Not Passing Go! Ch. 08

"So, where to we stand, er, is calling you honey still OK?" I asked.

"Yes, or sweetheart, as you prefer, Danny. Where we stand depends very much on you. I have a lifetime commitment to the twins, and now include PJ, so I am not going anywhere for a while. But you need to wise up, Daniel and either get with the programme, or ... well, none of us want you to go, getting with the programme is what we hope for."

"Something was holding me back, honey." I said, "It wasn't just the twins, as soon as I met them I started to gett over that. What I couldn't get over was that you were somehow different and at the time I couldn't fathom why. Now I know. You are a stranger to me. The woman I fell in love with, almost at first sight, or certainly when I danced that first slow dance with, is dead and has gone forever. I do hope that you and I can start over, perhaps go on a few dates. What do you think?"

This time she pulled my hands to her lips and she kissed the backs of my hands twice and three times, until her tears splashed on my hands.

I lifted her chin so I could look into her eyes. "Sweetheart?"

"Yes," she said, tears streaming down her cheeks, "I do like being your 'sweetheart', and I wish I had stood up to my sister when you asked me to walk with you and talk where we could hear each other."

"You were there in the disco?"

"Yes, I was home on vacation, but when I went to the ladies' cloakroom to get my hat, coat and scarf, Agnes demanded to know where I was going and who with. She forced me to point you out, the biggest and most outstanding guy in the place. That is why I had long been warned off dancing with any of her fellow students. I hardly knew them anyway, as I was only home between semesters. Agnes was a poor student and only treading water at college and was jealous of my US scholarship. I had spoken about how well I was settling in and learning English, and this made her determined to take you from me, especially when I told her you were such an English gentleman, that you had kept your hands to yourself during our slow dance."

"You were the one I danced with, er, sweetheart?"

"Yes, just those four dances. Then Agnes took over and I had to fly back to the States a couple of days later. I didn't see you again until you turned up out of the blue to take the twins and me to the Bahamas."

"Then, Berta, you are the twin I fell in love with."

I held our hands tightly together, as I slipped from the armchair onto one knee.

"Sweetheart, I have been in love with you ever since I met you. Somehow, I was sidetracked along the way, but we have two little girls who made the detour worthwhile. Would you marry me, my favourite twin?"

"Don't be silly, Danny," she giggled, the tears drying up, "honey, every paper I have declares that I am already Mrs Agnes Matthews, so we are already married and have the marriage certificate to back it up."

"I know, sweetheart," I replied, putting my arms around her and gently kissing each wet cheek, "But we haven't consummated our marriage."

"True, honey, but be very gentle. My sister never allowed me to have a boyfriend, and once I fell in love with you, I never had the heart to share my gift of love with any other."

And that is how I finally passed Go! collecting a beautiful wife on the way who was cute and certainly not dumb.

THE END