Part 1
Six days," she thought to herself. "I didn't know they could go by quite so quickly." Quietly she opened the door to what would become her new home. It was a home that Ginger knew well. After all she and Linda Metcalf had been friends for fifteen years. And she'd been in love with Linda's younger brother, Jeff, for two. It wasn't love at first sight for them - at least not in the usual sense of the phrase. She'd known him far too long for that to be the exact case. But the first time she'd looked at him as someone other than her best friend's disgusting younger brother, she'd been head over heels in love with him, experiencing and doing things she'd never expected to and so had Jeff. Their elopement was just the most recent example of this crazy behavior.
By now Jeff was probably back in Wichita, which left her alone to try and explain their impulsive decision to her family, his family and their friends.
They had told Jeff's older brother, Hank, together and that had been painless. Even though it was Jeff's first week in the minors he had gotten
two days off in a row and they'd decided to head to Chicago to visit Hank since it was on her way home. Hank had insisted on driving Jeff back to Wichita the night before and the brothers had seen her off at the train station. "It was good for them to see each other," Ginger thought as she made her way to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee. "Both of them needed to a good visit with each other."
Hank had been thrilled by their announcement. She knew it had reminded him of his own marriage to Sarah and the tragic injustice of her life ending when they had so many plans for the future. But he had put on a brave face and shown them around Chicago and welcoming Ginger officially to the family with a great dinner before she departed for River Run. But Ginger wasn't naïve enough to think that everyone would be as excited as Hank. Which was why she was now sitting in the kitchen of the Metcalf home drinking her morning coffee rather than her own family's kitchen. She figured that telling Linda would be a whole lot easier than telling her own mother. Especially since, rather than have her mother die as she told her on the phone, she'd told her that she was off doing some promotional work for her new show, "The Fine Foods Family Hour".
As Ginger poured herself another cup of coffee, Linda walked into the kitchen, cinching the belt on her bathrobe.
"Good morning, Linda," Ginger said with a smile way too big for this hour of the morning.
Her greeting startled Linda out of her still sleepy state. "Ginger! What are you doing here? I thought you were doing some promotional --"
"Which reminds me," Ginger interrupted her, "I need your help with something." She poured her new sister-in-law a cup of coffee and settled into the chair next to her at the table.
"My help? With what exactly?"
"Oh nothing really…just explaining to our mothers why Jeff and I eloped."
Linda could feel that her mouth was hanging wide open, but for some reason she could not will it close, no matter how hard she tried. Slowly, she lifted her coffee mug to her face and took a sip.
"Well?" Ginger asked her impatiently.
"Well, what?"
"Well, aren't you going to say something?"
"Oh I'm sorry Ginny, I thought you said you need my help explaining why you and my brother eloped."
"I did."
"Come on, Ginger. That's not funny. Neither of you would do something like that. There's just no way--" Linda paused and for the first time the morning fog began to lift from her eyes. She realized that Ginger was being completely serious. "Oh, you two wouldn't…I mean…you didn't…oh my word…you did! You and Jeff are married?"
Ginger nodded her head as a delighted Linda threw her arms around her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Thirty minutes later, Ginger had finished telling her best friend all of the details of her past week as Mrs. Jeffrey Metcalf. Well, not all of the details, but the most relevant ones.
"And Father Dreher approved of this?" Linda asked skeptically.
Ginger nodded vigorously. "He married us right on the train. Oh Linda, it was so romantic. I wish you could have been there. It was…it was...perfect."
"Ginger, I wish I'd been there too. It sounds perfect. But now you have to deal with the consequences." She paused slightly before continuing. "I honestly don't think my mother will be too bad. She's lightened up quite a bit in the past couple of years-"
"I've noticed," Ginger mumbled.
Linda smiled knowingly. "And she really won't mind once she finds out Father Dreher not only approved, but he performed the ceremony. But, Ginger, your mother, she's going to be a different story."
"Oh, don't remind me." Ginger got up from the couch and began pacing around the Metcalf living room. "I can just imagine the conversation. ' Hi, Mom. Yeah I know I told you that I was doing promotional work, but that wasn't exactly the truth. Oh, what was I doing? Well…actually…Jeff and I were on our honeymoon.' Then she'll let out this blood-curdling scream as she tumbles to the floor. And if by some miracle she doesn't die straight away from a heart attack, I'll never hear the end of it."
Linda couldn't help but laugh loudly at Ginger's eerily accurate description of what she too suspected would be Mrs. Szabo's reaction to the news that her daughter and Jeff had married. "Maybe if you two promise to get married in the church as soon as Jeff gets home…" she offered.
"Or maybe I should just kill myself now." Linda shook her head. "You're right I'd hate to die so soon after marrying Jeff. Well…what if I just don't tell her until Jeff gets home and then we get married right after he gets off the train. I could plan it just like we weren't married --"
"Ginger! How long do you think it will be before Father Dreher mentions it to your mother, if he hasn't already."
" Ooooh! Linda…what am I going to do?" she said as she heaved herself onto the couch, sighing loudly.
"I don't know but I guess we'll figure it out," Linda said as she gave her sister-in-law a gentle hug.
To be continued.....
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Jeff: Because they wouldn't know the real you and I do and I already love you whether you're a movie star or not. Although I would like to know what you wear to bed at night.
