Fire Down Below

Maria answered, "Well, I told Amy last night to tell them to pick out what rooms they'll want when we move in after we get married!"

I am glad we are taking it slow. I do not want to be alone anymore.

When All of the Walls Fell Down

Slowing down a tidal wave is an impossible act and would have no impact. We were enjoying our ride on that wave when a family issue required immediate attention. Her father, who she loves deeply, has a disease and his doctor in Mexico said that he has more treatment options in the US. She wants her father and mother to travel to the United States for treatment and I whole heartedly agreed.

The medical costs are manageable but if you add housing, food, transportation, and other things it might be a deal breaker. We struggled to decide the best way to proceed but realized the most important thing is to get them to the US. Here in Columbus, one of the ER doctors I have gotten to know well says that high quality treatment options are available here in Columbus that are well-tailored to each patient. He advised that his successful treatment would rely on his personal state of mind and comfort. That she be what Maria and I should concentrate our resources and love.

When you fall in love again, you worry about the first conflict that arises and I worried that solution options might cause friction in our relationship. I worried without cause - she is very direct without becoming confrontational. I was so looking forward to getting to know her family, there was almost nothing that I would not accept in our relationship.

Oh, my comment about a couple? Yes, four months after Kings Island we are engaged and planning to be married. I knew at the end of that first night that we were destined to become husband & wife. Her family is due to arrive next week, and we had our basic plan in place, but, as we are accustomed, someone threw a curveball! Her brother - a recent graduate of a medical school in Mexico was traveling with them and wanted to help with his father's home care after his surgery and chemotherapy followed by radiation. Our home, now that Maria and her girls live here, is very tight now that all their possessions are here in "our home" All of our rooms occupied with us in the Master Bedroom, #2 - for Ethan and Brad, #3 for her girls, #4 - the second master suite would be for Maria's parents. Every room was tightly packed. I even worried that her parents might object to us sharing a bed before we are married! It still was not a complete solution.

Ever willing to fall on a grenade, Amy volunteered to take the three girls. Two girls would sleep in her office that we would convert back to a bedroom and Maria's youngest daughter would sleep in Amy's bed with her. That way the girls would be more comfortable than occupying a single, small room. Maria smiled when Amy said that. Amy saw it and knew why Maria was smiling - Amy's biological clock was ticking as loudly as the crocodile in the cartoon version of Peter Pan! Maria and I were talking about finding Amy a good man - Maria said for me to find a clone - my clone!

How could we accommodate Ignacio, the brother? The answer became almost obvious. There was a small bonus area on the second floor that I used as an office. Since Maria and I started dating, I did not even pay bills from there any longer. It was big enough to provide temporary accommodations for Ignacio. Furniture purchases, once he arrived, should make the condition livable.

As Eduardo and Ana Lopez arrived and got settled it only took three days to finalize our wedding plans. Sometimes religious issues impact plans of this type but her Catholicism and my lapsed Anglican/Episcopal faith aligned quite well. Ironically, my wife's death eased the process as "divorced" people ordinarily cannot get married in a Catholic church. Maria's continuing ties to that mid-town Columbus Catholic Church and School made everything easy.

Eduardo's treatment commenced and I was so glad that Amy recommended her solution. Ignacio was a saint, taking care of his father as only a male could. His colon cancer left him incontinent and with an ostomy bag. Maria's dad was devastated as he could not even recognize himself in a mirror as he lost a great deal of weight and we saw signs of his growing depression. Two factors helped improve his condition.

Eduardo and Ana arrived early in October as Maria, and I were planning a New Year's Eve wedding. Ignacio arrived mid-October and by the end of October I noticed that all five kids were with us constantly. I loved it, but I wondered if Amy was feeling sick. Amy was very possessive of Maria's girls, so I asked Maria what was up with Amy.

About a month after Maria's family arrival, I noticed that all five of the kids were in our house more often. Amy was very possessive of Maria's girls, but these days they were busier with my boys, so I asked Maria what was up with Amy.

"Barry, you were supposed to find a boyfriend for Amy, and you never found someone like you for her. So as your future wife, I assumed that role and had to import someone. Amy has a boyfriend, and they are dating. She thinks he is the one! Please do not give her a hard time. She has that look in her eyes. You know, the one you saw me give you that night we were at Kings Island. We need to give her space."

I was happy for Amy - she saved me from causing great pain for my boys during those four months of craziness. Now it was a week before Thanksgiving. Her parents were still staying with us happily tolerating the house filled with people. I still do not think they are happy that I was fucking their daughter not thirty feet away from their room. They had to be OK with how things were - in five weeks on New Year's Eve we were getting married. We are hoping our timing is good - Maria went off birth control last week. Our wedding will take place at St. Thomas the Aquinas Church in mid-town Columbus with a reception following at the Knights of Columbus Hall a block away.

We had agreed after her family arrived that Amy would be Maria's maid of honor. I did have close friends in the EMS that I might have chosen to be my best man but, instead, I picked Maria's brother to be my 'best man.' Funny how that worked out, her brother is my best man, and my sister is her Maid of Honor. How strange is that? I learned fast how special her brother is, a talented doctor and sincerely good person. I wondered what woman would be fortunate to marry this 25-year-old doctor!

Thanksgiving came and went. It was not a big deal other than the twelve pounds I put on over two weeks. I went back to the tuxedo rental place and asked them to set me up with the next size up from what they recorded. They laughed in a way that said they do that for all rentals between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Ignacio stayed fit and trim and came to give us good news during the week after Thanksgiving.

His original plan was to return to Mexico after New Year's to start his residency, but his plans changed. While his dad was undergoing treatments, he met a number of residents at the hospital. They wanted to know where he would do his residency. When he said in Monterrey in Mexico, they asked if he might consider somewhere in the US and he said, "Of course, that would be any intern in Mexico's wildest dream." With that his new friends introduced him to the 'powerful department heads' at the Medical Center and he was offered one of the "Oncology Residencies" beginning in February.

I saw his parents' eye fall in sadness. Maria's eyes filled with excitement for her brother, or at least I thought it was excitement for her brother. As I tried to figure out how to console her parents as her dad was still very weak, I looked at Amy. Tears, lots and lots of tears, but I saw they were not tears of sadness. They seemed to be tears of joy and even anticipation. We did not have to wait long until I finally knew the reason.

Ignacio turned away from his parents and walked towards Amy. I saw him reach into his pocket and walk softly over to Amy. He dropped to one knee - OK, now I am understanding and now I had the tears! He said "Please Amy, I love you with all of my heart and soul and want you to be my wife and to have our own children together. God must have meant us to find each other when you think of all that has happened to bring us together. Some were moments of deep hurt and anger, some were moments of impossible pain, some moments of great sacrifice, and next week the first union of our families. Now, I want that union to be two - two beautiful couples meant to be together and raise our families together to represent a love made possible by the events of others."

I waited and waited and waited some more. Then, I acted, "Amy, Amy? Are you OK?"

She nodded, so I shouted - "You need to say YES!"

Three generations were present - they all laughed, including my boys and Maria's girls and this night would be the last time I ever called them anything but our family!

Christmas Day came and went. We bought the kids everything on their lists even if it would stretch our credit limit. They deserve a reward for being there with us every step along the way. I was off duty the week after Christmas on 'leave' as the department was concerned about the anniversary of my wife's death. No guys - her dying provided me the route to my happiness but I was glad to take the week off.

Two more opportunities gained speed during that week. I with an immigration attorney before Christmas about Maria's parents' issue and my desire to help them permanently reside in the United States. That was before I even knew about Ignacio and Amy's relationship as they also were on the marriage track. They called me that morning and said that it looked like that would be possible six months after our marriage and that Eduardo's medical condition would allow them to stay in the US until the petition for citizenship was underway to make that permanent.

I did say two things, didn't I? The other was money starting to fall from the sky.

One thing we did after Christmas was contact attorney to push the insurance companies, my wife and her lover's law firm to settle or face our "team" in court and made new threats to the life insurance companies - one that we paid for and the second through her law firm. If settled in full, each could be worth $2 million - double-indemnity on a million-dollar policy. I was surprised that the sum of $4 million hit our account December 29, just before Maria and I married.

Another surprise was Maria's husband Hector's policies settled late that month as well. It was another double indemnity policy so her $500,000 was deposited December 30^th. Maria and I agreed that it was important to set aside that full amount for the kids' education.

Another issue resolved was my lawsuit against the law firm that employed my wife and her lover. The firm was a limited liability corporation, but it was apparent they could not defend themselves against a suit that alleged it ignored its own policy that prevented relationships between a boss and a staff member. It was policy yet, many males in their office knew the policy was being violated not just by her boss but the principal partner in the office. Seems that my wife's love was not exclusive for her boss and other lawyers had witnessed multiple threesomes with Henry.

We were seriously shopping for a new larger home when our legal action against the law firm was settled for $3 million, reduced by 20% to my lawyer's firm. The $2.4 million was a magic number. We had looked at homes in a new development on the outskirts of Dublin had five new completed homes ready for occupancy, but financing had become much more expensive, so sales had been slow. We needed at least a five-bedroom house (or more) for ourselves as Maria was expecting our sixth child in August. There was one with five formal bedrooms but also allowed for a sixth using an expansion area over the 3-car garage. They also showed a plan option for the remaining space over the garage and, seeing that, we were pretty convinced this was the one.

Already leaning towards purchasing that house, we knew it was right when we noticed a smaller version of the home less than a block away thinking how nice it would be for Amy and Eduardo to be near us. Hey, I do not make this stuff up! It was perfect for them so when the builder asked if we had seen the twin-homes at the entrance to the development, we visited a wonderful one-story twin home at the entrance ideal for older couples.

Time to make the decision. Neither of us had extra spending money growing up and we were barely middle class when we first married. We wanted our kids to have it all and we wanted to surround ourselves with the wonderful family that Maria enjoyed growing up. She was with me when I called Amy and Ignacio who were expecting their first child in September. We asked them to meet us at the second house in 20 minutes. They came, they saw, they loved it, and said - "it costs too much!" Eduardo makes a little more than minimum wage as a resident and I am a teacher. I love my job, but it does not pay much so we will have to pass!"

Maria and I had already decided - "It's too late, we already bought it for you, complements of my cheating ex-wife!" Then, I explained to them the recent settlement received from her law firm.

Ignacio was worried, though, about his parents. I did not realize that Maria had not fully updated him regarding the lawyer's opinion that the parents would be able to stay and gain citizenship after a waiting period. I asked her to keep it quiet for another 15 minutes. We drove to the front of the development and showed them one of the 1800 square foot twin homes recently completed. It was perfect for their parents. Before I could say anything, he said that he and Amy were planning a family as big as ours and that house would be too small. I snickered a little bit thinking that he thought I heard his "too much" statement and took it to heart to show him cheaper and more affordable. I asked Maria to fill him and Amy too, in on what the lawyer indicated.

Then, I surprised everyone showing them executed contracts for all three homes we had shown them today. We would change the names of the buyers to reflect Amy and Ignacio for the other large home and Hector and Ana as proud owners of the condominium near the gate to our community. The change in names would occur once the final price with added amenities was agreed upon.

I hoped that Ignacio's and even Amy's pride would allow us to do this for them. Without Amy's strong hands and loving arms, Maria and I would have been two ships passing in the night. She saw the beautiful couple we could become and enable both of us to overcome the personal loss suffered Christmas Eve, 2021. The settlement from her law firm would enable that terrible night to become the permanent bond between two families. We still had lawsuits pending against Jason's insurer for his liability in the accident as well as the insurer of the Camaro. Any settlement from those folks would increase our children's college funds.

Mom and Dad were the first to move in. There condominium was complete when we saw it that first day. It was well decorated with nice selections of colors, cabinets, countertops, flooring, and lighting fixtures. An account was set up so they could purchase contemporary furniture rather than wait two years to move it from Mexico. Their relocation saddened other family members but them donating their Mexican home to another family member and leaving all furniture, linens, kitchen items, and gardening tools made other family's life wonderful in turn.

Our new home - all 5,000 sq. ft. (yes, I know - very ostentatious) still needed all those choices. Pregnant Maria and Pregnant Amy sure knew how to maximize their 'out of the classroom time.' Maria worked through the end of the school year at St. Thomas Aquinas Elementary School while Amy did the same at Dublin-North Middle School. In June, we moved into our perfect six-bedroom home. We added a seventh bedroom for my oldest boy. It is a mini-apartment with its own bathroom and a media room - no kitchen but a small refrigerator now that he is on the school's swimming team, and he consumes four bottles of Gatorade every afternoon. I reminded him that the media room is for all the kids. Years from now, I can see him as the head of a family. He is kind, smart, and has a love of life. I also see a scholarship in his future. Just this moment, I realized neither he nor my other boy from my life before Maria had ever once asked about Sara's parents - their 'natural' grandparents. Speaks loudly of the 'love' the grandparents showed them over those four months.

Maria and I were able to start moving in early in May just before the end of the school year and 15 days before Maria's due date. Everything in her life is 'on-schedule' and managed precisely. The June 16 due date became the date that our boy, named Hector Matthew Gibson-Alvarez entered the world. Three boys, three girls, and an ocean full of love surrounding them, especially their grandparents. Eduardo still suffers from the sequelae of his cancer, but you would never know it when he is around any of his six grandkids. Wait, I have been saying that too long. Now Amy's child is home, so it is seven and I know 8, 9, and 10 are in the planning stage!

Amy and Ignacio stayed in our old house until two months after the birth of their little girl. I know Ignacio secretly wanted a boy but, I love my girls with all my heart, and they were the three most beautiful girls in Dublin Ohio, until Isla was born. It was the power of positivity - a trait brought forth my Amy - my sister, and Maria - my wife. Us guys? We simply deposit the fertilizer and get to leave and boast!

Last word - no! The last words are to love every one of them with all our hearts, minds, and souls - until death takes us from this world. I promise that every night when I pray - and I pray that my life stays exactly the way it is!