Andi's Dream-A Wedding to Plan

He kissed her forehead, "Sure, baby." They walked along Main Street, Andi clinging to his left arm, Madeline clutching his right hand, Sandy holding Andi's left hand, and he thought he was in heaven. The village's Christmas decorations, the decorated store windows, the music coming from hidden speakers on the light poles, this was the moment he had been waiting for his entire life. Sure, he's old enough to be these girl's grandfather, but he's going to enjoy being their father, and maybe, if he's lucky enough, he'll actually see a grandchild or two before he's called home.

"Whatcha thinking about?" Andi asked.

"I can picture what this area looked like in the 40's," said Paul, "the cars they drove, the busses they rode, the Wright Aircraft plant back on Cayuga road where they worked. There used to be a trolly that ran down the middle of Main Street and would take you downtown to Buffalo City Hall." He sighed. "I'm nostalgic for a timeline I never took part in," and he shook his head.

Andi realized that with his overcoat and his fedora, he would look right at home in 1942. She thought of the big Victorian nest he had feathered for her and the girls, from the outside he took pains to have it painted just like it would have been painted when it was new in 1875. That was when Springville was nearing its centenary, when the steel barons ruled Buffalo, and Springville was world renown not for the natural spring water that flows from every hill, but the spring steel of unsurpassable quality that was produced there.

The hour was up when they entered Mr. Wetzel's shop and he was all smiles, as was his wife who always joined him on occasions like this. He held up the engagement ring and gave Paul a jeweler's loupe and pointed out the high points of the 1.5 karat diamond that would soon take up residence on Andi's hand. He put a ring gauge on Andi's impossibly slim finger, then checked the ring gauge of the ring itself. "And now the fit!" he announced and turned to Andi.

Andi reached out for the ring and Mr. Wetzel appeared as if he were going to hand it to her, but he stopped and said "No! Is too important for me." He turned to Paul. "It is your responsibility." He handed the ring to Paul who went to his knee, knelt, took Andi's hand, and slid the engagement ring on her finger. As he did there was a flash and Mrs. Wetzel preserved the moment with her camera. Andi sank to her knee and kissed Paul and as she did the twins gathered in for a family hug. "I love this part, papa," sighed Mrs. Wetzel as she took more pictures.

"I also, Liebchen." The Wetzel's were both ear to ear grins as Paul helped Andi to her feet and the twins bobbed and clamored to see the diamond now on their mommy's finger.

"I want one too!" said Sandy.

"You can't have one, you don't like boys," said Madeline in a matter of fact tone.

"I forgot."

They said their goodbyes to the Wetzel's and piled into Andi's car. After the twins were safe in their car seats Andi stood at the passenger door waiting. Paul took the hint and opened the door for her, as she turned to get in the car she suddenly stopped, turned, and threw her arms around Paul hugging him as tightly as possible. "Oh daddy..." she sighed, "my love..."

Paul put his finger under her chin and urged her to look up, and when she did, their lips met for the most loving, passionate kiss she has ever experienced in her life. The snow continued as they kissed and when they broke the kiss she looked up at Paul, her eyes glistening and practically spinning in love. "Where have you been my whole life?"

"Looking for you," he whispered, and they kissed again. When finally, their lips parted, she found her head was spinning with love for this man. She held him tight until she felt him easing her arms away. "Come on baby, we're getting covered with snow and our audience is getting upset." It was then that she realized that the twins were yelling that they were getting cold. Then she noticed that she and Paul were indeed covered with snow.

"Let's warm these guys up," she said with a nod to the twins.

He realized that she wanted to look at her ring as they drove, so Paul took the command seat, and they were off. First they swung by Tim Horton's, a popular Canadian coffee and donut shop and got an extra-large "double-double" (double cream, double sugar) coffee for each adult and a small hot chocolate for each twin, then Paul turned on a local station for Christmas music and they spent the rest of the evening looking at Christmas lights.

"I don't know why, but this is my favorite area," said Paul as they drove slowly up Cayuga road. "The houses here are all well over a hundred years old, and there's no HOA to stipulate the decor, but look!" All of the houses were large colonial houses, all were painted white with black window shutters. Each house had their front door painted red. The Christmas decorations were nearly identical, the houses were illuminated with white spotlights, many had also illuminated the tree trunks on the trees in their front yards with white spotlights. There were occasional wreaths and green garlands on the houses, some houses had red window boxes and some of those where decorated with pine boughs and red ornaments, but what made the neighborhood beautiful was that each and every window had a single lit candle. The simple beauty of those electric candles made the entire neighborhood look more festive than a thousand multicolored mini-lights on each house.

"It's beautiful!" gasped Andi, but Paul wasn't sure if she was talking about the houses or the ring on her finger.

"Boring!" called out the twins from the back seat. Their tastes in Christmas decorations tended to lean toward the inflatable displays that covered the front lawns of other neighborhoods. They continued their journey home weaving through the festive neighborhoods in Williamsville, Cheektowaga, Depew, Orchard Park, and finally back to Springville.

<><><><><>֎<><><><><>

After getting the girls settled in bed Andi went looking for her fiancé. The Victorian house is a mansion on insurance and tax rolls, it is over 5000 square feet. What makes it a mansion is the three fireplaces. Coming down the main staircase Andi had a choice; turning to the right put her in the living room, decorated in 50s/60s style with the aluminum Christmas tree, or to the left into the parlor with it's pure Victorian decor and huge Christmas tree in the front window. The choice didn't matter, he wasn't in either location. She looked in the formal dining room, kitchen, pantry, finally she looked in the huge library, a room she thought that would be better served if it were divided off into 2 or 3 rooms. There was a fire in the fireplace and Paul had pulled a loveseat in front of the fire, and in that flickering light she saw his silhouette kneeling in prayer.

She quietly sat down on the love seat and waited quietly until he finally looked up and smiled. "What 'cha praying for dear?" she asked.

"Lots of prayers, mostly of thanksgiving for being blessed with you. But also, for strength," he sat down next to her and put his arms around her small shoulders, so timid, so fragile. "There are things we need to talk about. I was talking with old friends of Frank and..."

She immediately shuddered and tried to pull away, but he held her close. "I don't want to talk."

"Just this once baby, and then it's over. One and done."

"It's about the poker parties, isn't it," she sniffed. Then she stiffened with resolve. "No. You'll hate me."

Paul lifted her delicate hand and kissed it close to her engagement ring. "I heard their side of the story before I put this ring on your hand, and I did that with no reservations. Now I need to know your side of the story before I talk to Frank tomorrow." At the sound of Frank's name, she stiffened. "Maybe we can make him pay for what he did."

She sat feeling miserable for a long time, conflicting emotions over a half decade old tore apart her stomach, she thought she was ready to vomit. Finally, she started to speak in an incredibly soft, very quiet voice, barely heard over the popping and sizzling of the fire. "I suppose you need to hear it all, it's only fair..." She twisted her hands together, twisting her engagement ring like she was considering removing it. Finally, with a resigned sigh she began:

"I told you that I was a bit of a wild child, and once I discovered that if someone else touches my pussy, it's a hundred times better than when I do it, there was no turning back. I forget when or to who my virginity went, some frat boy in the dorm at Denver U. most likely but God how I partied...

"When I started studying in earnest, when I was able to see the prize all of that stopped. I don't even think I masturbated during med school and when I was an intern, I was 100% focused on getting my residency. I started seeing guys casually and my mother introduced me to Frank, she said he was the answer to my prayers. She said that he could help me pay off my student debt, and somehow, we ended up married. I still don't know how.

"It was tolerable, I rarely saw him, he was out doing things... mostly gambling. And sex... meh... it was sex. No love, no... there was no... Oh God!" she cried, "Oh sweet god no! I just... I suddenly realized, you're my first real love... I just realized it... even my high school crushes were nothing like this... I love you so much and now I have to do this to you..." she wept against his chest, deep heart-breaking sobs.

Paul pulled her up onto his lap where she buried her face in his shoulder and shuddered as she tried to hold back the tears. "This is hard, this is bad stuff," Paul whispered in her ear, "but every word draws me closer to you, and I never thought closer was possible." She shuddered and sniffed; her weeping ceased until Paul said, "You truly are my greatest love." Those words caused the dam of her emotions to burst. Paul was afraid her wails would wake the twins, but soon he was weeping along with her until she regained herself.

"Frank somehow found out about my college days, probably through that rat bastard brother of his Vinnie. Anyhow, he started introducing toys to our bedroom." She stopped for a moment and stared at Paul to accent what she had to say next. "I like toys. Toys are fun. I still have a nice collection back in Denver. Everything he did with me and to me I like, or intend to like... with you, not him. He was ... ewww."

She sat up straighter and put her hand on his cheek, tears still streaming down her cheeks. "I'm not into horoscopes and sooth saying, but astrological signs seem to me to be strangely right on the money. I'm a Gemini, Frank is a Scorpio, that's the worst match in the astrological calendar I'm told, and I believe it. You on the other hand are a Libra and we are supposed to be the absolute best match on the calendar, especially sexually." She kissed him and whispered in his ear "I intend to fuck you to death, and I pray that you have the same fate intended for me."

Paul smiled, "I sure do."

She leaned back smiling through her tears, then leaned on her man again. "Frank and I got into bondage just to break the boredom, I guess. He loved to tie me spread eagle to the bed, naked and blindfolded. I found it boring mostly, but at least I couldn't see him. He would be gone for a while then he'd show up and fuck me, I was supposed to beg for it, and he'd hit me if I didn't. He loved hitting a small tied up woman.

"Then he started playing poker. We would go to one of the casinos in Blackhawk and get a room. First, he would parade me around the casino floor in a dress that he picked out which showed off my tits, then we would go to our room. He'd leave me there naked, tied doggy style to the bed and blindfolded." She began to gulp for air, "He would leave me for a long time playing at a private game in the hotel. Then after a while he would show up and grab my ass and I was supposed to be all turned on. I was expected to beg for it, I was ordered to call him Master and beg him to fuck me, and he'd do me, and he would beat me bad if I didn't call him Master. If I did good, he would only smack me a few times, if I did bad, he would beat me, hitting me where it wouldn't show. Then he would go back to playing poker. He said it brought him luck."

"Did you ever wear a wig?" Paul asked.

"All the time, his favorite was a long shocking pink thing, but sometimes black, he said it made me look like a short Elvira. There was blond, red, candy apple red, I still have them in Denver."

"I hate to ask this, but I have to..." Paul gulped down the huge lump in his throat, "did you ever get the feeling that it wasn't Frank?"

Andi looked completely shellshocked in the fading light of the fire. There in that big empty library she stared out into open space, focused on the middle distance where only dust motes floated. "Yes," she whispered, "most of the time." She was exhausted, there were no more tears left. She buried her face in Paul's chest. "Do you hate me? Can you ever forgive me?"

"Of course, and now it's over. No more questions." She went limp with exhaustion and began to weep quietly as Paul scooped up his shuddering angel, amazed again at how little she weighs, how fragile she is. He carried her upstairs, weeping the entire trip. He laid her on their bed, the one they will be sharing in a few days, and held her tightly until she faded off into sleep. Occasionally the shuddering would return in the night, a small helpless whimper would escape her lips and break his heart for her, but she always returned to sleep. He eventually found sleep also, around dawn.

<><><><><>֎<><><><><>

The sound of the twins being the twins at the top of their lungs woke Paul who was still laying on top of the blankets fully dressed. He splashed some water on his face and found his way to the kitchen, in the breakfast nook he found Andi bright eyed and chipper. She was brushing out Madeline's golden hair one handed because the twins and Lucy were dominating her left hand inspecting her engagement ring from all angles. So fascinated were they that they didn't notice papa as he headed down to the gym.

He grabbed some shorts out of the laundry and hit the treadmill replaying what she said last night over and over, his anger and disgust building, and his plan for what was going to happen with Frank coming to fruition. The anger that he felt for that man kept swelling up in his chest, but what good would it do Andi if he let his anger take over. It was time for planning. The sound of women gushing over a new engagement ring brought him back to reality and let him know that Macy was here.

Andi found him on the treadmill wearing only a pair of shorts and his running shoes. "Bye honey!" she called, "Headed for the conference."

Paul paused his workout and stepped down. "Have a good day baby," kissing her he held her tight. He was sweaty from his morning jog and that was fine with Andi, her man was the best perfume she could wear. "You're so chipper this morning, did a few demons get purged last night?"

"No, they're still there, and they probably will be for a long time, but a good cry helps a lot."

Just the fact that a woman can cry away horrors like Frank was a mystery to Paul. "That was a great cry. Should we bring that up with John and Macy?" Andi and Paul were meeting with John and Macy for pre-wedding counseling again this night, a requirement for being married in Springville Congregational Church.

"I suppose," she sighed and rested her head against Paul's chest, running her fingers through his salt and pepper chest hair. She was thinking of slipping her hand lower and under the waist band of his shorts and to hell with the conference when she heard something. A gurgling? What was that? Then it was gone. A gurgling heart can be normal but it can indicate a valve disorder or a heart murmur or indicate heart failure. "Are you ok daddy?"

"I'm fine baby."

"No, I heard..."

"This is what happens when you buy something twenty years older than you. We creak, we groan, some things rust over."

She has heard these kinds of things from people who were denying serious conditions, but he is not her patient and she doesn't have a stethoscope handy. His only medical relationship with her is sperm donor, which got her back to thinking of slipping her hand under his waistband...

"The pastor's wife is right over our head and she's going to take our babies chicken feeding and egg gathering and you're running late dear." After a kiss, Andi was on the road headed for the conference and once he had finished up with his shower he headed upstairs to brief Macy on the planned events of the day. It was time to talk with Frank.

<><><><><>֎<><><><><>

Frank Rosetti walked into Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant like he owned the place. He was short, stocky with dark hair and a permanent five o'clock shadow and chest hair fountaining out of his t-shirt collar. A man, clearly a member of the wait staff, walked up to Frank who said "Caio."

"Ciao, posso trovarti un trattore?" replied the 'waiter' whom everyone called Larry.

"I'm not really hungry, I'm looking to meet a guy, name a Paul Jarecki," said Frank as he looked around the restaurant. There was an older couple in the dining area and a couple of guys at a table near the bar. Nobody looked like a doctor in this small crowd, but it was 10:00 AM and the restaurant just opened.

"Doctor Jarecki, yes. He has reserved a table in our smoking lounge for your meeting. He told us that you enjoy a good cigar."

Frank grinned, his taste in cigars can get awful expensive if someone else is buying. "That's very thoughtful of da guy. Lead on." He still had the stub end of his well chewed morning stogie in his hand.

As he followed the waiter past a table on the way back to the smoking lounge a rough looking character at the table caught the waiters eye, the waiter acknowledged with a slight nod. The rough looking character looked at the man across the table from him who had his back to the door. "That must be the fellow," said Gus Di Dimissio. "Larry asked Frank if he could find him a tractor, and Frank said that he wasn't hungry."

"I didn't realize your Italian was so good Gus," said Paul as he slipped on a blazer. A blazer can add legitimacy to anything a man wears.

"Like we Italians like to say; "La madre dei cretini é sempre incinta," the mother of the idiots is always pregnant," smiled Gus.

Paul took a deep breath, "Here we go," and he grabbed his backpack and headed to the smoking lounge. The smoking lounge was a private establishment physically separated from the restaurant and accessible through a covered breeze way. It was a separate business, a cigar bar, and the alcohol came from Giardini's. Paul stepped out of the back door of Giardini's Italian Family Restaurant, crossed the covered breeze way, and entered the lounge, a well-ventilated humidor with several tables, recliners, and couches. Glass doors lined the walls and hundreds of different cigars were clearly seen. Paul walked right up to Frank, stuck out his hand and said "Frank Rosetti? Paul Jarecki, how ya doing."

"You tell me doc; you called this little pow wow."

Paul eased into a comfortable overstuffed chair and set the backpack close to his side. "Well, you were in the neighborhood, there's the wedding coming up, I figured we'd smoke the peace pipe and talk some guy talk."

"You a heart doc smoking a cigar?" Frank laughed.