It was early August before I saw Edie again, though we were speaking on the phone almost every day. I was glad I lived in an area where I could use a cell phone. If I lived where my parents did, the long-distance tolls would have eaten me alive.
It was funny. Having spent the weekend with Edie, and scratched the itch only left me wanting more. Had we lived closer this would not have been a problem, but Pittsburgh was well over 300 miles from Clifton Forge. We couldn't just meet for lunch or go out to a movie any time we wanted. Instead, we had to plan another weekend, meeting in the middle so neither of us had to spend an entire day driving to and from our meeting.
That didn't mean I didn't miss her. On the contrary, she'd touched my very soul. Edie had become like an addiction. When I couldn't have her she was all I thought about. Funny thing was, I'd get offers from other women when we played gigs. But I turned them all down. I wasn't interested anymore. I'd seen perfection in Edie, and nobody else interested me no matter who they were or what they promised.
Finally, after a couple of weeks, I sought out my father for some guidance. I told him I'd met somebody, but she lived in another state. "The bridesmaid?" he asked. I nodded. "Well," he continued, "Only you can make that choice. You know how this family feels about that type of relationship. We've accepted Jason's wife as one of the family, and we'll do the same for you. Can't guarantee what the rest of the world will say, but if you pursue her, we'll accept you as a couple. One question, though. Are you doing this for the right reason?"
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Well, Jason has always kind of set the pace for you. Do you love this girl, or are you just following his lead? Because if you ARE following what he did, it isn't fair to toy with her feelings. Just make sure you are truly in love with this girl before you hurt her. She's Von's friend, so if you get tired of her and drop her, there will be consequences in this family."
I assured him that I was in this for the long haul. Truth be told, Edie ruled my thoughts, and I missed her terribly. I wished she lived closer, we could be together more often, but I had to accept the long-distance relationship.
"One more thing," Dad added, "you need to realize that she's from a different world. Not only is she of a different race, she's a city girl. You two are going to have to make major adjustments to each other if you want this to succeed. Eventually, you'll have to make some sort of compromise if you want to get married. If you move her down here, she may not be accepted. You'd be uprooting her from everything she's ever known and moving her into a hostile environment. And if you decide to move to the city you're going to have to give up your job and pension, all the stuff you worked so hard for, to move to a place you don't understand. That's something you have to work out between y'all."
Honestly, at this point marriage hadn't crossed my mind, but I could see where he was coming from. We each felt the pull of the other, even at this early stage. Dad was, as usual, right. At some point being apart would be too much to bear. One of us would then have to give up all we'd known and worked for. And I'd probably be more accepted in her world than she would be in mine.
We talked almost every night on the phone, our conversations becoming raunchier as time went on. I went through quite a lot of tissue listening to her voice, and I could tell by her heavy breathing and the soft buzzing I heard that she was doing the same.
I next saw Jason and Von at Grandma's birthday party in late July. We were all sitting out on the back porch on a scalding hot day, drinking Kool-Aid Von had made. It was strong and sweet, sweeter than anything I'd had before. It was like drinking a bag of sugar.
Her pregnancy was well along, her belly filling out nicely. They excitedly talked about the baby, and how it had kicked Jason in the head as he lay on her belly. I had a good laugh at that.
But I also couldn't resist embarrassing them again. It was a family tradition for me to embarrass Jason. Von. However, never showed a hint of embarrassment, throwing it back in my face. Today was no exception.
At the wedding reception, Von had sung some quite explicit songs, and I asked her if they actually did that, making a joke about the baby being the result. I even made a crack about Jason licking the chocolate tootsie pop, as my cousin Sally laughed along. Jason, as usual turned even redder than his normal skin tone. But Von coolly flipped my question back on me.
"I hear you got offered some tootsie pop too," she laughed. "Did you take Edie up on her offer or did you chicken out?" Speechless, I turned as red as Jason. "Mmm hmm, thought so," she continued. "Boy got nothing to say now." Sally was almost doubled over with laughter but Von was not done yet.
"Sally," she said, "Long as I known you, you been sitting here laughing at the things I do with your brother. But I bet you doing the same things too. Ain't she Bob?" Both Sally and her husband were embarrassed now. "Yeah, I bet y'all got some freak in you too. Ain't nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong at all."
Later, Von pulled me aside. "Edie is my friend. We grew up together. She doesn't let just anybody into her life. Don't you dare hurt her. You do, we gonna have a BIG problem. Got it?" I nodded in mute agreement. I was not used to the fierce loyalty Von showed for her friends and family.
Afterward, as I talked to Edie on the phone and we made arrangements for our next rendezvous, she asked, "What's it like to go camping? You know, sleeping in a tent under the stars?"
"I like it," I replied. "Done it all my life. It's very relaxing for me,"
"Can we try it next time?" Edie asked. "I always wanted to try it but I'm afraid to do it alone."
We met up on a Friday evening near Elkins. I chose this place because Edie already knew how to get there, and the National forest was close by, with a campground within 10 miles. She greeted me with a warm hug and kiss that had me hard. I missed her so much. I'd never felt this pull from anybody else. And it was a wonderful feeling, being in the arms of the woman who filled my dreams.
She followed me over the mountain to the campground, which was perched on a bluff above the river in a hemlock forest. She insisted on helping me pitch the tent, then took the pads and sleeping bags I'd brought inside. She wouldn't let me in the tent while she made our nest, so I contented myself gathering firewood. Luck was with me, as I found several big logs in a vacant campsite, and enough smaller wood to get the logs started. The big logs would burn most of the night.
Edie called me to the tent. "Did I do it right?" she asked. I peeked inside. She'd made up our sleeping bags as though they were a bed. LED candles were placed in candleholders that wouldn't tip over and placed in the corners of the tent. "I'd have brought real candles, but I didn't want to burn the place down," she said.
