"And we lived happily ever after."
Lisa turned her head towards Jennie and broke into a grin. She was looking down at her left hand, absent-mindedly spinning the circle-cut solitaire ring that she had worn for 40 years now. Jennie smiled mistily as she looked up and met Lisa's eyes.
"The end." Jennie said.
"That's it?" The little girl on Lisa's lap looked up at her, unsatisfied. "But what happened after that?"
"Oh, the usual." Lisa replied. "Marriage. Kids. You know how it goes."
"But did you ride away on a white horse?"
"White horse, huh? Is that how it's supposed to end?" Lisa began bouncing her knees up and down, eliciting a childish squeal of delight. Lisa winked at her wife over the top of the little girl's head. "Pretty sure Grandma rode away on something that night...."
"Lisa!" Jennie shot her a warning look.
Lisa laughed and stilled her legs again, bringing the horsey ride to an end. "On my tour bus." she said, still chuckling. "We rode away on the tour bus. Grandma came along for the whole 30-city tour."
"And then did you buy her the house in Beverly Hills?"
Lisa watched her wife break into a scowl.
"Open house..." Jennie muttered. "Grandpops was in deep trouble when I found out about that trick she played on me."
"Major trouble." Lisa confirmed. "What happened to that house? We were supposed to buy it, weren't we?"
"Don't you remember?" Jennie replied.
Lisa shook her head.
"The home inspection was a total nightmare."
"Oh right." Lisa sighed as the memory came back to her. "Cracks in the foundation."
"I'm pretty sure it ended up getting torn down."
"Can you imagine if we'd actually gotten engaged there?" Lisa suppressed a shudder. "Talk about not meant to be."
"At least the Beverly Hilton is still standing." Jennie replied. She came towards Lisa and reached out to take her granddaughter's hand as she spoke.
"Better be..." Lisa said, following behind as Jennie turned and led the way upstairs. "I'm pretty sure you personally kept it in business, between the pay-per-view and the room service bill."
"Lisa, how long is it going to take for me to live that down?"
"Fourteen thousand dollars..." Lisa grumbled, shaking her head. "On pizza."
"It was nowhere near 14 thousand dollars!"
"Just about!"
Jennie rolled her eyes at Lisa as they reached the little bedroom that had once served as a nursery. The crib was long gone now, replaced with a twin bed for grandchildren sleeping over.
"It was good pizza." Jennie said to Lisa over her shoulder as she helped her granddaughter climb into the bed.
"Yeah, yeah." Lisa replied. "NY-style."
Jennie leaned forward to pull up the covers. "Goodnight, sweetheart." she said. "Sweet dreams."
"Goodnight, Grandma."
Lisa came forward to kiss her granddaughter lightly on the forehead.
"Goodnight, Grandpop."
"Night night." she replied. "Now promise you won't tell your mother how late we let you stay up."
"I won't." she promised. Her eyes were already drifting closed. "Will you tell me another story, Grandpop?"
"Not tonight, little girl."
"Tell me the one about when my mommy was little."
"Tomorrow." Lisa said softly. "That's a story for another day."
Jennie switched out the lights and began making her way toward the door. Lisa followed, catching up with her at the top of the stairs.
"And how about this little girl?" Lisa asked as she slipped her arms around Jennie.
"How about her?" Jennie slid her hands across Lisa's chest, smoothing the fabric of the old t-shirt she was wearing.
"Could I interest you in some NY-style thin crust pizza, perhaps?"
"Don't start." Jennie said. She tapped Lisa on the chest with her index finger. "I swear I never ordered it again after that night. Not once."
Lisa tightened her arms around Jennie's waist and drew her body against her. "You weren't homesick after that?"
"I guess not." Jennie replied. A faraway look passed over her face for a moment before she smiled and met Lisa's eyes again. "You know why that is, right?"
Lisa shook her head. "Why?"
"Because home is where the heart is."
"Ok Grandma." Lisa said with a groan. "Why don't you go crochet that on a pillow."
Jennie let her jaw drop open in feigned indignation. "I will never crochet." she said. "I don't care how old I am."
"Jennie, we talked about this. We made a list, remember?"
"What?"
"Age-appropriate activities." Lisa began ticking off items on her fingers. "Crochet. Mahjong. Early bird special at the Denny's..."
"Pretty sure Denny's went out of business, honey." Jennie took Lisa's hand and began leading her away from the staircase and down the hallway instead. "Come on."
"Bedtime?"
"I thought of another activity for your list."
Lisa cocked an eyebrow. "Scrabble?"
"No, not Scrabble."
"Golf?"
"Come to bed, Lisa."
"We're going to bed at 8:30 now, huh?" Lisa nodded. "I guess that is pretty geriatric."
"Get in here, Grandpop."
"Hold on. I left my Snuggie somewhere..."
"Lisa!"
"So impatient!"
"Do I get to live happily ever after or don't I?"
"Forty years wasn't enough for you?"
Jennie shook her head. "No." she said. "Not quite."
Jennie kicked the bedroom door with the back of her heel, and she laced her arms around Lisa's neck as Lisa bent her head to kiss her. "Lisa." Jennie whispered, her words punctuated by the sound of the door clicking closed behind her. "We may be older than sin, but we're not dead just yet."
Lisa grinned and whispered back to Jennie, "Then shall we kiss and make up... again? My dear wife?"
- THE END -
