A second chance for a great couple

Jacquie knew and loved pro wrestling — she’d been a fan since childhood. When she watched the drama unfold at a 1998 Combat Zone match, she had only one question: “Who is this Diabolos ...?”

Diabolos Macabre had wild hair, a crazy tackle, and a seriously mean reputation. He and his tag team were the bad guys, but Jacquie thought he was kinda cute.

She went to the South Jersey and South Philly matches with a friend — a professional photographer who shot the events. One night they hung out with the wrestlers after the show. Some of them flirted with Jacquie. She was disappointed that Diabolos did not.

Oh, he wanted to. But Diabolos thought Jacquie was dating the photographer. And the real man behind Diabolos did not play that way.

A decade and a half pass. It’s 2014. Jacquie had been married and divorced and was dating again, but she was feeling pretty much done with it. On Facebook, she paraphrased George Costanza: “I proclaim this the summer of Jacq!”

“Oh, that sounds like fun!” Diabolos commented. That was a name Jacquie hadn’t seen in awhile.

They chatted through Facebook and then she gave him her number.

The first thing she learned was his real name: Mike. The second thing she learned was the most important to Mike. He has three daughters: Storsha, Anonda, and Monica. He was still married, but it was ending — the separation was legalized the following year.

“We had five hours’ worth of conversation with no dead air,” said Mike, who has worked in maintenance for George School for 33 years.

The next day, Mike sent a Facebook message asking how she was doing. “I had a great conversation last night with a great guy!” she said. “I had a great conversation with a great girl!” he told her.

After another month of talking, the couple, who are now both 50, decided to remeet in person. Mike lived in Morrisville, Bucks County, and Jacquie, who is a corporate travel coordinator for Ovation Travel, lived in Claymont, Del. They met in the parking lot of Miller’s Ale House in Media.

It was supposed to be a friendly meetup. Then Mike came in for a big hug hello and Jacquie thought, “This is my home.”

“It was so cool and scary at the same time,” she said.

“It felt like a lot more than just friends,” said Mike. “And we walked into the restaurant holding hands.”

Over dinner, a shared dessert, a parking-lot realization that neither wanted to go home, and drinks, they learned they have more in common than they expected.

Jacquie, an only child, was primarily raised by her late grandmother, Marian. Mike was adopted and raised by his late maternal grandparents, Bernard and Margaret. He did not know he had biological siblings until he was 21. Both of them were close to the people who raised them, yet felt a bit alone in the world.

Four hours later, Mike walked Jacquie to her car. “We kissed, and it was awesome,” he said.

She asked him to please text her when he got home. He called instead. “I just had a date with a great girl,” he said. “I had a date with a great guy,” she replied.

In 2009, Mike was introduced to his biological father, Leo Maestas, who had not previously known of Mike’s existence. They exchanged messages, then phone calls, and then Mike flew into the Denver airport, where the two men hugged and cried. At Mike’s father’s place in Cheyenne, Wyo., Mike met a slew of cousins who, just like him, love to laugh, don’t mind crying, and always speak their minds.

In 2019, he took Jacquie to meet all of them, and she felt an immediate connection, too. “It was just, oh my gosh, this is the family that I never had,” she said.

Mike had not planned to marry again, but five years in, after his separation from his ex was legal, Jacquie told him that making the commitment was important to her. And Jacquie is important to Mike. In the first half of 2019, he took her ring shopping.

They had reservations at Bristol’s King George Inn to celebrate their dating anniversary that June. Mike wore a huge grin the entire day.

“What’s the matter with you?” Jacquie asked.

“I’m happy just looking at you,” was all he said.

Between dinner and dessert, Mike said, “I love you,” and opened a box bearing a ring that matched all the style choices Jacquie had made at the store.

“Will you marry me?” he asked.

“Yes, of course!” she said. Then Mike started talking and talking — more sweet things. But neither he nor Jacquie remember any of them. She took a picture of her newly bejeweled left hand and sent it to her mother, Phyllis. An older gentleman sitting with his wife at the table behind Jacquie gave Mike two thumbs up.

On Oct. 16, 2021, the couple were married and celebrated at the Manor House at Commonwealth in Horsham. Journeys of the Heart officiant Naila Francis shared some of the couple’s love story with their 70 guests — a number reduced by more than half for COVID-19 safety.

A blanket ceremony, in which Mike and Jacquie were wrapped in a quilt, was performed in honor of Mike’s paternal family, which has Indigenous roots in Mexico and New Mexico. Later this spring, Mike and Jacquie will change their last names to Maestas.

Mike’s father had planned to walk Jacquie down the aisle, but he died in January 2021. Mike’s daughter Monica, who was already a groom’s lady, would not hear of Jacquie walking alone. She escorted her, then slid into her place in line with the groomsmen.

Jacquie’s man of honor, Clarence, has been her best friend since third grade. Anonda was one of her bridesmaids, along with goddaughter Aarushi, and friend Jennifer.

The couple wrote their vows. Mike tried to read his, but was sobbing so much that his glasses steamed over. He ad-libbed his way through and nearly everyone cried.

Then it was time to party — dinner, dancing, cake, and extra desserts, plus an end-of-the-night table of Philly foods: pretzels, Tastykakes, and peanut chews.

The couple honeymooned in New York’s Finger Lakes, where they hope to someday buy a home with space for Mike’s daughters, the couple’s dog, Finn Brady, and Mike’s craft: knife making.

“Mike is one of the smartest people I know,” Jacquie said. “We can have conversations about anything and love each other anyway. We can agree to disagree. He sticks up for people who can’t stick up for themselves. And I love how we laugh together. There is no one better than him.”

“I love everything that she is,” Mike said of Jacquie. “She is one of the most caring people that I’ve ever met, and when she loves someone, she loves them with all of her heart. I love the emotional connection we have. We are two oddballs — two oddballs that really match each other so well.”