I smiled and nodded. I moved around to the side of the bed and sat down where Megan had been sitting. It still felt warm. “I remember. I think I said how she kept me from going crazy.”
“Yeah. Dad, uh, Megan, well, she’s the one who keeps me from going crazy. Or makes me go crazy. Something like that.” He paused for a second. “I talked to her about Monrovia. I’ve never talked to a woman about that, even when they’ve asked.”
“Yeah, your mom’s the only one I talked to about Nicaragua.”
“Anyway, she’s the one.”
“Ah, hah! I thought that might be the case.”
“You did?”
I snorted and rolled my eyes. “Charlie, you are about as subtle as a fart in church! I’ve seen how you look at her, and I’ve seen how she looks at you! Have you said anything to her yet?”
“Uh, no, not yet. I mean we’ve talked, but not anything permanent.”
“Staying here with your mother isn’t permanent? Oh, brother!”
“Dad!” he protested.
“Okay, so, you love her. You want to marry her? Is that your plan?” I asked.
“Uh, I guess.”
I rolled my eyes a second time. “You are hopeless. Listen, your mother is never going to put up with you shacking up for the rest of your life. You are going to have to tie the knot anyway if you want to have kids. Believe me, the legal and financial implications are significant. She’s not pregnant, is she?”
“NO!”
“Settle down, Romeo! Let’s get realistic. You aren’t getting married anytime before you can get out of here. You’ve known her less than a year. I knew your Mom almost four years before we got hitched. Ask her, and if she says yes, go for a decent engagement. What about her career? If she gives up acting and you give up racing, where does that leave you? You have to talk about these things.”
“So you think I should?”
“Charlie, I told you long ago, you can’t get into trouble chasing girls; you only get in trouble when you catch one! Well, you caught one! Your life is about to get very complicated. God save you now! You need to talk to her, not me.”
“So, how did you ask Mom? All of us kids once asked her and she never answered,” he asked.
“I never did. I just drove her over to the jewelry store and we picked out a ring. We simply knew.” I remembered back to that afternoon and smiled to myself. It was shortly after Marilyn and I climbed out of the sack. I wasn’t telling my children that little detail! “I’ll bring Megan in and give you guys a chance to talk.” I stood and patted his shoulder (gently) and went to the door.
Opening it, I found Megan and Marilyn looking at me nervously. “What’s wrong?” asked Marilyn.
“Nothing.” I pointed at Megan. “You, in there.” Then I pointed at Marilyn. “You, with me.” Megan scooted inside, and Marilyn moved to follow her, but I took her hand and kept her out of the room. “You need to give them a few minutes.”
“What’s wrong!?”
“Nothing. Everything is just fine.”
“What…” she began. Then she stopped and turned to face the door. Inside she could hear Megan squealing, ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’, over and over. Marilyn looked at me with a big grin. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
“Pretty much. Let’s take a walk and give them a few minutes.” I put my arm around her waist and we strolled down a hallway, followed by my detail. We stopped in a lounge and I sat down on a couch and pulled my wife down next to me. I told her about our little conversation. “I told you, two down, one to go!”
“Well, I think they’ll have to hold off on the wedding for a bit. I don’t think they are going to want to go on a honeymoon in the hospital.”
“Probably not.”
We gave the kids about half an hour, and then wandered back down the hallway to Charlie’s room. We entered to find his fiancée carefully draped over him from the safe side of the bed, kissing him quite thoroughly. I cleared my throat, and she popped up with a guilty look on her face. I commented to Marilyn quietly, “It’s a good thing he’s got a catheter in place, otherwise this would be really embarrassing.”
The others must have heard me. Charlie gave me a smirk, Marilyn poked me in the ribs and Megan turned beet red. Then Charlie said, “Mom, Dad, uh… Megan… I asked Megan to marry me and she said yes.”
“That must have been why we heard the ‘yes, yes, yes’ from outside in the hallway,” I replied.
Megan blushed again, and Charlie answered, “Just be glad I’m in bed and can’t run you down and beat you up with your cane.”
“I think I can outrace you, at least for the next few months. After that, I might be in trouble.” I looked at Megan. “Never mind me. Congratulations and welcome to the family. The twins will love this. Have you had a chance to talk to your family yet?”
“No. I called my mom but I had to leave a voicemail.”
I nodded. “Have they met Charlie yet? I mean, once they actually meet him, they might put the kibosh on the whole thing anyway. I’m sure they’ll figure you can do better.”
“Very funny, Dad!” answered my son.
“No, not yet, but I just know they’ll love him as much as I do!” the girl replied happily.
I muttered to Marilyn, “Just like my mother warmed to you!”
That earned me another dig in the ribs. Marilyn said, “When you speak to them, invite them here next weekend. We’ll fly them out and Carl can come back again.”
“You’ll fly them out?”
“We own, well, Carl owns, a plane. It’s much nicer than flying commercial. They can be here in a few hours,” Marilyn explained.
Megan looked a little shocked by the idea. She might know I was the President, but I think this was the first time she really understood I was also a multi-billionaire. “Wow! Okay, I’ll do that.”
Charlie squeezed her hand. “Don’t sweat it. You’ll get used to it. Believe me, I don’t have anywhere close to their money. I’m going to need to work for a living at some point when I get out of here. I wonder if Uncle Tusker needs another mechanic.”
“You could always go to school,” offered his mother.
Charlie simply laughed and waved her off with his free hand.
That night, Megan joined Marilyn and me for dinner. Charlie pushed her out of the room, simply to get some rest and sleep. No matter how much he loved her, he was probably ready for the break. She heard from her parents shortly before we went down to dinner in the main restaurant, and got them to accept a visit to Pittsburgh next Saturday. After dinner, we all called it a night and headed back to the suite. Megan began calling her relatives and friends, and Marilyn called the twins.
Chapter 170: Hurricane Marilyn
That night we watched Saturday Night Live. I don’t normally watch it, since I thought the first cast (Chevy Chase, et al) was the best, and anybody since then had been downhill. Still, I knew after all the comedy this week they were going to have to do something about Marilyn in jail. Marilyn wanted to go to bed, but I insisted we watch. I knew something crazy was going to happen.
Darrell Hammond (as me): (In a command post, surrounded by generals and admirals.) “Are we ready for the operation?”
Army Generaclass="underline" (Standing before a flip chart showing a building with lots of arrows on it.) “Yes, sir! The extraction of the asset is planned for later today! This is a high value asset and is being detained in a maximum security facility. Delta Force will parachute in, breach the interior walls, and perform the extraction.”
Navy Admiraclass="underline" “Navy SEALs will secure the perimeter and deal with any fast reaction forces targeting the extraction.”
Air Force Generaclass="underline" “We have satellite reconnaissance and stealth drones in place, close air support, also.”