Melanie Gideon: Wife 22

I pick the microphone back up. “Listen, all I have to say… all I have to say is-run, dive, pitch a tent. Spend hours on the phone with your best friend.”

Nedra pops up and gives a Queen Elizabeth wave with a cupped palm. Laughter ripples through the room.

“Wear bikinis.”

More than a few groans from the women in the over-forty group.

“Drink tequila.”

Hoots of appreciation from the under-forty group.

“Wake up in the morning happy for no good reason.”

People are smiling. Faces are soft. Eyes are glistening.

“You’ve got them, Alice,” whispers Bunny. “Reel them in slowly now.”

I take a deep breath . “ Lie in the grass, dream of your future, of your one imperfect life and your one imperfect marriage to your one imperfect true love. Because what else is there?” I lock eyes with William. “Honestly, there’s nothing else. Nothing else matters. To love.” I raise my glass. “To Nedra and Kate.”

“To Nedra and Kate,” the room echoes back.

I plop down in my chair, wiped out.

“Mom, you were awesome,” says Peter.

“I didn’t know you could just wing it like that,” says Zoe.

Nedra blows me a kiss from across the room, tears in her eyes.

“Where’s Dad?” asks Zoe.

“There,” says Peter, pointing. He’s leaning against the wall watching us, holding his phone in his hand.

I get my phone and quickly type.

Lucy Pevensieinvited John Yossarian to the event “Proposal”

The Bathroom Hallway, August 17, Now.

RSVP Yes No Maybe

An instant later I get a message.

John Yossarianhas responded Yes.

“Back in a minute,” I say.

I’m standing near the bathroom door and William steps forward, into the dim light of the hallway.

“Wait. Before you say anything, I’m sorry,” I say.

“ You’re sorry? For what?”

“I didn’t make it easy for you. I was hard to find.”

“Yes, you were hard to find, Alice. But I made you a promise a long time ago that no matter how far you wandered, how far you went off trail, I would come after you, I would find you and I would bring you home.”

“Well, here I am. For better or for worse. And you’re probably thinking for worse right now.”

“No, I’m thinking we have got to stop meeting in the bathroom hallway,” he says, inching closer.

I pull the engagement ring out of my pocket. I wave it in his face and he stops short.

“Is that-?”

“Yes.”

“What? How?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Of course it matters.”

“No, it doesn’t. What matters is this,” I say, sliding the ring on my finger.

William inhales sharply. “Did you just do what I think you did?”

“I don’t know. What do you think I did?”

“Made me obsolete.”

“Oh, pah! It’s the twenty-first century, not the nineteenth. Women can put their engagement rings on their own damn fingers. Now I need to know something and you need to tell me the truth. And may I suggest you answer without thinking about it too much? If you had to do it all again, would you marry me?”

“Is that a marriage proposal?”

“Answer the question.”

“Well, that depends. Is there a dowry involved? Give me the damn ring, Alice.”

“Why?”

“Just give it to me.”

“You still owe me a thousand dollars for participating in the study. Don’t think I’ve forgotten,” I say, taking the ring off and handing it to him.

He looks at the engraving and a smile creeps across his lips.

“Read it out loud,” I say.

He gives me that dark, brooding, trademark stare of his. “Her heart did whisper he had done it for her.”

I had no mother for twenty-nine Christmases, Easters, and birthdays. No mother for college graduation. No mother sitting in the front row at the opening night of my play. No mother at my wedding or the birth of my children. But I have a mother today. Here she is, speaking to me as if no time has ever passed, telling me exactly what I need to know.

“My father found it in a pawnshop in Brockton. It’s been there for twenty years. Nedra said it’s a sign.”

“If you’re a person who believes in signs,” he says.

“I am.”

“Since when?”

“Since-forever.”

William reaches down for my hand.

“Not so fast. I’m a married woman.”

“And I’m a married man.”

“You never answered my question.”

“ Yes, Alice Buckle,” he says, sliding the ring onto my finger.

“You showed up,” I whisper.

“Shush, you nutty ho ho,” he says, as he pulls me into his arms.

April 30

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