After hanging his new coat over the back of the chair, Jack sat down at the table in the student center across from Melissa. Although she had a tray of food in front of her, she wasn't eating. In fact, it didn't look like she had noticed him arrive. He said, "Hello, Melissa."
She looked up at him and sat back in surprise. She asked, "What happened to your face?"
"I took a nose dive into the street Saturday afternoon," Jack answered. He didn't want to go into all of the details about the break-in and his short lived pursuit of the criminal.
"It looks like the street won," Melissa said with a half-hearted smile.
Jack knew her well enough to know that she wasn't in a very good mood. She had spent the weekend studying for her final exams, but he didn't think that her lack of appetite and flat voice was related to that. He asked, "What's wrong?"
"I found out this morning that the school pulled my scholarship," Melissa answered. It was near finals week and she didn't need that kind of stress in her life at the moment. She had considered just skipping them altogether.
"You're kidding?" Jack asked with a frown. It seemed to him that every time he turned around that life was busy kicking someone.
"No, I'm not. They are running out of money," Melissa answered feeling sick to her stomach. She looked at the tray of food and felt like throwing it across the cafeteria.
"What happened?" Jack asked.
"The funds for my scholarship are from an endowment. It appears that it lost half of its value as a result of the market crash," Melissa answered. She had a feeling that a lot of students would not be returning to the school for the Spring Semester.
"What are you going to do?" Jack asked.
"I guess I'll have to move back home after the semester is over," Melissa said. She hated the idea of moving away. She had just met Jack and felt that there was a real future between them. Moving back home would be a disaster. She wouldn't have a job and jobs were scarce everywhere.
Jack took a sip of his coffee considering his options. He didn't want to see Melissa leave his life at this moment. Life might be done trying to kick him down, but it was up to him to grab what happiness he could. He looked at Melissa and saw a lot of future happiness. In a very soft voice, he said, "Marry me."
"What?" Melissa asked shocked.
"Will you marry me?" Jack asked feeling his heart beating in his chest. The blood was pounding in his ears so hard that it was difficult to hear.
Unable to believe what she was hearing, Melissa asked, "Are you sure?"
"I wouldn't ask if I wasn't sure," Jack said. His hand trembled and he had to put the coffee down on the table before he spilled it. He took a deep breath and said, "I love you and I want you to be my wife."
Although the possibility of the two of them getting married had been a subject matter of a lot of jokes, Melissa had never taken it seriously. She stared at Jack trying to sort through her feelings. She loved him, but she felt like she barely knew him. Nodding her head, she said, "Yes."
"Yes?" Jack asked hoping that he had heard correctly.
"I'll marry you," Melissa said. Even as she said it, she realized that she wasn't only marrying Jack but that she was joining a community of people who helped and watched out for each other. It wasn't a bad prospect.
"Great," Jack said breathing a sigh of relief. He knew that it hadn't been the most romantic proposal in history, but she had accepted. He leaned over the table and kissed her. The act seemed to shake her out of her shock and she grabbed onto him in a spine crushing hug with a hard kiss that hurt his sensitive nose. His coffee went over the whole table, but they both ignored it.
With tears running down her cheeks, she broke the hug and said, "Yes. I'll marry you."
"We'll have to get married early in January," Jack said thinking that for her to continue in school that they would have to get married before the start of the semester.
"Why so quickly?" Melissa asked.
"So that you can continue to go to school," Jack said.
"My scholarship is gone," Melissa said pointing out an obvious flaw in his plan. There was no way that they could afford to get married and pay her tuition.
Smiling, Jack said, "Your tuition will be paid for because you'll be my dependent. It is one of the benefits I have working here."
"You're kidding?" Melissa asked staring at Jack. It seemed to her that the day that had started so badly had suddenly turned into one of the best of her life.
"Nope," Jack said with a smile. It seemed to him that things were working out his way for a change. He didn't know how long it would last, but that didn't matter at the moment.
Thinking of one of the problems they would have to address, Melissa asked, "What about Abby?"
"She moved in with Wanda Saturday night," Jack said thinking that the timing of the move had been very fortuitous.
"Why?" Melissa asked wondering if there had been some kind of fight.
Jack said, "Wanda needed the economic help and they all figured that you would want to move in with me sometime in the future."
Melissa looked down at the table. Jack's coffee had run over the whole table and was dripping onto the floor. Grabbing some paper napkins, she said, "We kind of made a mess."
Helping her wipe up the spilled coffee, Jack said, "I can't believe I'm getting married."
Melissa looked up at him and grinned. She said, "Frau Shultz will be happy."
"There's no way she could be as happy as I am," Jack said.
Looking down at her watch, Melissa said, "I have class in fifteen minutes."
Returning to the maintenance building, Jack hung his coat up. Roy looked over at him and said, "That's a nice stain on your shirt. What happened?"
"I got engaged," Jack answered with a smile.
Roy smiled and said, "So that pretty young lady took one look at your miserable features and took pity on you."
"Yes," Jack said.
Roy looked over at Sue and asked, "Jack got engaged today. Who won the pool?"
"What pool?" Jack asked looking from one to the other.
Sue smiled and said, "Kevin said that he'd propose by the end of the semester. I'm sure that he'll appreciate the hundred dollars. He's just in time for Christmas."
"I was sure he'd wait until January to propose to her," Roy said.
"There was no way that they were going to wait that long. You saw the way they looked at each other," Sue said winking at Jack. "I was sure that he was going to do it over the holidays."
"You had a pool on when I would propose to Melissa?" Jack asked looking around. He hadn't realized that his relationship with Melissa had been so obvious.
Sue grinned and answered, "You bet."
Roy said, "I hope that you invite us to the wedding."
Surprised that they would want to be invited to the wedding, Jack said, "Sure."
Seeing the expression on his face, Sue said, "Everyone needs to see a little happiness in these tough times."
"You can say that again," Jack said.
Roy slapped Jack on the back and said, "Well, congratulations. I'm sure you'll be happy."
"Thanks," Jack said. "I better clock out before I get into trouble."
"Tomorrow, you're going to have to replace the carpet at the front door of the Homer Dorm. It got soaked during the snowstorm and someone tore it this afternoon. We've got some carpet that matches the rest of the floor," Roy said walking to the back where the time clock was located.
"I'll get to it first thing in the morning," Jack said. Even though the carpets in high traffic areas were industrial strength, they still failed at times. He wasn't sure why they would even put carpet down in an area like that. He asked, "Are you sure you want to replace the carpet with carpet?"
"What would you suggest that we do?" Roy asked.
"I'd replace it with tile and put a mat there," Jack said.
Roy said, "That's not a bad idea. Of course, you'd probably want to do that when everyone is gone. Winter break is coming up. Any students that stay here over the winter break could use one of the side doors while you are fixing it up."
"That might be better," Jack said typing in his code into the time clock.
"Replace the carpet for now. It is a hazard and needs to be fixed," Roy said. He would have to check the budget to see if they could afford a more permanent fix.
Melissa came into the maintenance building and stopped in front of Sue. She asked, "Is Jack ready to leave yet?"
"He's got to clock out. He should be out any minute now," Sue said. "By the way, I heard that you got engaged. Congratulations."
"I take it he told you," Melissa said grinning.
"Let's see the ring," Sue said.
"He didn't have one," Melissa said holding up her hand to show that there wasn't a ring on it.
"Better get him to buy you one," Sue said.
Smiling, Melissa said, "To tell the truth, I'd settle for one out of a Cracker Jack box."
Sue laughed and said, "I understand that."
Melissa leaned over the counter and said, "I think he was a little surprised when the words came out of his mouth. I'm sure he didn't plan on asking me in the middle of the student union over a cup of coffee."
"That doesn't sound very romantic," Sue said.
"It was romantic enough," Melissa said with a smile. She was sure that sometime in the future they'd laugh about his proposal.
Jack and Roy came from the back. Roy looked at Melissa and winked. He put a hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "You put a ring on her finger and you get one through the nose. She'll be leading you around for the rest of your life."
Melissa laughed and said, "You better believe it."
Jack and Melissa got into in his truck. She had a small overnight bag with her and stashed it on the seat beside her. It left her sitting right beside Jack. When Jack started the truck, Melissa said, "Trupti was happy to hear the news. I guess weddings are really big things in India. She hopes that she can attend our wedding."
Although Jack had only met Melissa's roommate, Trupti, on two occasions, he had liked the small young Indian woman. He asked, "She hopes? Didn't you invite her?"
"I did," Melissa answered, "but she might not be able to come."
"Why not?" Jack asked concentrating primarily on backing out of the parking spot. If it was a matter of getting to where the wedding was being held, he was pretty sure that they could find someone to bring her there.
"She's worried about staying in school. Her family can afford the tuition, but the housing and food costs are too high," Melissa said. The tuition and additional fees for a foreign student ran about thirty-three thousand a year. In addition to that, the cost for room and board ran eleven thousand.
Jack said, "Liz needs a roommate. It would probably be cheaper for Trupti to live with her than to live at the school."
"That's an idea," Melissa said. "How do you think the little old ladies would react to a Hindu joining the commune?"
"It would be interesting," Jack said with a smile. He could imagine the conversations that would take place around the dinner table.
"She's a nice girl with very old fashioned values," Melissa said thinking that it would be a good tactic to use when selling the idea of her roommate joining them.
"Don't tell Bev and Sally that. They'll be regaling her with stories of swinging in the sixties," Jack said laughing at the image of the two elderly women telling poor Trupti about the parties they used to have when they were younger women.
"I don't believe you," Melissa said.
Jack looked at her and said, "You forget they were part of that generation responsible for the sexual revolution."
"I didn't think about that," Melissa said.
Jack was about to pull out of the campus, but stopped before leaving. He asked, "Do you want to take her by the commune tonight?"
"We'd have to take her back home," Melissa said. She was hoping to have a chance to be alone with Jack that night. If Trupti was around then that didn't seem very likely.
"Maybe or maybe not," Jack said. "If she gets along with Liz, she might spend the night."
"I guess we could swing by the dorm and pick her up," Melissa said without much enthusiasm in her voice.
Jack looked over at her and could tell that she wasn't all that thrilled with the suggestion. He said, "Maybe tomorrow night would be better."
"Good idea," Melissa said with a smile.
Tapping his temple with a finger, Jack said, "Occasionally I have a good idea."
"I heard about you and Dave spraying the inside of the house with a hose," Melissa said with a grin. She had never laughed so hard in her life as when the story had been related to her. She could just imagine the two men looking at each other and saying, "Uh oh."
"I'll admit that sometimes my good ideas aren't so good," Jack said with a laugh. He didn't think that he or Dave would live that one down. He didn't mind being teased about it.
"Sometimes you have really good ones, though. I liked the one that led you to propose to me," Melissa said patting him on the thigh.
Jack looked over at her and said, "I am looking forward to living my whole life with you."
"That's sweet," Melissa said.
The reaction to the news at the commune was one of genuine excitement. Much as he expected, Frau Shultz danced around the room. The discussion immediately turned to planning the wedding. Despite not having set a date, just about every other detail had been hashed out between getting there and dinner time. It was basically assumed that they would marry in a local church and have the reception at the community house. Jack was convinced that they would have the oldest bunch of maids of honors in the history of weddings.
Claire listened to the conversation and watched Melissa's reaction to a lot of the suggestions. Although it seemed to her that Melissa was enthusiastic about the suggestions, she wondered if Melissa would be satisfied with that kind of wedding. Over dinner, she asked, "Were you dreaming of a big wedding with the white dress in a large cathedral?"
"There was a time when I dreamed of things like that. Of course, that was when I was a lot younger. You know what I mean, little girl dreams of fairy tale romances," Melissa said looking a little embarrassed to make that admission.
"You're my princess," Jack said.
Melissa leaned over and kissed his cheek. She said, "You're sweet."
Claire rolled her eyes and asked, "Now?"
"Current economic conditions and studying history kind of changed my view of that whole fairy tale thing. Right now, I don't know of anyone who can afford a wedding with all of the works. My parents struggled to get me through college and now they are hurting economically. In studying history, I've come to appreciate that a wedding has always been more about celebrating with friends and family than it is about ceremony," Melissa said.
"You'll have that here," Jack said getting a lot of agreement from the others who were gathered around. He wasn't sure who had cooked dinner that night, but the Chicken Paprika was outstanding.
"Still, it must bother you a little to not have the fairy tale wedding," Claire said.
"Not really. At one time, a couple got married by pledging themselves to each other in front of a church. That was all it took to be accepted by God. All that was required for it to be official for the law and the church were two witnesses. The church brought the ceremony inside after a while, but it wasn't really that much of ceremony. The priest had to record the wedding in the church register. The real essence of getting married was the celebration of the community. That's when people pointed at the two and declared them married," Melissa said.
Bev said, "You have a point."
Claire said, "I wonder if all of the pomp and circumstance of weddings over the past few decades isn't more a symptom of our growing isolation. You have to throw a really big ceremony and party to pull your relatives from around the country. When you don't live in a community of people, you have to create a temporary one to get that same sense of recognition."
"I hadn't thought about that," Melissa said.
Jack listened to the discussion while loading up his plate with some more mashed potatoes. He ascribed to the idea that the man's role in a wedding was to show up and do what he was told. Until the ceremony, his best strategy was to say nothing and the easiest way to do that was to keep eating. He ladled a little of the juice over his potatoes. He said, "This is great."
"Thanks," Laura said, "When we got married I wore a simple white dress in the local church. We had a big party down in the church basement after the ceremony. All of my relatives, friends, and neighbors were there. That might sound like a lot of people, but it was a small town. My mother and my aunts cooked the dinner. We had roast beef with mashed potatoes and lots of gravy."
"We drank beer and wine rather than Champagne," Dave said. A lot of people had gotten drunk, but that was to be expected. Parties usually ended with people staggering out and driving home.
"We didn't have our reception catered. My mom cooked the food. We had fried chicken," Liz said. They hadn't thought it was anything unusual. At the time, most families cooked their own food for events like that.
"We didn't have the reception in the church. It was in my parent's backyard. I think every neighbor and family member brought over a dish of something to eat. It was such a beautiful day," Bev said. Thinking about it made her remember her late husband.
Cheryl said, "My wedding cost my parents close to thirty-thousand dollars. I had an expensive wedding dress, a rented church, and a reception in the country club. My plate of pasta cost thirty dollars. In hindsight, I think we would have preferred a hundred dollar wedding and the money for a down payment."
"It was a pretty reception," Rich said.
"That's true, but it was expensive," Cheryl said. In a way, she felt that she probably owed her parents an apology. They could use the money now.
Nodding her head, Claire said, "My daughter went for the expensive wedding. It was something that a lot of couples did in those days. It wasn't quite thirty thousand dollars, but that was a long time ago."
"It kind of got competitive among the kids to see who could have the biggest wedding," Liz said. She remembered going to a flurry of weddings with each one getting larger and more expensive than the one before.
Bev said, "It seemed for a while there that we were going to three or four weddings a year."
"All of our kids are about the same age," Emily said. Most of their kids had gone to school together.
"Weddings in the fifties and sixties were a lot simpler and less expensive," Claire said.
Melissa said, "Things are going back to simpler and cheaper. I'm sure that a lot of women will be upset about that, but times are tough."
Wanda asked, "What kind of wedding did you dream about, Jack?"
"Uh," Jack said freezing with a forkful of chicken halfway to his mouth. The expression on his face was much like on a cat that found itself surrounded by dogs. He didn't know if it would be okay to say that he had never had any wedding day fantasies.
Fred chuckled and said, "Good answer, Jack."
Melissa took one look at Jack and knew exactly what he was thinking. She laughed and pointed at him. Leaning over to Claire, she said, "His wedding dreams involve the night of the wedding and not the ceremony."
All of the women in the room laughed. Jack raised his arms and said, "Hey. What can I say?"
"The less you say, the better," Dave said giving him a wink.
Although it was tempting to watch Jack squirm a little longer, Laura asked, "So what did your mother say when you told her you were getting married, Melissa?"
"I haven't told her yet," Melissa said blushing from embarrassment. She had totally forgotten to call her parents.
"You might want to do that," Laura said a little amused by her reaction.
Gesturing to her plate, Melissa said, "I'll do that after we finish eating."
Confident that Jack had talked to his parents, Ella asked, "What did your mother say, Jack?"
"I haven't called my parents yet. I was waiting for Dad to get home from work and for Melissa to be here. I'm sure they'll want to talk her out of it," Jack said with a grin.
Melissa gave him a love hit on the shoulder and said, "You're so bad. I know your mother and she likes me."
"She's totally convinced that you're too good for me," Jack said.
Laughing at the exchange, Fred said, "He's got a point there. You are too good for him."
Later at Jack's house, he called his parents. After a quick exchange in which he announced that he had proposed to Melissa and she had accepted, he handed his phone over to her. He could hear his father's voice say, "Are you crazy? You can do better than him."
"I don't think so," Melissa answered laughing. Jack had told her that his father would say that.
Jack's mother grabbed the phone and said, "Did I hear right? You're getting married to Jack?"
"Yes, ma'am," Melissa said.
"You can call me Mom."
"Thanks," Melissa said.
The conversation lasted a few minutes longer. After hanging up, Melissa said, "Now my parents."
"Good," Jack said.
Worried about how her parents would react to the sudden news that she was engaged, Melissa punched in the number for her parent's house. After a few rings, her mother answered the phone. Melissa said, "Hi, Mom. It's me."
"Melissa! How are you doing?" her mother asked.
"I'm doing fine. I have some news," Melissa said. She wasn't sure how to break the news to her mother. She hadn't mentioned that she was dating a guy in the past few calls.
"What news?" her mother asked.
"I'm getting married," Melissa answered.
There was a long moment of silence at the other end of the line. Finally, her mother asked, "What about your education?"
"I'm going to continue going to school," Melissa answered. She gave Jack a weak smile knowing that listening to her side of the conversation probably didn't sound very positive.
"What about your scholarship? Will that be affected?" her mother asked worried.
"The scholarship ran out of money. They canceled it," Melissa said.
"Oh my God!"
"Jack will put me through school," Melissa said.
"Who is Jack? Is he one of your professors?" her mother asked suspiciously. She hadn't heard anything about Melissa dating anyone and the sudden engagement sounded like she was trying to hide something.
"Jack is a guy I met at school. He works on campus as a maintenance man," Melissa answered. She was fully prepared for the screech that followed. She knew that it would get worse when she started talking about the commune.
"You're marrying a maintenance man?" her mother asked.
Melissa answered, "Yes, Mom."