10. Fox
TEN
fox
The moment of truth is terrifying.
I always thought of myself as a man's man. I stood up for myself, didn’t back down from fights, but I also didn’t go looking for those fights either.
Standing up to my father was never easy. It wasn’t like he was particularly intimidating or anything. He’s a good six inches shorter than I am, and I got all my muscle from my Mom’s side of the family apparently. It is just that I know how much he’s worked to make sure I had everything I needed to succeed and flourish, and be healthy and happy.
Just that he did it through some nebulous means. Which in some ways made me appreciate it even more.
We’re gathered around our dining room table. The table itself is more expensive than the house we grew up in back in the day. Tabitha is by my side. I told her to dress up formally, and she obeyed in the most Tabitha-way possible. It’s a black dress, but with hand-crafted sequins that made a sort of spider web pattern over the fabric. It’s nothing you’d ever see on a Paris runway, but I love it all the same because it’s just her.
“So,” Dad says, sipping his wine, “This is your new serious girlfriend.”
He’s dressed in a suit, no tie. He always took the ‘dress for the job you want’ advice completely seriously, so it was rare to ever see him in anything casual these days.
“Yes, is that going to be a problem, Dad?” I ask, leaning forward on my hand.
“You’re lovely, Tabitha,” my mom adds. “So creative. And I can see she really makes you happy, Fox.”
Dad stares into his wine glass. “I guess you and the Finkle girl didn’t hit it off.”
“Never even talked to her. Not once,” I state, with total honesty.
“So there goes the plans to get us closer to the family.” He speaks wistfully. His disappointment is clear. “I take it you wouldn’t be bringing her to meet us unless things were really serious with her.”
“Serious as sin.”
“Hank, you should be happy for our boy,” my mother chimes in. I never had any doubt that she would be supportive. I just kept her in the dark because, as much as I love her, she’s terrible at keeping secrets.
“I’m not just here to introduce you to the woman I care deeply about, Dad. I’m here for something far more important.”
He clasps his hands as he looks my way. “And that would be?”
“I’m done with the company. And whoever the company is affiliated with.”
Dad lets out an even longer sigh of disappointment. “And what’s bringing this up, Fox? Is your girl bothered by what we do?”
“Slightly?” Tabitha says with a smirk. “Mostly the big fancy estates in small town Evergreen Valley thing. I couldn’t care less about the rest.”
“And that too,” I nod. “I want you to stop agreeing to build in Evergreen Valley, Dad.”
He’s silent for a time. The lack of him saying anything is nerve-wracking, as I can see he’s wracking his brain on how to reply to me coming at him with all of this at once. I’m expecting the worst, and start preparing myself mentally for a massive shouting match.
“Alright. It’s done,” he says, all too suddenly.
I raise an eyebrow. “Wait, what? That’s it?”
“Fox, I’m proud of you. You’re standing up for what you believe in. And if that’s what you want, I’m going to support you all the way.”
I glare at him in disbelief. I didn’t think it’d be that easy. I still didn’t think it would be. There had to be a catch to all of this.
“I’m going to talk to the family. I’m going to suggest that it’s not the greatest for morale for us to be ruining a small town that’s precious to so many. Lot of the folks who are connected to us call Evergreen Valley their home, you know. There’s other ways of making the money flow and making it all clean. It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Just like that?”
“It’ll take a bit of convincing, but if it’s for my boy, I’m going to do it.”
“I can’t believe you. Just like that?”
He nods his head. “Just like that. Fox, I got into this nonsense for you. For your mother. I only ever wanted the two of you to be taken care of, and for you two to be happy.”
I look at Tabitha, and just shrug more in disbelief. I was expecting to come into all of this and start shouting at him, and for there to be like, some threats of violence or whatever.
“Move on, Fox. But I’m going to suggest you divest yourself from any financial ties to the company or the family. I don’t want you being caught up in anything. I want you to make your own path, and that might be rough at first. But I hope I’ve raised you well in making it. Just be a good man, a good husband, and a good father.”
“Alright. Gotta start with basically nothing. That’s fair.”
Tabitha shrugs. She never gave a damn about the money. And that’s why I love her.
From there? The dinner was fantastic. They got to know Tabitha, and they seemed to really like her. This all is the beginning of a new chapter in my life. Not just with Tabitha, but with my parents, as well as everything else, really.
When the dinner is done, Tabitha and I head back out to my truck. All the driving around rough roads has given it a beating, and it’s the point that maybe I should look into replacing it. I should have done that before severing myself from my only source of income, but life can’t be absolutely perfect, I suppose.
“Well, that’s all a relief. No one had to go get whacked or anything. Just common sense and familial love prevailing,” I say, pacing toward the door. “There’s something I’ve wanted to do for a while, but I’ve held back out of fear of certain complications emerging.”
She cocks an eyebrow. “And that would be?”
I take a deep breath. Something that’s going to take me as nearly as much courage as telling my Dad that I don’t want to do illegal things anymore. “Tabitha, you’ve changed my life in so many ways these past few months. Every one of those changes for the better.”
Her soft smile grows wider.
“You’ve given me an even greater appreciation for this town, and a greater love for the nature surrounding it. Hell, you’ve technically turned me away from a life of crime, forever preventing me from doing hard time.”
She laughs, shaking her head in bemusement.
“There’s never anything I’ve been more sure of at this moment. I want you by my side for the rest of my life. I want to wake up every morning to see your lovely face. I want you to show me the beauties of the world, both natural and practical. I want you completely, Tabitha.”
I do it. I drop to one knee, as tradition expects of me.
“Marry me, Tabitha. Be by my side until we grow old and decrepit together, and never make me stop smiling.
I present her with a ring. One I believe to meet her bohemian tastes quite well. Emeralds around the diamond, with a sleek band of silver around it. She didn’t want the biggest, most typical diamond. She wanted something to remind her of our love, and the very nature it is built upon.
She’s smiling so wildly, and there’s clear but slight tears in her eyes. “I was wondering when you’d get around to asking.”
“So that’s a yes?” I ask, cocking my head slightly.
“Of course. Yes, I’ll marry you, Fox. There’s nothing I want more.”
My heart skips a beat. I’ve been certain, but there’s always that tiniest sliver of doubt you have until everything is truly confirmed.
I slip the ring onto her finger, and I leap up to kiss her. Our long, passionate kiss, and the first as fiances, the first of so many more to come.
I hold her close, and she buries herself against me, us keeping ourselves so intensely bonded. We are still in front of my parents house, so I’m wondering if either of them saw the whole scene. Regardless, they’d find out eventually.
I caress her hair, enjoying the scent of whatever self-made natural hair product she concocted. I sigh, realizing the problems that came with commissioning such a unique ring.
“Is something the matter, Fox?”
“Just a mild worry about what I’m supposed to do next. That ring is paid for and all, but it’s wiped out my savings. I’m going to have to figure out what’s next for me as a career soon.”
She giggles. “You’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
“Yeah, I know you’ve always got your support. That’s without question. Just I got a bunch of scattered skills. I know how to build cabins and homes. I know how to manage the money behind those projects. But I’m not really sure what I can do with what if I don’t have my old man’s references and connections.”
She smiles my way. “Maybe you should start your own business. Maybe with Bear and Hunter. They’re good woodsmen and carpenters. The three of you could build something really special, something that helps Evergreen Valley instead of stealing its charm.”
I stare at her, and for the first time in my life am slightly annoyed by her beaming optimism. “That sounds great and all, Tabitha, but you need money to start a business. I don’t think the three of us can just spontaneously make something like that happen, especially since the other two have blossoming families.”
And that Tabitha and I may soon be joining them. The anxieties keep coming.
“Oh, you have money. You’re about to marry into some.”
My eyebrow raises, still incredibly confused by the situation.
She giggles. “I guess it’s about time I come clean about my own little secret.”
“Your little secret?” I have no idea what she could be talking about. I’m just staring at her confused and slack-jawed.
“That I’m a trust fund baby?”
My bizarre face doesn’t really change. “You? You’re a trust fund baby?”
“Is it all that surprising to you?”
I nod. “When I think of some girl living off her trust fund, I imagine some girl driving around in some sports car that she has no idea how much it costs, with a little yapping dog in her hand purse. And she threatens to call Daddy whenever something even mildly goes wrong for her.”
She shrugs. “I do call my father often when I need advice. I haven’t called him Daddy since I was eleven though.”
We climb into the truck, and sit down side by side. She just dumped something major on me, so we’re not going anywhere yet, simply enjoying the cool night sky and one another's company.
“We’re kinda the same, really,” Tabitha explains. “Most of my family grew up poor. Except instead of getting into crime, my grandfather managed to get a freak promotion at his company. Some eccentric billionaire wanted new ideas, and promoted some low level employee to get them. That’s grandpa. Everything changed from there.”
I stare at her in disbelief. She may as well have told me her family won the lottery with how much of a likely tale it was. I believed her though. Tabitha was never one just to make up lies just for a joke at the moment.
“After college, I got entrusted with a wad of cash. Payments will come in every week for the rest of my life. Enough that I never have to work if I don’t want to. Enough that my children don’t have to work, and maybe even their children. Can’t say I’ll know how things will be going in the twenty-second century then.”
“And so you didn’t.”
She throws up an interrupting finger. “Oh, I work. I work on my passions. My clothing designs, my jewelry, my art. And I try to make it a legitimate business that functions on its own money, beyond my initial investments. I’ve worked hard in making it work on its own, and I take great pride in that it is.”
I smile and nod. “Sorry, didn’t mean to imply that it didn’t actually work for you.”
“It works, but it’s not enough to invest in those I love. But the trust fund? That lets me do more than my art business could ever do. I can help you, Fox. You can build something beautiful, something truly special for yourself, for us, for this community.”
I lean back in my seat, and run my hand through my hair. “I’m a bit shocked. Why didn’t you bring it up sooner?”
“Didn’t seem relevant. And I guess I keep it quiet. Never wanted to marry someone who saw me more as my money than as a person. Sugar mamas are just as much a thing as sugar daddies, you know.”
“Yeah, apparently I have one now.”
She shoves me playfully from the side. “Hey, you’ve proved you wanted me for richer or for poorer. You’ve proven your manliness many times over with me, Fox. You’ve taken care of me, and now I want to take care of you.”
I look up into the night sky. It’s beautiful out tonight, and it’s the beautiful start to the rest of my life.
Everything will be alright. Everything will be more than all right.
I couldn’t wait for my wonderful whirlwind marriage with Tabitha to truly begin.