Lee stepped in front of the old man. Ellis could see that the man had crossed the line with that comment.
“Henry, don’t even think about interfering with our marriage. Do you understand me? It will be the last thing you ever do. I’ll make certain of it.”
The man jerked back and Ellis could see that he was surprised that Lee wasn’t just standing by like normal.
“Now, I would recommend that you go home and sleep it off. Because tonight is a special night for us and I don’t want your nonsense ruining it, do you understand?”
The old man glanced between the two of them, his lip curled up in a disgusting grimace. “You’ll never be happy. I’ll make certain of it.”
“Get out of here before I kick your drunk ass,” Lee said.
For the first time since Henry had taken to harassing Ellis, Lee expressed his frustration. Threatening their new wife would get Henry six feet under if he wasn’t careful.
Turning, the old man almost fell over as he stumbled, heading toward home. As he careened down the street, he pulled out a whiskey bottle and took a big drink.
“Never seen you so upset,” Ellis said, wishing that Henry would not do this. It only made things worse.
“Look, I get it. Life dealt him some bad blows. Some we know he brought on himself. But he better not interfere with our woman, our family, or try to destroy us, because I will not put up with his nonsense.”
With a sigh, Ellis slapped him on the back. “Let me see if I can get him some help.”
“No,” Lee said. “That’s the problem. He hates you, and you’ve done everything you can to be good to him. It’s time to kick his ass, and if you’re not willing, I am.”
But that was the problem. Ellis felt guilty and he couldn’t kick the old man’s ass. No matter what, he understood his pain and felt some of it himself. But he’d never seen Lee come unhinged like this before regarding Henry.
“Come on, let’s get home. We’ve got to get all cleaned up, so we can go and court our wife.”
A smile crossed Lee’s face and they turned to home once again. With a sigh, Lee glanced at him and smiled.
“How are we going to persuade her that we’re the ones she’s been looking for?”
Ellis laughed. “Flirting is your department. I’m just there to show her what she’s going to be missing if she doesn’t choose us.”
Lee smiled. “I’m going to kiss her tonight.”
“No, I get the first kiss,” Ellis said, knowing his teasing would help diffuse the situation with Henry.
“Like hell.”
“We’ll draw for it,” Ellis said.
“All right, let’s do this. Whoever kisses her first, the other one, when we marry, gets her virginity.”
Ellis sighed. “Well, hell, now you’ve ruined it for me. You can have the damn kiss. I’ll claim her first.”
Lee shook his head. “Changed my mind. You can kiss her first.”
They walked up to their two-story house. Lee glanced up at the windows. “Just think, we could soon be fucking her in that big bed upstairs. And nine months later we could have a son or a daughter.”
It was a wonderful idea, but Ellis had already lost one child. He could not go through losing another.
“Let’s start with tonight.”