In Love With An Older Man 14: Making Up

Gary found Cindy in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He came up behind her and put his arms around her. "Please, honey, don't be mad."

"And why shouldn't I be mad?" She wouldn't turn around and look at him.

"I didn't mean to do anything to hurt you or your family. I was only trying to help my brother. If it had been one of your brothers, wouldn't you have done the same thing?"

"My brothers all have too much integrity to have an adulterous affair!"

Gary winced. "I'm not excusing what he's doing, Cindy, but anyone can make a mistake. What about when Miranda had her drinking problem?"

"That's a whole different story! Miranda realized that she needed help and got it! She's been sober for almost four years now!"

"I really believe that Jason will come to his senses soon too. Like I said, I think this is just a stage he's going through, getting panicky about getting older and needing someone to make him feel young again."

"But he's hurting three innocent people in the process! Debbie's been betrayed, and Joel and Micah have had their whole world turned upside down!"

Realizing that Cindy was still too upset to have a rational conversation, Gary silently walked out of the kitchen.

While feeding and dressing the twins, it occurred to Cindy that perhaps she had over-reacted a bit to what Gary had done. After all, his actions had been primarily motivated by concern for his brother, which Cindy could definitely relate to. If the situation had been reversed, would she have done the same thing? She couldn't say for certain that she wouldn't have.

Cindy heard the razor and knew that Gary was in the bathroom shaving. A few minutes later he came into the nursery to say good morning to his children.

"Da da!" cried little Jonathan, lifting his arms to his father. Gary picked him up and hugged him. "Good morning, little guy!" he said. Cindy, who was brushing Rebecca's hair, smiled. Gary looked at her tenderly.

"Black Friday, isn't it? Busiest shopping day out of the entire year! So, are we headed out to join the throngs?"

"Maybe we could just relax around the house today, Gary. I'm not really feeling well." As if the emphasize her point, Cindy sneezed. "Perhaps I could start putting up the decorations today, starting with a giant sprig of mistletoe right over our bedroom doorway." She grinned impishly, and Gary knew that he was forgiven.

"Aw, who needs mistletoe?" Gary embraced his wife and started to kiss her, but she pulled away.

"Careful! I don't want you to catch what I'm coming down with."

Gary frowned with concern and felt Cindy's forehead. "You do feel warm, hon. Maybe you should just stay in and get some rest today."

Cindy took some Tylenol and an antihistamine, and as the morning progressed, she did feel better. She unpacked holiday decorations and made green pea soup and corned beef sandwiches for lunch. For the twins, she made grilled cheese sandwiches, which she cut into fourths and served along with applesauce. After lunch Gary and Cindy went to the park and pushed the twins in swings and let them go down the slide.

After they returned home, Cindy started feeling bad again and went back to bed. She was asleep almost immediately, and when she awoke a couple of hours later, she was amazed to see how late it was.

"Oh my gosh, I need to start dinner," she said to herself, but when she tried to stand, a wave of dizziness washed over her. "Maybe I'll be all right if I just rest for a few more minutes," she told herself.

A few minutes later Gary was there. "Feeling any better, sweetie?" he asked.

"I just tried to stand up and got so dizzy," Cindy told him. "I'm gonna start dinner soon. Just let me rest for a few more minutes."

"Rest as long as you want, Cindy. Dinner's already been taken care of, and I made you something special. Wait here and I'll bring it." Gary left and returned with a steaming pot, which he placed on a TV tray near the bed.

"Gosh, Gary, that smells delicious!" Cindy realized that she was hungrier than she had thought she had been.

"It's an old family recipe, passed down through several generations," Gary said proudly. "My mom taught me how to make chicken soup, and she learned from the best, my Bubbe Golda. Chicken soup cures everything, Bubbe Golda always used to say."

"It smells like the most wonderful soup in the world," Cindy said.

"Just wait until you taste it," Gary told her, preparing to feed her a spoonful.

"Gary, this is out of this world!" Cindy proclaimed, after tasting a spoonful and feeling the soothing hot liquid go down her sore throat. "You never told me you could cook like this!"

Gary grinned. "As you know, I was a single father for several years. The kids and I got awfully tired of TV dinners all the time after awhile."

After Cindy had finished the soup, Gary cleaned up in the kitchen, bathed the twins, and settled them down for the night. Then he went back to the bedroom and asked Cindy if she felt like watching a movie with him.

"Sure, what movie?"

"How about 'Sleepless In Seattle'? It's very special to me, for obvious reasons."

"Sounds perfect!"

Gary and Cindy cuddled up in bed together and watched 'Sleepless In Seattle', and afterwards Cindy went to sleep with her back against Gary's chest and his arms around her holding her tight.

The day Gary and Cindy took Jonathan and Rebecca to the mall to sit on Santa's lap just happened to be one of the eight days of Hanukkah.

"They're gonna grow up confused, going to visit Santa at the mall and then coming home to light a candle on a menorah," Jake commented.

"I don't think that's the case at all," Gary told him. "We want them to grow up to take pride in both their heritages."

"I grew up with only one heritage and I turned out just fine." Jake chuckled.

"So you don't want to sit in Santa's lap now to make up for all the times you didn't when you were a little kid?" Gary teased him.

"No way!"

"I didn't think so." Gary and Cindy laughed heartily as Jake stalked indignantly to his room. Just then the doorbell rang. Gary opened the door. Jason stood there with an attractive blonde of about Cindy's age. She wore a low-cut blouse that revealed her cleavage and tight-fitting jeans, and her face was heavily made up. Cindy stared enviously at the woman's voluptuous figure. It's pretty obvious what Jason sees in her, she thought glumly.

"I hope we're not interrupting anything," Jason said. "We were in the neighborhood anyway, and Vicky just wanted to meet you guys."

You wanted to show off Vicky, you mean, Cindy thought to herself.

"Not at all. Please, come in," Gary told them.

"Wow, looks like a great place you have here!" Vicky said. She was chewing gum and popped it loudly as she flounced to the sofa and sat down.

"Thank you," said Cindy, as Jonathan tried to hide behind her and Rebecca walked right up to Vicky and grinned. "Hello," she said.

"Hi there! Aren't you a cutie!" Vicky said to Rebecca.

"Please, sit down. Would you like something to drink?" Gary asked.

"Oh, no, we're fine. We can't stay long anyway," Jason said.

"Your kids are so cute! How old are they?" Vicky asked.

"Almost eighteen months," Cindy told her. "Do you have any children?"

"Heavens, no!" Vicky laughed loudly.

Gary and Jason talked briefly about current events, and then Jason said they had to be going.

"It was great to meet you guys! We'll have to get together again soon!" Vicky crowed loudly. Cindy was relieved to see them go.

"Thanks for being polite to them," Gary said later to Cindy, when they were both in the bedroom."I know how you feel about the situation. To be honest, I don't know what he sees in her. Love can be blind, I guess."

"What did you see in me when we first met, Gary?"

"Well, besides the fact that you were drop dead gorgeous, and still are, of course, you just seemed to have this sweet innocence about you, a wholesome quality that's rare these days, and that just totally won me over. I didn't know how to tell you for the longest time."

"For the longest time I thought you were still married because of that photo of Jackie on your desk."

"Yeah, I know. That's something that was even harder for me to talk about." Gary came to her and put his arms around her. "Meeting a woman like Vicky just makes me appreciate you all the more, Cyn."

Cindy clung to him and buried her face in his shoulder. "I can't begin to tell you how much it means to hear you say that, Gary," she told him.