42. Willow
FORTY-TWO
Willow
N ot long afterward, at seven o’clock on New Years Eve, Jonny over at Sunflower with his grandparents and Sylvia, Gemma on some online date she wouldn’t give me the details of — “I’ll tell you if it goes well. You know how these things are.” — Ben and I are out for a night in the city.
Driving through a residential area in Atlanta, he informs me, “Almost there.”
“I don’t mind the drive, Ben.” I smile, enjoying the tree-lined avenue of pretty houses lit by scattered street lamps and the often illuminated porch light. I’m all dressed up for the big night in a floor-length purple gown — Ben’s favorite color on me — with my mom’s pearls she gave me when I was little, an heirloom from a long line of Windheims. We spoke on the phone tonight and she was so happy when I told her I was wearing them .
Ben is ridiculously handsome in a tux with a stylish white bow tie that disappears into his sexy crisp white shirt and vest, a fun contrast to the rugged Jeep we cleaned together this afternoon with a hose, rags and buckets before our shower. Jonny was already gone so we had quite the workout, washing the sweat away as it formed.
I lay my hand on his thigh. “It’s our first time in Atlanta. Other than airport pickups.”
He smirks, “It’s about time. Oh…you know what?”
“What?”
“This is my grandparents’ street. Let’s just pop in and say hello before we get to the restaurant.” Driving with his left hand, he covers my hand with his right, gives it a squeeze. “They’ll be in bed early.”
“Oh yay! I get to meet your grandparents? Which side?”
“Dad’s side, the Cocker side.”
Ben brings my fingers to his lips and kisses them, one by one as I watch while he drives. He smiles at me, turns the wheel a little to adjust for a bend in the road. His green eyes flick to the right and I follow his gaze to countless cars parked in front of a charming, yellow two-story home. He pulls into the driveway, behind four other cars, his blocking the sidewalk. “We’ll just run in.”
“What are all these cars for?”
“They collect them. ”
I frown, “What?” thinking it odd because it’s a mish-mosh of makes and models, some the same. But the house looks dark except for a porch light, so I don’t argue. Hey, to each their own.
Ben jumps out, walks around, opens my door, gorgeous. I take his offered hand and he pulls me to him. “Let me just mess up your lipstick a little.”
I push him away. “No! I’m meeting your grandparents!” Hand-in-hand we walk up a stone path cut into the lawn, to the front door. “It looks like they might already be sleeping. Or gone? With all these cars, how can you tell when one is missing?”
“I’ll give them a call.”
I open my clutch and hand him his phone, tux pants too tight so I have both. “Here you go.”
But the front door opens and there stands a woman with bobbed white hair, warm brown eyes, in a dress of sequins and cream, matching heels. “Ben!”
“Hi Grandma, you look beautiful. You two going out?”
“We were just about to.” Her gaze floats back to me and lands, accompanied by the happiest smile. “You must be Willow! We’ve heard so much about you!”
“Nice to meet you, Mrs. Cocker.”
“Call me Nancy!” Calling behind her, “Michael! Ben dropped by to say hello!” she smiles and waves us in. “We can have a drink before we go. What a treat to see you! We have some time before our reservations.”
“Same,” Ben says and takes my hand .
Past a living room we walk, and I admire the enormous Christmas tree still at its ornamented best. Eight stockings I spy attached to their fireplace mantel that read in order: Michael, Nancy, Jaxson, Jerald, Justin, Jason, Jake, Jeremy.
Mrs. Nancy Cocker motions to the staircase and we pause to admire photographs from their son’s childhoods lining the walls up the stairs and onward to and throughout the second floor as far as the eye can see. “We have so many grand and great grandchildren, but our boys still own these walls for the most part. They started it all.”
I smile, “Actually, you did.”
“No, I have to give that honor to May and Jerald, not me, may they rest in peace. Now where is Michael?” She calls upstairs. “Honey?!”
The white-haired head of a sophisticated man in his later years pokes out of a room on the right. “Yes?”
“Ben is here with his girlfriend, Willow. Remember Jaxson and Rachel told us about her?”
“Oh yes!” He walks out, wearing a tux for their special night.
“Do we have time to enjoy a drink with them?”
His pale green eyes are smiling as he thinks, “I believe we can do that.” He takes the steps with the slowness of one who, while being in good shape, is still in his eighties. Jaxson is the eldest son, I know that from my ‘lessons’ of the members of Ben’s family. Michael and Nancy Cocker were of the generation that had kids very young, right out of high school, so they’re probably only twenty years older than Jaxson. And he had Ben when he was in his early thirties so…
“Nice to meet you, Willow.”
“You too, Mr. Cocker.”
“Call me Michael.”
I was so busy doing the math that it takes me a second to register, as we walk into their beautiful kitchen, that the backyard is lit up as though a thousand fireflies ignited at the same time and decided to stay that way. I glance to Ben, tilt my head at his expression.
“This way,” he says.
My gaze flicks to his grandparents who have the same expression as he, and Nancy says, “We’ll have drinks outside. We’ve got heat lamps already set up.”
“That sounds lovely.”
We walk to the back door and I am utterly confused to see a party through the glass window. Stunned and not knowing what’s going on, hand-in-hand I follow Ben outside to hear at least seventy people shout, “Surprise! Happy New Year!”
I blink, look to Ben, mouth agape.
He pulls me to him. “Welcome to your first Cocker Family BBQ.” My grin receives a loving kiss before I face the family I’ve heard so much about.
Jonny wiggles his way through the crowd and runs up to me! “Willow!”
I cry out, “You’re wearing a tux! How did you get here?!” embracing him in a huge hug, knowing of course that his grandparents brought him here, because they’re standing right up front, beaming with Sylvia at their side. Gemma reveals herself with a happy grin, stepping out from behind a good-looking couple I am guessing from my lessons about his cousins are Ethan and his wife, Charlie — because she is a redhead and he has a shock of unkempt shaggy hair, an Angels Winged graphic T-shirt under his Tux jacket, no tie. Immediately I realize Gemma’s ‘date’ was a ruse to get me to leave her alone tonight.
But she’s not alone.
Quite the opposite.
With family this close, how could you ever be?
And now she’s part of it.
Just like me.
“I’m in shock,” I confess, blinking to at all the staring faces, all attention still focused on us. Everyone is silent. It’s a bit much.
Jonny shouts, “We got you! It was my idea!”
From my side Ben says, “And this was my idea.”
I turn to find him on one knee, holding an open ring box of a beautiful diamond. My hands fly to my mouth. Tears to my eyes!
Jonny gets on one knee, too.
Ben’s voice is deep, quiet. “Willow, will you marry us?”
Pure tears of joy. “Yes!”
He hands the box to Jonny, slides the ring onto my finger, and rises to pull me close for a kiss that makes the crowd go crazy. Jonny throws his arms up like a athlete in victory. Everyone is hollering, applauding, rushing forward to meet me. I am encircled by a family I will soon call my own.
One after the other I meet Hannah and Tobias, Emma and Tanner, Eric and Wren, Nicholas and Maddie, Caden and Elizabeth, Max and Natalie, and all of the others, everyone feeling familiar thanks to the lessons Ben gave me, complete with photographs.
The uncles I remember easily — Jake, Jeremy, Jett, and the twins, Jason and Justin — all looking like grown-up versions of their pictures I saw in the hall.
Even the Savannah cousins are here, and that’s where I lose my ability to remember everyone’s names though I try my best and soon will come to know them all.
One after the other, I meet everyone until finally one beautiful woman with dark hair and a dress to make any man’s eyes pop out of his head, is the last.
“I’m Sophia Sol,” she smiles, informing me, “Ben’s best cousin.”
Ben laughs, hugs her and says, “Hey Soph.”
She tightens the hug and I hear her tell him, “You finally did it, Ben. You found the one who makes you more you.”
I give her a huge hug for that.
The yard is huge with a perimeter of trees as its fence. Far in the distance, an old mermaid fountain reminds me of stories I’ve been told of Ben’s youth. Twinkle lights hang from poles accompanied by heat lamps, and to our left dinner is served banquet-style, tables upon tables of a feast that makes the mouth water.
The three of us — me, Ben and a very happy Jonny — sit beside Gemma. Ethan and Charlie with their kids to our right. Sophia Sol, her husband, and her kids opposite us. Rachel, Jaxson and Sylvia, to our left. From there the list goes on all the way down the many packed tables adorned with low vases of wildflower centerpieces.
I look over as Nancy Cocker shouts, “Jason, you leave that ginger-ale alone! It’s not all for you this time!”
He sighs, drags a hand through salty-blonde hair, “Well shit.”
The entire backyard, and I mean everyone besides me and Gem, shouts, “ Language! ”
Fresh tears come to my eyes because I know the stories of Grams. But now I’m a part of the story. Overwhelmed with happiness, to Ben I whisper, “This memory will live in me forever.”
He gives me a gentle kiss. “I love you.”
Jonny takes my hand. “I think I love you, too.”
I tease him, “Oh yeah?”
“Yeah.”
With tenderness I confess, “That’s good, because I know I love you .”
It will be one year and lots of planning later, plus more time spent with this wonderful family, that Ben and I will be married in this very space. Everyone present tonight will be there, plus more with my family flying in.
Sylvia will find love in online dating, a man who reminds her that it’s never too late to fall in love.
Jonny, as Best Man, will be caught winking at his girlfriend, Mary.
Thanks to a retreat that brings a single man into Gemma’s life, my Maid Of Honor will have a date that lasts.
My dress, with the longest train I’ve ever seen, will have to be adjusted by a tailor for my growing belly.
And the bouquet?
Two sunflowers, of course.
Complete with showing roots.
The End.