Chapter 18

Marie Lacroix was beside herself; she was happy that Sandy had found a new man, but at the same time was apprehensive of her daughter getting married, considering Marie had never met this Paul or knew anything about him.

Times like this, she wished Tom was still around; he always made sense of things, especially when it came to their only little girl.

Her brothers, Dave and Andy, also had their reservations; their protective male instincts had kicked in, wondering what exactly this guy's intentions were. Both men had been close to Mike from the time Sandy had brought him home to meet the family, and Dave had been Mike's best man at their wedding.

Since then, no matter how infrequently Sandy had dated, as far as Dave and Andy were concerned, no man would ever measure up to what Mike had been. And now there was a guy they too had never met moving a little too fast into their baby sister's life than they felt comfortable.

In addition to being Tyler's uncle, Andy was also his nephew's godfather, and it bothered him to think about how Tyler was taking in the prospect of getting a new stepfather. It had been him and Sandy all these years, and now someone else was stepping into his mother's life. Andy figured that Tyler had to be feeling some resentment.

To his shock, that hadn't been the case at all when they all did talk to Tyler about Paul via speaker phone when the boys visited Marie one afternoon and she expressed her concern.

"Guys," he had laughed, "who do you think got Paul and Mom together in the first place?"

"Ty, this guy and your mom have only been together a little over a few months," Andy pointed out. "Aren't you concerned that he and your mother are moving a little too fast?"

"Not at all. I think he's been trying to find the right lady for years and Mom happened to be it. Anyone that knew him for a long time say he's a great guy. He's been real generous with Mom too, even talking about wanting to find a house after the wedding."

"Tyler," Marie asked, "exactly how old is this man?"

"He's going to be twenty eight in April, Granny," Tyler replied. "Why?"

"He's younger than your mother? Oh my."

"Dear God," Dave groaned.

"It's no big deal. Mom doesn't care, and it isn't that big difference to me, either. If you guys must know, she told me just because she and Paul are getting married, it doesn't mean she's forgotten Dad or loves him any less. And Paul says he has no intentions of trying to replace Dad. He just loves Mom and wants to marry her. He's never felt for anyone like he feels for her."

"Okay, but what exactly does this guy do for a living?" Dave wondered.

"He's a wrestler!" Tyler replied cheerfully.

"Oh God…." It was Andy's turned to groan.

"What on earth is your mother thinking?" Marie asked, exasperated. "How can he support…"

"Granny! Paul isn't in one of those low level things. He's like in the biggest company in the world and brings in good money. You should see some of the stuff he got Mom; he even paid off her car and always takes us places when he's off. Of course, he isn't home much, but he's really cool. You should see the ring she got yesterday."

"Any idea when he's heading north?" Dave asked.

"I think he's going overseas next week, then Hawaii and Vegas. I think he's off the weekend after that, though.

"Think he and your mother could make a side trip to Philly?"

"You guys want to meet him, huh?"

"Well, it would certainly help," Marie said.

"I'll let Mom know when she comes in from work, and Paul when I see him later. Maybe they can arrange something. She's due to see you guys anyway."

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After the call ended, Marie and her sons discussed the situation a bit further.

"I'm going to look this guy on the Internet to make sure he isn't some kind of shyster," Andy offered. "I don't care how much Tyler likes him, I want to make sure he's on the up and up and not trying to con Sandy."

"Do a background check while you're on there," Dave said. "Christ, Mike must be rolling in his grave right now."

"Sandy was always so level headed," Marie added, worried. "What on earth made her go for some man like this?"

"Loneliness can make some people do weird things, Mom," Andy replied.

"Well, your father has been gone how long and you don't see me doing such crazy things."

"Maybe not, but we don't know what Sandy's thinking. But then again, she's a smart girl; if she saw even a glimmer of bullshit in this guy, she'd picked up on him and his game a long time ago. Still, I want to know more about him."

"And get the Dillards over here possibly that weekend," Dave suggested. "I know they're Mike's parents, but they're also Ty's grandparents. Nothing will change that, and they too deserve to know about who his stepfather is going to be."

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"So the folks want to meet me, huh?" Paul asked later after Tyler told him about speaking with his grandmother and uncles.

"Yeah. I think my uncles are wondering if you're some kind of bum trying to sponge off Mom's salary and the trust money she recently got from when Grandpa died. And I thought Granny was going to stroke out when I told her how old you were."

Paul broke out laughing. "Are they fucking kidding me? Dude, yeah, I got to pay my travel expenses and shit when I'm touring, but Christ, even with that, I can well take care of myself and your mother. I don't need her trust fund, her paycheck, or anything else from her. And your mom and I are almost eight years apart in age; it isn't like I'm marrying some chick that's sixty years old."

"I know that," Tyler replied. " And Mom knows that. Now it's just meeting and convincing my uncles and Granny. Of course, there's Nana and Pop Dillard. I have a feeling they're going to be in on this too."

"Hey, bring them on," Paul grinned. "I wouldn't mind meeting your grandparents and uncles. If nothing else, it will give me a chance to prove that I'm not some big bad gigolo."

"You're not nervous about it?" Tyler asked, curious.

"To be honest, dude, I think your mother's more nervous about meeting my parents than I am meeting her family, which should be interesting, by the way, being my family doesn't even know I'm getting married yet."