the road for your honeymoon, and we don't want to keep you, but we'd like for the two of you to come into the front yard first. You see you've got your presents from everyone else, the money jars, money tree and the gifts of wisdom, but you haven't gotten your gift from your parents. And you're gonna need this gift Leif, no way in hell is Linda gonna let you take her damn Prius on your honeymoon," said Garrett with laughter.

Lynne looked at Leif, confused.

***

Leif was just as confused as Lynne looked. He had no idea what they were going to do if Linda wouldn't let them use the Prius. He hadn't thought that far in advance, just asked permission to use his mother's car in exchange for returning it with a filled up tank and taking it for it's next oil change after the trip.

He didn't have transportation in California, and anyway, their old van back in New York City would never make it where he was taking her for their honeymoon. So Leif looked just as startled as Lynne.

"Yeah Leif, you and Lynne come on around the front, we need to have a long discussion about this car," said his mother.

His father threw his arm around Leif's shoulders, while his mother did the same with Lynne.

"So there's something I need to tell you two about the car," said his mother as they walked around the side of the house to the front yard.

Leif was searching his mind thinking about how he was going to fix his honeymoon with his little Lynney when he heard her high-pitched, adorable, feminine squeal.

"Holy Shit, Leify! Oh Linda, this is the nicest thing anyone could ever do for us," squealed Lynne, running toward a brand new, bold red Toyota Prius.

Lynney was thrilled beyond belief.

But Leif was so disappointed he felt his throat tighten. They always did this to him! Never let him be his own man without trying to offer some type of safety net!

He wanted to care for, love and provide for his family. He and Lynne had been saving diligently for a used Prius to get her back and forth to her voice lessons in the mornings after the weather got colder, and it would be dark in the mornings when she had to go to her voice lessons.

In fact, it was brilliant little Lynne and her budgeting that helped them come up with a plan so that they could have extra money to spend that did not impact their current budget and cramp their style. He played the guitar a little bit on subway stops before their nightclub gigs. Sometimes Lynne would harmonize along with him.

The first time they did it, he was shocked at how much money was thrown in his empty guitar case, at least eighty dollars. Lynne had come up with the idea after watching a documentary featuring one of her favorite background singers. Since the woman was only a background singer from a small label, she actually used the subway hustle to supplement her income to make ends meet. Lynne also was well aware that there were A&R men and others who used the subway systems of New York City, and she told Leif that it was possible that they would brush elbows with one of the high powered executive men while they were putting on their show in front of the subway, who might offer either of them a record deal.

They'd already gotten a few business cards thrown into the guitar case, but the organizations, mostly talent scouting agencies did not seem reputable. In any case, their subway hustle had garnered them over nine hundred dollars. Lynne had put that money into an orange account online, with five percent interest. Once she put their money in a high bearing interest savings account, they'd sat down and had a discussion about the type of car that they wanted.

Truly, Leif wanted to get a cute little Mustang, or Camero. Why not, get something fun and flashy within what they could afford, a sports car? They only would be a young couple with no responsibilities for a few years longer. Soon they'd be having beautiful babies and at that point they could sell their sports car and get a practical number. But, he knew how much he loved Lynney when he pulled up the Carmax website to see what she'd wanted first, before he offered his own opinion about getting a fun and flashy car while they were young and had no responsibilities.

"If you could have any used car, any at all Lynney, which would you want?" he'd asked her.

"Oh baby, I don't know, what do you like? Whatever you want is fine. I just...want something that is eco friendly, large enough for toddlers in about five years, and cute, like your Mom's prius," added Lynne with a grin.

Right then and there, Leif saw his hopes of getting a sporty Mustang or Camaro going down the drain. Neither of those cars was gas efficient, or toddler friendly! But he knew he'd made the right decision in marrying his little wife to be when that fact didn't bother him at all. How caring for her had matured him, and turned him into a real man! In fact, he'd admired Lynne for her wisdom, mature attitude, and sense of responsibility, both thinking about protecting the environment, and a car they could have long term, which would still be appropriate in a few years after children came along. That way they wouldn't have to sell a flashy sports car in a hurry to get a car appropriate for a growing family, and possibly lose some money along the way.

He knew what it meant to be in a marriage and what it meant to be a good husband, because instantly, the dream in his head about zipping down the highway with her in a used Camaro rewired. He started dreaming about he and Lynne driving down the highway in an eco friendly car that was big enough for two toddlers. And, as long as Lynne was in the car with him he wanted whatever car she wanted more than he'd wanted the Camaro!

"Show me. Show your man what you want. You were smart enough to come up with this idea for us to hustle in the subways for the extra money that we could save towards a down payment. So show me what you want baby...we'll get whatever my baby wants," said Leif, rubbing and patting her cute little juicy ass.

"I...I always wanted a Prius, ever since they came out. But...I want it in red. We couldn't have flashy colored cars in my old church. It had to be something appropriate for religious canvassing. So...I always wanted something bold, and red, because we used to have to have boring ass colors, nothing to draw undue attention to us in the neighborhoods when we preached," said Lynne.

"Baby...your husband will get you whatever color Prius you like. How about red, and I'll get you some cute, custom gold accents, maybe a cute little gold license plate frame too, maybe a customized tag, L and L, for Lynney and Leify," he added with a grin.

"Really!" said Lynne and she was beaming and shrieking with excitement.

"Yeah, baby, your man can get custom accents done, I have a few friends who do car work, I can get you some custom gold chrome on the car baby. But let's get the car first that you like. I see some good options. We'll try to get one with around 60,000 miles on it. That looks like what we can afford at these prices," said Leif.

"That sounds good baby. I think we should save almost third for the down payment. That way we can keep the payments down to about $300 a month. If we get $600 a month from our subway hustle, we can have enough saved for a $6,000 down payment on this car in about ten months. A used Prius should set us back about 20,000 dollars," said Lynne and she'd shown him calculations on her phone.

She was wearing those nerdy little glasses, and he'd been hard for her then. He'd wanted to pound her to the bed wearing those glasses until they were lopsided on her face, but he decided to save that for the honeymoon. He made a mental reminder to tell her he wanted to fuck her at least one time on their honeymoon wearing those little horned rimmed glasses that she favored while she worked at the computer, or reading.

She was damn smart, wanted great things for their life, and saw them as a cooperative team, achieving more together than they ever dreamed on their own. He loved her, and right then and there, he vowed that he would work very hard to help Lynne achieve her dream of getting a beautiful, used, red prius, first for them as a couple, and then to transport their growing family. Once they got the car, he'd have it kitted out with custom gold accents. Lynne was a gem and already seeing about how she could get the most value for them as a couple!

She got so excited about the car, she'd started saving for these cute black all weather floor mats with the change that people were throwing in their guitar case. The cash money, she faithfully took to the bank, and then wired it into their orange account online.

It was a project they were working towards as a couple. Lynne was proud of that project, and she'd probably told his mother and father because she was proud of their progress. Instead of his parents saying, "that's great", and cheering them on, on their own achievement, his parents had moved the goal post, the way they always did, and ran out, and bought him the car anyway.

He knew they were trying to be kind, and just wanted to give them everything so they did not have to struggle, because they themselves struggled so much when they got pregnant with his older brother while in college, and got no material help whatsoever from either set of grandparents. But Leif's parents took away his joy! Lynne had given him a sense of purpose, and sense of direction, and it was his joy, his privilege to protect and provide for his lovely little wife, and he took his vows very seriously. If he couldn't care for Lynne, and see to it that the two of them had reliable transportation, he did not deserve to have married the lovely woman this afternoon!

He wanted Lynne to feel secure that whatever dreams the two of them had, they could achieve them together. He didn't want her to feel that they needed to depend on anyone else for a handout. Leif had never even imagined all that he could achieve when he lived at home because his parents did everything for him! It was only by moving away from them and getting from under their roof that he grew some ambition and the ability to stand on his two feet, otherwise when he lived in California they were always running in there to rescue them.

He stood off to the side, watching his bride squealing and running around the car adorably and tried to mask his disappointment.

"Oh Leif it says just married! They had it decorated for us too!" said Lynne squealing.

His mother had put crepe paper silver wedding bells on the back.

"Yeah I see it. It's really, really nice," said Leif soberly.

"Oh Lynne you have to look inside too honey, a special surprise just for you," said his mother patting her back.

"The floor mats! You got us the all weather floor mats! It makes the Prius look like a racecar, I love them, with the little Toyota symbol! Damn Linda, I didn't know when I told you that we were saving for a car, that you were going to go out and get us one. And this one is new! And you even got us the floor mats I told you about. It's too much! I had no idea you were going to surprise us with a car! Damn I am so grateful. What a wedding present! You all did so much helping us with this wedding, I didn't expect you to give us another gift at all, I thought our wedding was our present from you guys! I had no idea. But we love this car! We are just starting out, so this helps us out a lot! We can use that money we were saving in the orange account for something else now. There is always something that young newlyweds need. Maybe savings for a house, or a baby fund! This is great isn't it Leif," said Lynne.

She'd opened the door to get on the drivers side, and his mother and father were so caught up in her happiness that they started to snap pictures of Lynne in the drivers seat.

Lynne, ever the ham pretended to drive, and wave out of the window.

Her excited squeals had driven some of the bridal party members and reception guests into the front yard to see what the commotion was about.

Janelle and the rest of the bridal party appeared way more excited than Leif felt about the car.

"Leif, come on, get in, don't you want to see our new whip," squealed Lynne.

"Sure," said Leif with a clipped expression.

No one seemed to notice that he felt a little upset that they had deflated his dream of being able to provide his baby with a car, or at least have it be something they did as a couple. His hyper little bride was showing enough exuberance for the both of them. Hell, three people, the way she always did. Hyper little Lynney! If she wasn't so adorable he'd be annoyed that she failed to recognize his mood at all, and how his parents had unwittingly spoiled his independence and something he was very proud of.

"Mmm...let's have a kiss for the photographers," said Lynne with a grin.

She pulled his head forward and started playfully making out with him.

He traced her tongue with his own, but his mind was distracted, and they had such a sonic connection that finally through the tension in his kiss, Lynne could sense something was wrong.

She pulled away.

"Leif what's getting into you baby? What's wrong, what has you upset?" whispered Lynne.

"Well talk about it later sweet," said Leif patting her knee.

"No I want to know what's wrong right now! It feels like Christmas. We are sitting in brand new car, the best wedding present ever, and you are acting like a mean, grouchy scrooge. I mean I know you pretend to be grouchy to avoid showing your feelings but you are taking it a little far. Not even showing a bit of appreciation. Please at least smile," whispered Lynne huffily.

She was looking at him with those sassy, angry eyes that she got sometimes. Normally those eyes, made him get a little hard and want to pinch and slap her ass to show her who was boss, but right now all he could feel was disappointment and a tinge of anger.

Leif slumped his long lean body down in the seat, and plastered on a fake grin so that they could take the rest of the photographs.

As soon as they were finished with the photographs, he got out of the car.

"Thanks mom, Thanks dad. I'm gonna go in the house now and use the restroom, and get ready to make the trip for the honeymoon," said Leif.

He had a clipped smile on his face.

He heard his mother through the open living room window asking what was wrong.

If his mother hadn't figured it out by now what was pissing him off, it showed everything that was wrong with their relationship. While Lynne's strained relationship with her own parents had underscored how much he should appreciate his own open and loving relationship with his parents, it still didn't mean he wanted his parents doing everything for him, and taking away his duty and his privilege to provide for his bride.

"You know how Leif has problems expressing his emotions sometimes without pretending to be grouchy or perturbed. The happier he is, the meaner he can be because he's embarrassed by how much he cares. He told me to tell you all he was overwhelmed and didn't know what to say, he's so happy. And so am I. Believe me he's really grateful. I'm going to go inside and check on him," said Lynne.

Leif started to feel a little warm with Lynne. He hadn't said any of that shit either! She was trying to smooth it over, and he understood it, but at the same time he felt furious at his parents, once again taking away one of the defining ways he tried to show himself to be a man, provide for himself, and his beautiful new wife.

"He's probably grouchy because he's ready to start the honeymoon. Peterson men are real men, and when they know they have the chance to get started loving a beautiful woman, nothing, even a shiny new car can dampen that enthusiasm. I used to be like that," teased Garrett.

"You can still be like that," said his mother.

He heard Lynne laugh.

"Might be some of that too. Look I apologize on behalf of the both of us for Leif's behavior. You know how men can be sometimes. He's just overwhelmed. It's been a long happy day, and he's probably overwhelmed. I know I sure am. This is the nicest thing that anyone who I considered a parent has ever done for me. We will drive it happily in good health," said Lynne.

"I know you will. Break it in on the honeymoon. Enjoy the flight back to New York, and we'll send this car to you via car delivery service within a week after the honeymoon ends. We don't even want you to worry about how you have to get the car back to New York. Take this card for when you are ready to get it delivered to your home. In the meantime, just drop it off back here before you fly back to New York, and we'll take you to the airport," said his mother.

"Awesome! I'll go check on Leif. He is really probably ready to leave now that he knows we have our own transportation, to get where we are going, and that's why he's being moody...it has been a long reception and I know he is anxious to start on our honeymoon," said Lynne.

She walked into the Living Room and shut the door, looking at Leif, who was slumped over on the Living room couch.

***