Chapter Four
The Son-in-Law Realization
Rosemary took one final glance in the mirror before turning to her sister.
"Okay, I think I'm ready to head downstairs," she said, feeling the butterflies in her stomach.
"Good, because I think everyone is seated," said Michelle Fox, Rosemary's mother, entering from the hall. She stepped out to make sure Sheldon was not anywhere near the stairway so Rosemary could emerge unseen.
"Well, this is it, Rose," Lillian said, picking up the bridal bouquet and handing it to Rosemary. She beamed at her sister. "You look…well, I'm so excited and happy and…"
"Don't start crying," laughed Rosemary. "You'll make me cry."
Michelle stepped up and wrapped both girls in her arms. "My babies," she said. "I'm just so glad we're all here together…after…after everything that happened these past few months."
Rosemary could only just nod into her mother's shoulder, remembering one of the worst weeks of her life, which incidentally began during a visit to Sheldon's family in Texas.
April 2017
Toward the end of April, both Sheldon and Rosemary took a long weekend to spend four nights at the Cooper household, and while Rosemary initially felt nervous being surrounded by Sheldon's family, not on her turf, she immediately became enveloped in their warmth and excitement over Sheldon finally getting hitched.
The first evening, the entire family descended upon his mother's home to meet Rosemary, including aunts, uncles, cousins, and some other distant relations. And while Sheldon always claimed to be the black sheep of the family, Rosemary found he had a lot in common with them, particularly in his mannerisms and speech. The one conundrum remained Sheldon and his brother, George Jr. The man was harsh to Sheldon and a bit leering at Rosemary, and she found herself keeping a distance from him. Luckily, that first evening was the only time he came over, and he told Sheldon out right he had no plans attending the wedding in such a liberal, hippy place as Washington state.
On the other hand, Missy, who arrived mid-way through the elaborate barbecue with her husband and child, turned out to be funny and delightful, and Rosemary spent the entire next day with Sheldon's sister, out sightseeing and shopping. And much to Sheldon's dismay, Missy insisted on going with Rosemary alone. Rosemary heard stories of young Sheldon that made her laugh so hard she cried, and when she returned that evening for dinner with the immediate family, Missy staying for the meal, her and Missy shared meaningful glances and giggles, which made Sheldon squirm.
Mary insisted Sheldon and Rosemary sleep in separate rooms, as they were not properly wed, and this resulted in a rather humorous argument for Rosemary to watch, seeing Sheldon whine to his mother, telling her the logic was ridiculous, as he slept with Rosemary every night. Plus, the Fox family let them sleep together when the couple visited the rez. But Rosemary intervened and slept in Missy's childhood bedroom, Sheldon across the hall. But the second evening, after her day with Missy, Rosemary tossed and turned, and at about midnight, when the house seemed quiet, crept across the hall and quietly slid into Sheldon's room.
"Who's there?" came a panicked voice in the dark.
"Sheldon, it's me. Be quiet," Rosemary said, sliding into the bed with her fiancé. "You don't want your mom to catch you with a girl in your room."
Sheldon shifted around the bed, a bit smaller than their one at home, and wrapped himself around Rosemary. "You know, if she catches us, you won't get any dessert with dinner tomorrow. And mom said she is making apple pie."
"I think I've eaten enough in the past few days to last the rest of the month," laughed Rosemary.
Lying on her back with Sheldon half draped over her, she looked around Sheldon's bedroom, illuminated only by the little bit of light coming through the shades. A poster for Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi, another of the periodic table of elements, and several small pictures of famous scientists, from Albert Einstein to Carl Sagan. She turned to Sheldon who watched her as she looked at his childhood space.
"So, you never made out with a girl in your bedroom?" she asked.
"No," scoffed Sheldon, aghast. "I never had a girlfriend before Amy, and we never made out in my bedroom in Pasadena."
"I remember making out with you in your bed for the first time," Rosemary said, moving her body along Sheldon's. She heard him let out a small sigh.
"I remember that too…very well," he whispered. "You said you came into my room to borrow a comic book, but I think you came in there for…other reasons."
"Aren't you glad I did?" Rosemary asked, turning her body to be flush against him, her mouth on his as she spoke.
"Yes," he whispered back, then let out a deep moan as Rosemary's hand slid beneath the band of his pajama pants and briefs to grasp his erection. "Very glad…ooohhhh Rose."
Rosemary ran her fingers along Sheldon's length, knowing how and where he liked to be touched, eliciting quiet gasps from him from time to time.
"Baby, Rosie…I…" he said, then plunged his tongue into her mouth, his hands finding her breasts under her nightshirt, pinching and teasing her nipples. He pulled back for a moment, Rosemary seeing his blue eyes in the dark deep with desire. "I'm actually finding this secrecy as well as making out in my old bedroom quite stimulating, and I think…I think…"
But Rosemary kissed him deeply again, Sheldon tasting of toothpaste. She ran her fingers along his member, pumping him from time to time. Sheldon now lay on his back, enjoying her ministrations, lazily teasing her breasts as he gasped under her touch.
His eyes snapped open. "Rosemary, you need to stop…I'm…I'm going to…ohhhh…yes," Sheldon groaned as he released into Rosemary's hand, his hips thrusting up and down as he climaxed. He threw one of his hands back and knocked the bedside lamp to the floor with a loud crash.
The couple froze as a door opened down the hall.
"What in the good Lord's name," came Mary's voice.
Rosemary, with her one hand still gripping Sheldon's penis and the other his shoulder, looked at her fiancé, who's face showed a mix of deep orgasmic relief and terror. Definitely a strange look for Sheldon.
"I think I left my bedroom door open," she whispered.
Sheldon opened his mouth to speak but another door opened.
"Mary, go back to bed," came Meemaw's voice.
"But look, that girl is probably in there with Shelly and…"
"For God's sake, they are getting married. They live together," Meemaw said, and Rosemary heard her yawn. "So Sheldon has a girl in his bedroom. No, a woman in his bedroom. They are in their late thirties, for crying out loud. Aren't you pleased? You said you always worried about Sheldon not being interested in girls."
Rosemary looked down at Sheldon whose brow was furrowed, listening. Quietly, Rosemary removed her hand from Sheldon, grabbing a tissue from the nightstand to clean herself off.
"Yes," came Mary's voice.
"And now he has one, a lovely one I might add, full energy, smart as a whip," Meemaw continued. "And that boy actually seems happy. Leave them alone. Who knows, you might get a grandbaby from Sheldon after all."
After a few more unintelligible mumbles, Rosemary heard the two doors closed. She turned to Sheldon.
"I should go back and…" but stopped when she saw Sheldon's thoughtful expression. "You okay?"
Sheldon looked at her, seeming to snap out of some deep thought. "Yes. But don't go. You haven't climaxed yet."
Rosemary felt herself blush in the dark. "Sheldon, baby, it's okay. We don't want to make noise and…" But Sheldon slid his hands under her panties, quickly finding her already wet opening.
"Then be quiet," he whispered seductively, sliding his fingers inside her, placing pressure on her most sensitive spot. Using his other hand, he pulled her on top of him. "Oh kitten," he cooed in her ear, his faced buried in her hair as she began to grind against his hand. "You are almost there anyway."
"How…how can you tell?" she whispered, trying to keep from crying out as Sheldon's teeth nipped at her nipples over her night shirt.
"Because your clitoris is swollen," he said matter-of-factly, but Sheldon's words made her whole body shudder in pleasure. "And when you begin to orgasm, I can feel the walls of your vagina constrict around my fingers or my penis or my tongue, whichever way I am pleasuring you and…"
But Sheldon's explanation drove her over the edge, and she felt her climax over take her. She buried her head in his neck, moaning into the soft skin. Soon, she couldn't take the pleasure anymore, certain she'd cry out, so she fell down beside him, her body warm and throbbing, sleepiness suddenly upon her.
"You were talking dirty, Sheldon," she whispered after regaining her breath.
"I was merely explaining the mechanics of how I know when…" he began, but Rosemary took his mouth in a kiss.
"How do you like making out with a girl in your bedroom?" she asked, snuggling into him.
"I know I said you wouldn't have liked me when I was younger," he said. "But I wish I had known you years ago. We wasted so much time, Rosemary, not knowing each other."
Rosemary nodded and snuggled into her fiancé after he'd righted the fallen lamp. They soon drifted off, Rosemary waking early in the morning to slip back into her room.
That evening, after another day of sightseeing and good food, Rosemary, Sheldon, Mary, and Meemaw played Uno at the kitchen table, laughing and enjoying cookies and lemonade. As a new hand was dealt, Rosemary stood.
"I'm just going to run to the restroom," she said. "Be right back."
Coming back down the hall, she glanced into the living room at her phone, which she put on silent and placed on the coffee table an hour before. The notification light blinked, and she turned on the screen. Within the past hour, she had five missed calls from her mother and seven from her sister, with a text message from Lillian reading Call me now. Rosemary felt her heart in her throat; something was wrong. She stepped out onto the porch to call Lillian back.
Ten minutes passed after Rosemary left, and Mary, Meemaw, and Sheldon waited, as it was her turn. Finally, Sheldon rose to see where Rosemary went.
"Well, I hope the fried chicken wasn't too much for her," said Mary. "I know it's not a typical food of her people."
Sheldon rolled his eyes as he entered the living room, immediately hearing Rosemary on the front porch, crying. Alarmed, he ran outside. She sat sobbing, her head in her hands, cell phone beside her.
"Rosemary!" he cried, sitting down on the porch swing beside her. "What happened?"
"My father," she said between sobs. "He had a stroke. Very bad." She clung to Sheldon, crying. "And we're here…so far away."
Sheldon's mind began to turn. He needed to get Rosemary to her father now.
"Stay here," he said, running into the house and grabbing his own phone.
"Shelly, what's going on?" Mary said, coming into the living room.
"Elder Fox had a stroke," said Sheldon, finding their flight information and dialing the airline. He watched his mother and Meemaw dash out onto the porch to be with Rosemary.
After explaining the situation, the closest flight Sheldon could get out of Houston to Spokane, Washington left in eight hours. Frustrated, Sheldon sighed and thought of other arrangements. He knew Rosemary had to work at the museum the day after they returned, so he called her boss, still at work due to the time difference. He then called his own boss, Grant, as he was leading a team meeting upon his return as well.
"Where are you?" asked Grant, who seemed to be typing frantically as he spoke with Sheldon. "Are you near the Houston airport?"
"Yes," said Sheldon, puzzled.
"One of Musk's private jets is parked there. I'll call the pilot and set it up. Can you get there in an hour?"
Sheldon couldn't believe his luck. "Yes."
More clicking. "Okay, they're warming up the plane. Give Rosemary a hug."
"Thank you."
Sheldon hung up and ran back to the porch. He froze as he stepped outside. Rosemary sat between his mom and Meemaw, sobbing into Mary's shoulder, the two older woman holding her tight. Watching the three women he loved most in the world together, his family comforting Rosemary, brought an unexplainable knot to his throat. After a moment, he regained himself and stepped outside, explaining the situation.
Rosemary stared at him, her eyes wide. "A private jet?"
"Yes, but we need to get going," Sheldon said.
Rosemary nodded, and soon the couple sat in the back of Mary's car, headed for the airport. Rosemary gripped Sheldon's hand tightly and said nothing, occasionally breaking into tears.
After a quick run through security, Sheldon and Rosemary were airborne, both of them marveling at the interior of the jet, the SpaceX and Tesla logos everywhere. After a while, Rosemary resumed her silence, still holding Sheldon's hand but staring out the window.
"I'm scared," she whispered finally, as they began their flight over the Rocky Mountains. "I don't want to lose my dad. I need him."
Sheldon simply nodded.
"We're getting married in three months," Rosemary continued, her voice thick, face wet. "He needs to be there."
"He will," Sheldon reassured her, hoping he wasn't lying.
Hours later, as they began their descent into Spokane, Rosemary leaned over to Sheldon.
"Do we tip the pilot?" she asked.
Sheldon bit his lip. He did not know proper private jet etiquette. He voiced his ignorance to Rosemary, who actually laughed, a pleasant sound after hours of her silence or weeping.
"Sheldon, I don't think many people do know proper private jet etiquette," she responded.
But there was little time for consideration. When they landed and disembarked, a taxi waited for them on the tarmac, Sheldon guessing this to be Grant's doing. They immediately headed to the Spokane hospital, the nearest facility to the Fox family's reservation. Rushing inside, they found the ICU, and Sheldon breathed a sigh of relief seeing the familiar face of Yoshi in the waiting area. The younger man ran over and embraced both Rosemary and Sheldon.
"We just got here thirty minutes ago," he said, his usual lively and humorous tone absent. He looked exhausted. "I never thought we could do that drive that fast. Lil and Michelle are back there, but they only allow two at a time. But I think they'll make an exception, Rose."
Rosemary checked in with the nurse as Sheldon took a seat next to Yoshi. He felt the usual queasiness a hospital visit brought, but his fear for Rosemary and her family overpowered his germ paranoia. Although he wasn't close to Thomas Fox, he knew Rosemary to be quite the daddy's girl, and losing her father would devastate her.
He turned to Yoshi. "Have you been in to see Elder Fox?"
"No," he said. "Lil just ran back. The nurse said he hasn't woken up. The stroke was bad."
Both men sat, Sheldon staring at the paintings of flowers and landscapes adorning the walls. The nearby window only offered the darkness of the night, and Yoshi seemed uncharacteristically quiet. So they sat in silence.
"How was Texas?" he asked Sheldon after at least ten minutes passed.
"Good," Sheldon said. "My family likes Rosemary. And my brother assured me he wasn't coming to the wedding, although my sister is making a point to come and make some sort of embarrassing toast."
Yoshi just nodded.
"How are things going with your doctorate? I remember you saying you submitted your final dissertation," Sheldon said, finding talking better than silence at the moment.
Yoshi sighed heavily. "I have to revise my final chapter. And I plan to present in six weeks. My committee says it'll be okay, but I'm struggling," he said. "I took this week off to focus on it but now…" Another sigh. "God, I hope he's okay. Lil…she would just…"
The three women emerged from the ICU, red faced, clinging to one another. Sheldon and Yoshi ran over to receive the news. Elder Fox would remain in ICU for several days before being moved to another room and hopefully home, soon after. He showed signs of consciousness, but no speech. But the doctor seemed hopeful he'd recover, with the help of physical therapy.
Michelle took both Yoshi and Sheldon's hands. "I have a very big favor to ask you boys."
"Anything," said Yoshi, and Sheldon nodded, although he felt nervous agreeing to a favor he did not yet know.
"Willy, Thomas' assistant manager at the store, is on vacation, RVing in South Dakota, visiting family on his home rez," she said. "He's driving home now but won't be back for two days. Thomas has a couple part-time folks, but…I know this is huge. Can you two run the store for the next two days while we're here at the hospital?"
Yoshi smiled warmly, Sheldon knowing the appropriate thing to do to mimic him.
"Of course," Yoshi said, Sheldon merely nodding.
The rest of the night, the family spent in the waiting room, dozing, waking when the nurse came out with updates, taking turns sitting beside Elder Fox. However, Sheldon did not go back to see his future father-in-law. Even when Rosemary offered to take him, he relinquished his spot to Lillian. The idea of seeing Rosemary's father, strong and imposing, lying helpless in a hospital bed, made his stomach churn, and he couldn't quite figure out the reason.
At dawn, Sheldon rode with Yoshi in his old pick-up to the small grocery store on the reservation, owned by the Fox family, arriving just in time to receive a produce shipment. At 8 a.m., Sheldon unlocked the doors, feeling a bit nervous. Other than his brief stint at The Cheesecake Factory, he'd never worked in customer service.
The morning proved to be blessedly slow, most coming in to inquire about Elder Fox's health. But the afternoon sped up, and when the only other worker for the day, a high school student who only bagged and stocked shelves, arrived, Sheldon found himself overwhelmed at the register, as people stopped to shop after work. But what distracted him the most was the way the kid bagged.
"You cannot put the bananas near the frozen items," he hissed at the boy, stopping his work ringing up the customer and snatching the bag away. "And you can use the cereal boxes to balance out the dimensions of the bag."
The bagger glared at Sheldon, and the line started to build, five customers with full carts waiting. He called for Yoshi but saw him at the back taking another delivery.
"Hey, that is on sale, thirty percent off," snarled the elderly woman he currently rang up.
"Not according to the computer," said Sheldon.
"But there's a sign," she retorted.
Sheldon leaned back to look down the soup aisle, not seeing a sign anywhere.
"No there's not," he said, continuing with the next items.
"Yes, there is," she snapped back.
"There is no empirical evidence of a sale, only your word. Therefore, no discount," Sheldon said, matter-of-factly.
"Well, I will not be spoken to in such a manner," she said, and left, the bagging area filled with unpaid for merchandise, and another customer waiting.
Sheldon began to feel overwhelmed, and his natural instinct was to run. But he knew he needed to press on, for Elder Fox, for Rosemary, for…
"This coupon is expired," Sheldon said, handing back the piece of paper to the woman holding a baby.
"But Elder Fox usually takes these, especially for formula," she said.
"I can't ring it in…"
"But Elder Fox…"
Sheldon left the register, including the ten people in line, and dashed to the break room, closing the door behind him. He sat, trying to calm his heartbeat, thinking of physics, of Rosemary's laugh, of his favorite Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. Fifteen minutes passed, and the door to the break room flew open.
"What the fuck, Sheldon?!" yelled Yoshi. "I come up after the dairy guy leaves, and people are just standing there!"
"Can we switch?" asked Sheldon, not wanting to engage in a fight. Yoshi knew him as strange but for the most part, socially competent. He'd changed so much since meeting Glenn, then Rosemary, and moving from his friends who often gave into his little fits. He wanted to remain that Sheldon, not the one he left behind in California.
"Fine," Yoshi hissed. "Some milk and cheese needs to be restocked. Then the produce needs to be checked. Get rid of anything spoiled." And he left.
Nervous about another day of this, and making his future brother angrier, he texted the only person close to him who had customer service experience: Penny.
Can we Skype tonight? he wrote.
Sheldon crept from the back room to the refrigerator and found the simple manual labor of stocking comforting. But soon, customers came by to ask him questions, and Sheldon found his eye drawn to the haphazard way a mountain of toilet paper was stacked, looking annoyingly asymmetrical as people took from the display. He tried to ignore it, knowing he needed to get the cheese out on the floor, but his brain kept itching, and he soon found himself rearranging the paper aisle.
At 8 p.m., he heard Yoshi make the announcement that the store was closed, and Sheldon realized he never made his way over to the produce section. Hurrying over, he almost ran into Yoshi coming around the corner.
"Sheldon," he said angrily. Sheldon never saw Yoshi look mad before. The look was unattractive on his usually handsome, jovial face. "You never got to the produce?"
"No, but the paper section is quite…"
"What is wrong with you!?" Yoshi yelled. "We're trying to help out the girls, and you freak out and leave all these customers at the register."
"I just got a little overwhelmed," Sheldon said back harshly. He hated Yoshi's tone, implying he didn't care for Rosemary, her sister and mother, Elder Fox.
"And you think I'm not!?" screamed Yoshi.
Before Sheldon knew what happened, both him and Yoshi were yelling at each other, mean things, hateful things, angry things. Yoshi called him an "idiot motherfucking asswipe" to which Sheldon shouted that the geologist was a "rock monkey piece of shit." Sheldon never used such language but found the frustration and anger building in him over the horrible situation boiling over into rage. And he embraced the dark side, feeling a bit of his tension released in yelling at Yoshi.
Finally, Yoshi grabbed a cantaloupe from a nearby stand, and for a moment, Sheldon saw himself lying in a hospital bed, his chart mentioning a severe concussion from a large piece of fruit hitting him in the frontal lobe. But Yoshi threw it with a roar at Sheldon's feet, seeds and melon getting all over the floor and Sheldon's shoes and pants. Then the younger man stormed off, leaving Sheldon shaking, his fists clenched, staring at a stand of oranges.
A half hour later, they drove back to the Fox home in silence, finding the women gone. Sheldon checked his phone and found two messages, one from Penny saying to Skype her at 10:30 and the other from Rosemary saying they'd be home by midnight. He told Yoshi the latter message, and he grunted acknowledgement before heading down to Lillian's room and closing the door. Sheldon made a sandwich in the kitchen and read the small reservation newspaper at the dining room table, waiting for Penny.
Penny looked over at Leonard, who lay asleep on the couch. She sighed. They were definitely getting old, falling asleep before 11 p.m. while watching television. Then she remembered her impending conversation with Sheldon and brightened a little as she turned on her laptop.
Sheldon's face came into view moments after she dialed.
"Hello, Penny," he said, looking exhausted. Circles under bloodshot eyes, paler than normal complexion.
"Hey sweetie," she said cheerfully, hoping her bright mood would raise his spirits. "How are things going with Rosemary and her father?"
She listened to Sheldon tell about their arrival in Spokane, his southern drawl more prominent in his slow, tired speech.
"And I…I struggled a bit at the store today. My mind is made for physics not…customer service and…"
Penny felt her hackles rise at Sheldon's words, "You thought because of my lowly position as a pharma girl and former waitress that I could help you, Mr. high-and-mighty, deal with the rest of the peasants and low lives and…" but her voice faded away, and she stared, shocked.
Sheldon held his face in his hands and wept. Penny felt her chest tighten at the sight, having never seen Sheldon like this before. Soon his weeping turned to sobs.
"Sheldon?" she finally said when he seemed to calm down.
He cleared his throat, wiped his nose with the back of his hand, and looked up at her.
"Sorry, Penny. I will go," and she saw his hand reaching out to log off.
"Sheldon, wait. I'm sorry," she said. "Tell me what's going on."
"What's going on, Penny, is I am a social disaster. And Rosemary usually makes me feel better, but she needs to be with her family, and I need to make her feel better and help out, but I cannot even stock the dairy section or ring up customers. I need to be supportive, I need to be helpful, I want to make things better because I love Rosemary and her family," he said quickly, tears falling down his cheeks. "But I can't, Penny. I'm…I'm a failure."
Penny never saw Sheldon so distraught, and for him to admit failure… Penny saw Sheldon at several low points in his life, when his theory was disproved, when Amy broke up with him, but this Sheldon, the one weeping in despair, showed Penny how deep his love went for Rosemary, and she smiled.
"Sheldon, I'm sure you are doing fine, being helpful and…"
Then Sheldon began talking, about Rosemary and his family, his brother declining the wedding invitation, fighting with Yoshi in the produce section.
"And I don't want Rosemary to lose her father…like me," Sheldon said, finally. "And I don't want to lose Yoshi as a friend because he's going to be my brother and…and I like that. He's better than my real brother and…everything is very complicated. More complicated than my dark matter theory." He sighed. "Why can't I figure this out, Penny? Am I an idiot motherfucking asswipe, like Yoshi said?"
Penny laughed at Sheldon's words. She'd learned more about Sheldon in this conversation than she had living across the hall from him for nine years, and she liked this Sheldon far better than the one she, Leonard, Amy and the rest babied.
"Well, you can be an asswipe sometimes," Penny laughed. "But Sheldon, you can do this." She shifted in her seat, crossing her legs. "I'm going to give you some tips on dealing with customers. Ready?"
Sheldon nodded eagerly, and for the next fifteen minutes, Penny gave him advice on dealing with the store as well as the family situation. She knew she'd accomplished her original goal of cheering him up when he seemed to glance around her and comment on the sweater she had draped over a chair, saying she should hang it up before it got wrinkled. After logging off, she slapped Leonard's butt, jarring him awake.
"To bed, sleepy head," she laughed, feeling happy she helped her friend.
At 8:30 a.m. the next morning, Rosemary having crawled out of bed at 5 a.m. to head back to the hospital, Sheldon found himself shoved awake by a frantic Yoshi.
"Sheldon! We slept in! We were supposed to open the store thirty minutes ago!" he shouted, then ran from the room.
Sleep in? Sheldon rarely slept in! He leaped out of bed, and a mere ten minutes later, he sat next to Yoshi in the pick-up, both disheveled. But Penny's advice from the previous evening rang through his head, the customer always being right, leave the bag boy alone, be nice to Yoshi, he's just as stressed as you.
But pulling up in front of the grocery store, they both gasped. The doors were wide open.
"Shit!" yelled Yoshi as he and Sheldon jumped out. "Did we forget to lock up? Did we…"
They both slid to a stop when entering, an older man with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail at the front register, ringing in an early customer. The man looked up and smiled.
"Ah ha! Are you Lily's husband and Rose's beau?" he asked.
"Um…yeah. Who the hell are you?" asked Yoshi.
"Willy, assistant manager. Got back about one this morning. Drove straight through once Michelle called." He looked the men up and down. "You two look like shit. You're going to scare the customers away," he laughed, handing the shopper her receipt. "You always dress like that, son? You from Texas, right? That the new cowboy style?"
Sheldon looked down and realized his Green Lantern shirt was on backwards, the logo on his back. And his shoes still had a melon seed stuck to the laces. And he hadn't showered since…Texas?!. How had he let his personal hygiene fall by the wayside? Looking at Yoshi, he realized the usually crisp man looked grungy as well.
Willy walked out from behind the counter, the store now empty of shoppers. "You two go home and take care of your women. Tell Michelle and Thomas I'm back. And take a shower."
Sheldon and Yoshi nodded silently and turned to leave.
"By the way, what happened to the paper products?" asked Willy.
Sheldon sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. I just thought…"
"It looks great, cowboy," Willy said. "Send my love to the girls."
Entering the pick-up, Yoshi sighed as he started the engine. "Let's get cleaned up and go to the hospital."
Pulling up to the four-way stop a mile from the Fox home, Yoshi turned to Sheldon.
"Listen, Shel, I'm really sorry. I'm just…no, there is no excuse for me being so mean to you," sighed Yoshi. "I'm an asshole."
"No, I'm sorry. I messed up, and I'm worried and…"
Both men sat in silence, no traffic coming from any direction.
"I'm glad you are going to be my brother," Sheldon said finally, using Penny's advice of sharing his feelings with Yoshi during this rough time. "You are a lot better than my real brother and…I've enjoyed our friendship since we first met. Even before Rosemary, when you were helping me plot revenge against Erik."
Yoshi chuckled softly, but said nothing. Sheldon turned to see tears on his friend's cheeks.
"I was panicking before about my paper, and now this…and, and…I just want to help, be there for Lil," he whispered.
"I can help you with your final chapter tonight," Sheldon offered.
Yoshi looked up at him, sniffed back his tears, and smiled. "That would be…really awesome. Thanks." He paused. "I love you Sheldon. I'm really happy you're going to be my brother."
"I…I love you too," Sheldon said, knowing his words to be true. He put out his hand to shake Yoshi's but was pulled into an awkward side hug. A honk behind the truck made them both jump, and Yoshi continued the drive to the house.
That evening, Yoshi and Sheldon fixed dinner for the family, cleaning up afterwards as the women talked in the living room, making plans for the next few weeks. While they dried the pots and pans, Michelle entered the kitchen.
"Can I talk with you two for a moment?" she asked.
Sheldon and Yoshi faced her, Sheldon feeling a bit nervous about what new favor he would be asked to perform. But instead, Michelle took them both by the shoulders.
"When my daughters were growing up, I hoped they would meet nice men to share their lives with. But I now see they brought into our family two of the most wonderful people…" she paused, her eyes glistening. "I just want to tell you…I am so happy and proud to have you two as my sons." And she wrapped them both in a tight hug, Sheldon not feeling awkward in the embrace but rather a sense of true belonging.
The next day, the family lingered in a new waiting room, Elder Fox moved from the ICU to another room in the hospital. Michelle, Lillian, and Yoshi planned to go to the cafeteria for lunch, but Rosemary wanted time with her father, who remained awake now, but had not yet regained speech. She wanted to fill him in on the wedding plans, entertain him with stories from the senate.
"Come on, Sheldon," she said, heading down the hall to the patient rooms.
"I'll…I'll wait here. They have a three-year-old Good Housekeeping I haven't read," he said and felt relieved when Rosemary simply smiled and nodded, leaving him behind.
The magazine proved to be rather boring, Sheldon already knowing how to remove ink stains from linen, and he finally threw it aside and marched down the hall to Elder Fox's room. Peaking inside, hoping to go unnoticed, he saw Rosemary seated beside her father who was hooked up to several machines, monitors beeping. Yet, he smiled at his daughter as she told them about her education bill and the friends she made at the capital. She looked up and saw Sheldon. Her smile caused Elder Fox to turn slowly toward the door, and he raised one of his hands to feebly gesture for Sheldon to enter.
Pulling up a chair, he sat on the opposite side of the bed from Rosemary, noticing how small Elder Fox looked. But his future father-in-law surprised him. Reaching out, he grabbed Sheldon's hand tightly, brought it up to his face, and kissed it, his other hand taking Rosemary's. Sheldon stared speechless at the man as his hand fell back on the bed, still in Elder Fox's strong grip. Rosemary took Sheldon's other hand, and the three sat in silence for several moments before she resumed her story about the obnoxious Senator Gergich, who sat across the aisle from her at the state capitol.
Now, on her wedding day, Rosemary came out of her room, descending the first staircase, and standing at the top of the final set of stairs, leading to the hall and the large living room where she could hear the voices of the wedding guests. At the bottom, waiting for her, leaning on a cane she'd carved and painted, a totem pole of sorts featuring images important to her family and tribe, stood her father, beaming up at her. She came down the stairs and took his offered arm.
"You ready?" he said quietly, grinning down at her.
"Yes," she whispered and turned her thoughts to Sheldon as music began to play.
Author's Note: In the next chapter, Sheldon, Rosemary, and Lillian attend Raj's wedding, and a conflict may tear a friendship apart.
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