Winter Harbor

About six months after I got back Heidi met a man through a sale of her paintings who really fit whatever she was looking for in a husband, Maynard Follansbee from Clarks Harbor, Nova Scotia. We sat down one evening, had the eventual discussion and a while afterwards she introduced me to him.

He's a great guy and over the last year or so we have become close friends, so much so he asked me to be a member of the groom's party. It was unfortunate for him because Heidi had already asked me to give her away which I readily agreed to. He was aware of our relationship and quite understanding.

About a year ago, life did one of its weird things again. I was in my den pounding out a draft for syndication and Gail came bounding into the house. As I noted I had been coaching her on swimming techniques and she had started using my barn gym to harden up.

"Bartholomew, we're going to the tavern. Come on, let's get ready. I'm hungry."

She had taken after her mother to calling me by my middle name and in her case, I again didn't mind. For that matter she could have called me anything she wanted and I would have just drooled happily. So naturally I was off to the tavern. We had a grand time and over the next several weeks we repeated the soirees. One evening, things changed.

It became almost a déjà vu with Gail trying to best me with pints. After a few of them and approaching midnight she used her mother's old line.

"Bartholomew, when I have you all drunk and useless, I'm going to dump you into a barrow thing and pull you back to my house."

"It's called a wheelbarrow, Gail, and you push it, not pull it." I said and burst out laughing. She did the same.

"You know what I mean!" She laughed.

I did and didn't know if I could go there. She saw the look of hesitation on my face and took over.

"You know I had to ask Mother's permission to use that line tonight? She told me to go for it but be gentle. The first Meissner broke you in hard; her words."

I smiled at the innuendo because it was true. Heidi was nearly insatiable when we were together.

"So, you need to know something and Mother already knows this. I've wanted to make a move on you forever, even when the two of you were together. Now, Mother says you are fair game and the best catch in town. So call me a trawler ... If you do, I'll kill you! Besides, you've been eyeing me for months and afraid to make the first move."

"Gail, I wouldn't call you anything but a lady and I guess I'm busted. Then again, you have to remember how we first met!"

She did and the twinkle in her eye along with the sly grin spoke volumes about her intentions. We wrapped up our festivities and as with her mother, there wasn't a wheelbarrow. There also wasn't a surprised couple on the floor when we entered her home but the night that followed was just as memorable.

Gail and I became a couple from that point on and eventually she moved in with me on the farm.

So, as I stood there waiting to give away the woman who was once my lover and now a best friend, her daughter and now my lover stood to the other side of her as her mother's 'maid of honor'. It should have been awkward but it wasn't. What happened next was but in a pleasant manner.

When the vows were completed with the task of kissing the bride, Heidi and her new husband, Maynard, stepped back while changing sides and the minister stood before another couple to repeat the same vows to the future Mr. and Ms. D. Bartholomew and Gail Meissner Higgins of Winter Harbor, Maine.

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Epilog

After I returned from my trip to Charleston, Kari tried to apologize in a letter to me for not being truthful the evening I stood outside her balcony but there was really no need to. In her mind she didn't think it was right to break her date for the evening; not fair to him. I was OK with that but I also explained to her during a later call that if she was intent on being Mrs. Kari Higgins, she would have put an end to the date on the spot and been ready for the return of her husband. I know it sounds almost chivalrous but like I said, I wasn't in it to be anywhere but first place in my wife's life. She mailed a copy of the final decree.

A couple years later Kari married a man in Charleston and around that same time, the population of the village of Winter Harbor increased by one. Gail and I welcomed our first son. Two more would follow later.

Heidi is still a best friend although she doesn't paint nude on the farm anymore, at least when I'm around. Her daughter has taken up that hobby.

MFH