Hi, My Name Is Jack by Jack Watts

Author:Jack Watts
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books

Chapter 27

She Needed Me

One evening after a year of dating, I was reading the paper and Martha was balancing her checkbook. Suddenly, and with no discernible premeditation, Martha said offhandedly, “I’ve given this a year. That’s about all I’m going to give it.”

My insides froze. For the first time, I felt pressure. We had had a delightful relationship, and being together was free and easy. Part of me wanted to run, but another part thought marriage to her was inevitable and would work out positively. After that, we talked about marriage numerous times, and I finally agreed. This made Martha peaceful and content, but as the days went by, I became increasingly apprehensive.

One day while riding together in my Fiat 2000—the Cadillac long gone—I told her exactly how I felt. I wasn’t ready to get married again. It was too soon, and I was scared. On and on I went. Finally, Martha said she understood and agreed to call it off. My relief was instantaneous until she said, “Take me home, please.”

I had assumed—incorrectly, I might add—that we would just go on as before, but she didn’t want that. It was all or nothing, and as she got out of the car, she said a warm good-bye. I was stunned as I drove off. By the next week, she was dating someone else, and I was very unhappy about it.

It was painful to lose her, so I came up with a plan to salvage the relationship. I went by the school where she taught and proclaimed that we would get married the following Monday afternoon if she’d have me back. She smiled and agreed, but was still a little dubious. The ball was in my court to make everything happen.

So that’s what I did. I got one of my best friends from Crusade, who had also been part of the church in I.V., to perform the ceremony. His name was John Fitts, and he had become the minister of a small church in Birmingham, Alabama. He was thrilled to be asked. Sending a FedEx with the money for the license, his wife, Patty, went to City Hall and secured all of the paperwork. She also arranged for flowers, a singer for the ceremony, and a dinner reception to follow—just like Mary Jo had done twenty years earlier. All this took one day. Sunday, the day before the wedding, Martha finally went shopping and bought a dress, reasoning she could always use a pretty dress. By now, she thought this really might happen and was warming up to the idea.

At 3:00 P.M. on Monday, I left Walk Thru—without telling anybody but the girls about my plans—and picked up Martha at school. By then she had informed all three of her siblings, and each dropped everything—as did my daughters—to drive to Birmingham for the wedding. We drove over, got married, had a nice dinner and reception, drove back to Atlanta, and consummated the marriage. Then she went to school the following morning to teach.

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