Any Way You Fight It

by Monique McDonell

  "She really was, Cherie, and you did that."

  "I didn't exactly do it alone, thanks for your help. And I know Thanksgiving, the week of pies, is your busiest, so I really appreciate it."

  "No sweat," Piper said. "Now we're in management, we don't have to make every pie ourselves so that's something, plus, to be honest, we can't do all that much except order extra stock till Tuesday. Anyway, this was so fun to be a part of."

  "It was a great shower." Lucy sighed.

  "You're next, lady. How are the wedding plans coming?"

  "Slowly, maybe we should elope like you did, Piper. Run off to Vegas . . ."

  "Nope, you're having a big wedding if only so we can attend. And anyway, my situation was different. You have family nearby that love you, Lucy, I don't."

  "Yeah, well, you'd think considering Chase says I can spend anything I want that would make it easy, but it makes it even harder to decide."

  "First world problems, Princess," I said, toasting. "Lucky you."

  "I know, I should be ashamed . . ."

  "No, you shouldn't. You just need to make some decisions."

  "I'm giving myself until Christmas."

  "Good plan. A deadline always helps."

  "Speaking of deadlines . . . will Luke make it for Thanksgiving?"

  "He says yes."

  "And relationship-wise, what's the deadline on that?" Lucy asked.

  I shrugged. "I don't know. It seems harsh to dump him because he inherited that huge company and has to work even harder."

  "But?"

  "How long am I supposed to be in limbo? It feels like there is no way to make it work."

  "You'll find a way," Piper said.

  "Well, even if you don't, I'm sure it will be nice to catch up for some hot sex," Lucy added.

  "Lucy!" Piper said.

  "What, am I wrong?"

  She was not wrong. I couldn't wait to see Luke. He was due to arrive Wednesday night and I was counting the hours.

  Chapter 26

  By Wednesday morning it appeared quite clear that nature didn't care about me or my desire to see Luke. He was stranded in America's heartland by a snow storm that showed no signs of abating. Nature didn't care that we hadn't seen each other for weeks or that our relationship, if that's even what it was, hung by a tenuous thread. Of course, I knew I wasn't alone in that. I was just one of the thousands of Americans who was stranded, affected, snowbound, or just plain annoyed by the circumstances.

  I was one of many who would turn up to lunch the next day with a smile plastered on my face, a pie in hand, and a lame attempt at saying what I was thankful for when it came my turn at the dinner table.

  "I'm so sorry," he said when he called me again in the afternoon.

  "It's not your fault." It wasn't and he was the one stuck in a three-star hotel miles from anyone he knew.

  "I know, but I feel bad. I should have skipped my Tuesday meeting, but it was important and . . . It doesn't matter."

  "It might clear," I said hopefully.

  "Well, it's a whiteout through my window, but you never know. If I can be there, I'll be there. Maybe you can save me some pie."

  "I do have contacts in the world of pie. I may not be able to do much else, but I can guarantee you pie. What is your favorite flavor?"

  "Apple."

  "Ah, my all-American boy and his apple pie. I'll make sure you get one."

  "Thanks."

  "You'll be here for the wedding, right? That's not until Saturday . . ."

  "Of course, it can't keep going for that long."

  It could. On Saturday morning the news everywhere showed snow upon snow in the Midwest. I hadn't spoken to Luke because I had to be at the hairdresser’s with Nona by seven, and really, why wake him up so he could lie in a hotel room for the day, no doubt mainlining some seriously depressing Russian literature. I could picture him in sweats and a rumpled shirt, a nice five o'clock shadow, and a book, looking divine.

  Memories and fantasies were all I had at this point.

  I shook it off. I'd been feeling sorry for myself since Wednesday night. Sure, I'd rallied and tried not to act like the misery guts I was, but I'm pretty sure I didn't excel at it. I arrived to Thanksgiving dinner as late as I could, I ate, I did a lot of dishes, and I left as soon as was polite to go home and eat pie and wallow in my misery.

  The salon was bustling with members of my extended family. My mother, Nona, sisters-in-law, and I were all getting our hair done together. We drank mimosas and laughed.

  "It's going to be weird when we don't share the same name," my mother mused. "I've known you as that all my life."

  "Yeah, weird for me, too." Her tone was wistful.

  "But exciting, right? I bet you never thought you'd fall in love again?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

  "Ah, yes, and so different. As you know, my first marriage was arranged so I was nervous then, oh my goodness so nervous, but for different reasons. I wanted to like my husband, and of course I was so lucky with my Mario. This is different though. I think mostly I'm nervous because I'm so old . . . but I am in love and that's lovely, as you all know."

  "It's going to be a beautiful wedding." My mother sniffed.

  "I wish your young man was here," Nona said to me.

  "It wasn't meant to be, Nona." I didn't add, although I was of course thinking it, the whole relationship seemed like it was not meant to be.

  It was an eleven o'clock wedding. By ten thirty we were dressed and alone in her bedroom. Nona took a long look around.

  "Big changes," she said.

  "Oh yes, Nona, big changes." She hadn't told me yet where they planned to live and I hadn't asked. I had a feeling it wasn't here and I didn't have the courage to find out. My heart was holding on by such a thin thread as it was.

  "You know I have a lot of memories here. We didn't raise our kids here, but your grandfather and I, we lived here since your brother was born, thirty-odd years."

  "I know, Nona; it's one of my favorite places."

  "I wish you were settled, Cherie . . . I was so sure . . ."

  "Nona, I'm fine. I have my business and my friends and my family. Who knows what the future holds. Look at you!" She gave me a wan smile. "I don't want you to worry about any of that today. I'm doing just fine."

  "You look very beautiful," she said.

  My father appeared in the doorway. "You both look beautiful."

  He was wearing a tuxedo and he looked really great. Nona cupped his cheeks. "My handsome son."

  "Ladies, the limo awaits."

  #

  I walked down the aisle to Pachelbel's Canon. The church was filled with faces I recognized from my whole life. Piper and Aaron, Lucy and Chase, my cousins and aunts, and my brothers and my family. My mother was crying in the front row. I could almost imagine it was my own wedding, were it not for the fact the groom was a very pleasant septuagenarian and not the man of my dreams.

  I took my place and watched my Nona and father come down the aisle. My mother's sniffing was quite loud from my vantage point. I was so fixated on them I almost missed a man in a tuxedo sneaking into the back of the church. Luke. Luke looking drop-dead gorgeous in a tuxedo. Luke whose mega-watt smile had me melting in a puddle on the altar. Luke who got here somehow. Luke who I thought I could live without, but one look, and seriously, who was I kidding?

  I tried to focus on the wedding. It's not all about you, Cherie, I reminded myself. But I could see Luke who had slid into a back pew in my clear line of sight. It was wrong but all I could think was thank goodness the happy couple were going for the short version and not the full nuptial mass favored by Catholics everywhere. And they were a happy couple. They were beaming and everyone in the church, which was pretty much the entire parish, was smiling, too. Something good was happening to some good people and everyone wanted to celebrate.

  Then the bride and groom said their vows and went in for a quick kiss, and we were walking down the aisle again. In my case, lucky me,
I was walking toward Luke. Even though I was in the bridal party, and it was a clear breach of protocol, I grabbed his hand as I went past and dragged him out of the church with me.

  "You made it!" I said, squeezing him into a big hug. He smelled so good and felt amazing.

  "I did."

  "How?"

  "Overnight train. I couldn't get on an earlier one."

  "Oh, that's so . . . amazing!" That's what it was, it was amazing. "Sleeper?"

  He shook his head. "Nope, standard seat. Just me and my wedding tux."

  "Oh, you must be stiff." His eyebrows shot up. "Your neck, I mean your neck."

  "Either way."

  "I'll give you a massage later."

  "Either way."

  Everyone was piling out of the church now.

  "Oh, Luke." My mother was the first of many to hug him. That's my family, loud, overbearing, but affectionate.

  I saw Aaron give him a manly pat on the back.

  "He caught a train I hear," Piper said. "So romantic."

  "It kind of is, isn't it?"

  "Totally." Lucy sighed beside me. "What a romantic day this has been."

  "And it's not over yet," Nona said, interjecting herself into the conversation. "Time for the reception but first photos."

  When you have as big a family as we do, those family photos at the back of the church take a long time. Over an hour later, I was back holding Luke's hand. "Sorry about that."

  "Don't be sorry. You have a job to do." He squeezed my hand.

  "Well, the best man said we can have the limo and he'll meet us there. Want to go make out in the car on the way to my grandmother's wedding reception?"

  "Best offer I've had in months," he said. His hand fell to the small of my back and guided me toward the car. Warmth spread through my whole body. And something else, contentment. I didn't know how I would make this work with Luke, but I knew that I needed to because when he was here everything felt right, and the rest of the time I was acutely aware that part of me was missing.

  We slid into the back seat and his lips were on mine in an instant. Ah, the perfect bliss of kissing Luke. He ran one finger down my neck and along the top of my dress. "I like you in pink."

  "I like you in Boston."

  "Enough talking."

  Sadly for us, the reception hall was only a ten-minute drive, or lucky for the limousine driver. I'm sure plenty of people have slid that partition up and had sex on his backseat, but I didn't think it was something he loved. Also, he was my second cousin, and, well, despite my feelings for Luke, there was no way.

  As we pulled up to the front of the reception place, the limo idled while I fixed my makeup. "You look beautiful to me."

  "Yeah, well, I'm not sure I want the world to know we were necking in the car."

  "Necking? Who even says that? And I'm pretty sure they all figured we would be anyway."

  He was right. I wasn't fooling anyone with some pressed powder and lip gloss. “Well, let's go face the music."

  I meant that literally because it was a wedding and there would be music. "Plus, we need to get in there so Nona can make her entrance."

  Three hours later, we'd eaten, we'd drunk, and we'd danced. I was exhausted and I most definitely hadn't slept sitting up on a train last night, so I imagined Luke must be almost asleep on his feet.

  "How are you holding up? Tired?"

  "Trying to get me into bed, huh?" he teased. We were on the dance floor slow dancing to some Sinatra—the crooners, especially Frank and Dean had gotten plenty of air time at this wedding. It was fine by me, lots of excuses to have Luke's arms around me, where they felt so right.

  "In your dreams, buddy." And mine if I was honest. "I'm just being considerate."

  "I'm kind of tired, but honestly this is so fun that I'd hate to miss a minute."

  "It is fun. Look at them," I said for maybe the fiftieth time about the bride and groom. "They're too stinking cute."

  "They are. You think we'll be like that at their age?"

  "What, finally together?" I teased.

  He shook his head at me. "You're dreadful. I mean in love, happy. And for the record, I do mean with each other."

  "I'd really like to think so."

  Aaron came to cut in and Luke was switched off to Piper.

  "You look happy, cuz," he said.

  "If I looked so happy, why did you ruin it by cutting in?" Luke was only a few feet away and I missed him. It was too far.

  "I wanted to share with you some of my infinite wisdom." I loved my cousin. We got each other. And I really loved that he was now married to my best friend, too. "I wanted to say let yourself be happy. Don't hold back anymore, just let it happen."

  "And what if it all just isn't meant to be?"

  "It looks meant to be and I bet it feels meant to be." I nodded. "So you're going to get burned now if it fails but better to go down in the flames of I did everything I could than I held back."

  "That's not a great metaphor."

  "I'm a lawyer, sue me." He smiled.

  He was right. Watching Luke here with all my friends and family around him, he fitted in. He looked like he belonged and somehow having him here made me feel like I belonged, too. I wasn't crazy, bossy Cherie. It made no sense, but it was true.

  "I'll try, but you know, I can't see a way to this working," I said wistfully.

  "Maybe it's one of those things you can only work out together," he said. "So now you're together maybe that will happen."

  "Maybe."

  The song ended and Aaron and I headed to the bar. I didn't even need to turn to know when Luke was standing behind me. He grabbed my hand and pulled me away from the group toward the balcony. "I need some fresh air."

  "Okay."

  As soon as we were outside he moved me against a wall where we couldn't be seen and his mouth was on mine, urgent and sweet and leg-wobblingly good.

  "Nice," I murmured when he pulled away.

  "Nice? Maybe I'm not doing it right."

  "You're doing it just fine," I assured him.

  "So, this, what we have, being here, being part of your life, it's what I want."

  "I want that, too. I can't see myself leaving, not because I don't love you, but . . ."

  He put his fingers to my lips to silence me. "I know that. You're lucky, you have something I don't have really, you have a community, and you can't leave that. And you have a business."

  I nodded. "Hey, I put someone on, another agent, so I can take more time and meet up with you, travel to New York or wherever."

  He grinned at me. "That's so cool you did that, but I don't think that's going to be enough for either of us."

  "I know but . . ."

  "So I thought about it while I was sitting in the middle of America waiting to get here. I don't really want to run that company, but I have to, right?" I nodded. "But I don't have to run it how Chip ran it, or even from where Chip ran it."

  "What?" I didn't understand.

  "I'm the boss. It might take a while to restructure, honestly a year or more, probably with lots of travel in between, but I can move the Head Office from New York to Boston, in fact there will be lots of to-and-fro, but I think we can save the company some serious money as well, which will be the selling point actually for the board."

  "You're going to relocate to Boston for me?"

  He gave me a big grin. "Sure. I love you. I want to be with you so, that's the solution."

  "Seriously? That's your solution?"

  "Well, only if you want me to," he said, his face clouding with doubt.

  I threw my arms around his neck. Of course I wanted him to. He was moving for me and he loved me. "Did you just tell me you loved me?"

  "I think I kind of might have."

  "And you're uprooting an entire company to be with me?"

  "Yes." He nodded.

  "Wow. I love you, too. I have, in fact, been in love with you since that day you walked into the donut store."

  "Yeah, I n
ever stopped loving you, or donuts, either."

  He gave me a long slow kiss to cement it.

  "Excuse me." It was Nona. "Sorry to interrupt, but I wanted to have a word."

  "Of course, sorry," I said, adjusting my skirt and taking a small step away from Luke.

  "Nothing to be sorry for, Cherie. You two look happy."

  "Luke is moving to Boston, he's moving the company here," I said. My grin was so big my cheeks hurt.

  "See, I knew you two would work it out," she said, giving me a knowing smile. "The visions are never wrong, dear, you have to trust them."

  "I'll keep that in mind."

  "So you know I got married," she joked.

  "I did kind of notice," I said to her.

  "Well, I'm moving in to my husband's place because, well, he doesn't want to live with your grandfather's memories."

  "That's lovely, Nona. Don't worry about me. I can move out of the apartment."

  "That's good, dear. I was thinking maybe you two could move out of the apartment and into the house."

  "You want me to move into your house?" I couldn't believe what she was saying.

  "I want to give you my house, as a gift." I was shocked This was certainly a day of surprises.

  "Really? Nona, I can't . . ."

  "Cherie, you've looked after me all these years. Oh, I know you say not really, but you have. You've kept an eye on me, made me laugh, made sure I had my freedom; most granddaughters wouldn't have done that. You could have let your parents railroad me into moving in with them, but you didn't. And I know, and you know, I wouldn't be standing here right now happily married if that had happened."

  "Nona, I wanted to be with you."

  "Of course." She patted my hand. "I know you love me, but you've kept me alive and happy, and so I want to repay you. I know you love that house and so do I. I want to see a lovely young couple move in there and create their own family and memories. I want that to be you."

  I had tears of happiness streaming down my face. Somehow in a day I had gotten Luke and the house of my dreams. How was that even possible?

  "Happy tears," I said. "Thank you, Nona."

  "You're welcome." She hugged me and Luke. "Now freshen up and come inside while we do our farewells.