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I think about that. “What’s your opinion on that? Would you want to get remarried if the love of your life died?” I ask.

“Honestly, Ivy, I wasn’t sure I wanted to get married ever at all. I think everyone moves at their own pace, and if she wants to get remarried, more power to her. If she doesn’t, it’s her decision.”

“Yeah, but don’t you just want her to be happy?” I ask.

“I do. And I don’t necessarily think that means she has to get remarried. Maybe I’ll change my mind on marriage someday, but I don’t think happiness equals a partnership.”

And it’s as he says those words that, for the very first time, I wonder what possibly could have spurred him to get married the night that we did if he feels that way.

Because to me, it seems like alcohol alone isn’t enough of a driver to make you do something that you really never wanted to do.

It might lower inhibitions. It might give you beer goggles. But it doesn’t seem like, by itself, it’s enough to cause you to change your entire belief system.

Yet he did.

And I don’t like how that sudden realization makes me feel.

CHAPTER 28: Cash Maddox

Everything I Need

I glance at her hand and think for the hundredth time that I really need to get her a proper ring instead of the gumball machine shit we bought at the chapel.

She’s quiet after I knock, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s because she’s nervous to meet my mom. But it’s too late to address those fears now because I hear her footsteps approaching.

A few seconds later, the door opens.

There stands my mom in all her five-foot-three glory, her hair in its usual messy bun and her glasses perched down on the edge of her nose as if she was just sitting on the couch reading, which, it seems to me, is her typical Saturday evening activity under a blanket and with a cup of tea on the table beside her.

She looks exactly how you’d picture a librarian.

And she gasps and holds a hand up to her mouth as the realization hits her that I’m really here…with my wife.

“Oh my goodness, Cash, what are you doing here?” she exclaims as she rushes toward me for a hug.

I squeeze her tightly and smile as I tell her, “I wanted to introduce you to my wife.” I step back from our hug. “Mom, Ivy. Ivy, this is my mom.”

Ivy giggles and offers my mom a smile as she holds her arms out and walks toward her to give her a hug. “It’s wonderful to meet you, Mrs. Maddox.”

“Oh, my dear, please call me Colleen or Mom. It is an absolute joy to meet you,” my mom says. “I have been hoping this day would come, but my boy just loves to surprise me.”

“Tell me about it,” Ivy says. “A few hours ago we were walking a trail in a little town west of Vegas, and now we’re here in Minnesota. And all I said was, ‘When was the last time you called your mom?’”

My mom lets out her beautiful, loud laugh that’s halfway between a cackle and a shriek, and it’s the sound that reminds me of my childhood in a way that nothing else ever could. My mom’s laugh is simply the best, and it’s the kind of laugh that makes everyone around her instantly feel joy, much like the woman herself.

“Well, come in, come in. How long are you here for?” she asks.

I glance at Ivy and wait for her to give the answer to that since it really kind of depends on what her sister says.

She grins at me. “Through Tuesday.”

I raise my brows, surprised at her answer.

“Oh, yay! Extra days with you. I do need to go to work a bit this week since school starts next week already,” she says. “We have teacher in-service days this week, which are always hosted in the library. They start Tuesday, so I need to stop in on Monday to make sure everything is set up and ready to go because I haven’t stopped by at all this summer.”

“Good for you,” I say as we follow her into the house I grew up in. “Sorry for the surprise. I should have called to make sure you’d be around,” I say. “But we’re happy to help with whatever we can if you want us to come in with you.”

“Oh, stop it, honey,” she says. “I couldn’t ask you to do that.”