was ready to get up out of my wheelchair and shove that cigar down Dad's throat.
"We're getting married!" I announced. "Just so we all know what we all know!"
Mom took Sam's hand in both of hers and smiled warmly at him. "This is so sudden! Are you Chinese?"
Mom is a real sweetheart and a little on the petite side. She always waits until Dad isn't looking, before she hits him.
"Korean," Sam said.
"Hmm," Dad said. "What kind of doctor?"
"Astronomer."
"I was about to ask about this pain," Dad said, pointing at his liver. "What does stargazing pay these days?"
Well, enough of this crap. Let's look in on the Father-Daughter Bout, a little later in the day, Heavyweight Division, round twelve.
= = =
"He's the first guy who made eyes at you after you got out of the hospital, ain't he?" Dad asked. I had his wet cigar in my hand, after he leaned a little too close. I wasn't about to let him wiggle it between his lips the whole dialog.
"Damn right! I'm one-for-one. I was hot-to-trot and he was the best I could do."
He waved his hand in dismissal. "Let's get serious, shall we? Say, did you get contacts? Where are your glasses? You look pretty good without them."
"Lost 'em in a game of strip poker."
"I know you're lying because you never lose at poker. Where was I?"
"Something about being serious."
"Oh, yeah. Are you really serious about this Korean?"
"He's an American, Dad, born here, raised here. His parents are the nicest people."
"You gonna live with his parents?"
"No, we're gonna live with you!"
"OK, let's get serious."
"You said that before. Don't make any stupid comments about Sam!"
"If you had any feeling in your butt I'd give you a good spanking, young lady."
I laughed. It was always this way with Dad. I think it was his way of showing affection - being gruff and slightly cuckoo.
"So, when's the wedding, Punkin?"
Now we were getting somewhere. When the name Punkin came out, I imagined I was finally softening him up. He needed a shave. Retired from the Army for only a couple of months and already he was going to seed. Couldn't even keep his gig-line straight.
"The Air Force has a job for Sam and me that starts in September. If you look out that window you'll see a car with a couple of suits in it. Karl and Ed. They're armed and they're making sure Sam and I are safe."
Dad raised an eyebrow then looked through the window of his study. "Astronomy must be trickier than I thought! Will they let you come to Florida to get married?"
1-34 1981CE - A Convenient Marriage
"I know, I know, Mamacita, but we're talking about my little girl here, my youngest, my best, but don't tell that to Will and Carla. And especially not to Milly!"
"They already know your feelings for Milly," Lucia DuPont said to her husband Tony. She inspected his wedding attire. She fussed with the carnation that wouldn't fit right in his lapel.
He took off the black jacket and handed it to her. It was too early to have it on. He was too hot. "Just sneak around and find Sam and ask him to come see me. Don't let it get back to Milly that I'm talking to him in private. Hurry it up, Luscious. I gotta talk to Milly, too. In private."
Lucia laid the jacket on the bed carefully. She did not hurry. She was a very patient woman, or else she would be spending her remaining years with someone other than her husband, preferably with a Chihuahua. "Don't you think you have talked to Sam enough? You're trying to make him say the wrong thing, so you can call off the wedding."
"Are you kidding, after what it's already cost us?" He sat down on the bed next to his jacket. He checked his watch. "He's a good kid. His folks are real good people; he has to be a nice boy. I just don't know if he has what it takes. You know, Milly is a lot like me: hard to deal with. I have a few more words of wisdom to say to him."
"You mean warnings."
"I want her to be happy, and if Sam is well prepared, he might succeed in making her happy."
"She seems happy to me," Lucia said. "So, in ten minutes on the morning of the wedding you will prepare Sam for Milly. Tony, even we are still not prepared for her! You're just all wound up. You need to relax. It is all over except for the words and the music."
"Don't tell me you're relaxed," Tony said, "or you wouldn't be fussing around me! You have a special feeling for Milly, too. She darn-near killed you getting born at your age. She darn-near killed you when she had her car wreck. She's special to both of us and I think to Sam, too. But you know she's a handful of trouble at her best, and hell on wheels at her worst. Hey, I made a joke! See? I'm relaxed. Go get Sam for me. I'll make it worth your while," he added with a meaningful leer.
"Well, since you put it that way, hombre." Mrs. DuPont gave her husband a little wiggle of her posterior as she exited the bedroom. She looked pretty good to Tony, especially with that new dress for the wedding. He didn't see her in dresses much these days. Good thing Lucia was well past menopause. Another one like Milly would kill them both!
Sam knocked on the bedroom door and was startled when Tony yanked it open and pulled him in, checking the hallway before shutting the door.
"Have a seat, Doc," Tony ordered.
"My name is Sam, Colonel," Sam said, trying yet again to get Milly's father to use his name. The only place to sit was on the bed.
"And my name is Tony, Doc." He remained standing and began to pace back and forth in front of Sam. "It's a marriage of convenience. No, don't try to argue with me! I'm not saying it's a bad thing. You and she are a team. You're doing God-knows-what for the Air Force. You'll be isolated. Milly says we may not see you guys again for months or even years. I know you'll take good care of her. You're an honorable man."
"But?"
"Yeah, there's always them buts. I don't know, maybe we didn't raise Milly right. She was kind of an accident, after we thought our breeding years were done. Anyway, she's a filly of another color, as you may have already found out. I guess I just want to know that you'll be more patient with Milly than Lucia and I were. Don't listen to me and think there's something wrong with her. You don't have to worry about her. She's not as smart as she looks - she's smarter. And she's a fighter. She won't give up. But she's also a lover. She was raised with lots of love, along with lots of discipline. You stick with her, she'll stick with you. Promise me you'll take good care of her."
"I promise you. And in a short while I'll promise God."
"Thank you." And then Tony had to ask: "Do you love Milly?"
"Will you promise me not to tell her what I say, Tony?"
"That depends on your answer, Sam."
"I am hopelessly in love with your daughter! From the first moment I saw her. I know this isn't always a good thing, especially when a guy isn't very experienced, and so I try to keep my feelings for her from being... I don't know... too much, too soon, too vulnerable. I don't think she wants to be adored and suffocated with how strongly I feel about her. I'm just trying to survive until my feelings evolve into something more solid and durable."
Tony chuckled. "No, I'm not laughing at you, Sam. Just remembering some of my own youth. Just thinking about what Milly might do if I did tell her you were mad about her. My lips are sealed." He chuckled again. "But I am telling Lucia. You look cool as a cucumber. You're faking it, right?"
"Right!"
= = =
Tony had to put on his jacket and go find his daughter. She was, of course, kept out of sight of the groom. There was only one place she could be and when he entered the guest bedroom she wasn't there, but her sister and mother and Aunt Ruth were there. They all looked a little fretful.
"Where is she?" Tony asked, and they all looked at the closed bathroom door. "Go on, everybody get out of here. I'll talk to her."
"She won't come out of the bathroom, Dad," Carla said.
"Yeah, she will. I'll get her out." He herded the wome
n to the door and closed it behind them. He knocked on the bathroom door with one knuckle. "So, what do you need in there, a shot of whiskey or a mop? Have you gone chicken on me?"
"I'm trying, Daddy!" It was a tone of voice he had not heard from Milly since she was a little girl. Still, it didn't shake his faith in his daughter.
"Trying to chicken out? I don't think you're capable of that, Punkin."
"Don't you Punkin me! You don't know what I know and I can't tell you!"
"You talkin' about the secret stuff? What's that got to do with marrying Sam? Seems to me you need him, Punkin."
"I desperately need him, Daddy! Oh, please, don't tell him that! Promise me you won't even hint to him how much I love him!"
"Hmm," Tony said. "Hmm."
"Daddy? Daddy, are you still there?"
He was trying very hard not to chuckle. "So, what's the problem, Punkin?"
"I'm a mess! A terrible, stupid mess!"
"Get out of there and let your mother clean you up. I gotta wheel you down the aisle real soon now."
He heard the door unlock, saw the knob turn and the door open a little. He waited while Milly maneuvered the wheelchair to get the clearance to open the door. She wheeled herself out.
"There's nothing wrong with how you look, Punkin! You're absolutely beautiful!"
"I'm a mess inside, Daddy." She wiped her nose. "I'm so afraid I'll make Sam miserable. And that's a dangerous thing."
"I think you underestimate Sam. You're both young, both still immature, but when do any of us mature, unless it's too late? I think you underestimate yourself. You stick with Sam, he'll stick with you. I'm sure of it. I made him promise to take good care of
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