by Lisa Bilbrey
Cal beamed with happiness before he said, “That night, after we picked Ben up from his friend’s house, we flew to Vegas. Anna and I were married in a little chapel on the strip.”
“Wow,” Travis said, laughing. “You just eloped?”
“Yeah, we didn’t need a big wedding,” Anna replied, grabbing Ben’s hand. While he pretended to be disgusted with his sister and new brother-in-law, Travis could tell that Ben was genuinely happy for them. “Ben walked me down the aisle and stood up as Cal’s best man. It was perfect.”
“Sounds like it,” Travis agreed. Holding his hand out to Cal, Travis said, “Congratulations, man. I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks. I would have told you sooner, but I knew you were dealing with a lot already,” Cal told him, shaking Travis’s outstretched hand.
Nodding, he sighed. “Let me guess: Penelope told you about the exam and everything.”
“Don’t be mad at her; she thought maybe I could offer some support. I told her the best thing she could do was just be there,” Cal explained. “That woman must love you an awful lot to call a total stranger for help.”
“That she does,” Travis murmured. “Come on, I can’t wait for you to meet her and Max.”
He found them sitting at a back table with Russ, Nadine, Sherman, and Wanda. Each of them had a plate of food from the small buffet the ladies from the church had organized. Travis and Penelope had tried to refuse their generosity, but they’d insisted. Travis suspected that Russ and Nadine had more to do with it than either was willing to admit. Penelope stood up when Travis, Cal, Anna, and Ben came up to the table.
“Penelope, I’d like you to meet Cal Hendricks,” Travis said.
“It’s wonderful to have a face to go with the voice, Cal,” she murmured, offering him her hand.
Cal, on the other hand, scoffed and wrapped his arms around her, spinning her around.
“Oh, my!”
“Honey, let her go,” Anna ordered, laughing.
Cal did as he was told and set Penelope back on her feet. “Sorry, I got a little overzealous, I guess.”
“I’d say so,” she giggled. “But don’t worry about it.”
“Dude, really?” Travis shook his head at Cal before gesturing to Anna. “Penelope, this is Anna Ru . . . well, Anna Hendricks now, I guess. She’s Cal’s new wife.”
“What?” Russ bellowed, standing up. “You two got hitched?”
“Yes, sir, we did,” Cal admitted.
Russ turned his glare onto Travis. “Why didn’t you tell me, boy?”
“Because I didn’t know,” he groused. “Why are you so upset anyway? You love Anna.”
“Well, yeah, I do, but . . .” His father huffed. “She doesn’t have a daddy to get pissed at her for not telling him, so I guess I figured I’d do it.”
“Oh, Russ,” Anna gushed. “I’m sorry I didn’t call you and tell you myself, but I knew you would give us your blessing.”
His lips twitched. “Yeah, I would have.” Shifting his eyes over to Cal, he added, “Hurt her and you answer to me.”
“Yes, sir,” Cal replied with a smile.
She rolled her eyes. “You’re a silly man. Anyway, this is my brother, Ben.”
“Nice to meet you, Ben,” Russ said, nodding toward the dark-haired boy.
“Yeah, you too,” Ben mumbled.
Max stood up and walked up to him. “Hey, I’m Max. Want to go find something else to do?”
Ben smiled. “Yes. I’ve been stuck with grownups for two days.”
“I hear ya,” Max scoffed. “My friend Jana brought some cards. Do you know how to play poker?”
“Um, no,” Ben said.
He grinned. “Good. I’ll teach you.”
The boys walked away before anyone could stop them. Travis contemplated going after them, but he decided that, at least for tonight, it wasn’t a battle worth fighting. How much trouble could they get into while inside a church?
“Cal, Anna, I’d like you to meet my parents,” Penelope said, drawing everyone’s attention back to her. “This is my dad, Sherman, and my mom, Wanda. Next to Russ, that’s his . . . friend Nadine.”
“That’s her polite way of saying that I’m Russ’s girlfriend,” Nadine mused, nodding toward Anna and Cal. “I’ve heard so many great things about you.”
“Russ, have you been bragging about me?” Anna cackled and slid into the chair next to him. “Be careful. Someone might think you’re not a cranky, old man.”
“Hush now, girl, before my cover is blown,” he teased.
Travis had to bite his lip to stop from laughing. If he hadn’t known that his father was in love with Nadine, he would have thought that Russ was flirting with Anna.
“Can’t have that,” she snickered before turning to Sherman and Wanda, who looked taken back by the charm she was laying on Russ. “It’s nice to meet you both.”
“You, too,” Wanda murmured. “How long have you and Cal been married?”
“Three and half months,” Cal and Anna replied together.
Everyone laughed.
“We were married on Valentine’s Day,” Cal said. “Long story short, we eloped.”
“So you didn’t get to have all of this?” Penelope asked with a bit of sadness in her tone.
Anna smiled and shook her head.
“Do you regret it?” Penelope wondered.
“No,” Anna said, and Travis couldn’t deny her sincerity in the simple word. “I’ve never been one of those women who wanted a big to-do. And I’m sure that Travis has told you about my parents, right?”
Penelope nodded, before turning to Sherman and Wanda. “They were killed in a car accident a couple of years ago.”
“Oh, we’re sorry.” Sherman frowned.
“Thank you.” Anna shifted in her seat and cleared her throat. Cal brought his arm up and wrapped it around her shoulders, and she relaxed into him. “Ben was there to walk me down the aisle, and I got to marry the love of my life. What else did I need?”
“Nothing,” Penelope murmured, dabbing the corners of her eyes.
“Oh, please don’t cry,” Anna pleaded. “I didn’t mean to make you sad.”
“You didn’t,” she said. “You just have such a positive outlook on life.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that.” Anna laughed. “You should see me when I am stressed over finals.”
“No, she shouldn’t,” Cal snickered.
Anna glared at him.
“Oh, honey, you know I love you, but you’re scary when you’re studying.”
“Oh, my God,” Penelope exclaimed. “When Travis was studying for his exam, I had to tiptoe around him. He’d get this look on his face . . .”
“Squinty eyes, tongue poking out between his teeth, and lips puckered around it?” Cal lifted an eyebrow in Penelope’s direction.
“Yes!” She smiled, while Travis rolled his eyes.
Cal smirked. “Yeah, he’d get that look a lot back in college. Remind me to send you the photos. You might need them for blackmail one day.”
“Dude!” Travis laughed. “You swore you’d never show those to anyone. In fact, you said you’d destroyed them.”
Cal shrugged his shoulders. “Yeah, I lied.”
Travis pointed at him. “You’re a jerk.”
Russ, Nadine, Sherman, and Wanda leaned back in their seats, laughing so hard they could barely breathe. Penelope sighed and leaned her head on Travis’s shoulder. Closing his eyes, he turned and pressed his lips to the top of her head.
“Aw, you two are so cute,” Cal teased, but a moment later, he turned serious. “Penelope, I know you don’t know me very well, but I hope that you’ll indulge me for a moment.”
“Of course,” she told him.
Cal took a deep breath and sat up in his chair. “Travis has been my best friend for ten years. We roomed together at UT; he was there for me when I blew out my knee, and when I was looking for a job, he pointed me toward the Sharks. Telling him that his career
was over killed me because the game was everything to him.”
“Dude,” Travis started, but when Cal held his hand up, he pressed his lips together.
“I wasn’t sure if Travis would be able to recover. Weeks passed, and I didn’t hear anything from him. Then one day, I found him and Russ standing under the goalpost. When Travis turned back to me, I didn’t see the same pathetic guy who’d left my office with a scowl on his face.”
“I wasn’t pathetic,” Travis jibed.
“Yeah, whatever, man.” Cal laughed. “My point is, Penelope, he told me about you and Max, how you two had found your way back to one another. He was happy, and I just want to say thank you for loving him.”
“Oh, Cal,” Penelope wept. “Loving him is the easy part.”
“I didn’t mean to make you cry,” Cal grumbled, looking to Travis for help.
Travis wrapped his arms around his fiancée and nestled her against him. “You’re such a sentimental jerk,” he mused, but his words were laced with the tears that he struggled to hold back. “Thanks for being here.”
Cal smiled. “I wouldn’t have missed it.”
Travis and Penelope excused themselves, slipping out the back door to enjoy the quiet for a few minutes. The last few weeks had been emotional and overwhelming for both of them. Travis had called Jack the day after he got his exam results and accepted the position. Two days later, word had already spread around town, and he was fielding at least ten phone calls a day from people who wanted to congratulate him. While he was touched by their gestures, he was already nervous enough without that added pressure on his shoulders, too.
Penelope did what she could to keep him from worrying, but she was busy trying not to lose her sanity over the wedding. Most of the details had been worked out already: venue, flowers, cake, and music. But there were dozens of small things that had her on edge: the napkins came back with a typo; half of the dishes they’d ordered had been damaged en route to the house; and Max had a growth spurt, so his tux was now too short. Through it all, though, she had kept her head on straight and had never let it get to her.
All the preparations had led them to this moment. Tomorrow, they’d get married, tying their lives together and becoming a true family.
“How are you holding up?” Travis asked.
She looked over at him and smiled. “I’m exhausted, but I don’t think I’ll sleep tonight. Too wired. How about you?”
“I’m not looking forward to being away from you tonight,” he groused, placing his hands on her hips and pulled her body against his. “It’s a stupid tradition, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” she replied. “But we’re still doing it. Max and I are gonna snuggle on the couch and watch a movie together. You and Russ are gonna do whatever you two do together. Then tomorrow, just as the sun begins to set, I’ll meet you on the fifty-yard line with a smile.”
“I can’t wait to hold you in my arms as my wife,” Travis murmured.
“Neither can I.” Penelope pressed up on her toes and brushed her lips across his. “Or kiss you.”
“You’re not making it any easier for me to leave you alone tonight,” he growled, resisting the urge to pin her against the wall and take her.
“My resolve is failing fast,” she purred.
Sighing, Travis released her and took a step back. “But since I can tell that you aren’t going to change your mind, I’ll be the man and back away.”
“You’re a good man, McCoy,” Penelope giggled.
“No, I’m a stupid man who loves you more than you’ll ever know.” Travis brought his hands up to her face. “Tomorrow, you’ll be Penelope McCoy.”
“Tomorrow can’t come soon enough.”
***
Chapter Ten
The Moment of a Lifetime
Early the next morning, Travis scrambled down the stairs of his father’s farm house. Moving over to the front window, he placed the palm of one hand on the frame and let the other rest on his hip. The sky was still dark; just the subtle whisper of orange creeping over the eastern horizon hinted that the sun had awoken.
Travis hadn’t been able to sleep all night. Every time he’d thought he might drift off into a peaceful slumber, he’d found himself reaching for Penelope, only to come up empty. He’d gotten so used to holding her in his arms, smelling the Japanese Cherry Blossom lotion that she rubbed over her arms every night, and knowing that she’d still be there when he awoke in the morning. For just one night, she hadn’t lain in his arms, and he had yearned for her.
A quick glance at the clock taunted him; he still had more than twelve hours till he’d see Penelope or Max again. He sighed, feelings of anxiety creeping over him. How had he managed ten years without them, when one night alone caused his heart to ache?
“Boy, how long have you been up?”
At the sound of his father’s voice, Travis smiled and looked over his shoulder. Just as he’d expected, Russ was leaning against the doorway between the living room and the kitchen with a smirk on his lips.
“All night,” he replied, being honest.
Russ laughed and shook his head. “I knew you wouldn’t sleep. Lord knows I didn’t the night before I married your momma.”
“You were nervous?” Travis asked.
“Scared to death.” Russ sighed, plopping down on the couch and laying his arm along the back. “The first time I saw her, I remember thinking that she was the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. It was Halloween. I was a cocky senior in high school, and she was just some little freshman. I thought I was too cool to wear a costume to school, but the guys on my football team had challenged me and, well, you know I can’t say no to a challenge.”
“Yeah, you’ve never been one to back down,” Travis snickered, moving over and sitting next to him.
“I figured it would be funny to wear a superman costume. When I walked into the school, everyone stopped and laughed at me. I won’t lie and say that it didn’t bother me a bit, but I tried not to let it get to me. Anyway, I went on with my business and stopped at my locker. I’d just managed to open it when my attention was drawn to this goddess. She had long, curly brown hair and deep, green eyes. She’d dressed up like superwoman, but damn, she looked good.”
“Eww,” Travis grimaced.
Russ waved him off. “It took me all day to get up the courage to talk to her. Then I came out of my biology class and walked right into her. She started to stumble backward, but I grabbed her by the hips and pulled her toward me. She gasped and looked up at me, a gorgeous smile on her face. I — I fell for her so hard.” Russ paused and took a shaky breath. “I begged her to let me take her out to dinner, but she said no.”
“Why?” Travis blurted.
Russ smirked. “Her daddy, your grandpa, wouldn’t let her date until she turned fifteen. With her birthday being June first, I had to make a decision. Either I moved on and found a different girl, or I waited.”
“And you waited,” Travis said.
“I did.” Russ grinned. “The morning of her birthday, I was standing on her doorstep with a bouquet of lilies. Grandpa answered the door and burst out laughing, which didn’t help my confidence at all. Anyway, he called for Loralie. When she got to the door, she giggled and brought her hand up to her chest. I said, ‘I’ve waited two hundred and twelve days to ask you one question.’ She smiled and said, ‘What would that be?’ Taking a deep breath, I took a step toward her, grabbed her hand, and asked, ‘Will you be my girl’?”
“And she said yes?” Travis inquired.
Russ laughed. “No. She said that if I wanted her to be my girl, then at least I could buy her dinner first.”
“So what’d you do?” Travis couldn’t hide his interest.
“Well, I did what any man in love would do. I took her to breakfast, where we spent hours laughing together. Then we had a picnic lunch at a park, and we talked. Like, really talked. After that, I took her to dinner. When I brought her back home, I took her hand and asked her to be my
girl again.”
“And?”
“She smiled and said yes.” Russ brought his hand up to his mouth and murmured, “We were together for four years before I asked her to marry me, and then another two before our own wedding. I’ve loved her since I was eighteen years old.”
“But you know it’s okay to move on, right?” Travis shifted so that he was facing his father. “Mom wouldn’t want you to grieve like this for her.”
“I know.” Russ smiled. “I’m gonna propose to Nadine.”
“You are? When?”
“I don’t know yet,” he chuckled. “When the time is right, I’ll know. But it would help if I knew that you’d be okay with it.”
“Of course I would,” Travis scoffed. “Dad, I miss Mom every day, but I like Nadine. She treats Max like her own. She’s good for you.”
“She loves you, ya know? And Penelope and Max. You’re her family, too,” Russ stated. “It means a lot that you’re okay with me being with her. She just makes me smile again.”
“Good. Because Mom liked your smile,” Travis teased.
“She did,” Russ admitted. Standing up, he offered Travis his hand. “Come on. I’ll make you some breakfast.”
“I don’t know if I can handle food right now,” Travis mumbled. “I’m so nervous.”
“You shouldn’t be. You and Penelope have waited a long time for today, boy. Just focus on your bride, and you’ll be golden.”
He nodded and stood up. “Maybe I’ll try a piece of toast.”
“Good boy,” Russ laughed.
~*~*~*~
Travis tried — he really tried — but he couldn’t seem to calm his nerves. He’d managed to nibble on a slice of toast, but if he were honest, it tasted like cardboard. Once he ate enough to make Russ happy, he went for a run. He’d hoped that the workout would help, and to an extent it did, but he knew that only being with Penelope and Max again would make the ache in his heart stop.
More than a few times throughout the day, he’d reached for his cell phone to call Penelope, but each time he’d stopped before he pushed more than a single digit. Travis kept telling himself that he’d be okay if he just heard her voice, but that was a lie. That sweet sound would just bring temporary relief — the wound caused by her absence wouldn’t be healed until he saw her coming down the aisle towards him. He’d taken a hot shower to try to get the muscles in his back and shoulders to loosen up, but after a few minutes, he’d given up. Still feeling tense, he’d headed into his room to get ready for the wedding. By late in the afternoon, he was finished. He stood in front of the mirror that hung on the back of his closet door and took a deep breath.