So Much Trouble When She Walked In

by Judy Angelo

  That night when Silken fell asleep in his arms for a long time he just held her, stroking her hair, watching her sleep. When she finally stirred and opened her eyes he was still holding her, smiling down into her still sleepy face.

  “Did I snore?” she asked with a crooked smile, not looking at all perturbed by the possibility.

  “As usual,” he said, his smile widening, “and it was the sweetest sound I could ever want to hear. It’s a sound,” he said as he brushed her lips with his, "that I want to hear every night when I close my eyes to sleep.”

  Silken gave a tiny frown and she tilted her head as she looked up at him. “You like being kept awake by my snoring?”

  “Love it.” He dipped his head to kiss her on her soft, full lips. Then he tightened his arms around her. When he lifted his head again and looked at her he knew it was the right time.

  “Silken,” he said, “there's a question I need to ask you and I hope your answer will be yes.”

  Her frown deepened and this time she gave him a look of suspicion. Then her eyes widened. “Wh…what do you want to ask me?” In her face was an endearing mixture of anticipation and apprehension.

  Max smiled. “Maybe I should do this on my knees,” he said and laid her on the pillows. Sliding off the bed, he turned and knelt down and took her hand in his. Now he could truly say that she'd brought him to his knees in both senses of the word.

  “Silken McCullen,” he said as he held her trembling hand in his, “will you marry me?”

  Silken’s hand tightened around his and for the second time that evening he watched her lips tremble and her face dissolve into tears.

  Still holding his hand she slid off the bed and knelt on the floor beside him. Then she laid her head gently on his bare chest. “Yes,” she whispered, “I will marry you.” Then she lifted her face to his and now she was smiling through the tears. “Yes,” she said, her voice now strong and brimming with confidence. “Maximillian Davidoff, I will marry you.” She lifted her hands to cup his face. “I love you,” she whispered.

  And that was all he needed to hear.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  “Will you hurry up? He’ll be here in a minute.”

  Suave stood at the door, baseball cap in hand, already dressed in a light jacket and carrying her lunch kit of healthy snacks – carrot sticks, apples, raisins and rice cakes. No hot dogs or pop for her. No, sir.

  Silken, as usual, was running behind. She’d just come out of the shower and was dragging on her jeans and stuffing her feet into sneakers, both at the same time. “Coming,” she yelled back. “Just a sec.”

  Today was a special day for Max and so, of course, it was special for Silken as well. Today was the grand opening of Max’s baby, the Cupertino NASCAR Racetrack, and they would all be there to share the joy with him. Reed had already flown in from London, Duke would be meeting them on location, and Max would be picking up Silken and Suave.

  And there was one other little thing that was making Silken both happy and nervous at the same time. Today she would meet Max’s parents and she would be introduced as his fiancée.

  Her heart did a little lurch every time she thought about it. What if they didn’t like her? What if she was too loud, too brash, or just too ordinary for their son?

  And she knew exactly who would think that. His mother. The father, she was sure she could charm, but the mothers were always harsh, always judgmental, and impossible to please. Even if she were Kate Middleton, faced with the impending loss of her son to marriage, the typical mother would still find some fault with the wife-to-be.

  Downstairs in the lobby as she stood looking out for Max’s car, she let out a soft sigh. Well, at least the parents wouldn’t be in the car with him. Max had told her that Duke would be taking them with him. With just her, Suave and Max in the car, she wouldn’t worry about what lay ahead. She would just relax and enjoy the ride.

  When the SUV pulled up in front of the building she waved to Max then hurried outside. As Suave climbed into the back seat she hopped into the passenger seat beside Max. “Excited?” she asked, knowing that was a stupid question. Of course he was excited. His dream was coming to life.

  “What do you think?” He gave her a broad smile and a quick kiss then turned to give Suave her good morning greeting. Then they were off.

  The trip to the racetrack would only take a half hour or so and Silken planned to make full use of the time to prepare herself for what lay ahead. She shifted in her seat, rested her elbow on the storage compartment between their seats and rested her chin in her palm. “So tell me,” she said to Max, “what are they like?”

  He gave her a quick glance then his eyes returned to the road. “My parents? They’re okay. Pretty laid back, to tell you the truth. They don’t let things bother them.”

  “Do you think I would bother them?”

  Max gave a soft chuckle. “Not unless you confuse the heck out of them like you did me, the first time we met.”

  She crinkled her nose. “That was just a rare, unfortunate incident.”

  “Brought on by a certain person’s impetuous nature.” That was Suave, putting in her two cents.

  “Hey,” Silken said, turning to look at her, “you’re supposed to be on my side.”

  Suave laughed. “I am. But I also have to be honest.”

  Silken gave her a fake frown then turned her attention back to Max. “So who’s the laid back one? Your mom or your dad? It can’t be both of them.”

  Max seemed to give the question some thought. “Since you put it that way, I’d say my dad. Mom’s cool but when the situation calls for it, she’s more of a no-nonsense kind of person.”

  Silken almost groaned. Why was it always the mother who was the bear?

  “Do you think she’ll like me?” she asked, beginning to get worried all over again. She sat back in her seat and smoothed her hand down her shirt. “Do you think I should have worn something nicer? Used make up, maybe?”

  “Will you stop worrying? What you’re wearing is perfect and she’ll love you.” He reached over and gave her leg a squeeze. “I guarantee it.”

  Silken knitted her brow and pushed out her bottom lip then drew it back in. “I just hope you’re right.”

  When they got to the racetrack, Max took them straight to the reserved area where Duke and Reed were already seated and there, between them, sat a distinguished-looking couple – the matriarch and patriarch of the Davidoff clan. The man was tall, surprisingly taller than all his sons, probably somewhere in the region of six foot two or three. Even though he was seated it was obvious he was taller as the top of his baseball cap was close to an inch above theirs. Sticking out from the back of the cap Silken could see his dark hair with its scattered streaks of gray. He had an angular profile and strong jaw and even from a distance, no matter what Max had said about his being laid back, she could see that he was not a man to take lightly.

  Mrs. Davidoff, on the other hand, looked totally relaxed as she leaned against her husband’s arm, looking over onto the racetrack below. She hadn’t seen them yet so Silken had the opportunity to take a good look at her future mother-in-law.

  She’d let her long, black hair fall free to flow over her shoulders and down her back and Silken could see a few strands of gray. The soft smile on her face made her look approachable and pleasant and it made Silken wonder if Max had gotten his parents mixed up. Based on what she could see, Mrs. Davidoff looked like the easy-going one. Now she didn’t know what to believe. To be on the safe side, she would have to tread carefully with both of them.

  And then it was time for the introductions. It wasn’t the ideal place, not with the amount of noise in the stadium, but they made do. Max took Silken’s hand and took her through the stands to where his parents sat. As soon as they saw Max they waved, both of them sporting broad smiles. Duke and Reed greeted them, too, then Duke waved Suave over to sit in the free seat beside him.

  When they got close, Max pulled her in front of him. “M
om, Dad, I’d like you to meet Silken, the wonderful woman who’ll be making a good man out of me.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Silken.” Mr. Davidoff reached out to take her hand and the fingers that wrapped around hers were warm and strong. “We’ve heard a lot about you. Great to put a face to the name.”

  As soon as he released her Mrs. Davidoff took her hand, and where her husband’s hand had been big and callused, hers was soft and tiny, almost like a child’s. Still, her handshake was anything but weak. “Welcome to the family,” she said. “We have a lot of catching up to do.” She patted Silken’s hand. “We’ll talk later.”

  And that was it, at least for the moment. Silken was smiling as she waved goodbye and went with Max to find their seats but her smile hid a tiny prick of apprehension. Mother Davidoff was planning to have a talk with her later and she was not at all sure she was looking forward to that. When Suave had called her impetuous she’d been right. She just hoped that side of her didn’t rear its ugly head while she was under interrogation.

  As she sat down beside Max and he put his arm around her, she leaned her head against his shoulder and a renegade thought sneaked into her mind. Suave always knew the right things to say. Could she ask her sister to represent her during the daughter-in-law-to-be interview? But as soon as the thought entered her mind she shook it free. No, that would not do. She was the one marrying Max, not Suave. It was only fair that his mother should know exactly what her son was getting into. She would just have to face her fear.

  After a successful first day at the racetrack, a day filled with the roars of high-powered engines, cheers and screams, it was an exhausted Silken who piled into the back of Max’s SUV. “You take the front seat,” she told Suave. “I need a nap.”

  “Not too much, now,” Max said as he buckled up. “We’re heading over to Duke’s, remember? We’re all going to have dinner there. My parents want to get to know you guys.”

  “Me, too?” Suave glanced over at him.

  “Of course, you, too. You’re part of the family. Don’t think that just because you’re the sister you’re going to escape the cross examination.”

  Silken groaned. “Do we have to?”

  “Yes, you have to. Now relax. They’ll be gone in another couple of days and then your life will be back to normal.”

  In the end, the evening didn’t turn out to be quite the torture that Silken was expecting. The atmosphere was so casual at Duke’s place that she began to wonder what she’d been so uptight about. There was no fancy dinner food, just hot dogs, hamburgers and barbecued chicken that Duke prepared himself. And he roped everybody into the dinner-making project with Daddy Davidoff making lemonade, Mother Davidoff whipping up a batch of Duke’s favorite cupcakes – he begged her till she gave in to his pitiful whines – Suave making the salad, Max doing the potato salad and Silken roasting corn in the husk. The only lazy one was Reed who complained that he had absolutely no talent in the kitchen. Duke ended up sending him out to get ice cream.

  The whole evening they were all so busy preparing food then gobbling down helping after helping that there was really not much talking going on…and definitely no ‘sit down and get to know you’ interview. As they worked together in the massive kitchen, laughing and getting into one another’s way, the Davidoff parents, and especially the mother, shot off questions to Silken and even to Suave, but while she was bustling around Silken was so relaxed that she shot the answers right back. She didn’t skip a beat.

  By the time they’d finished dinner and sprawled in the TV room with dessert, they were all pretty much knocked out. Mr. Davidoff – he’d told Silken and Suave to call him Herbert – was dead to the world, stretched out in the reclining chair, half a bowl of uneaten ice cream melting in his lap. Mrs. Davidoff – now Charlene to Silken and Suave – stifled a yawn then got up to pry the bowl from her sleeping husband’s grasp.

  Duke and Reed were sitting on the big sofa, Suave between them, as they watched the last few scenes of Madagascar. Silken had commandeered the love seat and dragged Max over to it so she could curl up beside him. His body was so big and warm and she felt so comfy that she didn’t know how she’d budge when it was time to head home. She felt like she could stay like this all night.

  But, of course, she couldn’t. The movie ended and then it was time to go. Uncurling her body from where it had been tucked into Max’s side, she slid off the seat and stretched. Then she reached out her hand to pull him to his feet. “C’mon, buddy. Time to take us home.”

  When they got to the apartment building and Suave had gone inside to bed, Silken walked Max back to the elevator. There, she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him into her. “I had a wonderful day with your parents. You were right. They’re really cool.”

  He smiled down at her. “Glad you think so. And, based on what I heard through the grapevine, they think you’re cool, too.”

  She tilted her head. “What grapevine?”

  He put up a hand to stroke her hair. “The one where my mom pulls me into the living room when nobody’s watching and tells me she really, really likes you.”

  Silken’s eyes widened and her mouth fell open. “She didn’t. Really?”

  Max smiled. “Really.” He dipped his head and gave her a smack right on her parted lips. Then he pulled away, a look of regret in his eyes.

  “I wish I could have had you tonight but I guess I’ll have to wait.”

  And then, as he stepped into the elevator and the door began to close, he yelled the words that made her eyes smart with sudden tears.

  “Did I tell you? Mom always dreamed of having a daughter.”

  The elevator door closed so she couldn’t give him her answer. Instead, she whispered it to herself. “And I’ve always dreamed of having a mom.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Time was flying like the wind and Silken wanted to slow it down and speed it up both at the same time. Her wedding day was fast approaching and there was still so much to be done. She needed more time. On the other hand, she could hardly wait for the day when she would walk down the aisle and take Max’s hand in marriage. She was caught smack in the middle of a tug-of-war that was driving her round the bend.

  “You need some time off,” Suave told her. “You need to focus. The wedding is just a month away. Don’t bother to come into work this week. I’ll hold the fort while you finalize your wedding plans.”

  “Are you sure?” Silken had never left Suave alone before. She’d always been there to share the workload.

  “Very sure.” Suave gave her a little push toward the door. “I want everything to be perfect on your wedding day. Now meet the wedding planner and tie up all those loose ends. Go on, get out of here.”

  And so Silken went and she was happy she did. You never knew how much it took to plan a wedding until you were in the middle of it yourself. Even with the services of a wedding planner it was a lot of work. She wanted to be sure things went just right. After all, this wasn’t just her wedding. This was a Davidoff wedding and that meant it had to be perfect.

  The fact that Max didn’t seem to be worrying himself about anything was small consolation to Silken. Typical man, he didn’t care if the wedding ceremony took place in a palace, on a beach, or in the back of a pick-up truck. He just wanted to show up, stick the ring on her finger and move her into the house where he could make love to her twenty-four-seven if he so desired. And, knowing Max, he would probably so desire pretty often.

  But Silken knew better than to take the affair so lightly. This would be the most important day of her life. Not only that, but the world would be watching. She had to get it right. And even more scary, Mother Davidoff would be watching.

  And, as nice as she’d been on the visit when the track opened, the last thing Silken wanted to do was give the family’s mother hen reason to regret her son’s choice of bride.

  And so she went all out, spending the entire first week of May on the road, leaving Suave to run the show until she g
ot back.

  And then, just three weeks before her wedding day, a tsunami of disaster barreled in and Silken’s world came crashing down around her.

  ***

  “Silken, can you head back to the office? Something’s going on with Suave and I can’t figure it out.” Bill’s voice came crackling into the phone, the sound weak like he was out of range. One thing came over loud and clear, though. He was worried.

  A feeling of dread rose inside Silken. She gripped the cell phone tighter. “What’s wrong? Is Suave hurt?” She’d made sure to put Suave in charge of the books, particularly because she wanted to keep her out of the work area and out of harm’s way. Now it looked like her plan had failed.

  “No, nothing like that. She looked pale when she came in this morning but she insisted she was all right. But then by lunchtime she came over and said she felt weird, like half of her was numb and the other half was tingling. But still, she didn’t look sick…” His voice trailed off as if something was distracting him.

  “And then what, Bill? What happened? Where is she?” Silken’s heart pounded as she waited for the news. Dear God, please let Suave be all right.

  “And then she started walking funny, like she was off balance, and she said she felt dizzy.”

  Oh, Jesus. A stroke. “Where is she, Bill?” Silken yelled. “Can she talk? Call an ambulance.”

  “No, no, she can talk. She’s fully conscious. And I know what you’re thinking but this doesn’t look like a stroke.”

  “Put her on the phone, Bill. Let me talk to my sister. Now.” It took her frenzied shout to shock Bill out of his seeming stupor. Within two seconds Suave was on the phone.