The Face In The Mirror (16 page)

This was the same church where we’d exchanged our vows the first time,
and I knew that in my prayers, I would ask that our union be blessed once
more. Midge met us on the steps, squealing and gushing about Mitchell and me.

Finally, the three of us entered together, and I thought about my mom. She
would have loved being a grandmother to Derek’s son - not sharing the
experience with Dad and Roxanne, but she would have loved this. Midge
patted my arm; she knew my thoughts. We sat in a pew and Mitchell took my
hand, held it in his lap and squeezed. I was sure that he was remembering ‘us’,
too.

Afterward, we gathered at the Country Club, where Dad and Derek both
golfed, for the celebration - my dad beaming over my new sister, and Roxanne
looking like something off the cover of Vogue magazine.

I made the obligatory ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ over Rowena Rochelle Ridgeway,
but I couldn’t look at her without thinking about my mom. My dad came to
congratulate Mitchell and me, but not before Midge’s loud declaration over
how happy my mom would be over our reunion. I saw Roxanne almost choke
at Midge’s words, and then witnessed the daggers her eyes shot around the
room as old friends came to congratulate us as well. I don’t know why, but it
made me happy, and I couldn’t wipe the stupid grin from my face. Mitchell saw
and came to hug me.

Derek and Janelle came to where we were sitting to visit. I held Jared and
he snuggled against me and cooed. Derek was so proud of his new son and
seemed genuinely happy about Mitchell and me. I think I was finally over being
pissed at him. It wasn’t really his fault; he was always Daddy’s little pawn, a
status I wanted no part of. I fought hard my entire life not to fall into that trap.

When we left, Mitchell turned to me and said, “We look so pretty. We
should go out to eat.”
“Splendid idea! I know just the place.
I gave him directions as he drove. The last left was at the big oak tree on
the corner by my house.
“Hey, this is Granny’s!”
“It’s home for a little longer, so let’s go.”
“But…”
“I’d rather cook, and I have a wonderful idea for dessert that involves
whipped cream,” I said as I ran up the stairs to change into my new favorite
attire - jeans and one of his Donovan’s t-shirts.
“I can order some of those for you that are smaller.”
“Wouldn’t be the same. Order more for you and wear them so your smell
gets all in them. These smell like you and I like it.”
“Nice,” he laughed.
“You know you think it’s sexy.” I looked over my shoulder with an inviting
smile.
“Not sexy at all, Renie. It’s hot,” he said coming up behind me. Slipping his
hands under the shirt, he caressed my belly as he turned me toward him. “You
sure we can’t just order Chinese or pizza, later?” Still holding me with one arm,
loosening his tie with the other, he looked at me with those luscious brown
eyes, waiting on my reply.
“Gimme ten minutes,” I said, wriggling away from him.
“Six, Renee. I can’t wait ten.”
I bolted to the kitchen, took inventory and pulled some things out of the
freezer. I wanted to cook, but I wanted to get back to Mitchell quickly. I ran
back up the stairs to the bedroom.
“Oh! You’re naked!” I squealed.
“And?”
“I’m not,” I said, whipping the t-shirt over my head and shimmying out of
the jeans.

“Call for a pizza,” I said, later.
“I thought you wanted to cook,” he said with a big grin.
“I think we just did,” I laughed. I pulled him back to me, wrapping my

arms tightly around him. He rolled to the left so that I was poised above him.
“Renie, I can’t imagine what ‘happier’ than I am right now would even feel
like.”
“I’m gonna work really hard to make you feel that way every day for the
rest of our lives, Mitchell Donovan.”
“If we keep up this pace, neither of us will live to see our fifties,” he
laughed.
“Oh, but it’ll be worth taking the chance!”
He called for pizza and I threw the other stuff back in the fridge.
“I need to type something up for work.”
“Oh no,” he said grabbing me by the waist, pulling me back to him as I
turned to walk away. “You aren’t taking my time for anything work related.”
“But, this is important,” I said.
“More important than this?” he asked, motioning to himself.
“Never! I will never let work keep me from you, but I need to type my
resignation letter.”
“Two weeks, Renee,” he said seriously, but a big grin followed as he let me
go.

By the following weekend, Mitchell had a ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard at his
house, and we were back at the condo, on a bigger mission – getting it ready
for us! During the day on Saturday and Sunday we cleaned and sorted; in the
evenings we read.

Another box of paperwork was ‘Enroned’ and we were making up our
minds about furniture – his, mine, and Mom’s. We’d put her bedroom furniture
on Fred’s List on the Internet and a couple would be coming to look at it the
following Saturday. We were on a forward path.

By the time we were ready to head back to Jacksonville, I had a list of
phone numbers for consignment shops to take several boxes of my mom’s
better clothing.

Monday, as I sat at my desk, my phone rang. “Welsley and Ryan, Renee
Donovan,” I answered.
“Hey, it’s Dad. Can you go to lunch?”
“Only because it’s you,” I said, forcing a smile so he didn’t hear sarcasm in
my voice.
“I’ll be out front at noon.”
I spent the morning wondering what had brought on his invitation, but I
had so much to do trying to close out contracts that I had in my possession,
that I couldn’t dwell on it too much. I stepped out the door just as he pulled
up. I got in and leaned across the seat to kiss his cheek.
“You look beautiful, my dear.”
We went to LaVilla Roma, and I continued to wonder why.
“This is lovely. I haven’t been here in ages.”
“It’s one of my favorite places.”
“And, to what do I owe the pleasure of your company?” I asked.
“I had a call from John Welsley. He told me you gave notice.”
“To begin an adventure,” I said quickly, not giving him a chance to add
anything. “Mom’s estate gave me an opportunity that I’ve dreamed about since
I was a child. When I sat down and calculated it all, my heart said ‘JUMP AND
RUN’!”
“What does this mean?”
“A start-up business. I’ll tell you more when everything is in place. I’m
working hard to move in that direction.”
He was quiet, and suddenly I felt like a child again as I braced myself for
his reply.
“Renee, what is going on?”
“What do you mean?” I asked, and as I said the words I could feel the hair
on my neck stand up, my back straighten, and my shoulders stiffen.
“Running off getting married, quitting your job…”
I interrupted him, pushing my plate aside. “I realized very recently that life
is short and unpredictable. No one knows what tomorrow holds. I’m going to
grab ahold of every dream possible before the opportunity is gone. If I fall, I’ll
pick myself up, but I’ll learn a lesson. Life is all about feedback, not failure.”
“I never should have left Mitchell. I was selfish and spoiled, but I’ll tell you,
right here, right now, that I never stopped loving him. When he came back –
when he came to Mom’s funeral - I heard God whisper to me, ‘Here’s your
chance, don’t be stupid this time’. Mitchell said that we’d been given a mulligan
and I’m not passing on a second chance.”
I took a sip of water to give me a second to gather my thoughts. I inhaled
deeply to continue.
“The other thing, I’m trying to remember the words that Mitchell shared
with me that Walt Disney said, ‘A dream is a wish your heart makes’. My heart
has dreamed this forever, but I pushed my dream aside because you told me I
had to have a career. Convenient Cuisine will be a grab and go meal business –
take it home and cook it that night, or maybe it’s a take it and freeze it for
upcoming meals, throw it in the crockpot and go, and it’s a ready when you get
home meal. Mitchell wants me to explore breakfast as well, but I need a plan. I
have to think everything through.”
“I hope you aren’t making a mistake by throwing your career away, Renee.”
“What is the worst that could happen, Dad? I’d have to go back to
reviewing contracts?” I asked, trying very hard not to lose my cool on him. I
swear I wanted to scream!
“All my life you’ve thought the worst when it comes to me. I’m a grown
woman. Let me make a decision and deal with whatever happens. Maybe you’ll
be surprised when it works.”
I was on a rant that wouldn’t stop.
“Maybe you will see that I have to make my own decisions, sink or swim.
Can’t you believe in me, like you’ve done with Derek, just once in my life? I
need to try. So what if I fall? I’ve sure picked myself up more than once, with
no help from you.”
“You can believe in me, or you can leave,” I said, shocking myself with my
words. I saw him, saw the disbelief, but I didn’t care. This was my time.
I looked at my watch. “I need to go. I still have a job and I have work to
do. I’m no slacker. I hope after you think through this, you will believe in me.”
I tossed my napkin on the table and asked, “Do I need to get a cab?”
“No, Renee, don’t be ridiculous. I love you, and I hope the best for you.”
He hailed the waiter for the check. As we headed back to my office, my phone
rang. I decided not to answer it. I knew it was Mitchell. I called earlier and told
him where I was going. I could call him when I got to my desk.
“I’ll talk to you soon,” I said as I stepped out of the car.
He dropped the window, “No matter what’s happened, I love you, Renee,
and I always will.”
“You too, Dad.”

I hurried to my office and called Mitchell without listening to the message.
“Hey,” I said when he answered. “I was still with my dad when you called.”
“How’d that go? Was it a good thing, or?”
“I’m not sure, and I kinda don’t care. I’m a grown woman, and I don’t
think I need his acceptance on my decisions.” I suddenly realized that my tone
sounded bitchy and it certainly wasn’t intended toward Mitchell. “Sorry. I guess
I’m just still pissed at him.”
“You’re allowed,” he told me.
“So I guess after I gave notice, Maureen let John Welsley know and
because he and Dad are golfing buddies, they must have talked. Dad wanted to
know what was going on? I told him about the business, and at some point I
told him that he could believe in me, or he could leave.”
“I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself, and by the way… I
believe.”
“Then all in my world is right, and good.” I said.

As I knew would happen, Midge wouldn’t let us get away without a
reception. I told her that it had to be small. She told me she would “keep it
tasteful, but…”

I always hate the word ‘but’ - it’s sometimes followed by a bad thing, or
something the other person knows you won’t like, so I braced myself, because
knowing Midge those three letters were something to reckon with.

“But what?” I asked.
“No one got to see you in your dress,” she pouted as only Midge can do.
“I gave you a picture.”
“It’s not the same. You probably paid good money for that dress and you

wear it once and no one gets to see it?”
“Midgey...”
“Listen, Renee, do this for Granny. Do it for Mona. I believe that they are

always with us. Dress up, put that smile on and come to a party. Plus,” she
added quickly, not giving me a chance to say anything. “I’m sure that Mitchell
loved seeing you in it the first time. He will love seeing it again.”

We spent our evenings working on a business plan, and everything was
falling into place. I had a notebook full of ideas to explore, and the days of my
law career were coming to an end. Our plan was to get the living arrangements
in place before we moved on to the business. Me and my ‘have to have a plan’
lifestyle - I had to have everything thought through - but it seemed that
Mitchell was OK with it.

A week after he put the ‘For Sale’ sign in the yard, Mitchell came home
with a bottle of champagne.
“Cuvee,” he said happily.
“What’s the occasion?” I asked as he entered the room I used as an office.
I’d come straight home from work and was cleaning and sorting through files
so that we could make the move to the front room.
“There’s a contract on my house.” He pulled me from the chair and folded
me into his arms.
“Wow! That was fast!”
“It’s Dave, he wants to buy it. He made an offer and I said ‘let’s do it’.
That’s the good news. The bad news is he wants to move fast. He’s been
paying month to month to avoid signing a year’s lease, and he wants to move in
before the end of the month.”
“That’s in like two weeks! And Midge has the reception on the nineteenth!”
“We gotta get all my crap out ASAP, so the inspector can come appraise
and do his thing, and then Dave can paint and whatever he needs to tackle
before he moves in.”
“So we’ll by-pass the beach this weekend,” I told him.
“Oh, hell no, we will not. We’ll get my stuff out by going over after work
each evening this week. You can meet us there. Dave and some of the guys will
help out, too. We
will
be going to the beach. Even though there’s work to do,
the trip over there always gives us both a chance to clear our heads. Besides, I
know the next book is getting closer to us meeting at Granny Ella’s, and I want
to know what your mom had to say about that!”
“Mitchell Donovan, I love you like crazy,” I said.
“Oh, yes you do, Renie. Yes, you do,” he said, and we both laughed.
How on earth did I live the last nine years without him?

Friday, October 18
^th
was my last day at Welsley and Ryan, and there was a
get-together at the office at the end of the day. Mitchell ran home after work to
shower, and met me there. When he entered the conference room, my heart
raced. My Adonis had arrived. Dave Moore was with him.

I’d been at the firm since I graduated college and many of the people I
worked with were there when I started, so Mitchell knew a lot of them.
Everyone was celebrating my new venture and having a great time. My best
friend, Ashley, came to the party, and several times I noticed her and Dave
sharing conversation.