Our Hearts' Desire (The Monkees Family Vol. 2)

Chapter 43

Micky and Gabby began to fall into a routine of sorts. Micky attended his meetings during the days for the most part, then he'd pick Gabby up for dinner and they'd sit and talk for a while and then say goodnight. Except for when they didn't. When their hunger for each other was great, they'd check into a hotel. They tried to plan in advance and Gabby would arrange for her new dog-walking service to stop by and tend to the dogs, when they were living with her. When they were living with Micky, they'd stop by his place and he'd take care of them.

Initially, Gabby felt extremely uncomfortable approaching Micky's house, her old home. The first trip there, she had a massive panic attack and Micky ended up having to talk her back down into her body and arrange for Peter to come pick her up so she could sleep at his house. She was embarrassed, appalled at the involuntary reaction her mind and body had summoned up, and scared that Micky would interpret it as a sign that she was losing faith in their relationship and their ability to move forward.

Fortunately, Micky was made of sterner stuff and after he had tended to the dogs, he showed up at Peter and Dawn's and asked Gabby if he could stay with her there. She was so grateful that he didn't abandon her, so relieved he hadn't misinterpreted her trauma and skittishness as a commentary about his own progress versus being about her own relapse. She welcomed him into the guest room bed and hugged him tight, crying grateful tears.

Eventually, Gabby got used to seeing her old house, the one she used to live in with Micky, and could even venture into the backyard and play with the dogs there. She never walked inside, though. She told Micky she wouldn't do that until the day she was ready to move back in. He didn't fight her on it. He respected her boundaries and in fact saw it as an enticing fantasy to look forward to. To have her inside the house but not have her living there would have messed with his head, he admitted. Now he began to relate to why she wanted to keep her home address a secret, a private sanctuary.

They never really discussed what would precipitate that next major step in their relationship, or really, the final step in repairing their relationship. They figured they'd just know when it was right. Gabby had a vague notion that Micky ought to wait until he had completed working all 12 steps of the program, or that he was waiting until his sponsor told him he thought he was ready. She felt like it was probably keyed in some way to his progress in AA. But she didn't ask and didn't really care. She was in no hurry.

In the meantime, life and its events were marching on. Davy and Jan had set a wedding date, and it had finally arrived. Jan decided to do the cliché and be a June bride. The wedding was held at the end of June in Vermont, amongst Jan's family, and the Monkees family trekked east to be among those present to witness the joining of the souls of their two friends. The wedding reception was held in a barn converted into an event space used for weddings and parties, and the Monkees family rented out an entire nearby bed and breakfast for themselves. The ceremony was held in a field, not dissimilar in atmosphere to the one Peter and Dawn got married in, and Davy arranged for them to arrive at the ceremony in a horse-drawn carriage. The horses' manes were braided and decorated with flowers, causing Lynda to wonder whether Jan had done that bit herself, remembering the day they had spent at RAT Beach when Jan had elaborately braided Robert's long red hair and admitted she had run a doll beauty salon in her basement playroom when she was a little girl. This memory made her smile and she reminded Robert, who also grinned at the recollection.

The ceremony was traditional though apparently non-denominational. Neither of them seemed to have an attachment to any particular religion, so it was a justice of the peace affair. The vows were simple and standard. But still and all, the emotion was apparent, maybe because Davy was marrying a woman who was very much in love with him and Jan was marrying an actor. Gabby and Micky wondered about it, but tried not to worry.