Gilbert's New Girl

It was Valentine’s Day and Tucker got all romantic on me! He sent me flowers at work, which kept all the other catering staff busy speculating on if and when I was going to show up to work sporting an engagement ring. Well, seeing as how Tucker had never proposed to me, and if he had, I would have turned him down, there was really no basis for the gossip created by a bouquet of roses. Tally’s prospects seemed a better bet. Gilbert couldn’t afford a fancy bunch of flowers, but he sent her a card with a message that made her blush from the tips of her toes to the crown of her head. She cooked him meatloaf for dinner. It was Gilbert’s favourite, or so he said. It was about the only meal that Tally had mastered so it was on the menu at least once a week. Tucker came for dinner that night, bringing a couple of bottles of expensive (for us) wine. ‘What are we celebrating? I asked him as I stared at the price labels on the bottles. ‘Us, we celebrating us, me and you, Gilbert and Tally, and it’s Valentine’s Day. You know, Amy? Love and romance and all that shit that you don’t believe in.’ I rolled my eyes at him as I uncorked the two bottles of red wine. At the table, Tally served up the meatloaf as Gilbert poured the wine.

‘So what did Gilbert give you for Valentine’s Day,’ Tucker asked Tally. ‘Did he send you flowers? Or maybe he bought you some sexy under…..’ My elbow made forceful contact with Tucker’s ribs. He shut up as Tally blushed once more. ‘Oh, it was nothing like that’ she said, glancing at Gilbert with a shy smile. Tucker wasn’t about to give up on her. ‘So tell us, what was it?’ he said looking at her earnestly. Again, she looked at Gilbert who nodded his head almost imperceptibly. Tally’s face was crimson as she said quietly, ‘He asked me to marry him.’ It’s strange how the moment I was dreading turned out to be one that made me feel so elated, but I can only tell you that I couldn’t have felt happier to know that my brother was going to marry this girl! Tucker let out a whoop of joy. ‘You said yes, right Tally? You said yes.’ Tucker’s such a romantic! ‘Of course she said yes’ I chimed in, ‘she wouldn’t be telling us if she had said no.’ Tucker had a barrage of questions, ‘When is the wedding going to be? Where are you getting married? Are you planning on staying here after the wedding?’ And most importantly of all, ‘Hey Gilbert, you’re gonna ask me to be your best man, right? Tally and Gilbert laughed at his enthusiasm and tried to answer his questions. The wedding would be in the summer, but they hadn’t set a date yet. They were thinking of getting married at the Town Hall, and as yet, they hadn’t made any plans about where they would stay after they got married. ‘And yes, Tucker’ Gilbert said as he put his arm around Tally, ‘I’m gonna ask you to be my best man.’

The four of us had a lovely evening celebrating Gilbert and Tally’s news. I think we all needed something positive to look forward to, because as Gilbert said to me later, ‘The next couple of weeks might be rough, you know?’ I saw the worry in his eyes, his fear for Becky, and I hugged him. What else could I do? I wanted to tell him not to worry. I wanted to say everything will be okay, but both Gilbert and I have been through enough heartache in the past to know that what will be, will be---and there’s not a lot you can do to change it. But as Gilbert and I cleared up in the kitchen, Tally and Tucker, the true fortune tellers of Gilbert’s soul, were busy in the living room, hatching plans and casting spells. I would count myself as one of the three people who loved Gilbert most, but I did not have either Tally’s or Tucker’s faith in the power of love, but that was okay. Me and Gilbert, we were both still learning to believe, and we couldn’t have asked for better teachers than Tally and Tucker.

Later on, as Gilbert helped a slightly tipsy and gloriously happy Tally to bed, Tucker and I had a little talk of our own. ‘I offered him the money so he can go up to Michigan to be there for Mary Jane when Becky goes through her surgery’ Tucker told me. The surprising thing was that Gilbert had accepted his offer. Tucker admitted it taken a bit of persuasion to get Gilbert to agree to accept the money. ‘I’m not too good at persuading Gilbert to do anything,’ he said with a slow smile, ‘so I let Tally deal with that part, and that girl could convince him the moon is made of green cheese, if that’s what she needed him to think.’ It was easy to forget that Tucker had money, you know? He didn’t have a high powered job, and he didn’t drive a flash car or anything like that, but Tucker was a man of means. He was the only child of the most successful house builder in the area, and when his parents passed away, they left Tucker a thriving business, a house and a healthy bank balance. I suppose Tucker could have carried on the business; he had learned the trade as a young man, but Tucker and his father didn’t really get along. There was some falling out over Tucker dating Anna Kowaleski; the poor girl aroused both of Mr Van Dykes’ twin peeves. Polish immigrants and Roman Catholics! And of course, Tucker had the effrontery to remind his father that they were Dutch immigrants---and Tucker was out of a job!

Of course, things never worked out for Tucker and Anna. Her family were as bad as his when it came down to prospective marriage partners. There was no way they were going to let their daughter marry a Dutch Protestant and the affair, passionate as it may have been, dwindled and died under the pressure of tradition. After Gilbert left with Becky, Tucker had a two year romance with Donna Stark, a sweet girl who everyone thought was perfect for Tucker, but once more, it didn’t work out. When I asked Tucker what had gone wrong between him and Donna, he had smiled sadly and said, ‘I wasn’t Gilbert.’ I understood what he meant; Donna had chased after Gilbert for years but Gilbert made sure she never caught him. Anyway, Tucker decided to sell his fathers’ business to Arthur Campbell and carried on working at Burger Barn, and the money he made from the sale was tucked away in his bank account. Tucker had his share of heartache and disappointments too, but he never let them grind him down and I envied him his capacity for hope. God knows, he needed a massive dose of hope if he ever dreamed of getting anywhere with me! And yet, and yet….Tucker had made me love him. It was me who just wasn’t ready to admit it. Why did I do this to him, to myself? What was I waiting for? I was cynical enough to have long ago stopped believing that one day my prince would come, but if I knew that then why wasn’t I realistic enough to see that although Tucker may have looked more like a peasant than a prince, his heart was strong and in the right place. And he did send me roses on Valentine's Day!