Sister Golden Hair Delight

Ch 7 The Dinner of a Lifetime

Almost shyly we went hand in hand to the front porch of the Gylers. Jimmy hesitated and then almost too forcefully knocked on the door. After a minute that took forever, Jimmy was going to ring the bell but Sol answered.

"Come in, come in. We've been waiting for you." He stepped aside as Jim and I walked into the small house.

"Dara, they're here! Sometimes she doesn't hear too well. I'll go get her. Please, sit down."

The old man disappeared into the back of the house.

"Dara, where are you?"

Jimmy tried hard not to laugh; his affection for the old couple transcended any quirks in their personalities. When Miriam had died they had maintained the relationship knowing their original displeasure had delayed marriage until it was too late.

Dara came out from the kitchen wiping her hands on a bright pink colored apron.

Jim and I stood up. "Mom... Dad, I'd like you to meet Kaylyn."

Dara gave Jim a kiss on the cheek and then looked up at me and hugged me. "Welcome to our home, Kaylyn. We are so happy to meet you; please, please... make yourself at home.

Would you like to have something to drink? We only have soft drinks and since we knew you were coming I made some ice tea for Jim."

Dara realized she was talking too fast and stopped.

"Ice tea would be fine, thank you."

Meeting the parents of Jimmy's lost fiancé was a most anxious moment for me.

What would they think of me now that I'm actually here? Now that they have seen I'm black? It had to be uncomfortable for them too, for the loss of their daughter was now complete. Would they hate me for taking her place?

"Come with me, dear. Sol, what's the matter with you? Take her sweater and be careful with it. Knowing Jim, it costs a pretty penny."

After Sol had taken my cashmere away, Dara took my hand, led me into the kitchen and motioned me to sit at the small table there.

Dara leaned against the counter near the sink.

A heavy silence had entered the room with us until Dara finally spoke up.

"Kaylyn? May I call you, Kaylyn? When I talked with him on the phone, I'm afraid I did most of the talking. I don't know what Jimmy told you about Miriam, about us or even what I said, so if you don't mind I'd like to start at the beginning."

Impossible to do anything else I nodded, folded my hands in my lap and listened to the woman confessing what she had done to Miriam and Jim.

For years they had balked at the possibility that their daughter would marry Jim. It had something to do with their being Jewish and he was Catholic. It was the same crap that my mother had to endure because of her color.

As time went by their affection slowly grew for him and they gave their blessing, then the shock of their daughter's death and finally how she had told him to pursue me if he could.

I now fully understood how much I owed Dara, the mother of the woman Jimmy had been going to marry.

"Jim... will love you forever... I'll be honest, I don't think he will ever stop loving Miriam, but as we spoke yesterday on the phone I knew his interest in you is so strong I had to tell him to take you with him.

Am I correct, that he's done more than that? It's all right if you don't want to say anything, I'm just a nosy old woman."

What could I do? Tell her nothing was happening yet it was so obvious? Should I tell her the truth and chance breaking her heart?

I decided to tell her the truth.

"I don't understand it, myself. We just met yet there's been something bringing us together. I'm not sure if it's the stress that we've been under or the newness of the relationship or just the excitement of the situation... what should I do, Mrs. Gyler, what should I do? Will I be OK with him?"

My hands began to shake and I moved them beneath the tabletop.

"He's told me that he loves me; he almost killed those men to protect me; he's treated me like a lady and given me gifts that I could not even dream about last week and a job with him that can make me wealthy beyond anything I can imagine... what should I do? Please, you've known him for years... I am so lost."

The truth was, even though I felt he loved me I wasn't sure how deep it was. I was truly scared of the future... he had such great expectations of me... I didn't know if I could live up to them.

And was I really in love with him or just caught up in the moment. I admitted to myself that it could be possible... the job, the events in the park, the sex... oh, the sex... and this morning, all those clothes. I felt I was a swimmer caught in a riptide pulling me out to the sharks waiting in the deep.

"Kaylyn, you can call me Dara. I'm going to be as honest with you as you've been with me. I would give anything for my daughter to be married to Jim... but... that's a fantasy that I have pushed away to a special place of my heart.

I've never seen him so excited since he and Miriam... well, anyway... he is a unique person, at times so serious, so foolish or so happy he's like a boy with a new toy. He's very intelligent and gets frustrated when people don't understand what he's saying.

But this I know. He's the most wonderful person you'll ever know and if he says he's in love with you then he is from the bottom of his heart, forever.

Right now he's working with the idea of being in love with two women at the same time... one that is lost forever and one that is here wanting to love him back.

You do care for him? I didn't even think to ask, I'm so sorry. Do you?"

I looked up and it all became clear in my mind.

"Oh, yes, I do. I don't know if it's because he's been so nice to me or he's the first real man I've ever met... but yes, I do.

I think it was when we were having lunch together and just spoke about our lives. I've thought about this myself over the last two days... not a very long time, is it?

But if Jimmy loves me as you say then I will love him back for as long as I live. I would be the best wife he could have... oh, God, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know, dear, it's all right. If you can make him happy then I know that Miriam would be happy, too. Let's just talk about you. You look beautiful. Is that what caught his eye?

I know that he's had plenty of opportunities with beautiful women throwing themselves at him because of his money."

"No, Jimmy said it was because he liked my eyes, my 'laughing eyes' as he called them and that he was most interested in my intelligence. Jimmy told me that he had the government check me out. I've only looked like this since this morning. I'm the plain girl next door."

"Kaylyn, you have the most exotic eyes I've ever seen... they look like bright gold. As far as being plain, maybe you were but that means he's in love with you, the real you, not some painted airhead."

I nodded my head, remembering what he had said to me our first night together.

"So, dear, tell me something not so serious. If he's happy if you're happy then we are and will support you as long as you want.

C'mon, some girl talk. What did you do today? He said something about running late."

For the next several hours I described the last two day's events, how the different clothes were bought, how the beauticians had completely changed my looks, how some outfits were 'just for him'. I blushed, hands covering my face.

Dara whispered, "Have you...?"

"Ummm, well, you see... oh, I might as well tell you. Last night was the first time for me. I was a virgin but after everything that happened I guess we just got caught up in... it was wonderful, I never knew...

I think Jimmy wants to marry me. Crazy, isn't it?

He is a good man, isn't he? Jimmy wouldn't treat me that way unless he was serious, would he?"

I still had doubt lurking in the back of my heart... life was too good to be true and I was scared no matter how I tried to rationalize it.

Dara looked at me and grasped I was actually afraid of the situation.

"Oh, no, Kaylyn. If he made love to you he wants to marry you. There's no doubt about it in my mind. Don't worry; everything is going to be wonderful. You'll see."

"Hey, we're hungry out here! Where's the food?"

"Oh, Sol... take it easy, will you? I'll get it."

"Dara, what do you want me to do?"

"There's some nice steaks in the fridge, why not bring them out to those two and put them to work. Sol's been grilling more than steaks out there, that I know... then would you please make the salad?"

After I took the meat out, I came back to find Dara standing by the countertop gripping it with both her hands, eyes closed, tears forming.

I reached out to the woman and Dara fell into my embrace softly crying for her lost daughter. I could only stand there and hold her gently as Dara cried on my shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Kaylyn... I didn't mean to do that. It's just..."

"Dara, it's all right. I think I understand. I have no one now except for Jim. Would you... would you be my mom? Please?"

For a moment she was speechless and then her eyes gained a small sparkle.

"Oh, yes... thank you..."

I used my cuff to wipe Dara's tears.

"That's silk, it will be ruined!"

"I don't care, it doesn't matter. I better get that salad made or those guys are going to be screaming bloody murder."

I finished wiping the old woman's tears away and looked in the refrigerator for the lettuce and tomatoes.

By the time the steaks were done the table had been set, the salad was made and I was putting a new pitcher of ice tea on the countertop.

"I'll say a blessing," started Dara, "thank you, God, Giver of all life, for us together today. Thank you for our Miriam and the time we had with her, for our Jim and what he has brought to our lives and now Kaylyn, our new daughter."

Both men looked up in astonishment. Sol smiled in agreement, Jim, in what I thought had to be silent relief.

With the cab waiting at the curb the Gylers said goodbye. "You remember what I told you, boy," said Sol firmly.

"Yes, Dad, I will, don't worry. Goodbye, Mom... are you going to come south for a visit, now?"

"Yes, now that there's a good reason, I will. I don't want to hear that you're not treating this girl right... and stay out of parks for a while, please."

Dara kissed me on the cheek, "Thank you, Kaylyn... for understanding an old woman's feelings. Don't worry, he'll do whatever you want, you'll see."

The ride back to the hotel was quiet in a good way, we were just holding hands and being happy.

I knew I had just had the most important dinner of my life.