Whatever Will Be, Will Be
Chapter 7
Sam Evans Residence
Friday, March 6th, 2020
Nashville, TN
Sam Evans was pacing nervously. His bags were packed; he wasn't getting picked up to head to the airport for another hour at least. He probably should have been having lunch but his stomach was too filled with nervous energy to even contemplate the idea of food. As he walked back and forth across the hard wood floors of his living room, he was frantically rereading every email and text message he and Mercedes had exchanged. He'd started just looking back over the ones after their surprise Valentine's weekend in New York. His intention, to make sure that he could remember everything she had told him about her family. Father, Alfred Demetrius Jones, DDS born in Chicago Illinois, raised in Canton Ohio age fifty six years old…dentist for almost thirty years. Graduate of University of Michigan at Ann Arbor undergrad and dental school. Married to Constance Blanche DuBois-Jones, DMD for the last thirty two years. Connie DuBois was born and raised in Baton Rouge Louisiana, a member of a family pretty much considered southern black royalty since before the Civil War. The DuBois had never been slaves. The family's ancestors had come from France as free men before the Louisiana Purchase They had been business owners, lawyers and preachers for generations. She'd graduated Tulane University before going on to U of M at Ann Arbor for dental school where she and Alfred had met and fallen in love. Alfred Jones has eleven various siblings and his father, Gerard Jones, was still living though his mother, Nadine, had passed away before Mercedes graduated college. Connie Jones has one older brother, Brandon and both her mother, Mere-Ophelia, and her father, Kenneth, were alive and living in New Orleans. Mercedes herself has one older brother Montravious Jackson Jones, MD…cardiatric surgeon in the city of brotherly love…not married but dating a program manager of a nonprofit that assists people who have debilitating injuries or illnesses.
However, rereading the texts and emails just drew his mind to the three weeks since Valentine's day. The two groups of friends had really enjoyed their time in Manhattan. While both Sam and Mercedes had been recognized and asked for pics or autographs a few times as they made their way around the city, the group had managed to hit both the National 9/11 Memorial as well as the Museum of Modern Art and shopping at a few places that appealed to everyone. The groups were overjoyed to see how much Sam and Mercedes actually had in common, though neither music artist had told them of the agreement they had reached. But once they sat down to dinner in Oiji, a Korean restaurant on the outskirts of the East Village, they knew that it was time to pull up schedules and try to take their plan one step closer to reality.
Before they could really get started, Sam's cell vibrated harshly against his leg. Answering it, he was surprised to hear Simon's distinctive voice. "Who is your absolutely favorite manager in the history of the word?"
"Since you're my only manager…I'll go with you. Now why don't you explain to me why you're fishing for complements?" Sam shook his head rolling his eyes.
"Because not only have I arranged you interviews on the Ellen DeGeneres show, but also The Talk, Conan O'Brien and Queen Latifah starting Monday and putting you in LA for the whole work." Simon told him proudly. "I had to push back your studio time until next week, but I thought you might want to spend some time with your new girlfriend. By the way, saw it on People Online, that's a nice necklace you got her. Tiffany's has already called to offer you a big discount on your next purchase since accidentally you gave them a ton of free advertising."
The waiter approached the heavy wooden table and Sam put the phone down just long enough to ask that they bring out all the dishes on the menu served family style if at all possible. Putting it back to his ear he realized that Simon had never stopped talking. "So your new flight leaves tomorrow afternoon at three and arrives in LA at five local time. I made arrangements for you three to stay at the Montage again. Trigger wants to know if you need him to go out there too because if not, he's gonna stick close to home. His date last night apparently went so well he is calling it stellar."
"Yeah, let him stay in Nashville…Puck and Slick have my back. Is Pamela gonna fly out though. I mean, I can't do three talk shows without a stylist…unless Kurt is comfortable helping me out and Mercy doesn't mind me borrowing his services." Sam teased those at the table with his side of the conversation.
In his chrome and leather office Simon rolled his eyes. "Pamela is still mad that he wasn't able to go on the last trip. He has completely cleared his calendar to go with you this week."
"HER…Simon. Pamela is female and therefore SHE is to be referred to by female pronouns remember." Sam stressed loudly.
Simon groaned miserably. "Pamela parents actually named him Palmer. I don't have a problem with him wanting to be a her, hell, when she finally gets it lopped off…then I will call her a her. But call me crazy and insensitive all you like, but I cannot call anyone with a dick twice the size of mine she."
Shaking his head again at Simon's stubbornness, Sam muttered, "Ain't that hard to have more dick than you Simon…you just make up for it by having titanium balls."
"Whatever, anyway, SHE will be there probably before you. Since SHE is packing for you, you won't get any say in what you wear." Simon snarked.
"When is the last time I got to have any say in what I wore on an appearance?" Sam shot back. "Anyway, we sat down to eat when you called. Send me the itinerary and we'll be good." He signed off. "Looks like you ain't getting rid of me yet Darlin'."
"Well considering that when I walked into the living room last night you had a double hand full of her tatas, you'd betta be in this for the long haul…Santana ain't the only one who knows how to cut a pendajo." Deja teased sternly.
Everyone at the table chuckled while Sam smile-pouted. "I wasn't goin' any further." He defended. Not saying that the makeup and hair artist should be really glad she walked in when she did. Ten minutes earlier and Sam had slipped the straps off Mercedes shoulders and was pressing nipping little kisses to the upper swells of her beautiful breasts. Apparently Puck and Santana didn't believe him any more than Deja herself did because all three of them shot him total 'judging you' looks. "I wasn't. I respect my Mercy too much to push her any further than she wants to go."
Santana laughed. "Trouty please. Cedes has no clue how much further she wants to go than she thinks she wants to go." She paused for a second as if she realized the sentence made no sense, yet too stubborn to go back and try to explain what she meant. "In the decade me and Cedes have been friendly, you're the only one she's ever wanted to experiment with. Test the boundaries. Granted if you go too far trust and believe that I will cut your dick off and shove it up your ass so far you will technically be giving yourself a blow job…but, good God man, at least get into the over the shoulder boulder holder."
"Okay, that was confusing. Wasn't that confusing? Really good, not vague at all in terms of the threat, but how on earth do I push her boundaries all while I'm making sure that I don't push too far." Sam groaned.
"It's like porn…you'll know it when you see it." Puck shrugged.
Both Kurt and Santana popped him on the arms. "Look Sam, it's not that complicated. Just keep her panties on and in place, you keep your boxer briefs on with the flap securely closed and you stop if she says no or stop…that should allow you to be able to push the envelope without doing anything to force Santana and I to have to kill you, donate your organs to those in need and dispose of the rest of your body in a manner that is not traceable back to us." Kurt told him calmly. Sam and Puck exchanged looks, neither of them sure what to say to that. "Oh, Noah, don't look so confused, you're on your last shot with Tana too. I know that your hearts weren't engaged back at McKinley, but something tells me that isn't the case this time. So just know that if you cheat on her this time around, Deja and I will make you pay, even if we have to go behind Mercedes' oh so soft hearted back to do so."
Before Slick could decide if should be relieved or saddened that he'd beaten the odds, Mercedes gave him a sweet smile. "We'll treat you to your own shovel talk once you've made it past all Kurt's hurdles. They are any and varied, but we tend to believe that he is worth it in the end. But we did learn a long time ago that if we give the speech too early, Kurt is a lot harder on them." she told him honestly.
The waiter arrived with a tray of soju, a sweet potato liquor, persimmon wine with enough glasses for the ladies and Taedonggang a North Korean beer resembling ale for the men. He was followed quickly by several other members of the restaurant's wait staff bringing plates, silverware and chopsticks. They set the table for the large party in the style of family dining. They also had platters and bowls of the restaurant's signature appetizers; homemade tofu with scallion soy vinaigrette, wild sesame soup with oyster mushroom and truffle, Pig's trotter salad with spicy lemon vinaigrette, beef tartare with ramp aioli, Chil-Jeal-Pan seven flavors, fried chicken with spicy soy vinaigrette, cold buckwheat noodle with preserved spring ramps, Jang-Jo-Rim with buttered rice and soft boiled eggs. Once they were once again alone, the group chatted discussing Sam's small little press junket and how they would work Mercedes' own schedule of post Grammy interviews around it. Thankfully they weren't actually on the same shows at the same time, though they would be doing The Talk on consecutive days. The interviews would probably all center around two things their wins and their relationship. But that had been true of the interviews that previous week as well. The group laughed and joked and teased each other even as they managed to hammer out good times for visits to Sam and Mercedes hometowns. They wily stars couched it in terms of getting to know each other better, but they knew the real reason.
When the waiter returned, he came baring large bowls and platters of side dishes; assorted kimchi, white and brown rice, lotus leaf wrapped sticky rice and honey butter chips. The entrees followed; pine leaves smoked mackerel with citrus soy, Gochujang braised chicken with winter vegetables, truffle seafood broth with sizzling crispy rice, NY strip steak and cauliflower kimchi, slow cooked pork belly and kimchi, slow cooked oxtail with root vegetables, and ssam platter with spicy pork and gang-deon-jang. There was more than enough food for all of them and everyone tried each and every entrée. By the time they walked out they were stuffed to the gills. Sam had caught the bill so Mercedes forced him to accept her desire to leave the tip. Rather than leaving just the required fifteen percent, which would have been over the one they added to the tab since their party was so large, she left a tip pretty much equal to the total bill.
Walking back to the hotel, they decided that they weren't ready to part. Sam, Puck and Slick retreated to their rooms to change into comfy, lounging clothes, and the girls and Kurt did the same thing in their suite. When the guys got there Mercedes, Kurt and Santana were arguing bad rom coms versus bad action movies for which one would provide the most picking and teasing material. Thankfully Deja heard their knock and let them in despite the rising volume of the old friends' voices. Puck rolled into the lounge leaving Sam and Slick trying to decide if they were brave enough to try and intercede in the battle. "Yo, Tana, Sexy Mama, Hummel…tap out. Rather than watching something designed to show Slick and Sam how witty and catty you can be, let's just watch something FUN." He grabbed the remote out of Santana's shockingly loose grip and dropped onto the couch to channel surf until he found something that would satisfy them all. "Marvel Cinematic Universe marathon good for y'all?" he asked as Sam and Slick finally braved the room.
"Oooh where is it at?" Sam asked happily. He pulled Mercedes up off the couch, sat down with his back against the arm threw a leg up…missing the top of a surprised Kurt's head by several inches. He pulled Mercedes into the gap between his thighs, happy to see that while the lounging dress was blue instead of fuchsia, it was still the same maxi-style and the worn cotton was just as soft as the one she'd worn the night before. He nuzzled his nose into her neck drawing her scent into his very pores before pressing a quick kiss to her shoulder.
The group had lucked out they had missed the earlier movies and come in right at the beginning of the first Avengers. That stroke of luck meant less of the girls arguing over the hotness of the film's main hero. Santana was a Stark girl all the way. Mercedes preferred Thor with Captain America running a very close second. Kurt had a thing for Hawkeye and Deja loved her some Bruce. The girls confessed their movie crushes inadvertently in front of their new friends. Slick found it hilarious. "Okay, so Mercedes likes the big, built towheaded guys with old school manners and mannerisms…Santana likes the dark haired bad boy, Kurt likes the darker, talented, athletic type…deep dark backstory required and Deja…what is that the conflicted smarty arty type? We'll have to find you one of those."
The room got quiet for a long moment as they all realized that Slick had basically told them all about themselves. Sam was the first one to start to laugh. The rest fell into laughter like dominos. The laughter and comfort of being with friends and loved ones did stop until Sam, Slick, Puck and Sam's stylist Pamela boarded a plane at LAX bound for Nashville.
In his living room three weeks and twenty five hundred miles from that hotel room, Sam had to admit that the reminiscing had calmed his nerves and brought his happy back. Before he knew it Puck was letting himself into the front door. "Bring your ass, Sam. Dr. Jones is a stickler for punctuality. Missing our flight is not how we want to start off the weekend." He taunted.
Sam tried to keep to the same line of bull he and Mercedes had been slinging since New York. "What are you talking about? We're going to Lima so Mercedes can show me her old stomping grounds."
Puck rolled his eyes. "Yeah, and that's why you've been trolling jewelry store websites and have Pamela looking for a vintage DeBeers ring from ten years ago."
"How did you know about that? Pam promised that she wouldn't tell a soul." Sam groaned.
"Pam didn't tell a soul, but you know she talks to herself when she gets stressed and apparently negotiating with the Seattle jewelry store owner who has the ring you want is stressin' her out big time. When I got the her office this morning to get your suit; not meeting the parents my ass, you wouldn't want your good impressions suit if you weren't; any way, she was cussing that guy out in more languages than I could keep track of. I will say I really hope that he doesn't actually know Farsi or you ain't ever getting that thing." Puck laughed.
"Son of a bitch." Sam muttered. "Look, Mercy is all kinds of conflicted about y'all knowing how fast we're rolling on this relationship train, so please…don't pick on her."
"Naw man, me and Santana and Kurt are pretty damn happy for you two…plus this gets all three of us an all-expenses paid trip home. Not a bad deal. Tana did say that Deja was mad at getting left behind in LA though."
"Why are they leaving her behind?" Sam was way curious.
Puck shrugged. "It's not really anything for her to do there…and Limans aren't the most sensitive people on earth. I can just see someone rolling up on her to ask her if she is a dude or a chick and her ending up getting arrested for slapping the taste out of their mouth. Especially since she really is a chick and always has been." Over the course of the weeks since the Grammys, Sam and Puck had learned that Deja had had a double complete mastectomy after losing her mother and two of her sisters to aggressive, virulent forms of heredity breast cancer. The bold, brassy 'sista' had decided not to bother getting implants since they carried their own set of health risk, though it was a significantly smaller risk than it used to be. Besides according to their new friend, she'd not been French Kissed by the puberty fairy like Mercedes had anyway. "So Mercedes told her to start working on new hair and makeup designs for her fall tour dates."
Sam nodded and picked up his bag and his guitar case. He hadn't been back to Lima in years, so he was actually kind of anxious to see what had changed and what remained the same. Their flight was fairly on time and Sam got to his hotel with plenty of time to get cleaned up and changed. As soon as he dropped his boss off, Puck had headed to the house he grew up in to visit his mother and little sister. When he pulled into the yard he noticed that the house needed painting and he resolved to hire someone to do the job before he headed back down to Nashville. Since she had advanced warning his mom had prepared all of Puck's favorites for dinner. As he kissed his mom and hugged his little sister, Puck could only shake his head as he realized that there was something missing. When he realized that the missing piece keeping his night from being totally perfect was Santana, Puck cursed under his breath. He really had fallen in love with the girl most likely to break his heart and laugh merrily at his pain while doing so.
The Jones Family Residence
Friday, March 6th, 2020
622 Mulholland Dr
Lima, OH
Constance DuBois Jones was no fool. She watched and read anything that the press and paparazzi published about her daughter. She'd seen the way that country singer looked at her little girl. He was completely enraptured with Mercedes. Since he was southern, Connie hadn't even had to hire a private investigator to find out more about him. While the bulk of his family was from Tennessee, he had relatives in both Alabama and Mississippi. Connie could tell you what hospital he was born in before the photogs had broken the news that he flew to Manhattan to spend Valentine's Day with Mercedes. By the time the ever increasing group had flown to LA, Constance knew the names of seven generations of Sam's direct ancestors and what she found out about them was very comforting for the mother of the world's newest R&B diva. Evans men never strayed and their marriages lasted until the death of both participants, they didn't even remarry after being widowed…such was their commitment to the love they shared with their spouses. It even held true for the gay members of the clan.
The more her cousins and old friends told her about the family the more settled her heart was. Because she hadn't just seen the love in Sam's eyes, she'd seen it in Mercedes as well. With a mother's intuition, she quickly and surreptitiously started to plan the engagement ball of the century. Of course, she stopped trying to hide her work at all when her daughter called and told them that she was coming home for a quick weekend visit and there was someone she wanted them to meet. After she shared the news with her husband, Alfred looked at her and smirked. "What does the DuBois hotline have to say about this kid?"
Connie smiled at how well her husband knew her. "Apparently, Samuel Evans comes from a long line of marriages untainted by either divorce or infidelity. His own parents have been married just long enough for him to be completely legitimate, but they'd only known each other a few days when they said their I dos. He has some second and third cousins in Alabama and Mississippi, but family all throughout the south. He's been willing to help their kids and even some of them, but they all know that going to him is a once and done kind of deal. College tuition seems to be his big assistance thing. Not surprising since he had to drop out when he messed up his shoulder and lost his football scholarship."
Alfred nodded. "So are we behind this relationship or should I bust his chops so bad he runs for the hills?"
"Darlin' you could bust that boy's chops 'til The Rapture, he ain't going anywhere without our little girl with him. And really the only thing you'll accomplish is getting Mercedes dander up…and you know how unhappy we all are when she is angry at us." Connie told her husband honestly. "She loves him Alfred. I have hoped and I have prayed and I have begged the Lord to let my daughter know the strength of love that he has blessed us with. I'm not gonna turn away the answer to those prayers because his skin color isn't the same as ours."
Alfred laughed at the look on his wife's face. She wouldn't turn away God's blessing, but she sure would have preferred it if Sam had been black. The DuBois hadn't married a white person in more generations than anyone could count. Granted for most of those generations it had been a safety concern, but the last several it had been out of pure dee spite. That whole family could hold their grudges like it was an Olympic sport, not dating white people had just been their way of still being mad about the years when the rednecks and slack jawed yokels had felt that the DuBois were beneath them because they were black. "Mercy's babies will have plenty of biracial, and quite a few multiracial, cousins on my side of the family, so you know I don't care about that. I just want to make sure that when I walk my baby down the aisle, the man whose hand I'm placing hers in is worthy."
Constance nodded at her husband. "I think this one is." She said simply. "So how do you know I didn't just research him online or something? What made you think I asked around?"
"Sweetie, you know as well as I do that good PR people can hide a multitude of sins. No one has yet to ask Mercy about the tater tots in the cheerleading coach's tailpipe."
"That witch totally deserved it. Taking away the only think my Baby liked to eat at that whole stupid school." Connie groused.
Her husband shook his head, it had been years…Mercedes and Sue Sylvester had long since buried the hatchet…but his wife still wouldn't piss on the poor woman if she were on fire. "So, I suppose you're already working on the Engagement Party?" he elected to take one for the team and put his wife back into a good mood.
By the time Mercedes arrived early Friday morning, Constance had the party planned down to the last detail. She even had four dresses for Mercedes to pick from for the cocktail hour and three for the 'main' ball gown. She knew that the likelihood of Mercedes allowing a costume change was slim to none, but it would be spectacular if she did. As soon as Mercedes walked into the door of the rather stately six bedroom five bathroom home she'd grown up in, Connie had her wrapped tight in a hug few would realize that the tiny woman could give. "Mom." Mercedes breathed in the comforting smell of rosewater, sandalwood and the indefinable scent that belonged to her mother. Once she was satisfied that her baby was whole, healthy and strong, Connie pulled back and looked behind her. "Where is this person you wanted us to meet?"
"He'll be meeting us for dinner tonight. I wanted some time just the three of us." Mercedes told her mother with a little eye roll. "When is the last time you talked to your son?"
"Good lord, are you and your brother still arguing. It's been over a month since the Grammys." Connie chuckled.
Mercedes rolled her eyes as she and her mother headed into the house. "He is being completely unreasonable. It wasn't my fault that he never told Melissa that I was me. Besides he already replaced her with a date he only got because I said his name in my acceptance speech. But he is still complaining about every one being in his business now that they know about us being siblings. Like he's never told anybody to buzz off if they were working his nerves."
"Mercy, Trey has always valued his privacy. I know that you think he hides you because he is ashamed of you, but I think that he hates having to share you with the world. With the path you have chosen he can't protect his baby sister any longer. It bothers him. Besides, you know that boy can hold a grudge like no body's business…he gets that from your father." Constance whispered to her daughter as if they were co-conspirators.
However, while she knew better, Mercedes also knew that arguing with her mother as to which side of the family was slow to anger and never forgave and which side was quick to anger and quick to forgive was the ultimate waste of time. Instead she turned the conversation to safer topics. "So what time will Dad get home from the office today?"
The Doctors Jones had been closing their office early on Fridays and Saturdays for as long as Mercedes could remember. The fact that they had weekend office hours at all set them apart from the other dentists in the Greater Lima area, and had proven quite lucrative for them. "He has an appointment at eleven, but he should be home in time for us to have a nice lunch together. But until then, why don't you tell me all about the young man you've been all over the news with?"
Mercedes chuckled, her mother wasn't slick and Mercedes would have bet one of her brand new, hasn't even been delivered yet Grammys that her mother knew almost as much about Sam as she did. Still Mercedes shared with her mother everything she knew, holding back those things Sam had told her in confidence and that information that while pertinent to Mercedes really wasn't any of her mother's business. "Mom, I have never felt this way about any other guy I've even known let alone dated. It's like God took the best parts of Dad and Puck and Finn and Artie and Mike, all the guys in my life I truly admire, and plucked it all together into one very pleasing package and put him here on this earth just for me." at a look of censure from her mother Mercedes continued defiantly, "maybe there are some Trey like traits in there too. But I refuse to acknowledge them until Montravious apologizes for jumping down my throat for the thanking him thing."
Connie shook her head and decided that discretion was the better part of valor in that one, solitary instance. "So…does this mean that I should begin preliminary planning of your engagement gala?"
"Mother!" Mercedes groaned playfully. "We aren't there quite yet." She prevaricated. "But if you had to do that whole planning thing in a time crunch…how long would it take you to plan something that would make you happy and fulfill my promise?"
Deciding that a humble brag was definitely in order, Constance looked thoughtful for a long while. "I suppose I could throw something together with a six to eight weeks' head start, less time if the party would be during off peak dates." She didn't tell her daughter that it was completely planned needing only the date. While she would prefer the gala to take place on her home turf, as it were, she had several favors she could call in at different locations all around the United States. No matter what date Mercedes and Sam set for her, she already had a contingency in place to meet the need.
Mercedes nodded. "So if we come to you later this month or next month…you'd just plan it out, you wouldn't get upset that we're moving too fast?"
Connie took her daughter's hand. "Baby, I have always raised you to be strong and to know your own mind. I know that you've taken this decision to the Lord and asked him if Sam Evans is the man he wants you to marry. If you know in your heart of hearts that Sam Evans is that man…then you cannot let anyone, not man, not paparazzi, not ratchet heifers or supposed journalists come between the two of you. The scripture tells us that what God has for you none can take from you. Just remember that, it certainly doesn't say that what God has for you, you must wait a certain, societally approved amount of time to accept. You have two people to please in this world…you and God…then you need to please me or your life just won't be worth the living." She finished teasingly.
Mercedes allowed her mother to envelop her in a tight, but comfortable hug. "Thanks Momma." She whispered. They spent the rest of their morning talking and catching up. Constance told Mercedes how very proud she was of her and they bonded listening to music. Mercedes never even noticed that among the casual conversation, her mother was picking her brain on important details that would be integral to planning both the engagement gala and the wedding. When Alfred Jones got home, the hug he gave his daughter was long and seemed to revitalize the dentist who'd performed two extractions and a root canal in the four hours their office had been opened. The family talked and just relaxed until Mercedes got a text from Sam letting her know that he had arrived safely in her home town. Immediately she started to rush them to get ready.
Lima didn't really have a restaurant of the caliber that was available in LA or Manhattan, but what they may have lacked in white tablecloth service, the Lima restaurants made up in taste and proportions. Rather than try for fancy, Mercedes and Sam had agreed to have the meet and greet at the Lima Bean and move on from there. Since she was free from photogs and paparazzi, Mercedes reveled in being able to dress normally. After a long hot shower and lotioning her body from top to bottom, she threw on a pair of leggings, a deep purple tunic top, and a pair of cute little fur lined boots. She eschewed all makeup, only rubbing on a little lip gloss and the only jewelry she bothered with was the necklace Sam had given to her for the preceding holiday.
Sam, however, had originally donned the suit he'd brought with church in mind. Then he took that off, after telling himself that being that overdressed would make a worse first impression than dressing down a little bit. Instead he pulled on a pair of well-loved jeans, a green Henley and a flannel. He had spent so much time trying to decide on his clothing, he almost made himself late. Thankfully for him, Lima hadn't changed very much in the time he'd been gone so he was able to get to the coffee shop quickly enough to recoup the lost time. As soon as he saw his beloved, he knew that he had made the right choice and every bit of nervousness that he'd been feeling evaporated like drizzle falling on a hot tin roof. Mercedes made the introductions Mom, Dad…allow me to introduce Sam Evans." She said simply.
"Sir, Ma'am, I've heard so much about you…it's nice to meet you." Sam said quietly. He was a little embarrassed by how thick his accent sounded. But nervousness always did that to him. "You have raised a truly amazing daughter." He looked at Mercedes, his love for her shining in his eyes. "Thank you." he immediately felt kind of stupid for adding that there at the end, but it had slipped out.
Fortunately showing his soon to be in laws that little glimpse of himself did more than anything else to cement in their heads that he would make an acceptable son in law. Alfred evaluated his handshake. It was firm and dry. There weren't a series of frenetic pumps, just a strong, assured shake fingers splayed a little too far the only hint to the nervousness the young man was feeling. "So Sam, tell me…what makes you think that you're good enough for my daughter?"
Sam looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a big rig. "Sir, I guess the truth is that I don't think I'm good enough for Mercedes, but I love her so much I'm hoping that I can grow to be close to being as good as she already is."
Constance chuckled loudly, though the sound wasn't at all mean or angry. "Sam, long time ago, I took that fool over there to meet my family. Daddy asked him that same question he just asked you. Alfred answered Daddy pretty much the same way that you just answered him. That was perfect." She finished before dissolving even more fully into laughter.
Alfred just shrugged. "She's not lying. So I guess I'll continue the tradition and repeat to you what her father said to me after I told him my feelings on the subject. My daughter is good condition when you two start dating…that's true emotionally and physically…she better be in even better condition whenever she sees or speaks to us…and you never know when that's gonna be."
The look in his eyes promised more retribution than Sam wanted to contemplate, so he simply nodded and murmured a quiet, but promise filled "Yes Sir."
By unspoken agreement, the four of them decided to continue the conversation over dinner, grabbed small coffees and started the arduous process of making four people agree on one place for dinner. Finally their cups were emptied and they rose and made their way to the only restaurant in Lima that could actually please all of them, Yamato Steakhouse. They drove in two separate cars, Mercedes using Sam's short time living in Lima and the amount of time that had gone by since then as her excuse to ride with him. The laid back family restaurant was not very crowded since native Limans usually avoided the place due to rampant xenophobia, and the younger set had trouble affording the slightly steeper prices. They quickly ordered dinner and started the process of letting Alfred and Connie get to know Sam and get to know their daughter as part of an equal partnership type romantic couple. By the end of the evening, both parents were secure in the knowledge that the relationship was built on a very stable foundation. By the end of the weekend, Sam was part of the family. He'd sat with Alfred in the pews of the family church and fell in love with Mercedes all over again as she shared her testimony and her gift with the people who had known her for most of her life. By the time they met back up with their entourages at the Jones home after church, the duo was frantically looking forward to Mercedes time in Nashville. That feeling was only exacerbated when Pamela texted Sam with the information he would need to get the ring Mercedes longed for. Behind the backs of the loving young couple, Connie and Alfred promised both Puck and Santana the moon for helping Mercedes finally find the kind of love they had been blessed with.
Saying goodbye at the airport was hard, but they knew that they would be seeing each other again in just a few days, so that mitigated the feelings of loneliness that could have tried to consume them. In fact if Mercedes weren't in meetings all week in preparation for her upcoming tour, she'd have probably just flown directly to Nashville with Sam. If she had, perhaps she could have prevented what took place when Sam and Puck landed in BNA.
Here is my Out With A Bang Big Bang Writing Comp Story.
I will post two chapters at a time until it is fully posted. The story is completely complete and if you want it posted faster, all you have to do is REVIEW!
Si C'est Noel & Les Ames Soeur will be back in the next 2 weeks.
Thank you all for your patience.
TTFN,
Anni
