The Professor Ch. 12

Our day in Galveston was my best day ever. As much as I hated to leave Lissia, I needed to go home and unload my books and get some rest. Lissia and I took a long while kissing good-bye I guess we were getting a preview of what our farewell would be like as I headed off to Ft. Benning in a few weeks. It was still light as I left and of course I got caught in the evening traffic so the drive took longer than anticipated but I got there in one piece. I went in to check on Dad; he was surprised to see me, "Steven! I'm glad you're home son. How was the day?"

I went over to him and got down on one knee and hugged him, "Thanks for everything Dad. It was a really great day." I leaned back and looked at him, "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay. I actually puttered around in the shop today," he was thrilled about that. "Steven I want you to have the boat when I'm gone," he announced clearly.

"Dad...I...I just don't want to think about that," I was getting a lump in my throat.

"Steven, you need to start thinking about what's around the bend for our family; your brothers can't do this – you have to – I'm sorry to put this on you but Son you pack the gear to do this okay?"

My eyes were welling up, "Yes sir I'll do my best to make you proud sir."

"So how is Phylissia?" he smiled.

"Oh Dad she's amazing. I don't know how to tell you..." I admitted as my heart pounded.

"Steven."

"Yes sir?"

"Marry her," he shocked me.

"We can't Dad – the laws of Texas won't allow it," my heart hurt as I told him that.

"Go north son, get married and bring your bride home to us," he was serious.

"I want that more than I want to live Dad," I confessed.

"I can see it all over you. I've never seen you like this and it's good for my heart to finally see you happy and not so obsessive about accomplishing your objectives yesterday. You need balance Son and she is that balance for you. Son she is razor sharp, beautiful and very accomplished you're a perfect match. Steven I want you to be happy. I love you Son. You've made your Momma and me very happy," those were more words than he'd ever strung together for me at one time in a very long time. He kissed me as I got up to retrieve my books, papers and the typewriter from the car.

I finally got everything into my room and filed into folders for the 'just-finished' school year. I began to change the typewriter ribbon and I opened my briefcase to retrieve the extra ribbon and there was the card from Lissia – she had written on the outside of the envelope, 'My Dearest Steven.' I opened the envelope and pulled out the card with a drawing of a single daisy on its front. I opened the card and found this,

"My dearest Baby, the Love of my life –

I had given up on happiness when you showed up at my office door. As I first laid eyes on you I had to catch my breath you were so confident and beautiful, not arrogant but comfortable with who you are. I love how you've come to love me; your gentle, sweet ways and your absolute honesty with me about everything. I thought God had forgotten about me but He showed me that I was wrong. Our first kiss was a lightning bolt for me. I knew I needed more than one kiss and one moment. Your persistent, loving ways broke down all of my resistance to love. Yesterday in front of those revered academics you handled yourself with such aplomb that you gave me pause to once again ask your age. Steven no matter what happens for the rest of our lives I will always love you. God sent you to me sweet man – I love you so – your Lissia." She had drawn a heart by her signature.

The knot in my throat grew and my eyes burned. I was missing her greatly right now. I lay back on the bed and took a deep breath, "Oh God how do I deserve this woman?" I drifted off to sleep dreaming about us...

I slept for a while but awoke to the sound of someone knocking on the front door. Dad and I were the only two at home so I got up and went to the door opening it to find Lissia, dressed in a yellow sundress with a child-like look of being a little lost. I quickly opened the door and we hugged each other tightly, "Oh Lissia I fell asleep dreaming about you – I just read that beautiful card...I love you baby so much."

She was crying now, "Steven I felt so alone without you there I had to find you...is this alright?"

"It is! I am so happy right now," I took her hand and walked into the den where Dad and his pup were. "Dad, look who's here!"

He turned around and his face lit up, "Phylissia what a surprise! Come in here and let me hug you."

Lissia went over and kissed Dad, "Hi Major. I hope it's okay that I just showed up. I missed Steven so much."

He held her face with both hands as she held him tightly to her, "I just told Steven to marry you – of course it's more than okay."

The look of shock on her face was astonishing. She was getting weak in the knees as I reached over for her, "Come sit down – before you fall over." I sat in Mom's rocker and Lissia sat on the hassock, leaning back against me.

Dad shared his feelings about us to Lissia as she sat in complete shock, wiping her tears, "Major I don't know what to say..."

Dad smiled, "Phylissia we love you and what your love has done for Steven. He's always been a good boy, with good grades and very driven to succeed. But he's changed in here," he told her as he patted his chest, "And that is all you. When Steven called and said he was bringing a black girl home I was furious but I began to realize that he had followed my advice – be friends first, don't listen to other people about someone - you find out for yourself and he did what I taught him. When I saw the two of you together I knew your relationship with him was very sacred to Steven and that was enough for me."

She looked back to me, "I almost blew it with you...it was so close to my not finding the man of my dreams...I almost let my nasty pride get in the way..."

I kissed her right temple, "It didn't though did it?"

She smiled, "Do you see what he does to me Major? Every time I try to warn him about how close danger is he just smiles and waves it off as though it's just a warm breeze and not the fires of hell."

Dad smiled to her, "He's been that way since he could walk.

"Major I feel like a teenager chasing after Steven like this but I dearly love him," she was leaned back against me holding tenderly onto my arms.

"Phylissia, Steven and I talk about you every day. We have no secrets. He admires your courage and intelligence – that speaks volumes to you as the kind of woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Make no mistake about it when I told Marsha about you the first time she was on the verge of a stroke and then I told her how happy you've made Steven and she cried," she has been worried about him because he is so driven to succeed. I guess you've seen that haven't you?" he asked.

"Yes Major I have," she told him quietly.

"As far as we're concerned you're our family because Steven loves you and wants you to be his wife," he nodded his head emphatically, "so get used to us being worried about you because we love you too."

Lissia leaned back into me even further and I wrapped my arms around her waist and kissed her neck, whispering, "I love you baby so much."

Mom came home with a few groceries and we got up to help her. When she saw Lissia she practically ran to her, "Oh baby, Phylissia, thank you for coming to visit. You're staying for supper and no arguments," Mom was crying and Lissia held her close.

"Thank you Mrs. Edwards I'd love to stay," Lissia was as charmingly Southern as Mom. Mom asked me to go to Harwell's barbecue and pick up some brisket, links and potato salad while she and Lissia talked.

Dad stood up, "I'll ride with you Steven." He hung his arm around my shoulder as we walked over to the kitchen table to kiss our ladies.

"How many are we feeding Mom?" I asked as I wondered where Hal and Georgie were hiding out.

"The four of us Steven – your brothers are going to the lake with their girl friends' families," so we'll be a small group tonight. I was relieved - I just didn't feel up to fighting with those two snakes.

I excused myself for a moment and took Lissia in my arms and kissed her, "I love you my baby. We'll be back in a little while," I held her tightly for a moment.

"I love you too Steven," she smiled weakly, "I already miss you." I nodded my agreement while Mom and Dad kissed.

It didn't take us long to drive to Harwell's but it was always good to be with Dad. We took our time at the restaurant while he drank a cold beer – a long-neck Falstaff. I knew Mom would be unhappy about that with all his medicine but it didn't matter – it was his one beer for the month. We chatted with Billy Harwell, Sr. – the family had been friends of ours for quite a while. We finally roused ourselves and paid for the barbecue, Billy didn't charge Dad for the beer. I just shook my head. Life was pretty slow-paced here, not like my go-go pace at school so I was feeling a bit antsy. We carried our barbecue treasures into the house where we found Lissia and Mom sitting in the den having a very deep and tearful conversation. I joined Lissia on the sofa and kissed her on the forehead whispering, "Hi baby." She leaned against me and took my arm. She had told Mom about the rape and why she wasn't comfortable visiting her family. They had reached the point of the discussion about her and me going to visit her family. Lissia was worried about the fallout.

Dad heard some of it and he filled in the blanks very quickly, "Would you like Marsha and me to go with you two?"

I spoke up before Lissia could, "I think it's something that I need to do Dad." I could feel Lissia trembling.

"Thank you Major...I...well...it should be easy to go home but there is too much history and too much pain there. I've run long enough and like Steven says 'we need to face this together," she half-heartedly agreed with me.

"May I ask you a question Phylissia?" Dad continued very quietly.

"Yes sir," she was listening to him now.

"Were the three fellas who raped you black?" he was blunt.

"Yes sir," she looked puzzled, "why do you ask?"

"Steven is white...they might see your love for him as an insult...maybe that no black man was good enough anymore," his words hung out there like a neon sign.

"I see what you're saying...I hadn't thought of that," she pursed her lips and leaned back against me reaching for my face blindly with her open hand.

I hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head.

Mom spoke up, "Phylissia we can be there with you to attest to your love for Steven."

She was nodding her head now, "I understand where you're coming from...I do. We can talk about this over supper can't we? I mean when I was growing up we solved our problems over the dinner table."

Dad smiled, "I'm hungry too." He stood up and held his hand out to Lissia and she took his hand and hugged him to her. He patted her face, "It'll be okay. Steven is rock solid and as you know quite fearless."

It was in that moment of Mom and Dad's conciliation that I realized how important complete honesty and openness is in a relationship. Intuitively I got that but this cemented it for me.

Mom came over and put her arms around Lissia, "It's okay darling, like Pete said, we're watching out for you and Steven will be with you. He can get you in and out quickly if he needs to...trust him sweet daughter."

Lissia looked back to me and held her hand out to me taking my hand like a lifeline and coming closely to me, "Oh baby I am so afraid."

I held her tightly while Mom and Dad looked on, "I know you are – I can feel it. We'll get through this together. We ask lots of questions in our family. We have a pretty good sounding board – if you run away from it you lose out on the wisdom imparted through the homespun Socratic Method. You tell every single thing you need to make you comfortable as we go through this and we'll do our best to make it happen – that's my promise." I spoke ever-so-softly to her, "Lissia sweetheart, I love you more than my life itself. If they get to you it'll be because they gone through me. They get one chance to get it right with you – just like my brothers."

She looked up at me and patted my chest, whispering, "Okay, okay...I understand. I'm not gonna lie and tell you I think it'll be fine cause you'll see right through that...just know if I'm flaky or acting stupid it's cause I am getting a bit crazy over this and you'll need to calm me down," she slid her arms around my neck and I held her tightly.

I kissed her softly and she smiled up to me, "How about some brisket for a good Texas portion of comfort food?"

We all pitched in to set up the supper table while Dad took a chair. We gathered around the food with unsweetened tea and piping hot brisket and links and mustard potato salad. Mom said a blessing thanking God for Lissia. We ate and talked and we arrived at a plan of action. We were going this week – Saturday to see her parents. Mom told her she was staying with us tonight. It was a powerful evening.

LISSIA'S IMPRESSION...

When Steven went home after our day in Galveston I took a shower and felt so alone. I didn't realize how important a good relationship was until I had one. I'm not sure I washed everything while I was in the shower but I got to thinking 'girl you're just damn stupid for letting him go away like that – go get him.' So I did. I had the Edwards' address and I had a sort of idea where they lived so I dried off and grabbed some clothes and my pistol and headed toward that address. I cried half the way there I was so scared but I calmed down enough not to speed like Steven tells me 'don't add to the angst with more trouble.' I found the street on the first try and there was his car.

I could barely walk I was shaking so badly I never even thought about barging in on family time or anything like that I was here so what the hell. I knocked on the door. Nothing. Then the door opened and there he was, I almost collapsed on the porch. He was so excited to see me he forgot to unlatch the screen door and I was pulling on it. All of my academic life we dealt with the pain of unrequited love – I had NEVER experienced requited love. Listen to me this is powerful – you lose your appetite and you just can't focus – at least I couldn't. Steven on the other hand gets even more focused so he can get done to spend time together. Anyway he took me into his big ol' arms and squeezed the breath out of me. He took me back to see the Major and he sure was glad to see me – I was in shock – I was ready to have to wade through a mile of 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing-here-stares-and-such.' I was wrong again – damn it and was so relieved too. The Major hugged me like his child and while I was still standing he told me that he told his man-child to marry me. I almost fell over. Steven guided me to an ottoman in front of him and I sat there leaning against him trying to get my breath.

We talked for a while when Mrs. Edwards came home. That lady is something else again now. She set her groceries down and came running to put hands on me. She hugged me and kissed me like I was her child. I'd find out later that she always wanted a daughter. I picked at her a bit and told her, "yeah but you didn't know she'd be black did you?" She froze and then started laughing so hard she was crying.

She patted my hand, "No I didn't but I wouldn't change a thing Phylissia." And just like that she had me like a deer in the headlights. We got on pretty well I'd say and she shooed Steven and the Major to a barbecue joint up the road for supper. Now let me say something about the Edwards family – they know seafood and they know barbecue cause what they brought back was a piece of heaven. Anyway Mrs. Edwards and I talked – I told her about the rape and she started crying, bless her heart. Then she got mad. That little woman stood up on her heels and crowed her contempt. Hell she had a righteous fire in her belly, pissed me off all over again. Steven and the Major got back in time to hear the rest of my telling and the Major was quite indignant and would have started World War III if we'd a let him. They gathered their family circle around me so tightly I feared for anyone who messed with me. Any fear about my skin color was so far gone it didn't leave footprints. (Steven's laughing at me right now because of my 'narrative' as he calls it. Okay I need a kiss I'll be right back. That was a three hour interlude...don't ask. I love me some Steven).

Mrs. Edwards told me I was staying the night. I didn't argue with her. I really needed to be close to Steven. Steven'll tell you how that all worked out. We figured out a plan for me to go home with Steven and tell my family. I was so scared for Steven – I know these people and they trust very few white folk 'cept for Mr. Bob Kleinschmidt. The Major said Steven could handle and he trusted him to do that. He was that sure of his son's ability. I was beginning to think I was marrying superman or as the Germans call them, Übermensch. I get distracted if Steven is in the room so I had to trust him. We talked for hours sitting at that table right up to the point of having some homemade peach ice cream that they had made a few days ago.

Then the Major said something that floored me and stunned Steven, "Look I know the two of you are very much in love. Why don't you pull out that sleeper sofa and sleep there tonight? That doesn't mean you're to have sex. I can see how upset you both are and I think you need to hold each other tonight." I couldn't speak and Steven, bless him, was turning every shade of red under God's sun.

Mrs. Edwards looked at me, "We know that if it was legal in Texas for you to be married that you would be right now. I know how I'd feel if I were in your shoes Phylissia. Besides I have some PJ's you can wear they button all the way up to your nose." Evie would never believe this – not in a million years – not that her nosey-ass would ever find out.

MY WORDS AGAIN...

A word about the interlude (that was 7/6/2012 – Lissia is sitting here laughing as I write this – she is incorrigible). I still love her and her ways...

Anyway our night was quiet and calming for both of us. I showed her my tiny bedroom that I shared with Georgie. She was astonished at all the books and files. I told her I was a geek in high school and then showed her my yearbooks of course I had to show her my football and track pictures. She read all the comments in my yearbooks – laughing at my naïveté. I let her have some fun – she got to the honors page and pointed, "Valedictorian?"

I nodded and turned the page for her, "Let's move on okay? Besides you're gonna hafta to show me yours."

"My what?"

"You know what...your yearbooks," I winked at her, "I've seen everything else."

She grinned sheepishly, "I'm a total slut for you...damn it...but I love you so much...I just can't help myself."

"Can a guy be a total slut for his girl?"

She howled, "Why not? You're very good at it too."

"Easy baby," I pointed to my dick as it started swelling.

"Yikes," she smiled, "we have to be careful."

We got up and went into the den where Mom was waiting with some PJ's and a robe for Lissia, "You can change in the middle bedroom whenever you're ready for bed. Steven can pull out the sleeper sofa. The sheets and pillows are in the hall linen closet Steven."

Lissia took the PJ's and the robe, "Thank you Mrs. Edwards. I think I'll change now."

"Come on let me show you the bathroom and the bedroom," they left Dad and me alone.

Dad was grinning, "Be careful tonight Son. Your Momma is struggling with this one."

I promised him, "I will Dad," I sat down on the hassock opposite him. "Thank you for trusting me," I nodded to him.

He was solemn, "I am guessing the rape ruined her child-bearing."