Big Dreams, Conclusion

April 1958

Michigan

Lois started laughing which got her sisters, all six of them, going and pretty soon the Allen girls were laughing so hard tears rolled down their cheeks. Smiling, Bill shook his head. 

Cliff and Violet Allen and Bill’s folks, Willy and Ida Schoppe sat in chairs at the front of the crowded room across the table from the couple. Cliff leaned over to their future son-in-law’s parents.  “You do know your son is marrying into a crazy family, don’t you?” Cliff said with a grin.

Willy and Ida smiled. “We do now,” Willy said.    

Then somebody shouted, “open the presents,” and Lois wiped her tears away with the handkerchief Bill handed her. 

Still giggling, Lois picked up a silver-wrapped gift and held it out to Bill to help with the ripping and tearing.

Later, after everyone had left. Lois surveyed the room. They were surrounded by ribbons, torn wrapping paper and slightly tattered paper decorations. The crumbling remnants of the beautiful cake Florence had taken hours to create and everybody had gobbled down in minutes still sat in the middle of the table. She grabbed a trashcan and started cleaning up. Bill, Florence, Clair and the kids joined her and in thirty minutes they had the room back to normal.

“That was fun,” Lois said, dropping the last handful of crinkled paper in the trash. She looked at her sister. “Thank you for doing this.” Turning to her brother-in-law, she added, “You too, Clair.  We really appreciate you donating your home to have this party for us.”

Clair, tall, thin, and stoic, chewed the ever-present cigar stub in his mouth and thought for a moment before plucking the stub out of his mouth. He walked over to Lois and put a hand on her shoulder. “Lois, after all you’ve done for us over the years, having an engagement party for you is the least we can do.”

Lois’s eyes glistened as she stared up at Clair. The room went quiet as everybody turned to listen.

“In fact, Florence and I have decided that after you get married, we want to, not only throw your reception party here at Camp Withers but, we want to give you a great deal on that nice little trailer you’ve been living in. We want you to live here, close to us.” He glanced down at her waistline. “And raise your kids with ours.”

Lois blushed and put a hand to her cheek. “Oh…” The glistening turned into real tears and a couple slipped out when she turned to Bill. “Bill? Would that be alright with you? To live here, I mean. I know the party is fine, but what do you think about living here? That way we could-”

“Sweetheart,” Bill said, interrupting her flow of words. He walked over and grabbed Clair’s hand, shook it, and looked at Florence. She stood beaming from the far corner of the room with a half full garbage bag dangling from her hand. “I think that’s one of the best idea’s I’ve heard in a long time.  And thank you, to both of you. We accept your offer as long as the price is fair. For you. Don’t go too easy on us just because we’re family.” He raised his eyebrows at Clair who stuck the stogy back in his teeth and nodded. “Plus,” he went back to his fiancée and draped his arm over her shoulders, “It’ll only be temporary.”

Lois’s eyebrows shot up and she raised wide eyes to his face. 

“Once we save up enough money to buy a house,” Bill said with a smile. “Or move to Alaska.”

The kids ran forward and shouted at once. “You’re going to live here!”

“Yay!”

“Alaska?”

Larry’s eyes shone like a beacon. “If you move to Alaska can we come and visit? I’ve always wanted to go there.”

“Of course, you can,” Bill said.

Larry beamed.

“But, Uncle Bill,” Lorraine said, her eyes wide. “That’s too far away.”  

Bill glanced down at Lois. She remained silent, but her lips were in a tight line and her eyes flashed up at him. He smiled at his niece. “Don’t worry, we’ll be here for a long time. He glanced at his fiancée. “Maybe forever.”

Keeping her eyes on the kids, she nodded. “We haven’t even talked about it yet.” She shrugged out from under his arm. “But we’ll be discussing it later.” 

She grabbed her sister’s hand. “Thank you, Florence.” Smiled at Clair.  “And you too, Clair. We would love to accept your offer.”

She threw Bill a look filled with daggers, but he continued his conversation with the Larry and Fred. She raised her voice to carry through the din of the excited boys. “I can’t think of any place I would rather live than here at Camp Withers with you.”

“I’m so glad,” Florence said. 

Lorraine stepped between her mom and her aunt. “Please don’t leave us Aunt Lois. We’d miss you too much.”

Lois hugged her. “Don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere. We’ll be right here. With you.”

“Good.” Rainy sniffled and hugged Lois hard around the waist. “Because I can’t imagine growing up without you and Uncle Bill around.” 

“Don’t worry, you won’t,” Lois said, glancing at Bill with her eyebrows pinched together.