“You say that,” Mick said, a big cigar in his mouth as he pointed his long fork at her. “I don’t
hear him saying that!”
“I’m saying it too, Pop,” Teddy said with a smile. But then he went back into his feelings.
“You heard your mother,” Nikki said. “What are you thinking about?”
Teddy was slouched down in his chair, staring at his beer mug. “I’m thinking about me,” he
said.
That surprised Nikki. There wasn’t a selfish bone in that man’s body.
“I’m thinking about me,” he continued, “with you.”
Mick glanced at Teddy. What was that about, he wondered.
Nikki wondered the same thing. “Looks like you’re having an internal battle about us,” Nikki
said as lightheartedly as she could, although Roz could see she was worried.
Teddy smiled with a weak tug of his mouth.
“What’s the dilemma?” Nikki asked. “Maybe I can help you fight the battle.”
“The dilemma,” Teddy said, as he turned toward Nikki, “is how does a man save the woman
he loves, if saving her means losing her?”
Mick looked at his son. It sounded serious. It sounded like he sounded when he almost left
Roz. He prayed to God Teddy wasn’t about to make that mistake. He closed the grill top, wiped
his hands on the cloth, and sat down at the table beside his wife
Nikki felt a tightness in her chest when Teddy spelled out his dilemma. What was he trying
to say? That he was leaving her? That he wanted to save her from him? “You should respect
the woman enough to let her decide if she wants to be saved,” she said, “or be with him.”
“Amen,” Roz said, and held up her beer as if it was a toast.
But Mick was too nervous to toast anything. What was Teddy getting at?
But Teddy looked at Nikki and nodded his head. “Good answer,” he said to her.
But then his look turned serious again, in that brooding way of his they all knew so well, and
then he stood up from his chair, and got down on his knees.
Mick began having palpitations when Teddy got on his knees. Roz held her breath, too, as
what they had been hoping for looked as if it was going to happen.
Nikki could hardly believe it herself. Was this what she thought it was? She didn’t see this
coming at all. Not at all!
But when Teddy pulled out that big, beautiful rock of a diamond ring, and took Nikki’s hand,
her heart skipped a beat.
“Nicole,” he said, “and I want you to think about this very carefully, okay?”
Nikki couldn’t speak. She nodded her head.
“Will you be free of me and free of my way of life,” Teddy asked, “or will you be with me,
and deal with my way of life forever?” Then he looked into her eyes with a sparkle in his.
“Nicole, will you marry me?”
To Roz’s shock, Mick grabbed hold of Roz’s arm and squeezed it as tight as he could. She
looked at him. He seemed more nervous than Teddy!
And he was. His heart was in his shoe. Say yes, Nikki, Mick inwardly begged. Please, say
yes. My son needs you. Say yes!
But it wasn’t even close for Nikki. “I’ll take you,” she said to Teddy, through tears, “I don’t
care what comes with you.” Then she nodded her head. “Yes, Theodore Sinatra, I will marry
you.”
To everybody’s shock, Mick jumped up to his feet before Teddy could get off his knees,
hurried around the table and hugged Nikki vigorously. “Thank you,” he was whispering to her
as he hugged her. “Thank you!”
Teddy and Roz looked at each other with big grins on their faces. They had never seen Mick
so emotional in their lives! Who was this man? It certainly wasn’t the Mick they knew!
But it was Mick through and through. Teddy worried him. He was hard on him, because he
knew what greatness he was capable of, but he was worried about him too. Mick came within
inches of being alone forever. Teddy was within inches of being alone too. And Mick could not
have been happier.
He stopped embracing Nikki, who was smiling from ear to ear, and looked at his son.
“Congratulations,” he said, formally, as he shook Teddy’s hand.
“Thanks, Pop,” Teddy said, unable to wipe that smile off of his face.
Which Mick noticed. “What’s so funny?” he asked him.
“Nothing’s funny,” Teddy said, still unable to stop smiling. “Other than you,” he couldn’t
help but add.
quip?
He wasn’t. He even smiled too. “I guess I was a little dramatic, wasn’t I?” Mick asked.
Teddy laughed. “Just a bit,” he said.
Mick nodded, still smiling. “In any event,” he said to Teddy, and then Mick’s look turned
serious too. “You may kiss your brand-new fiancée. Good choice, son,” he added.
Roz applauded. And Teddy, unable to conceal his gleefulness, stepped beyond his father,
and went to his brand-new fiancée, and kissed her with a roundhouse kiss.
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Document Outline
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
CHAPTER NINETEEN
CHAPTER TWENTY
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
CHAPTER THIRTY
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
EPILOGUE
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