Part 8: Happily Ever After
Amanda walked in the
door to her house overjoyed. She was so happy that Lee was meeting her family.
The boys ran downstairs to greet their mother.
In unison, " Hey mom!"
They both gave her hugs and pulled her down.
" Hi boys, how was your
day at school?"
" Boring." Said Phillip.
" I got an A+ on my
science project," Jamie said.
To Jamie, " That's
great!" Then she looks at Phillip, " I'm sorry your day was boring sweetie."
Amanda walked into the
kitchen to find her mother making dinner, she couldn't wait to tell her. " Hi
mother, smells good, make sure there's enough for five people."
" Why five? There's only
four of us."
Amanda fingered through
the mail, avoiding eye contact. " Not tonight."
" Whose coming over."
Dotty asked hopefully.
Amanda smiled at the
thought. " Lee."
" He is! This is great!"
If Amanda's mother could do a cartwheel, she would have. She moved into the
dining room and started to arrange the plates. " Let's see, you and Lee can sit
next to each other over there, the boys can sit across from you, and I'll sit
at the end. Oh Amanda, I can't wait to meet him!"
Amanda knew Dotty would
be excited, she hoped Lee would arrive on time. She told the boys that a
special guest was coming for dinner and they needed to wash and change. Then
she headed up the stairs herself. When she walked into her room memories of Lee
swept through her mind. There was so much they knew about each other, but at
the same time, so much they didn't. 'Oh well,' thought Amanda, ' Love takes
time.'
It took forever to get
ready. She wanted to look perfect. She checked the table, made sure the boys
looked decent, and warned her mother not to go to crazy. Just then the doorbell
rang. Amanda went to go let Lee in and introduce him.
She opened the door. "
Hi." He was standing there wearing his usual suit and tie that he always looks
great in, his arms were filled with two bouquets of flowers, a wrapped box, and
a brown paper bag.
" May I come in?"
" Sorry, I'm just not
used to you coming in the front door." They both smiled.
Then Lee saw her, Dotty,
face to face. Amanda introduced them.
" Mother, this is Lee."
" Hello, Lee."
" Mrs. West." He handed
her the bouquet full of wild flowers.
" Call me Dotty." She
was charmed to the core, ' I hope Amanda keeps this one.'
Then Amanda introduced
Lee to the boys and he definitely scored some brownie points with the bag of
candy he gave them, although Amanda was not amused, and warned them not to eat
any until after dinner.
Then Lee handed her a
dozen fresh roses. Amanda considered herself the luckiest woman alive. He
leaned over and whispered in her ear, " I love you."
Dotty started to walk
back into the kitchen. Lee cleared his throat. " Dotty, wait, this is for you."
He held up the wrapped box. He handed it to her and she started to unwrap it,
once she realized what it was she said, " Oh Lee, you shouldn't have." In the
box was a pair of slippers. They both smiled knowingly.
Dinner went smoothly,
Lee commented more than once about how delicious Dotty's cooking was and he
even talked to the boys about school, sports, and music. Lee and Amanda were
both grateful that Dotty didn't ask about work, they didn't want to spoil this
night with lies. When dinner was over, Lee and Amanda did the dishes since
Dotty had cooked, while the boys watched TV and ate their candy. Dotty figured
that her daughter might want to be alone with Lee for a minute, so she went in
the other room to read a book. When they finished the dishes Lee and Amanda
went outside and sat on the picnic table. It was a warm night and all the stars
were out.
" Lee, this is so
weird."
" What is?"
" Being normal for a
change."
" I think I like it, do
you?"
" Yeah, I think I do."
" Amanda, can I ask you
something?"
"Anything."
" Will you go away with
me this weekend?"
" Don't we have to
work?"
" No, Billy took us off
the schedule."
" Well in that case I'd
love to." She smiled up at Lee, she loved being cuddled up in his arms, it was
so romantic. Lee bent his head down and gave her a kiss.
" Looks like we're going
to live happily ever after." *smiles*
It's not over yet, TBC
soon…
