by Lisa Bilbrey
“Whoa, dude,” Travis hollered. “You’re gonna fall out. Wait till I’m in park, at least.”
“Okay, sorry,” Max muttered, closing the door.
Travis made a point of showing him that he’d put the car in park before he turned in his seat to face Max. “Why are you so excited?”
“No reason,” he answered. They all knew it was a lie. When Penelope had first told him that they’d be chaperoning the dance, Max had grumbled about not wanting to go and how dances were stupid. Then on Tuesday, Max had come home from school acting eager and excited all of a sudden.
“Somehow I don’t believe you, little man,” Travis scoffed. “But that doesn’t matter. Just use some common sense, okay? You could have gotten hurt.”
“I’m sorry.” Max shifted his eyes up to his father’s. “Can we go in now?”
“Yes,” Penelope giggled.
Max was out of the car and waiting for them on the sidewalk before Travis had even managed to unfasten his seatbelt. Sharing a look with Penelope, Travis climbed out and walked around to the passenger side, offering her his hand and helping her out. Max led the way into the building. When they walked into the cafeteria, Travis heard Penelope sigh.
“It looks so sweet!” she gushed, gesturing to all the decorations.
There were pink, red, and white balloons taped to the walls, with crepe paper streamers run along every available surface. Across the back wall, there was a table full of food, with everything from mini corndogs to finger sandwiches and two bowls of punch. From the looks of it, almost all of the fourth and fifth graders and their parents had already arrived. Most of the kids were divided into two groups: the boys and the girls. Every once in a while, one of the girls would look over at the boys and wave, making all her friends giggle. Travis had to bite back the urge to laugh several times; though they had better toys and more electronics than he’d had when he was their age, kids were still pretty much the same. The boys were shy, and the girls loved to torment them about it.
He looked around for Max, almost choking on his tongue when he spotted his son standing next to a little girl with dark, auburn hair.
“Penelope, who’s that girl?” he asked, trying to keep from laughing when Max ran his nervous fingers through his hair.
“That’s Jana Crosby,” she murmured. “She’s a fifth grader, and it would appear that our son has a bit of a crush on her.”
“Clearly,” Travis snickered.
Before he could say anything else, the sound of someone thumping a microphone echoed throughout the room. Everyone turned their attention to Mr. Nickels, who stood at the head of the room with Mrs. Sheldon, one of the fifth grade teachers.
“Thank you all for coming,” Mr. Nickels said, smiling. “Our annual fourth and fifth grade dance is always a lot of fun. We’d like to take a moment to say a special thank you to our fifth grade parents, who accepted the task of making tonight special. You did a great job, so thanks!”
Everyone applauded.
“Without further ado, let’s dance!”
Moments later, music began pouring out of the speakers, but none of the kids moved an inch. Travis watched as Max looked around at the other kids and then closed his eyes tight for a moment before turning to Jana. He was too far away to hear what Max said, but he knew when his son held his hand out to Jana that he had asked her to dance. Jana’s cheeks turned bright pink, but she nodded her head and placed her hand in his, allowing him to lead her out into the middle of the room. It was lucky that the song was an up-tempo number so Max and Jana could shuffle from side-to-side rather than having to put their hands on each other for a slow dance.
“Our little Casanova,” Penelope murmured.
Some of the other kids joined them on the dance floor. Travis laughed and turned to her. “He’s smooth, very smooth.”
“He reminds me of you,” she teased, sliding her arm in with his. “Guess Jana explains the sudden shift in his mood.”
“He likes her,” Travis commented. “A lot. Look at the way he’s watching her.”
While most of the boys were laughing and talking to each other rather than the girls they were dancing with, Max’s attention was on his little date. It was both sweet and nauseating.
“Oh, God, he’s only ten!” Penelope groaned and turned her body toward Travis.
“He’s almost eleven,” he snickered.
“No!” She laughed. “I don’t want him to be!”
“Baby, you don’t have a choice,” Travis said.
“I know,” she sighed.
For the next three hours, they watched Max trying to woo Jana. He got her punch and held her hand. Jana’s parents, Mark and Heather, came over to them, both amused with the situation, though Mark had tensed up when Max reached over and brushed Jana’s hair out of her face. Heather laughed and placed her hand on his shoulder, trying to calm him down. After all, the kids were just ten years old, and it wasn’t as though they were doing anything inappropriate.
Once the dance was over, Travis and Penelope helped clean up everything and put all the tables back where they were supposed to be. Max insisted on walking Jana out to her parents’ car, so Travis and Penelope, along with Jana’s parents, followed the kids, trying very hard not to gush when Max once again held Jana’s hand.
“So, um, I had fun tonight,” Max mumbled.
“Me, too,” Jana chirped. “Meg and Sammie were saying it was gonna be lame, but I had fun.”
“Maybe you can come over sometime,” Max offered. “I have a lot of toys.”
“Sure, you have my number, so call me or whatever,” Jana chimed.
“What?” Penelope hissed, too low for anyone other than Travis to hear.
“Cool.” Max opened the backdoor for Jana and waited until she’d climbed in before shutting it. Turning to her parents, he nodded his head to each of them and walked toward where Travis had parked earlier.
“Travis, not sure I trust that kid of yours,” Mark said, laughing. “He’s a little too polite for a ten-year-old.”
Smiling, Travis replied, “That he is.”
~*~*~*~
The drive back home was made in silence. Travis watched Max in the rearview mirror, noticing the way his son couldn’t stop smiling. When he parked in the driveway, Max grabbed the door handle and opened the door, but before he climbed out, he said six words that shocked both of his parents: “I’m gonna marry Jana one day.”
He was out of the car and halfway to the porch before Travis or Penelope could take as much as a breath.
“What the . . .” Penelope brought her hands up to her temples. “He’s just ten, he’s just ten, he’s just ten,” she chanted.
“Baby, I don’t think that will help,” Travis teased.
She growled and looked over at him. “He’s talking marriage!”
“Yeah, so?” He turned in his seat toward her. “If I remember right, you were eight when you told me that we were gonna get married. Look, we’re there.”
She sighed and smiled. “Yeah, I know.”
“Did I tell you that you look amazing tonight?” he asked, bringing her hand up to his lips.
“No,” she cooed and shook her head. “You look very handsome, but then you always did look good in a suit.”
He grinned. “Not as good as you look in a pretty dress. Like on prom night.”
“Prom night,” she murmured. “You got me in trouble that night.”
“It wasn’t my decision to stay out all night,” Travis exclaimed. “You were the one who insisted that we go hang out at the lake.”
“It was an amazing night,” Penelope mused. Biting her lip, she looked up at him from under her lashes. “Travis, I know we’ve been tossing around a lot of dates and you have your exam coming up next month, but I was thinking that we could get married on June first. I know it’s just a few of months away and we’d have so much planning to do, but I don’t want to wait.”
Travis leaned over and cupped her face, lowering his lips down
onto hers. “June first is my mother’s birthday. I can’t think of any other way I’d like to honor her than to celebrate it by becoming the man she always thought I could be. I love you, Penelope, and I can’t wait to be your husband, but I have one request before we get married.”
“What?” she asked with some apprehension.
“I want to legally change Max’s last name to McCoy.” Before she could argue with him, Travis continued. “I understand why you felt it would be easier for him to have your last name, but if you’re gonna be a McCoy, I want him to be one, too. It’s the only way we can be a real family.”
“You’re such a silly man,” Penelope giggled through her tears. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. We can call down to the judge on Monday and see what we need to do.”
“Thank you,” Travis exclaimed, kissing her. “I love you so much.”
“I love you, too, Travis.”
***
Chapter Six
Cakes, Flowers, and Invitations,
Oh My!
“So, I was thinking we could have a buttercream cake for the wedding,” Penelope droned on. “Or maybe we should go with lemon. Ugh, I just don’t know. What do you think, Travis?”
“Whatever you want, honey,” he mumbled, trying to keep his attention on the textbook in front of him. However, when she huffed, he sighed and looked over at her. “You know that I don’t care what kind of cake we have. All I need is you and some smear-able icing.”
“We’ve had that discussion, McCoy,” she snarled. “You are not shoving icing in my face, or there won’t be any wedding-night loving.”
“Eww,” Max grumbled, and they looked behind them just in time to see him walk past the dining room door toward the living room.
It’d been almost three weeks since the judge had changed Max’s last name from Stone to McCoy. Travis couldn’t explain the level of pride that filled him when he’d signed the paperwork that made it official; Max was his son in every possible way. Soon, Penelope would join them, and they’d be the McCoys.
Laughing, he turned back to Penelope. “You just scarred him for life. Now, he will never marry Jana.”
“Oh, no, the horror!” she gasped and pretended to faint.
“You two think you’re real funny,” Max groused as he walked into the room and sat down on the other side of the table. “You just wait and see.”
“Well, my boy, as long as you wait till you’re out of college, you can marry whomever you want,” Penelope said, picking up the two pictures of cakes that she’d been agonizing over. “Now, buttercream or lemon?”
“Lemon,” Max replied before he stood up and walked out of the room. “And who said I was even going to college? Was thinking about just living off of you and Dad for the rest of my life. Jana can share my room.”
“You’re going to college!” Penelope yelled, before adding under her breath, “And you and the missus ain’t living here, either. That’s just nasty.”
Travis fell back in his seat, laughing so hard he had tears pouring down his face. The banter between Max and Penelope had gotten more and more snarky since they’d announced the date for the wedding. Part of it was because Penelope had jumped into planning the wedding, but it was also because Max seemed to enjoy provoking her. The foolish boy would be lucky if he lived long enough to see his parents get married.
“You’re not helping, you know,” Penelope grumbled. “He might be serious.”
“No, he’s not. Well, not about going to college anyway,” Travis told her. “He might be planning to live here with Jana.”
She sighed. “I don’t want him to like girls yet. They’re supposed to be gross.”
“Yeah, girls are stupid,” he agreed. “They have cooties, and they talk all the time!”
“Hey!” She slapped him on the arm. “I’m a girl!”
“No, baby, you’re a woman,” he growled, wrapping his around her and pulling her closer to him. “A sexy woman.”
“Mmm,” she moaned. “Glad you think so, but I still need to know if you want buttercream or lemon.”
“Penelope,” he whined and fell back in his chair.
“Sorry, but I can’t make the decision by myself, and while I love our son, he don’t know shit about cakes.”
“You’d better put a dollar in the jar, Mom,” Max hollered from the living room.
“Yeah, yeah; whatever,” Penelope muttered and once again, Travis found himself laughing at the two of them. “I’m serious, McCoy, help a woman out!”
“Fine, okay,” he chuckled and took the brochure from her. “The buttercream looks better than the lemon.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” she murmured. “But I didn’t know if everyone would like the taste.”
“Who cares?” Travis leaned in and kissed her before she could argue. “It’s our wedding, Penelope. We should have what we want. Period.”
“It must be nice to be a man and not have to worry about how everyone will view our wedding,” she said, her voice wistful.
“Ha-ha; you’re so funny,” he snarked.
“So, buttercream it is.” She marked her choice before moving on to a stack of flower pictures. “Now, about the flowers . . .”
Travis closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat. Their wedding was worth it — at least that’s what he kept telling himself.
~*~*~*~
The flowers turned out to be even more of a hassle than the cake. Penelope couldn’t decide if she should go with roses or lilies, and when Travis suggested a mix of both, the horrified look on her face told him it was time to keep his mouth shut. In the end, she had chosen lilies. Of course, what he hadn’t understood at the time was that there were different types of lilies — a lot of different types of lilies.
In the end, though, she decided on water lilies. Travis couldn’t deny that her choice was beautiful. The flowers were electric blue with orange centers, and when they were put together in a beautiful arrangement, they seemed to glow.
Now, Penelope had moved on to her dress, and for once, Travis had been spared. Sherman and Wanda had driven down from Colorado so that Wanda could go dress shopping with her daughter. While they went in search of the perfect wedding gown, the men were assigned the duty of finding tuxedos.
“I don’t understand why we have to wear such weird suits,” Max grumbled, pulling at the collar of his shirt. “I already have a perfectly good suit at home.”
“Because, little man,” Travis stated, “your momma ordered us to, and that woman is stressed out enough without us griping about it, okay?”
“Yeah, okay,” he muttered, before walking away from them.
Sherman laughed and clapped Travis on the shoulder. “My daughter’s driving you both crazy, isn’t she?”
“No,” Travis lied, but when Sherman raised an eyebrow in his direction, he sighed. “I love her — I do — but she’s a little insane right now.”
“They always are. When Wanda and I were getting married, I couldn’t stand to be in the same room with the woman and her mother. Every day there was something new — something that was life or death. We must have tasted over fifty different cakes before we went with the first one we’d tried: a simple vanilla cake. And the flowers — oh, don’t get me started on the flowers. Why are they so hard to decide on?”
“I don’t know,” Travis chuckled. “Or colors.”
“Right!” Sherman exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air. “They went with roses in the end. From there, it was invitations and venues, table settings, and even worse, where to have crazy Uncle Bob sit. But while everything leading up to the wedding was horrifying, the moment I saw her standing at the other end of the aisle, I knew I’d go through it all again.” He shook his head, smiling. “She looked so beautiful, and every bit of the insanity was worth it. Wanda was going to stand before God and vow to love me forever.”
“How long have you been married?” Travis asked.
“Thirty-four years, ten months, and twenty-two d
ays,” he replied. “Not that I’m counting.”
“Nah, of course not,” Travis snickered. “Do you still love her as much as you did the day you married her?”
“No,” Sherman mused, shaking his head. “I love her more. She gave me a daughter and a life that I wouldn’t have had without her. We’ve had more good years than bad. I’ll tell you this: if at the end, you and Penelope can say the same, then you’ll know you did something right.”
“I love her,” Travis murmured. “I missed out on so much time with her and with Max. I don’t know how I ever managed to breathe without them.”
“Not all of the blame rests on your shoulders, Travis. My daughter didn’t give you a lot of say on the matter. While I don’t like that you broke her heart when you went off to school, you didn’t do it knowing that she was pregnant. You’re a good man, Travis. My daughter’s lucky to have you.”
“No, sir, I’m the lucky one.” He smiled. “After all, I get her and Max.”
“Can’t argue with you, there.” Sherman laughed. “Now, let’s get our tuxes worked out so that we can go find something better to do. I don’t think that boy will last much longer.”
Shifting his eyes over to Max, who was sitting in a chair and glaring at everyone, Travis nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”
~*~*~*~
An hour later, Travis, Max, and Sherman walked into La Garcia’s Mexican Bar and Grill. Penelope and Wanda were already seated, so they joined them, sliding into the empty chairs. Of course, Max sat next to Wanda and proceeded to blabber on about how torturous the shopping had been for him.
Travis shook his head and looked over at Penelope. She looked exhausted. Dark circles hung under her eyes, and her hair was tangled and tousled. He reached over and took her hand, bringing it up to his lips and placing a kiss on her knuckles.
“Did you find a dress?” he asked.
She gave him a weary smile. “I did. It took us a while, but I found the perfect dress.”
“Good. You deserve perfection,” he whispered. “Do I get to hear about it? Or is that forbidden, too?”
“Sorry, honey, but mum’s the word.” She smirked. “Did you get your tux?”
