Chapter 9

I pull into my sisters. It was not an easy trip. I drive to her house almost daily, but was so tired I briefly forgot where I was and got lost. I knock on the door and promptly pass out on the couch. I wake up several hours later and have the EXACT amount of time to get everyone home, dressed for church, and speed to church.
We stop at home and my phone rings.
"Good Morning Beautiful!" I hear.
I laugh. "Good Morning."
"How did you sleep?"
"Quickly." I banter.
"Nice. Where is your church?" he asks.
I answer in a hurry, I am late. Hate being late.
"Church starts at 9, so I gotta go. I will talk to you later?" I am hovering over the cradle. I am too cheap for a cordless.
"Yeah, be safe."
"Thanks"
We run to the car seats.

We get settled in and the music starts.
It is Fast and Testimony Meeting. We fast for 24 hours and give the money we would've spent on food and usually add a generous amount to help others who may not have enough. We then couple that with the extra time not taken up by cooking, cleaning and eating, to more fully concentrate our prayers and focus on hearing the voice of the Spirit. We then have an opportunity, if you wish to bear your testimony of the Savior that Sunday. If you skip the prayer and focus part we call that starving, not fasting.
We settled down and next thing I know, Plan B is poking me. I ignore her trying to listen. Poking becomes more insistent.
"What?" I demand. I don't like being poked.
"I want to go up there. Pleeeease?" she is almost in my lap. Begging.
"Ok." We stand up and listen to the snickers from the congregation. She is 4. Almost 5.
"I would like to bury my testimony." I stifle a snicker too.
Usually people begin I would like to bear my testimony. It was very sweet and honest testimony of her love of the Savior. She closes and scampers away. I am left standing alone very abruptly at the mic now by myself.
I offer my testimony, and half way through see a dark-haired, bearded man in a brown carhartt jacket and winnie the pooh tie slip in the back and sit down. He smiles at me. I quickly close and I am sure was all red again.
Next is Gospel Doctrine Class. I am the teacher. Brad takes a seat. Now I am really nervous. I ask him to offer the prayer. He humbly prays that His Spirit may be felt and that we may gain greater understanding as we accept His will. Heads turn and look. I introduce him to the class by the name Bro. Frisbie. Not the burning question they are all wondering. Is this her date she said she was going on?
Class goes smoothly and it is time to dismiss to Relief Society.
We spend half the class everyone asking me questions. This is NOT a normal Sunday activity. You can't fault them though. They saw me crash and burn with another relationship and wanted to make sure I was ok. It was sweet.
We dismiss from classes and I find him with my children and half the Primary doing what he does best. Allowing them to climb all over him and teaching them to make monkey faces. They all have their hands pulling their ears straight out, cheeks blown out and half of them with their eyes crossed. Pretty Funny.
He comes up to me and says he has to go now. He has Church in Cedar Rapids today.
"When are you going to sleep?" I ask.
"I'm alright." he answers and leaves.


Lunch is made quickly and I am tired.
I laid down on the couch with the kids playing games at my feet.
I quickly entered slumber.
Next thing I am aware of is Sir Talks A Lot, poking me and calling me.
"Brad's here." it takes me a couple times til I understand what he is saying.
He had opened the door and led him right to where I was sleeping. Nice. I feel like a dork.
"Tired?" he asks grinning.
"A little." I get up.
We go talk at the kitchen table. Sir Talks A Lot comes in the kitchen and his testosterone obviously is feeling threatened or something because he starts being rude. I call him on it. He slams my kitchen door. I am not amused. Brad asks if he can take care of this.
I nod my head and wave him on. This could be interesting. I am well versed in this boy.
Wish I had popcorn.

He tells him that slamming doors is disrespectful.
He nods his head, and is already tuning him out. "Let me show you how you open and close a door." this is funny.
Sir's ears are turning red. He is getting ready to blow.
"Here, you try." Brad offers.
Sir opens and closes the door with an attitude. Full shoulder shake and all.
"No, again." Brad says
"No, again." Brad directs.
"That's better, not quite." he affirms.
He does it right.
"Perfect. Now lets practice." he says sternly.
Sir starts in, now you have to understand I know where this is going. If you let him go when he starts yelling, he will continue and work himself up into a frenzy that will take forever to calm down. Brad doesn't understand this yet.
Sir starts. He is quickly escalating to yelling. I intervene quickly. Brad looks at me. Sir calms down. He leaves the room.
Brad smirks. He says he has to go. I apologize for the outburst and he says, "You know, you might want to listen to your children sometimes. He might have told you what was really wrong."
Now I am annoyed.
I decide I need a nap. He has no clue I am annoyed.
He smiles and waves good bye.
I take the kids to bed after reading a book and I fall asleep. I don't even hear the phone at 9pm.

Another day, another dollar. I get the kids off to school. 2 still with me. A knock at my door. I am greeted by the dark haired man again with the cowboy boots. He asks if he can make up for his stupid comment.
"How so?"
"Could I make you breakfast?" I am intrigued. I already ate, but I would like to see what comes of this.
"Sure." I hear myself say.
He sets to looking around my kitchen. He brings out a bag of groceries. Now remember he is at least 40 min from any grocery store. He starts frying sausage. I have never had biscuits and gravy before. He obviously has made this a lot. He is very comfortable.
"Do you need any help?" I ask. I have never had anyone cook for me before. I am mesmerized.
"Nope, got it." he grins and starts telling stories.
He makes biscuits too. I am even more impressed.
We eat. It is really good.
"What is your favorite movie?" he asks.
"Today, The Other Side of Heaven. Most days, Kate and Leopold." I answer.
" What is the other side of heaven?" he asks. I pull it out and show him the case.
"Do you want to watch it?" he asks.
"In the morning?" I respond.
"I have to go to be at work at one." he looks at me with puppy dog eyes.
"Ok." He loves it. Me too. It is a good movie.

I take out the movie and put it away. He starts singing the theme to the Lion King. Can you Feel The Love Tonight? He takes my hand and dances me around the living room. Gherkin and Cookie Monster laugh and dance between us. He continues singing as they dance all over our feet and climb in and out of our legs.
"You know I thought you were a bad omen before." he admits.
"How is that?"
"Your name. My ex wife was a Lorrie Ann, my ex girlfriend was a Lorrie Ann..."
"Oh." What can you say to that, I wonder.
"I always knew I was looking for a Lorianne. I just didn't know how to spell it!"
"Your a dork!"
Eventually he has to leave for work. "Can I stop by after work sometime?" he asks.
"Sure." I am totally twitterpated.

Thanksgiving rolls by.
"I have a Family Thanksgiving if you would like to come." I say to Brad.
"What day?" he looks sad after I answer. "I have to pick up my girls. I want to go though. I would LOVE to meet your family."
We go over travel plans.
I drive to Susanne's. I have never made a scrapbook before. "Brad brought me doubles of these pictures. How do I make them pretty?" We set to work, before I know it we have a sweet book together that chronicles our first date.
I head to Dubuque. I show Amanda. She looks it over. "Wow, you have this already together?" she probably thinks I am crazy. Things have changed quickly. Feels like we have been together forever.

Fast forward several weeks.

"You prayed me sick?" Brad asks incredulously.
"Absolutely not." I insist.
"You call it what you want, but I have never been that sick and you prayed it on me."
"I did not!" I am getting annoyed but still have a smile creeping at my lips.
"Explain it to me again then." he sits back against my couch with his legs crossed at the ankles and arms folded against his chest. He doesn't exactly exude an attitude of listening. He doesn't have a smile.
He has been on my couch for 3 days. Throwing up, fever, chills, the whole 9 yards...
No one else around him is sick. No one. If he could pass it, should've been to me or Brian. Especially me.
"The evening before you got sick, I prayed. I was concerned we were getting too close and I asked that we would have strength and power to resist and that we may be protected from bad choices as we remain obedient. I didn't pray you would become ill!!" I insist again.
"Your protected. Your welcome. I wouldn't pray this on you." he is obviously feeling better.
I turn around and leave the room.
He gets up and follows.
I start making a chocolate cake in the mixer. Ignoring him.
He wraps his arms around me. Still ignoring. I turn off the Kitchen Aid. He dips his finger in and I feign mock hysteria. "What are you doing?"
"Paybacks." he smears it down my cheek and neck. "Here, let me help you. You've made a mess." Quickly I have less than half a pan. He is covered too. Ugghh. Now I have clean up.
"Maybe he just knew you were the problem and I needed protected." I smirk. Wiping the countertop, the floor, the wall...
"Maybe." he kisses me.
"You better be careful!" I warn.
"What are you going to do, pray?" he taunts.
I stare. He steps back,"Ok, ok...I give up." he shakes his head.

Christmas is coming. "It's my year for the Holidays." Brad tries to explain. "I have to go to see my kids. I am bringing them back."
"Do they know about me?"
"Not really" he evades.
"Yes or no?" I demand.
"No."
"Why?" I am lost.
"How about if I just bring them by and you keep them while I am at work. We'll see how it goes. Let everyone meet each other. I just don't want to cause a rukus with my ex."
"Ok." We start putting up my tree. I want the lights on before the kids get home so we can decorate. He is helping me sort lights and replace bulbs.
"This string won't light." I am perturbed.
"Let me see it." he grabs it and stretches it out. "I can fix this."
He leans in and kisses me. The strand lights up!
"Hey, Hey, Hey... DID you SEE that?" He leans again. I fall over laughing. "Fireworks." Every time he kisses me the strand lights up.