The Red Ledger Vol. 02

Some people have said that the original left some holes or just needed a little more. So I re-read it and decided to expand it a little. Still, no sex, just a love story, with some family angst thrown in. Hopefully, it will satisfy some people's curiosities. Again, no sex; for those of you looking for some depravity, sorry. May I suggest "The Perfect Crime, Parts 1-7." It should satisfy anyone.

Enjoy!!

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So our life was moving along with few bumps in the road. One of them was her family. Her mother, Samantha, was the biggest in question. So Celeste thought we should visit them. There was a family meeting/party this Saturday, but we were left off the invite list. So we decided to crash the party. At her parent's house. Uninvited. Do you get the picture??

We showed up, went into her folk's house, and strode up to her mom and dad. Her dad saw us coming, and his face split into a wide grin. He hugged his daughter and kissed her cheek.

"So, you must be Sean," he said.

"I am, sir."

"Nice to finally meet you, son. I'm Donald Forsane. Where's your little boy?"

"He's at my parents, sir. We didn't know how this would go."

He looked down and muttered, "I can understand that."

His daughter piped up, "Well, dad, no one informed us of this little get-together. And yet, here we are." She turned and stared at her mother.

I stepped up, turned to her mother, and said, "Mrs. Forsane, so nice to finally meet you."

She looked at me like I had forgotten to wash my hands and face.

"Hello, Mr. Riley? Is it?"

"Yes, ma'am. Sean, if you would."

"Yes, quite." She turned back to her daughter.

"We did not know if you would be available to be here, dear. I'm sorry you didn't get the invite."

"Oh, that's all right. Pop-pop told us about it." Pop-pop was Celest's pet name for her grandfather.

With that, the esteemed man announced his presence. He reached over, kissed Celeste on the cheek, and extended his hand to me.

"Nice to meet you, son. Our girl has only spoken wonderful things about you."

I dropped my eyes and blushed a little.

"Don't give him a big head, pop-pop," said Celeste, with a grin of her own.

"Yes, well, whatever," said her mother, "You're here now, so let's discuss this proposed marriage."

"There is nothing to discuss, mother. We are going to get married, and that's all there is to it."

"Celeste, think of your standing in the community. How can you show your face at the country club? What will the newspapers say of it? And what about all our friends?"

"It's simple, mother. I just won't go to the country club anymore. Our standing in the community will be by my attendance and work at my church and charitable functions. The newspapers will say, Celeste who??, and if our friends don't like it, then they weren't my friends, to begin with."

I was so proud of this woman.

"But he is only a mechanic, a common grease monkey."

'You really know how to make points, lady,' I thought.

"Yes, mother, and I can afford to stay at home with my husband and son."

"And the child!! Do we even know who the mother or the father is??"

That's it. Mother just crossed the line. I bowed up and rounded on her, but Celeste grabbed my arm and gave me a slight shake of the head.

She got up in her mother's face, slapped her with an open hand, and shook her index finger right in front of her nose.

"DON'T YOU EVER, EVER TALK ABOT MY SON LIKE THAT AGAIN, BITCH!!" she spit out.

Her mother, holding her jaw, screamed at her father, "Control your daughter, Donald!!"

Celeste's dad looked at his daughter, and turned to his wife, and said, "Shut the fuck up, Samantha!"

It had got deathly quiet in the room, and people were staring.

Samantha exploded, "I'll have your job for this, Donald!!!"

A quiet, calm voice from behind me said, "No, you won't, Samantha."

I turned, and there stood Celeste's grandfather, bourbon and branch in his hand. Samantha spluttered, burst into tears, and fled the room.

"Nice move, sweetheart," said her grandfather.

I muttered a bit and said, "I could have handled that."

"I'm sure you could have son. And then it would have been an assault, and we would have to come bail you out. This way, it's just a family disagreement."

I have to admit the old guy was probably right.

Celeste's dad came over and extended his hand to his father-in-law. "I'm sorry, dad. She shouldn't have said what she said."

"It's o.k., son. She deserved what she got."

Grandpa took Celeste's arm and said, "I'm hungry. Let's eat."

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The party had gotten back to normal, and Grandpa led us to the buffet line. We got some food and drinks and went to find a table. We found a small table for two on the patio and sat down. Celeste smiled at me, and all was right with the world.

Several relatives came and offered congratulations. Two of her female friends came over to say she was lucky and that she had definitely done better this time around. It appears no one liked Richard, her first husband.

"You really were remarkable back there, with your mother. I'm very proud of you. Also, a little scared."

She giggled and looked me in the eyes.

"NO ONE talks about my boys like that. NO ONE."

GOD, I do love this woman.

"My mother instigated my first marriage to Richard. Social standing, family considerations, and money all entered into it. If it were up to her, I would be married to be someone like this." She nodded her head over my shoulder to indicate the approach of Jeffery Lawson.

This guy had been sniffing around Celeste since she became a widow. He was interested in her money, or more precisely, how he could spend her money.

I didn't like him. At all. Can you imagine why??

He strode up with a dismissive attitude and said to Celeste, "Well, are you done wasting your time with carboy here??"

Prick.

Celeste put her hand possessively on my forearm and said, ".howWhat did you have in mind, Jefferey?"

"I just thought it would be time to hook up with a real man."

Like I said, "Prick."

"Oh, you mean someone with a gambling problem, a drug problem, two pending paternity suits, four different divorce actions filed naming him a respondent, severe bankruptcy issues because his father just fired him, and being a social pariah? Or are you talking about a pussy hound who can't keep it in his pants? I've already been married to one of those, Jefferey. So who are we talking about?"

The color was draining from Jeffery's face during Celeste's dissertation, and he was bordering on passing out.

'"How..how...how do you know all that?"

"The old adage, 'Know thine enemy'; and you are definitely the enemy, Jeffery. Now I think it would be best if you left- NOW."

" 'Bye, Jeffy," I said. He hates that nickname. (Heh, Heh, Heh!)

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He turned and beat a hasty retreat as Celeste watched him leave. I was beginning to think I was no match for this woman. She was way out of my league. Then she turned and stared at me with those beautiful blue eyes.

"And don't you go getting cold feet on me. We are a perfect match, and our love is better than anything I could ever hope to have. SO suck it up, bucko, and let's go talk to my grandpa." She was smiling like a lunatic.

Cripes, she was also psychic.

She held out her hand and led me to see pop-pop.

He was sitting at the edge of the patio, by the goldfish pond. He was talking to three of his older buddies. They saw us coming over and rose and shook his hand, smiled at us, and excused themselves. He rose as we got to him and took Celeste's arm to help her to a seat. I sat down facing him, with Celeste to his left. He looked at us and chuckled.

"Alright, what do you want to know?"

"We just have a couple of questions, pop-pop."

"I always have time for my favorite granddaughter. You know," he spoke to me, "your father occasionally spirits your son away from your mother during the day and brings him to the V.F.W. Everyone there loves him, especially Tamara and Justine, the bartenders. They said they were going to keep an eye on him when he grows up. They want a shot at him when he starts dating."

"But he's only three years old," I said.

"Like father, like son," said Celeste and grinned.

"You have another granddaughter?' I asked.

"She's his great-granddaughter, actually," said Celeste with a smile. Then she turned seriously to her grandfather.

"How did you shut mom up like that? She was on a roll and tearing into daddy as if I have seldom seen before."

"Like I told your dad, she deserved it." He looked at both of us. "And besides, I own the company."

That's It. I don't know what to think. This guy owns the company, and he's just a machinist??

He started to explain. "I began Midwest machinery when I returned from Viet Nam. I didn't know all that much about running a business, and in a few years, we were going great guns. So I hired a couple of business types, one of them being your dad. He had been making googly eyes at your mother, and it appeared he was good for her. I had given her a job as secretary/receptionist. He continued to advance, and when he made sales manager, he asked for her hand in marriage. THEN he proposed to her.

"Pretty old-fashioned, don't you think?"

"But you're just a machinist," I stated.

"And you're just a mechanic. So what?" he asked.

'Touche!' I thought. I was even more impressed with her grandpa now.

"Then your mother quit to give birth to you brother, and......"

"WAIT, you have a brother too??" I was stunned.

Celeste was hysterical now. "Yes, I do have an older brother, Donald Hugh Forsane. He graduated from West Point and qualified for Airborne Infantry. He got selected for Green Beret training and assigned to So Com in Florida.

"He came home all excited and told us what he was doing. He said he wanted to make the Army a career. Dad and I were very proud of him. My mother kept calling him her little soldier boy in a very deprecating way and said he should come home and get a respectable white-collar job.

"Finally, he had had enough. He told mother to 'fuck off' and said it was his life and that he would make his choices. He took the posting to Florida and got assigned to Ethiopia.

"He met a Christian Arab female neurosurgeon, Dr. Ami Kashime. They got married and have two beautiful children, one boy, and one girl. His wife is drop-dead gorgeous.

"They have never been back to the states. He got promoted to Major two years ago.

"I have been in touch with him and his wife about five to six times a week. I have told him all about you. He thinks it is cute that you are a Marine," she giggled.

I could tell she was jerking my chain with the last comment, probably at her brother's instigation. Soooo--

"I'm sure he is a nice guy,.... for a Green Beanie."

Grandpa chuckled a little.

Celeste frowned a little and said, "I was hoping they would get back for our wedding."

"Alright, let's cut the crap here."

Pop-pop looked at me, "Are you happy?"

"Yes, sir, very much."

"And you, Celeste??"

"Yes, Pop-pop. I am."

"And do you love my granddaughter?"

Without hesitation, I answered, "Absolutely, sir."

"And Celeste, do you love him??"

She turned and looked me in the eye, "With all my heart, Grandpa!!"

"Then the rest is just bullshit. Man up, stand your ground and get married. It doesn't matter what everyone else thinks or does, as long as you two are happy. I'm just sorry your grandmother couldn't see this." Celeste's grandmother had passed away a little more than five years ago from cancer.

I looked at this amazing woman sitting next to me and realized that I was the luckiest guy in the world.

I shook Grandpa's hand; Celeste hugged her pop-pop and kissed his cheek. We stood and made our way towards the family room and her father.

We walked up to him, and I shook his hand.

"Pleasure to finally meet you, son. Maybe we could swing by and meet this grandson of ours."

"Any time, sir."

Celeste moved up and hugged and kissed her dad.

"Thanks, dad. We love you."

That's when I saw her- Samantha on a mission towards us. The last thing I wanted was a catfight. So I turned and placed myself between my betrothed and her mother.

Boy, was I dense?

Samantha crashed into me, and I knew where Celeste got her boobs from-her mom. She hugged me to her and buried her face into my chest. Tears started to flow copiously, and she soaked my shirt with her sobs.

"I'm so, so sorry. I was such a fool. I just want you two to be happy. I'm sorry!!"

I carefully pried her off my chest, and looked at her face, then kissed her forehead.

"It's o.k. mom, really it is."

Celeste was stunned; her father flabbergasted.

Samantha pushed past me to her daughter and wrapped her up in an embrace.

"It's alright, mom. Everyone makes mistakes. We still love you."

"I was so stupid. Can you ever forgive me?"

"Already have, mother. But understand- This is important to us. It is what we want. Our own life together, with all of you as a part. Understand??"

"Yes, and again, I'm so, so sorry. Do you think I could come over and see my new grandson, too?" she blushed.

"Absolutely. We would love to have you and daddy come to visit."

Her dad leaned over to me and whispered, "Don't worry, she's going to get her ass fanned real good in bed tonight."

I turned and looked at him with a shocked look on my face.

"It's o.k. she absolutely loves it. But don't tell her daughter or her father. They might not understand."

He wiggled his eyebrows at me and grinned.

This family is something else.

We left to go home, and she watched my expression while I drove.

"So, are we o.k.?" she asked.

"Sure, babe, why wouldn't we be?"

"I love you, sweetie," she said.

"I love you more, hon. Shall we go and get little Sean?"

"Well, I think we should go home and get a good night's sleep, so we are not late for church tomorrow."

"But it's only 7:00 p.m.!!" I said.

"That's right, so we should go home and get a GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP, SO WE ARE NOT LATE FOR CHURCH TOMORROW!!"

OHHH. RIGHT. I GET IT.

I so love this woman.

And we were still almost late for 10:00 church the following morning.

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Thanks for reading and putting up with me.

The BEAR