The Minnesota Candidate (2 page)

The traffic that Sunday afternoon was light and
the driver said nothing as he drove them to their destination. Tom
thought they were going to Shari’s downtown apartment, but he
became confused when the driver bypassed downtown and hopped onto
Highway 12 and headed west. Doris refused to make eye contact with
her son, and Tom was sure he could see the wheels turning inside
her head. Shari was also strangely silent. She stared straight
ahead, making occasional conversation with the white-haired
cabbie.

Doris didn’t say a word until they reached the
suburb of Wayzata. “Where is she taking us?” she asked. “My bladder
can’t take much more of this.”

“We’re almost there,” said Shari, not bothering
to turn to face them.

“I certainly hope so,” grunted Doris.

The cab turned onto Shoreline Drive, the main
artery that encircled Lake Minnetonka. Again, Tom wondered where
Shari was taking them. What had she been keeping from him? More
importantly, what did she have that she would gamble their marriage
over? Tom could feel perspiration dribbling down his armpits as he
stared at the beautiful lake homes. The cab took a left and two
quick rights, and the cab came to a halt outside a formidable cast
iron gate. “Excuse me,” said Shari, stepping out of the cab. She
walked around the car to wave a plastic card over a sensor. A
moment later, the gate began to slowly swing open. Beyond the gate,
a concrete driveway wound through a grove of towering oak trees.
Shari climbed back into the car and motioned for the driver to
continue.

“Shari?” asked Tom.

Shari turned in her seat. “My parents were both
killed in a plane crash. This was our home.”

Tom didn’t know what to say. Shari had never
said anything about having money. In fact, he had practically wiped
out his entire life savings on their trip to Vegas. All he knew
about her finances was that she lived modestly on a journalist’s
salary. The cab crested a hill, revealing Shari’s secret. A
sprawling, five story brick mansion sat about a hundred feet off of
the lake. A smaller brick house sat off to the right of the main
house, but Tom could see that it was still twice the size of his
mother’s home. The expansive lawn led down to a sandy beach, where
a long dock jutted out into the choppy waters of Lake Minnetonka.
Under a canopy, raised up on a stout boat lift, was what Tom
correctly assumed to be a Chris-Craft. The old wooden boat looked
to be in showroom condition.

“I wanted to tell you,” continued Shari, “but my
other marriages were complicated by prenuptials and lawyers. I’ve
always thought that my former husbands only wanted me for my money.
I wanted someone who wanted me for me. I hope you understand.”

Doris Picacello rolled her eyes. “Am I supposed
to be impressed?” she asked. “We know plenty of people with lake
homes, don’t we, Tommy?”

Tom stared at his mother, his mouth agape. He
closed his mouth and turned to face Shari, but she was busy digging
the cab fare out of her purse. The driver stopped the cab outside
of the main house and shut off the engine.

“Now I’ve seen everything,” said the cabbie,
adding a thank you as he took a wad of bills from Shari. They
stepped out of the front seat into the bright sunshine.

“Ma,” hissed Tom, “I know you’re angry, but do
you think you could at least try and be happy for me?”

Doris gave Tom a cool stare as the trunk popped
open. She reached for the door handle. “Let me get this straight,”
she said, not bothering to lower her voice. “You meet someone,
someone who is closer to my age than your own, and carry on a
relationship with her for three months without ever introducing her
to me. You run off to Las Vegas; what do they call that place, sin
town? And you get married to this cradle robber, outside of the
Catholic Church? And to try and make it all better, she thinks that
bringing me out to her cabin is going to make things all better?
What, does she think a little money makes her better than me? I’m
your mother, Tommy, how did you expect me to feel about all of
this? I want to go home. I’m missing my programs.”

Tom felt the tips of his ears turning red and he
got out of the cab. He closed the door and walked to the back of
the car. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything,” said Shari. “I
heard her.”

“I heard her, too,” said the cabbie, shaking his
head. He then lowered his voice. “Give her a little time. My mom
has been gone for forty years, but she was a lot like your mom.
She’ll come around. You want some advice? Ask her to help plan a
reception. That way she can introduce you to her family. That’s
what I’d do.”

Shari turned to face Tom and shrugged her
shoulders. “I don’t know,” she whispered, “how do you think she’d
react?”

Now it was Tom’s turn to shrug. He didn’t know,
but he was sure that whatever he floated by his mother would be
shot down. “I’ll talk to her about it,” he said, “tomorrow. Thanks
for the advice.”

“Ah, don’t mention it. At least you didn’t wait
until tomorrow to give her the news.”

“What do you mean?” asked Shari.

The old cabbie chuckled as he closed the trunk.
“Tomorrow is Mother’s Day.”

Tom slapped his forehead. For the first time
that he could ever remember, Mother’s Day had caught him
unprepared. He closed his eyes and slowly shook his head.

“Give me a second,” said Shari. She quickly
stepped past Tom and a moment later, she climbed back into her seat
in the cab. She turned to face Doris, who was dabbing tears from
her eyes. “Mrs. Picacello, I love your son and I want to spend the
rest of my life with him. But we had a deal and I’m prepared to
follow through with my end of it. Yes or no, do you still want us
to have our marriage annulled?”

Doris sat back in her seat and shot Shari a look
that could have boiled mercury. “What do you expect me to say?” she
asked, waving her hands in the air. “Did you bring me out here to
rub your money in my face? How can I compete with all of this? I’ll
give you my answer, it’s no. If this is what Tommy wants, he can
have it. I won’t stand in his way. Just don’t expect me to act like
I’m happy about it. There, are you happy?”

Shari was so angry that she actually snarled.
She had never snarled before and it surprised her. "Yes,” she
hissed. She then climbed back out of the cab and motioned for the
driver to take Tom’s mother away.

They watched the cab as it drove away and Tom
put his arm around his new wife. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I don’t
know what got into her.”

Shari turned to face him. “I need a drink,” she
said, “let’s go inside.”

Tom thought a drink sounded like a good idea. He
had a thousand questions for his new bride and he needed a few
minutes to prioritize them. He turned and began walking up toward
the main house, but Shari took him by the arm and directed him to
the smaller house. Tom stared up at the many windows of the mansion
as they passed by; each of them was dark and forbidding. “What’s up
with this place?” he asked, unable to contain his curiosity.

Shari clasped his hand in her own. “Oh, it’s
just too big for me to keep up with. Besides, it’s full of my
parent’s stuff. I just haven’t been able to part with it.”

“It sure is a beautiful home.”

“Yes, it is. Thank you.”

“How could you keep all of this from me?”

“I told you why I kept it a secret. I suppose
you think I’m crazy.”

“No, I don’t think you’re crazy. I understand
why you kept it a secret and I love you for it. I was just trying
to imagine myself in your shoes and doing the same thing. It would
have killed me to keep all of this from you.”

Shari stopped walking. “Your mother was right
about one thing. Money and material things are nice, but in the end
they don’t mean a thing,” she let go of his hand and pointed to the
drooping, right side of her face. “This happened five years ago,
during my second divorce. I can’t afford to have it happen again. I
love you, baby, more than I’ve ever loved anyone in my entire life.
I panicked when we were at your mom’s house. I didn’t know what
else to do. I had one card and I played it. I was hoping your mom
might react a little differently when she knew the truth about me.
She hates me, I know she does. I’m just happy she promised not to
ask us to have our marriage annulled.”

Tom was just about to tell Shari that his mother
didn’t hate her, but he had promised himself that he would never
lie to her. “Mom doesn’t know you,” he said, which was true. “We
need to give her some time to come to terms with all of this. If
she never comes around, that will be her problem. I love you,
Shari. I mean that. I won’t let anything or anyone come between us,
not ever.”

Shari put her arms around her husband. “You know
what?” she asked. “I believe you.”

She gave him the grand tour of the smaller house
and Tom felt as if he were walking into a bygone era. The walls and
cathedral ceiling were knotty pine and the floors were gleaming
hardwood. A massive stone fireplace covered one living room wall,
which was flanked by towering bookshelves, each with its own oak
ladder that hung suspended on a track. The shelves were filled with
leather-bound books, an endless supply for rainy days and cold
winter nights. The house was decorated in antiques and filled with
woodsy knickknacks and oddities, which gave Tom the impression of
being in a northern hunting lodge. The rooms smelled of stale air
and Shari pulled blinds and opened windows as they traveled from
room to room. The house had four bedrooms and three full bathrooms,
each as unique as the last. The master bedroom and bath took Tom’s
breath away. Shari asked him what he thought of it, but he had run
out of adjectives. A tear fell from the corner of his eye.

“Are you happy?” she asked.

Tom stepped over to the empty, sunken Jacuzzi
tub that sat at the edge of the king-sized bed. The tub looked
large enough to accommodate six adults. He wiped the tear from his
cheek. “I don’t know what to say,” he said. “I wish I had my own
secret to share with you.”

Shari smiled. “But you do have secrets to share,
baby,” she said. “You have a lifetime of secrets to share. We’ve
only known each other for three months. What do you think of the
house? Do you think we should live here?”

“Are you kidding me? I love the house and of
course we should live here!”

Shari stepped over to Tom and they exchanged a
lingering kiss. “Oh God,” she exclaimed, “I was hoping you’d say
that. I love it out here, but I hated living here alone. I’ve got
to warn you, the commute can be a real bitch.”

Tom pointed to the bottom of the hot tub. Like
everything else in the house, the tub was spotlessly clean. “I’m
assuming this thing works.”

“It did the last time I checked it.”

“I think we should fill it up.”

“I was just going to suggest the same thing,”
said Shari. She reached inside the tub and closed the stopper. She
then opened a bronze tap and hot water began to spill into the
marble pool. “Check your watch,” she said, pointing to her wrist.
“We’ve got half an hour to kill while this thing fills. Can I
interest you in that drink?”

“You certainly could. Shari, I love you. Thank
you for making me the happiest man on the planet.”

Shari turned to face Tom and her bottom lip
began to quiver. A moment later, she began to cry. “Thank you,” she
sobbed. “I haven’t been this happy since my parents were alive. I
just wish they could have met you,” she tried to continue, but she
began to sob and Tom pulled her to his chest and held her
tight.

Chapter 2

They had their drink on the front lawn, a glass
of Chardonnay for Shari, a Jack and Coke for Tom. Precisely half an
hour later, they were stripping down to their birthday suits and
climbing into the bubbling waters of the hot tub. An hour after
that, the couple found themselves back on the front lawn, sipping
their second drinks and watching the sun dip down below the trees
on the other side of the tranquil bay. A buzzing sound caught Tom’s
ear and he turned to face Shari. She gave him an odd look. “That’s
the front gate,” she said. “I wonder who that could be. No one
knows I’m out here.”

Tom felt his heart sink because that wasn’t
entirely true. “That must be my mom,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Maybe she’s changed her tune?
Sit tight, baby, I’ll go buzz her through the gate.”

Tom sipped his drink as he stared up at where
the driveway disappeared into the darkening woods. He felt that
familiar sense of helpless anger and he narrowed his eyes. He had
been foolish to think that he and Shari could just live happily
ever after, not with his mother’s shadow hanging over them. He
decided to put his foot down, right then and there. She could
either change her tune or she could whistle it, all alone. A cab
appeared, yellow, perhaps even the same driver, thought Tom. But
that cab was followed by another, blue, which was followed by
another and another, and four more after that. Tom’s eyes grew
large at the sight. This couldn’t be his mother, he thought. But on
that count, Tom was dead wrong.

Shari walked out to join him as the cabs began
parking in front of the main house. “What’s going on?” she asked.
“Who are all of those people?”

Tom began to recognize them as they emerged from
their cabs. They were all members of his family, but not the ones
that he was excited to introduce to his new wife. These were
members of the lunatic fringe branch, the outcasts and the
connivers and the misfits, the drunks and the addicts, the crazy
basket cases and the homeless squatters. Tom cringed at the sight
of them, because leading the pack was his mother. “Oh my God,”
gasped Tom. “I can’t believe she actually did that.”

“Did what?” asked Shari.