I’m finally revisiting the characters from The River City Chronicles nine years after their original timeline. I’ll be running the series weekly here on my blog, and then will release it in book form at the end of the run. Hope you enjoy catching up with all your faves and all their new secrets!
Today, Ben becomes a hero, and something surprising happens…
< Read Chapter 57
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Chapter Fifty-Eight
An Uninvited Dinner Guest
“Mother, I want you to meet Lorelei.” Ben stood back from Lorelei’s front door to let the two of them assess one another.
Lorelei had graciously agreed to have dinner at her apartment, though she had been very nervous about meeting his mother. “What if she doesn’t like me?’
“Not possible.” Ben had sealed the deal with a kiss. Now he watched with bated breath to see if things would go as well as he hoped.
Lorelei smiled broadly, though her hand scratching the side of her leg betrayed her nervousness. “Come on in. It’s so nice to meet you, Mrs. Hammond.”
“That’s Ms. Hammond now. Mr. Hammond has been dead for a number of years.” His mother stepped past Lorelei and looked around the living room. “Oh, I love the art. Where did you get it?”
“She painted them all. Lorelei is an artist.” He followed them in and closed the door behind them.
His mother raised an eyebrow. “And a mother too? You didn’t tell me about that little detail.” She glanced at the toys strewn around the floor.
Lorelei’s face flushed red. “I’m so sorry. I just got the kids off to Mr. Johnson’s across the hall and didn’t have time to clean up after them. He watches them sometimes when I have company.” Lorelei was wringing her hands now.
Ben came to her rescue. “Yes, mama, Lorelei has two beautiful children, and she’s a great mom.” Unlike some people.
“Calm down, dear.” His mother put a hand on Ben’s arm. “I didn’t mean any disrespect. I was just thinking I might finally become a grandmother—by marriage—if you ever make an honest woman out of this fine lady here.” She put her other hand next to her mouth in a faux aside to Lorelei. “Between you and me, I don’t know what you see in this lunkhead.”
“Mama!” He stifled a laugh.
She raised her head in mock defiance. “Well it’s true. She’s far too pretty for you. Children or no.”
It was Lorelei’s turn to hide her laughter. “So, Ms. Hammond, why don’t you come into the kitchen. I have dinner almost ready.” Behind his mother’s back, she pointed at her and mouthed I like her.
Ben rolled his eyes. “Come on mom, it’s this way.” He led her into Lorelei’s small kitchen.
“It’s… very cozy.” She bent over to inspect the table. “But also very clean.”
Ben winked at Lorelei. “That means she’s impressed.” He led her to one of the seats. “Mama, why don’t you take a load off. I’ll help Lorelei finish the meal.” Dinner smelled heavenly. They had decided on something simple and difficult to criticize. Over the years feeding her kids, Lorelei had become an expert in making spaghetti, and her sauce had knocked Ben’s socks off the first time he tried it. “What can I do?”
Lorelei pointed at the sink. “There’s a colander there. Want to strain the pasta? I’ve got the sauce almost ready—just needs a bit more basil.”
“You got it.” He kissed her cheek, and then took the big pot off the stove and wrestled it over to the sink. Water and pasta spilled out into the colander, setting up a lovely aroma.
His mother sniffed the air. “That smells heavenly. Do I detect a bit of garlic?”
Ben refrained from staring at his mother in open surprise. She really had turned over a new leaf. When he was younger and cooked for her, there had been nothing but criticism after criticism. Being faced with your own mortality really did make you reevaluate your life.
Lorelei piped in. “Yes. I have some garlic bread in the oven. Ben, can you check on that for me so it doesn’t burn? There’s a basket with a cloth to cover it there on the counter.” She pulled down three beautiful multicolored stoneware plates from the cabinet. “I only use these on special occasions.”
His mother put her hand over on chest. “I’m honored.” She adjusted her wig, which had shifted slightly askew.
Ben checked on the bread, pushing down his sadness. They had agreed that this would be as normal a night as possible, under the circumstances. If his mother only had a few more months to live, he wanted to spend them with her making good memories, not fretting about what was to come. They had lost so much time. “The garlic bread looks fantastic!”
He slipped it into the basket and covered it up to keep it warm, and set it down in the middle of the table.
It was soon followed by the three plates, three sets of knives and forks, some bright yellow napkins, and a trio of wine glasses.
“They say red wine usually goes best with tomato sauce, but I like a nice clean, dry white.” Lorelei put a bottle down on the table—Ben’s recommendation, because he knew his mother loved a good white.
His mother raised an eyebrow. “My doctor told me to avoid wine with the cancer.”
Lorelei turned white as a sheet. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t think—”
His mother took her by the hand and guided her gently down to the chair. “I only have a few months left to live, child, so I’m not overly concerned with what my doctor recommends. Pour me a glass.”
Ben frowned. “Mama, are you sure?”
She turned to stare at Ben. “Are you really going to deny your dying mother a chilled glass of white wine?”
He laughed in spite of himself. “Are you really going to play the dying mother card just to get a drink?”
“Touché. But yes.” She held up her glass, and Lorelei filled it and then the other two.
“Bon apetit.” Lorelei set the bottle down and took up her fork.
“Bon apetit.”
They each grabbed a piece of garlic bread, and then dug into the pasta.
A grin spread across his mother’s face. “Lorelei, this is delicious. What did you put in the sauce?” She took another bite.
“It’s my mother’s recipe. There’s a bit of sour cream in there along with some fennel and a fair amount of rosemary.”
His mother put her fingers to her lips to kiss and release them in the air. “It’s genius. Ben, you really need to marry this woman.”
“Mama…” It was way too soon for that.
She poked him on the shoulder. “I mean it. She’s perfect for you. She can cook. She’s pretty. She makes beautiful things.” She gestured the art in the walls. “I’m not going to be around much longer. I want to see you happy and married before I die.”
Ben and Lorelei exchanged a glance, but before he could say something there was a heavy pounding at the front door.
“Let me see who that is.” Lorelei wiped the corners of her mouth, set the napkin down on the table, and vanished into the living room.
Ben followed her with his gaze. I am so lucky. Most people never got a second chance at true love.
His mother squeezed his shoulder. “You picked a lovely woman. I’m proud of you.”
“Even if it’s not the way you always hoped?” So much water under that bridge.
She snorted. “I gave up on that old dream a long time ago.” She took the last bite of spaghetti and sighed happily. “I just want to know that you are taken care of when I’m gone.”
Ben grimaced. “Mama, we still have time…”
There was a loud crash from the living room. “I knew you were lying to me. When my lawyer hears about this—”
Ben sprang up onto his feet, and was out of the kitchen in a flash.
Lorelei was cowering before a blond, bearded man a head taller than her, wearing a short-sleeve polo shirt, showing off his hairy arms, which were raised as if to strike her. One of her paintings, a watercolor of the Tower Bridge, had been smashed to pieces.
Ben inserted himself between the two of them and pushed the man away. “Back off, man.”
The guy stared at him, his eyes going wide. “Lori, who’s this?”
“This is my guest, Ben, my neighbor from downstairs. Ben, this is Garrett, my ex.” The last word sounded like a curse.
“So not only are you pretending to be a cripple, you’re also bringing strange men around our kids?” Garrett tried to push his way past Ben, but Ben blocked him.
“Look, I’m sorry that I lied to you.” Lorelei put a hand on Ben’s shoulder, staying squarely behind him. Her hand was trembling. “I really was in a wheelchair, but I didn’t know how to tell you that I was better. Everything seemed to be working out—”
“Working out? I can’t believe you call this working out!”
Ben crossed his arms. “I think you should leave.” Ben said it calmly
Garrett growled. “Don’t tell me what to do in my own home.”
“This isn’t your house anymore.” Her hand tightened on Ben’s shoulder, and now she sounded angry. “It hasn’t been since you cheated on me. Thank God the kids aren’t here to see you acting out like this.”
“Young man, I think you should leave.” Ben’s mother stood in the doorway to the kitchen, her own arms crossed, a mirror image of Ben.
It was hard to keep from grinning.
“And who are you? What, Lor, are you running a boarding home for ni—”
He got no further before Ben had him pushed up against the door and put a forearm against the man’s windpipe. “Like my mother said, I think you should go.” It had been a long time since someone had used the “n” word around him, and he wasn’t about to let this man throw it around.
Garrett struggled under his grasp, but Ben increased the pressure on his windpipe steadily, pinning him in place.
“Am I clear?” His gaze pinned the man as much as his arm.
There was fear in Garrett’s eyes now.
Not surprising. Bullies were usually timid as mice when you called their bluff. “Am. I. Clear?”
Garrett nodded rapidly.
Ben let him go. “Good. Now get the fuck out of here. Lorelei’s lawyer will be in touch to renegotiate your custody terms.” He opened the door, shoved Garret out, and slammed it behind him, locking the deadbolt.
“That was amazing.” Lorelei ran to Ben and threw her arms around him.
Ben’s mother nodded. “I’m very proud of you.” Something about the way she said it told him she had finally, truly accepted him for who he was now, not who she wanted him to be.
He hugged Lorelei tight. “I’m sorry he scared you—”
Lorelei looked up at him, tears in her eyes. “Ask me now.”
“What?” He looked from her to his mother, and back again.
His mother snorted. “He always was a little slow.” She smiled at him. “Ask. Her. To. Marry. You.”
Comprehension dawned. Marry her? Am I ready for that? Ella would want him to be happy. And Ms. Fortune herself had told him Lorelei was the one for him.
So had Brad.
You’re alone. Lonely. You want to be complete again.
His old friend was right. He was so terribly lonely, ever since Ella died. Lorelei made him smile, and brought him back from all the dark places.
Maybe it was time to move on. “Lorelei, would you—”
“Yes!” She reached up and kissed him.
Ben’s whole world dissolved into fireworks and heart-shaped bubbles and grand orchestral music.
When he came back to down Earth, he let Lorelei go, slowly. She receded from him like an ocean wave that promised to return. “Mama, I’m getting married.”
“So I heard.” His mother smiled, and turned around to head back into the kitchen. “Come on, you two. I want some more of that wonderful pasta.”
“You’re still hungry?” Ben took it as a good sign.
“Yes, for your soon-to-be-wife’s wonderful pasta.” Her voice came floating into the living room. “And then we can start planning your wedding.”
< Read Chapter 57
Like what you read? if you haven’t tried it yet, check out book one, The River City Chronicles, here.