My Dad's Valentine

His answer was, "I'd rather see Miss Lily."

Betty's mother covered her mouth with her hand and said, "That's what my mother told me you'd say. Come along then, and I'll show you the way to father's study where she is preparing to eat her breakfast now."

"May I call you grandmother now?"

Kathy nodded.

"Grandmother, I can find my way to study," and he walked toward the stairs like he'd lived in this house all his life.

"Of course, Bobby, I'll send your breakfast up." Kathy seemed a little depressed until Bobby turned and ran back to her, hugging her legs and saying, "Just because I like spending time with Miss Lily, I also want to spend time with you," and he looked up at her face and gave her a big smile.

The last day before we left, I spent an emotional thirty minutes speaking with Betty's parents in private. Betty asked me what we talked about, and I told her I would reveal my conversation in a couple of months.

***

Bobby's seventh birthday arrived, and Betty went with us to the cemetery to visit Marta's grave. As we walked across the grass, Betty was in the middle, holding my hand and Bobby's. As we laid flowers on the grave, the voice, which didn't come around as much anymore, spoke to me.

'Now remember what I agreed to and what you promised.'

I mouthed the words, "I will."

***

Valentine's Day fell on a Saturday this year, the perfect day for what I had planned. Betty was ready when I picked her up at 10 AM in a town car I had rented. We stopped to pick up Bobby, who spent the night with my parents but surprised Betty when my mom and dad got into the back seat with their grandson.

As we drove north out of the city, Betty kept peppering me with questions, and every now and then, I answered, "All your questions will soon be answered, one at a time."

Fifteen minutes later, she said, "We're going to my parents' house, right?"

When we pulled up to the house, she saw all the cars parked beside the house and said, "Is the whole family here?"

Walt and Kathy greeted us at the door to the mudroom and escorted us into the living room, where everyone gathered around, cheering and clapping as we entered the room.

"What is this?" Betty managed to get her question out feebly, which Bobby answered, "It's your gagement party."

Mom whispered in his ear, and he corrected himself.

"Oops, I meant n-gagement party."

"But you haven't proposed to me, Luke."

I knelt in front of her, holding a box in my left hand and her ring hand with my right, and spoke to her, "Betty, before I ask that question, I need to explain everything first. On Valentine's Day, nine years ago, I proposed to Marta. She accepted, and you know about our marriage and Bobby and how and why she left me. I was a wreck, and I hid my mental state from everyone. I could barely sleep enough to function and ate food only to survive for Bobby. Then I met you, and the layers of pain and heartache began to strip away. First, I was able to sleep more than four hours a night, and the first food I could taste was your hamburger helper."

Everybody laughed but stopped quickly because I didn't want to interrupt the moment.

"After that first weekend, when I fixed your leak, I began thinking about you a lot, and I made up excuses to call you at night, which I did until we discovered the forged Thanksgiving card that I allegedly sent to you via Bobby, Mom, and back to Bobby."

I paused as I located my Mom before continuing, "Mom, after reading what you wrote, I couldn't deny that I agreed with every word. Betty, when I left your house that night, we both agreed that we had strong feelings for each other, and we began dating. I'm not going to review any details of these dates when you cooked dinner for me, but we did spend family time with my parents, and a few weeks later, I met your family, and everything felt right. Do you remember the private meeting I had with Kathy and Walt? In that meeting, I told them everything I'm telling you now about my feelings and what this day means to me."

I took a deep breath, and I could see tears filling up Betty's eyes.

"Last Valentine's Day, way before I met you, I was very sad, almost suicidal. I moped around work and snapped at whoever spoke to me, and I was even short with Bobby. After I met and fell in love with you, I realized that I would always have sadness surrounding me on this day that's supposed to belong to lovers. I asked myself, how could I change my feelings so I wouldn't destroy Valentine's Day for you?"

I paused for another obligatory deep breath before continuing.

"After the first trip to your parents' house, something your mother said to me popped into my head. She asked me how I met Marta and what my proposal to her was like, and I confessed that I asked Marta to marry me on Valentine's Day, but that day would never bring happy thoughts to me ever again. She replied that I needed to add more happy thoughts to February the 14^th so the sad memory would be vanquished, forever."

"Did I really say that?"

"Yes, you did, Kathy, word for word. I thought about it the next week, and I realized the only happy thought that could chase sadness away would be to propose to you today, Valentine's Day. So from now on, this Valentine's Day and every other Valentine's Day will be the day I proposed to both my wives. Betty, how can I ever be sad on such a joyous day?"

Another pause, take another deep breath, and say a Hail Mary before I opened the box, held it up, and asked, "Elizabeth Maria Dalton, will you marry me?"

She started crying and was trying to speak, but the words wouldn't come out, so she nodded her head, and she continued trying to speak, "Urgh...um...oh...uh-huh...yyyy...YES, I'll marry you, Lukey."

And I slid the ring on the correct finger; I hope it's the right finger because my head was being pulled tight between her breasts.

I didn't suffocate, but it was a close call. I spotted Bobby, and he was standing with Mom, Kathy, and Miss Lily, the women he would entertain with his wit and charm as his body grew up to fit his mental age. I listened and the wife in my head was silent. I hope she found peace.

***** finito