Along Came Trouble
Page 32
A whoop behind them settled the matter anyway. King had just latched onto the brass ring. He made a production out of passing it along to Frances, who handed it to Jenna, who passed it to Bobby. Eventually it made its way around to Tucker and Liz.
“See,” he told her as she clutched it. “The best things in life always come to you, if you’re patient.”
Liz shook her head. “Not always. Sometimes you have to reach out and grab them.”
“Care to go home and debate that?” he inquired.
“I wouldn’t mind going home,” she said. “But a philosophical debate is the last thing on my mind.”
Tucker’s gaze clung to hers. “In that case, what are we waiting for?” He signaled to Tommy and the carousel operator. “Stop this infernal contraption. We’re getting off.”
“Wonder where they’re off to in such a rush?” Bobby inquired loudly.
“Better fish to fry,” Tucker called back over his shoulder.
Then he took Liz’s hand, and together at long last, they headed for home.
Epilogue
King wasn’t one bit happy about the turn of events that brought him into church on a Saturday morning in October. He’d expected to walk down the aisle himself before his son got around to it, but Tucker and Mary Elizabeth were in some sort of rush. Frances had flatly refused to steal the limelight from them by scheduling their wedding until at least a month later.
No question, though, that Tucker was happy about something. King suspected he knew what it was, but darned if he could pry a thing out of his son or anyone else. He’d had the whole family working on it, but Mary Elizabeth and Tucker were as tight-lipped as any two people King had ever known.
As if that weren’t bad enough, Mary Elizabeth and Frances had suddenly gotten to be thick as thieves. Every time he turned around, the two of them were looking at him as if they were about to dissect him under a microscope. If he were prone to hives, he’d be itching all over by now.
Tucker told him he was just getting his due after the way he’d meddled in all their lives, but King didn’t see it that way. A conspiracy was a conspiracy, plain and simple, and he didn’t like it one damn bit.
Of course, when Frances tucked her hand in his and looked up at him as if he’d hung the moon, he supposed he could forgive her for whatever she was up to. Something told him that whatever it was, in the end he was going to count himself the lucky one.
He listened to the solemn exchange of vows and felt his heart fill to overflowing. The words took on new meaning when he was contemplating saying them himself in the not too distant future. When he gazed at Frances and saw tears shimmering in her eyes, he could tell she was feeling the exact same way.
“Our turn next,” he whispered, just as Anna-Louise pronounced Tucker and Mary Elizabeth husband and wife.
“I can’t wait,” Frances whispered back. “But there is something we have to talk about.”
King’s heart began to thud dully. “You’re not backing out on me, are you?” he demanded, oblivious to the bride and groom, who were going down the aisle in a shower of flower petals.
“Not a chance,” Frances assured him. “But Mary Elizabeth and I have been talking about planning something a little different.”
“Different how?” King inquired suspiciously.
Frances frowned. “Maybe now’s not the best time to get into this. We’ll talk later.”
She started out of the pew, but King held her back. “Tell me now,” he commanded. “I’m getting old. I can’t handle many shocks.”
“Oh, stop it,” she scolded. “You’re only as old as you let yourself be.”
“Tell me.”
“Oh, for goodness’ sakes, it’s not like I want to get married jumping out of an airplane.”
“Thank the Lord for that,” King said, though he supposed he would have gone along with it if she’d insisted. He was of a mind to give Frances just about anything she wanted these days.
“I was thinking about…” She gazed at him hesitantly. “Well, I was thinking about the new bingo hall.”
While King’s head reeled, she went on in a rush.
“It’s right on the boardwalk, which brought Bobby and Jenna together, and our first date was a bingo night over at Colonial Beach, and Anna-Louise has agreed if I can get you to go along with it.” She regarded him with luminous eyes. “What do you think?”
King had envisioned a quiet church wedding with family and friends and neighbors. Something traditional and elegant, something befitting a Spencer.
“Of course, we’ll want to do it soon,” she raced on, as if she was afraid to stop and let King get a word in edgewise. “Because the fact is that Anna-Louise and Richard are expecting a baby, and she’s going to want to take some time off, and I really want her to perform the ceremony, don’t you?”
There were too many questions on the table for King to think straight. He focused on the least controversial first.
“Of course I want Anna-Louise to marry us. You say she and Richard are expecting? When’s that? Nobody tells me anything anymore.”
“I just told you.” Frances flushed guiltily. “I don’t think I was supposed to. Anna-Louise wanted to tell you herself, since you were the one who gave Richard a proper nudge in the right direction. Don’t let on I told, okay?”
“Sure. Whatever,” King said dutifully. “A bingo-hall wedding, that’s what you really want?”
Frances nodded. “It is.”
It would be the talk of the town, that’s for sure. King began to grin. “Why the hell not?” he said, picking her up and twirling her around. “We’re Spencers. We can do whatever we want. Trinity Harbor is our town.”
“I am not a Spencer,” she reminded him sharply, though there was a twinkle in her eye. “Not yet, anyway. My ancestry has just as big a claim on Trinity Harbor as yours does, but you don’t see me throwing that fact in people’s faces the way you do.”
King laughed. “I am not going to get into a debate with you about whether your family or mine settled this town. Not on a day like today. Besides, once we’re married, we can run this place jointly.”
“From the sidelines, of course,” Frances said.
“Of course,” King agreed. “Isn’t that what I’ve always done?”
Hoots of laughter greeted that remark. He looked up and discovered that the whole family had come back to see what was taking the two of them so long.
“Ungrateful brats, the whole lot of you,” he accused.
“But we are Spencers,” they all dutifully declared, even those who’d married into the family.
“Indeed,” he said, a smile splitting his face despite his irritation. His chest filled with pride as he gazed at each of them in turn—Daisy and Walker, Tommy beside them, Jenna and Bobby with young Darcy and J.T., Tucker, his gaze locked on his beautiful bride, and the two he was willing to consider honorary Spencers, Anna-Louise and Richard. His gaze finally came to rest on Frances, who would be officially one of them as soon as he could arrange it.
They were a fine lot, no question about it. And if a man had a loving—if occasionally disrespectful—family around him, what more could he possibly want? Yes, indeed, King considered himself blessed.
And while he was here in the church he’d attended all his life, he gazed heavenward and said a silent prayer that all of his children would one day know the richness of life that had been bestowed on him.
The sun, glinting through the stained-glass window, winked at him in response. Yes, indeed, it was a glorious day…and just the first of many, if he had anything to say about it.
Which he usually did.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-6108-6
ALONG CAME TROUBLE
Copyright © 2002 by Sherryl Woods.
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