Six

I met M's family just two weeks after we were engaged in a Kroger store.

I hadn't told anyone -- most people who knew me, including my then-girlfriend, assumed I'd be proposing to her over that Holiday break.  My family thought I was going to visit her just before Christmas. 

M and I had agreed, after the euphoria of that night calmed, that we would marry AFTER she graduated in a year. 

Her family was large.  Not her immediate family, just M and a sister. 

But the extended family with whom they visited.  They also enjoyed wine in large quantities.  Something new to me at family gatherings.

Her father, a retired prison warden, lived away from the family until the last year, when his assignment was complete. 

Her mother had worked secretarial jobs off and on to stay busy and to make friends, especially once the girls had been safely engaged in college. 

They were a beautiful, fun family.  Somewhat less "proper" than my own extended family, at least on my mother's side.  But delightful and fun. 

Of course, they were incredibly curious about me.  Her mother did report hearing about me quite often.  Otherwise, I was a mystery. 

I had secured a decent job post-grad school and was doing ok, but -- what did I want to do long-term?  Where would M and I live?

We survived the couple days of scrutiny and her parents were assured when they saw us together, alone.  There was that fuzzy, magic feeling of new love and also the comfort of being with someone you feel you've known forever.

I knew I had difficult days ahead, though.  A woman who had expected a proposal, who soon would start asking for one or would withdraw from our relationship. 

Would I tell her what had happened?  Or, just let it go.  Let the two of us become a thing of the past.  A memory. 

Nothing was wrong with us, really.  We got along well.  We connected on many levels.  And yet, this ... thing with M felt right.  Impulsive? Sure.  But right. 

And it made me realize that I was alive.  In a way I hadn't before.  I knew I could pursue my dreams.  Follow them whereever they took me.  And she would be there. 

And so I drove home.  Alone and quiet.  I played no music on the three hour, scenic drive that took me to my mother's house. 

After the new year -- not sure how soon after -- I would tell her that I was engaged.  And tell her more about M. 

She would understand, in time. 

My happiness would be her key.