“What bad news did your father give you, child?” Chelsea asked.
Pamela explained how the medical expenses incurred during her mother’s illness had been heavy, but her father had paid them by adding to the mortgage. She explained that she’d moved back home to do her part by preparing the meals, doing other household chores, and yes, contributing financially by paying rent because that was what family did.
She soldiered on, explaining how her father, in his need to “fix” the mess things had become, had been duped out of a lot of money and had suddenly stood to lose the farm.
And she explained how Adam had proposed, telling her that he and James would fix the problem her father had created, that she didn’t need to worry about him. Certainly, the solution he’d come up with, she’d believed, had been not only very generous but crafted to make it easier for her father to accept.
“I didn’t tell them what was troubling me to get their help. I hope you both believe that. And I did tell them what they proposed was too much money for two new doctors to invest, but they assured me everything would be fine. Adam and James know me well enough to understand that I’d never leave my family home if I thought my father needed me.”
“Do you mean to tell me they tied their investment into your family farm to your acceptance of their proposal of marriage?” Maria had asked that question very carefully.
Pamela knew she was treading on tricky ground, but she couldn’t do anything but tell the truth. “To be honest? I can’t say yes or no to that. I was still trying to recover from finding out what my dad had done. I really would have said yes, regardless. I might have pleaded for a little time so I could help dad figure a way out of the mess he was in. But I would have said yes to their proposal.” Might as well make this a total embarrassment. “Mainly because I was in love with them both and worried about having to choose between them. I was so happy and relieved to find out I didn’t have to choose, so of course, I had to say yes.”
“Did they mention the family tradition of a commitment ceremony?” Grandmother Chelsea asked.
“They did, but they assured me, many times, that I could wait until I was ready for that step.” She looked down at her hands. When she thought of that moment, the wonder she’d felt in that moment came flooding back to her. “I love them both. I thought there was something wrong with me because I did love them both. And then…when Adam proposed and asked me to marry them…that I could marry both of them, I knew my only dream—my greatest wish—was about to come true.”
“I think I have a pretty clear picture of exactly what happened.” Maria shook her head and looked over at Chelsea. “Mother, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That your sons—my grandsons—need a good boot in the butt? Oh, yes indeed.”
“Because they helped my father?” Pamela didn’t know what to think—until Maria reached for her hands and looked at her with the most loving expression she’d seen on a woman’s face since her mother died.
“No, hija, because whether they intended to or not, they looked on that help as a way to buy your acceptance of their proposal. I’m sure they stressed that you could have as much time as you liked before having the commitment ceremony. Likely something like, ‘when you feel you’re ready.’”
“They did say almost those exact words, yes.”
“And I will bet they never asked you how you felt about any of it.”
“I told them I’d fallen for them both, and I said yes to marrying them both. That wasn’t my telling them how I felt?”
“Oh, well then, that’s even worse for them,” Grandmother Chelsea said. She shook her head. “Even with the examples of their fathers and my fathers, my two men needed a boot in the butt every once in a while, too.”
“I can see your confusion, Pamela. My sons, bless their male hearts, didn’t listen to you. They likely felt a little guilty offering you what they realized might be considered a ‘bribe’ to marry them. So then, to assuage their misplaced guilt, they likely decided to woo you as they should have been doing since they met you.”
“Oh.” Pamela was relieved her new mother-in-law wasn’t upset with her. But she didn’t want the woman upset with her sons. “I didn’t think they even really noticed me as a woman at first. I fell for them more and more as we spent time together, as I got to see their hearts. It was only in the last few weeks I began to feel they might actually be attracted to me, too.”
“Oh, querida, they had taken one look at you and were done for. Do you know, they called me the day you met? They were smitten—just like their fathers were that first moment we met.”
“The ‘love at first sight gene’ is strong in the families here,” Grandmother Chelsea said. “We were both wondering what was taking so long for them to move things along.”
“Oh.” And she thought of the wedding night yet to come, and she blushed. “They, um, only kissed me for the first time after I said yes.”
Maria’s eyes went wide, and she let loose a string of curses, in Spanish. Maybe I can learn to speak that language. Pamela figured it might be a way to know what her mother-in-law was saying.
She didn’t like being the reason Maria was upset with her
