Taking Charge

by Mandy Baggot

  “Jeez, sugar! You wanna clean something, you could have a go at the kitchen at Eddie’s. Chef’s great, but not exactly splatter free,” Nancy remarked, standing next to her.

  “I’ll do it tomorrow, if you like,” Robyn answered.

  “Put the brush down, honey,” Nancy ordered.

  “It needs finishing, in time for the wedding. You know, people will want to use it and…” Robyn started.

  “You can’t hide behind things,” Nancy said seriously.

  “Why not?”

  “Because sooner or later, you’re going to have to come out,” Nancy continued.

  Robyn let out a heavy sigh and threw the brush into the hot tub.

  “If we make it sooner, then we can get on with finalizing these wedding plans,” Nancy told her.

  “I feel dirty all over again. Do you want to talk about that?” Robyn snapped.

  “This isn’t your fault.”

  “Cole keeps saying that, over and over again. It is my fault! I mean, if I’d just slept with him when we were dating, he wouldn’t have done what he did.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yes, I do. He told me.”

  “Honey, you weren’t ready to do that with him. If you were, you would have done it. You were fifteen,” Nancy reminded her.

  “I trusted him,” Robyn said with a shake of her head.

  “We all trusted him,” Pam added as she and Sarah joined them outside.

  “He betrayed us all,” Sarah said, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

  “How could he do that to me?” Robyn asked them, tears threatening to spill.

  “He lied to all of us, all these years. And as for his father…he’s as guilty as Brad, changing evidence, ruining Jason’s reputation,” Pam continued.

  “I can’t even speak to Jason. I don’t know what to say to him. I’m scared he’s never going to forgive me and that’s no more than I deserve,” Robyn said.

  “Hey, none of this is your fault Robyn. I’m just glad you know the truth now,” Jason replied as he and the rest of the team came out of the house to see her.

  “Jason. I am so sorry. If I could turn back the clock, if I could do anything different to change things I would,” Robyn said, looking at him shamefully.

  “It wasn’t you, Robyn. I understand that you only ever told the truth, the rest of it was out of your hands,” Jason said, taking hold of her hand and squeezing it in his.

  “I condemned you, though, everyone did. We should have remembered who you were. A kind, sweet boy who liked Marvel comics,” Robyn said, wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

  “Shh, don’t tell the Panthers. They’ll never let me live it down,” Jason replied with a smile.

  “We heard!” Mickey yelled out.

  “I want you back on the team and meals for life at Eddie’s,” Robyn stated.

  “Whoa, now hang on a minute,” Nancy said.

  “I’ll take the place on the team, but not the food. Your dad needs to be making all the profit he can right now. But maybe a team dinner after our next win?” Jason suggested.

  “Sweet,” Wade agreed.

  “And Dad says he’s been meaning to ask you since about 2003 about his Chevy, she’s not running right. I thought now that things were back to normal, you might want to take a look some time,” Jason added.

  “Hey! I’m the mechanic around here! Why hasn’t he asked me?” Mickey wanted to know.

  “Because Grant knows I could strip the engine of his Chevy blindfolded,” Robyn answered with a smile.

  “We have drinks and refrigerator say low on beer. It is amazing, I want,” Henrik said as he, Bob, Cole, and the twins came out onto the deck.

  “Robyn, we made you a card,” Sierra said, bounding up to her with it.

  “Mom said Brad’s going to jail,” Sienna added.

  “I didn’t tell them the whole thing, you know…” Pam started.

  “What did he do to you?” Sienna wanted to know.

  “Well, he told a lot of people a lot of lies, and if you don’t tell the truth, you get in trouble,” Robyn said, looking at the card.

  It had a picture of a girl on ice skates wearing a Portage Panthers shirt.

  “Logan Hamilton at school tells lies; he says his mom has a girlfriend. Mom’s don’t have girlfriends!” Sierra exclaimed with a roll of her eyes.

  “Will he go to jail?” Sienna asked.

  “No,” Robyn answered.

  “Beer and pickles?” Cole offered as he held out the jar and a fork and Bob held out a bottle of Bud Light.

  “You remembered to forget the plate,” Robyn said, smiling at him.

  “Yes, I did,” Cole replied.

  Chapter Fifty

  October in Michigan is usually a mixed bag. One day it could have a month’s worth of rainfall in two hours, the next it could snow. Throw in a tornado and showers of leaves and you’ve pretty much got it covered. But the twenty-second of October broke like a summer morning, and the blue, cloudless sky looked set to last all day.

  As Robyn sat in Bob’s boat and slowly sailed across West Lake, she smiled. Here she was, back where she belonged, with all the people she loved, on her way to get married to a man who knew everything about her and still adored her.

  “Daddy, shouldn’t Robyn be wearing a life jacket?” Sienna called out, lifting the shield of her helmet.

  “Yepper,” Bob replied, steering the boat.

  “Then why isn’t she?” Sierra questioned.

  “I don’t want to crease my beautiful dress,” Robyn answered them.

  “But what about safety first?” Sienna shouted over the boat’s engine.

  “No safety for me today, just fun,” Robyn replied with a grin.

  “Relax man, stop looking at your watch, she’ll be here. Well, that’s if Bob’s boat doesn’t break down or anything. One time he took me fishing and…” Mickey began.

  “Not helping,” Cole replied with a nervous sigh.

  “Listen, are you sure you want me as your best man? I mean, your brother’s just over there and you know, things are cool with you two now, right?” Mickey asked.

  “I guess.”

  “And he’d have to be a pretty fast worker to like steal Robyn between now and the altar,” Mickey added.

  “Mickey!” Sarah hissed from behind him.

  “Sorry,” Mickey said.

  “Have you got the rings?” Cole asked as Bob’s boat came into view on the horizon.

  “Actually, I gave them to Bryn,” Mickey admitted with a swallow.

  Bryn stood up from his seat and made his way up the shore to where Cole and Mickey were standing with the wedding party.

  “Hey,” Bryn greeted.

  “Hey.”

  “Look, I’ll just sit down here with my pregnant fiancée. If you need any help, just holler. Oh, and when it gets to the speeches, we can have five minutes each,” Mickey bargained before being pulled down onto a chair by Sarah.

  “So, you’re getting married,” Bryn said, patting his brother on the back.

  “Yes, I am.”

  “I’m so happy for you,” Bryn said sincerely.

  “Yeah, I’m happy for you, too,” Cole replied, looking over at Veronica.

  “She come! She come!” Henrik announced as Bob began to steer toward the jetty.

  Cole watched as Bob moored the boat and helped Robyn and the twins alight.

  She stopped for a second, saw him waiting for her, and her stomach turned over. He was going to be her husband in a few minutes. Her whole life was starting over.

  And there in front of her was her dad and Max, sat in wheelchairs. Both were dressed in matching suits, a white orchid in their lapels, waiting for her on the shoreline.

  “Buttercup,” Eddie choked as his daughter came down onto the sand to join him.

  “How do I look?” Robyn asked, holding out her dress and doing a twirl.

  “Have I ever seen you out of pants?” Eddie questioned.

 
“You look a million dollars, gal,” Max responded, a tear in his eye.

  “A princess,” Eddie said, wiping at his eyes.

  “Pull yourself together, man, this is a wedding not a funeral. Let’s get this gal to her Prince Charming,” Max said, trying to push on his wheels.

  “I didn’t know that when I offered to help a girl with a broken bag I was going to end up marrying her. I don’t know whether to thank American Airlines for putting us on the same flight or thank the bag manufacturer for producing poor goods. Robyn, I don’t know what to say. I hope you know how I feel about you. I’m going to love you my whole life, and I’ll honor you every single second of every single day,” Cole said.

  Tears fell from his eyes as he held both her hands and made his vows.

  “Cole…well, I had it all prepared…what to say…but it wasn’t right. Your dad is up there with Old Man Harrison and Mitzy, and I don’t want to let them down by saying something stupid. You’re everything to me, Cole, and you’re the only person who’s ever been everything to me. You’re special and I’m very lucky. Cole, I marry you today because you met the real Robyn Matthers at Chicago O’Hare. You brought her home and…you put me back together again,” Robyn said as she looked up at Cole’s face.

  There was a collective sound of appreciation as Cole drew her into him and held her protectively against his chest.

  “Cole and Robyn have exchanged their vows and given rings as a symbol of their marriage. It is now my absolute pleasure to pronounce them husband and wife. And let’s hear some applause!” the minister ordered as Special Guest’s drummer kicked the band into action.

  “So, how does it feel to finally have a connection with Meg Ryan?” Cole asked Robyn as he handed her a bottle of beer.

  “What?”

  “Robyn, you share a last name with her now,” Cole reminded her.

  “Ah, well, we never actually discussed which name to take, did we? I’ve been trying Cole Matthers out over the loudspeaker at the arena and you can get a really good, long rah sound at the end. I like it,” Robyn replied with a grin, running off toward the party tent.

  “No way, absolutely, no way,” Cole said, chasing her.

  “And now we party, yes? Julha!” Henrik exclaimed, punching his hands in the air excitedly.

  “Joola? What does that mean?” Mickey asked.

  “Is Finnish for party. We have party, yes?” Henrik said, slapping Mickey on the back.

  “He’s Finnish,” Mickey said.

  “What?” Sarah queried, confused.

  “He’s freaking Finnish! Hey! Robyn! Henrik’s Finnish!”