Chuck looked up at her with amazement. Amazed that he could ever feel like this again. She smelled like strawberries, which was the thing he remembered about her when they first met at Carolyn’s parent-teacher conference. A moment like this was the last thing on his mind at the time. Not in a billion years. He thought he and Beth would be together until they were old and wrinkled, and that he would be the first to die.
He and Lindsey made love like it would be their last night together. They didn’t know if it would be. Nobody really does.
The next morning, before the sun rose, they headed off to the airport just like they should … as a family.
Carolyn wouldn’t be attending school, but not by choice. She and Little Hawk had been suspended for the rest of the week. Even for them it was an accomplishment—suspended on the first day. Before even attending one class!
Once she returned from the airport Carolyn would spend the rest of the week with Little Hawk, performing numerous chores around their houses. She looked to her father, hoping the appeals court would overturn the sentence. “But I don’t like to be with Little Hawk—he’s mean.”
Chuck hung tough. “Then I guess you should think twice next time about who you go into business with.”
But to make sure he remained the good cop in his daughter’s eyes, he added, “Billy and Dana are your guardians while I’m away, so they’re the ones who came up with the punishment. You’re going to have to do what they say.”
Dana corrected, “The chores were all Billy’s idea. I thought we’d get mani-pedis and do some shopping, but he’s a big meanie.”
Billy looked crosswise at her. “You really don’t know what a unified front is, do you?”
She looked to Carolyn. “See what I mean?”
The private jet touched down on the tarmac. John Dobbs deplaned and made his way to the area where Chuck and crew were waiting. He greeted him with a smile and a hearty handshake. “We are so glad you decided to join our organization, Chuck.”
“Only a day late,” he replied with an embarrassed smile.
“From what I hear, you had a memorable day yesterday.”
“You could say that,” Chuck said, looking at Carolyn.
“We had a pretty memorable one ourselves. And I’m glad to report that Ryan made it through his procedure with flying colors. He’s conscious, and the early signs are very encouraging—his body is fighting off the infection and it seems to be winning. We’re not out of the woods by any stretch, but he’s alive, and the doctors are hopeful that he’ll stay that way.”
Carolyn lit up when she heard the news, as did the others.
Dobbs addressed her. “I heard you tried to come see my grandson yesterday, hoping to give him good luck.”
“I didn’t exactly make it.”
“Sometimes it’s about the journey, not the destination—I salute your courage, and think Ryan is really lucky to have a friend like you.”
He held up an object for her to see.
She turned excited. “That’s a miniature Zamboni machine.”
“It is.”
“Is that for me?”
“Yes, but there are a couple of conditions.”
She sighed. “There’s always a catch.”
“One, is that you never take off without permission ever again.”
She nodded.
“And the other is that when you come to Nashville, you will be our assistant Zamboni driver during our games.”
She looked like she was going to explode. “I can drive the Zamboni?”
“I believe I said assistant, which means you’ll assist. As in, help out.”
She looked at her Dad. “You better get going so I can visit … and drive the Zamboni!”
“Assist.”
Chuck said his goodbyes … again. He looked Billy directly in the eye, and firmly said, “Take care of my little girl.”
It was the same message as yesterday morning, but not as intense as the first time he issued this command to Billy, at the Lake George cabin as it burned to the ground, with Operation Anesthesia on their heels. But he would take it just as serious, and feel the same overwhelming burden of responsibility.
He saved his last farewell for Lindsey, and the two of them shared a long moment together. “Are you okay?” she asked him. “You don’t look well.”
“Just a little nervous, that’s all.”
“Don’t be—Carolyn’s in good hands, and we will see each other in a couple of weeks.” She fixed his tie. “And you’re going to be amazing at this job … it was like you were born to do it.”
“It’s more about the flying.”
She flashed an encouraging smile. “How many times do I have to tell you that it’s the safest form of transportation? Did you know that a sold-out commercial jet would have to crash every day of the week for an entire year, with no survivors, to equal the number of people who die on the highways?”
Her words didn’t help his fear of flying, but did make him question whether he should give up driving.
He returned the smile. “Then I guess you’re going to be stuck seeing me again.”
“Couple of weeks … it will go by before we know it,” she said, and then one last kiss, which they prematurely pulled away from, or else he would never get on that plane.
Billy stood by Carolyn, as they watched the plane take off. She gripped her Zamboni toy like Billy’s grandmother used to clutch onto her purse. Her expression was of possibilities as she watched the jet pull into the sky.
It felt like they were celebrating a new beginning, but Billy couldn’t shake the feeling that it was the beginning of the end.
Christmas Wedding
Chapter 57
The snowflakes were the largest Billy had ever seen, and fell in such a methodical manner that he felt like he was watching feathers fall from the sky.
As recently as this past fall he might have interpreted this as a sign—that he was making a huge mistake and should make a run for it, just days before the wedding. But now he saw it as just another hurdle to get over to reach that finish line, and receive the ultimate prize—Dana’s love … for the rest of his life.
As if reading his thoughts, he felt her arm wrap around his shoulder and pulled him close. Her curly dark hair jutted out from underneath a wool hat that had turned from violet to white, as the snow continued to accumulate on it.
They looked out at the grounds, watching workers scurry through the snow feathers, hurrying to complete the finishing touches for their wedding.
There was one worker in particular that they couldn’t take their eyes off of. Although, “worker” might be a stretch, since she’d moved on to more important duties like playing in the snow. She sported a look of wide-eyed wonderment like she was seeing snow for the first time. As only a child could.
After a year-and-a-half of being forced into the cruel grown-up world, dealing with subjects like death and loss, Billy wasn’t sure if she’d ever be able to fully recapture her innocence. And while he suspected that much of what she’d said or done this past year was for their benefit, this recent transformation seemed to be authentic. And it all dated back to the day she ran away from school, trying to get to Boston to see her friend Ryan. Billy had no idea what happened in that apartment, but it was the catalyst for her joyfully tumbling back into childhood.
The mysterious EJ hadn’t been located. Perhaps because she never existed at all. Or maybe the NYPD wasn’t looking that hard for her. But if they ever did find this EJ person, Billy would like to offer her a debt of gratitude for whatever she did to help set Carolyn on the right path.
Dana took her eyes off of Carolyn, who was now running through the snow trying to avoid being hit by snowflakes—a statistical impossibility, but don’t try to convince her that anything is impossible—and hit Billy with her knee-bending smile.
“The tickets came today,” she said, unable to hold in the enthusiasm.
“She’s going to be thrilled,” Billy said,
thinking of Carolyn’s reaction to seeing Annie on Broadway, her Christmas gift from Billy and Dana. She had been obsessed with it, not coincidentally, since the day she went missing.
“My mother used to bring Beth and I every year … it feels so good to continue with the tradition … it makes me feel like my mom is still with us.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “Mrs. B would be proud,” he said, adding, “And seeing her daughter get married off. Pretty big week for her.”
Dana looked again to Carolyn, who was growing frustrated that she couldn’t avoid the flakes, but still determined. “I just wish we could go with her … to Annie.”
That would have to be left up to Chuck and Lindsey, because, “Unfortunately, we will be busy lying on the beach, soaking in rays,” he flashed a devilish smile, “and I’ll be consumed with rubbing suntan lotion all over my new wife, from tip to toes.”
Dana looked to him, but didn’t join his smile, so he amended, “For your protection, of course. As Carolyn might say—to avoid the ubee rays.”
“Actually we won’t be there.”
“Why won’t we be on our honeymoon?”
“Oh, we will, it just won’t be in Turks and Caicos.”
His smile slid away. “Where are we going, Dana?”
“To Italy.”
“And why are we not going to the place we agreed on, bought tickets for, and have been looking forward to … at least I have?”
“Because we’re going to Italy instead.”
“And why is that?”
“We can go to the Caribbean any time.”
“And Italy is time sensitive? Is there an upcoming travel ban I don’t know about?”
“It’s just that the honeymoon sets the tone for the marriage. And while Turks and Caicos would be fun … and I was really looking forward to the lotion thing, too … Italy says grown-up and mature. It’s stood the test of time … unlike some flashy new resort that looks great, but will end up changing owners multiple times over the next decades.”
Italy as a metaphor for a lasting marriage. Interesting, but Billy thought it might also represent a bad precedent, “By set the tone, I think you mean that I won’t be consulted on any future decisions once we get hitched.”
She smiled and playfully tapped him on the arm, knocking snow into the air like powder. “That’s already accepted … it’s written into our vows. In sickness and health, as long as Dana gets her way.”
Billy wasn’t sure about the vows, but he did finally sign the War and Peace-sized prenuptial agreement, even if Dana wasn’t thrilled about his doing so. For her, it was like they were giving in … letting her father win one last time.
“I think we should focus on the wedding part, and then we can worry about the honeymoon,” Billy offered.
Dana seemed happy to get off the subject. “Can you believe we are just days away from being husband and wife?”
He nodded through the snowflakes. “I’m starting to, but for a while there I didn’t think we’d pull this off.”
“It’s a good thing we went small—we would have had hundreds of guests cancel or get stuck at the airport. It would have been a mess—the DC airports are already shut down, along with Philadelphia.”
“Who said that we should have a small wedding? We should send him a thank you card.”
“Don’t be so smug. How was I supposed to know that we’d get hit with a blizzard?”
“A Christmas Eve wedding in New England, who would think snow might be involved?”
“Watch it, Harper, or I’ll divorce you.”
“You haven’t even married me yet.”
They both laughed, before being distracted out of the moment by the voice. It was so loud and commanding that it was knocking the snow off the tree branches. Coach was yelling at the men delivering the decorative ice sculptures. Billy didn’t think they were necessary, since the wedding would take place indoors. Not to mention, the haughty over-the-top decadence they symbolized. The ceremony would take place in the Downstairs Room, and Carolyn’s cavernous bedroom had been cleared out and replaced with tables for the food to be served.
“Did he just tell the ice sculpture guy to take a lap?” Dana asked.
“I think he did … and he is,” Billy said.
“I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to make of him at first, but there’s no way we pull this off without him.”
Coach Blake had been Billy’s high school football coach back in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, when Billy was the star player known as “The Amish Rifle.” He had been more than a coach—a mentor, and the father-figure Billy rarely had at home. They had a bitter falling out after Billy graduated and hadn’t spoken for years, until he kept popping into Billy’s head while he and Carolyn ran for their lives, trying to avoid Operation Anesthesia. Billy figured the person you thought of, and the advice you leaned on, when your life was truly hanging in the balance, was someone to cherish, not push away. They reconnected not long after.
Arriving a few days early for the wedding—he was always early, never on time—he found the preparations in peril. So he did what Coach does—he took over the operation.
The short, stout man in his seventies, who was the epitome of gruff and abrasive, with his balding crew-cut hidden under a JHS ball-cap and coke-bottle glasses, didn’t fit the traditional definition of a wedding planner. But that’s what he’d essentially become.
He noticed one of his workers not giving maximum effort, and he marched over to her. This should be good, Billy thought.
“I thought you were supposed to be moving the toys out of your room?”
“But that’s not very fun,” Carolyn replied.
“Fun?” Coach repeated, incredulous. “You think this is supposed to be fun? Some kind of game we’re playing here?”
“Weddings aren’t supposed to be fun?”
“Hell no! Weddings are tedious, overpriced affairs. They are meant to test the resolve of even the happiest of couples. Is that understood?”
“Weddings look like fun in the movies.”
“This isn’t the movies—this is real life. Are you questioning my authority?”
“You sure yell a lot, Coach,” Carolyn said, a grin plastered on her face.
“You think this is funny?”
“A little.”
“Drop down and give me twenty!”
Carolyn fell to her knees of her snow-pants and began counting … 1 … 2 … presumably until she reached twenty.
“I mean pushups!” Coach barked. “Twenty pushups … now!”
“You drive a hard bargain.”
“Make that twenty-five!”
Carolyn proceeded to attempt some of the worst pushups in the history of pushups, only her upper body going up and down as her legs remained flat on the ground, her back strangely humped.
After seven, even Coach couldn’t stomach watching another. “That’s it—on your feet.”
She stood, breathing heavy. “Pushups are hard.”
“Hard? I’m 72 years old and I can still do better pushups than that … if that’s what you’d even call those sorry excuses. Now get going or I’ll show you what hard really is!”
When she ran off, a huge smile broke out on his face. Billy wasn’t sure he’d ever seen that before … at least when Penny wasn’t around.
Dana looked on in envy. “Could we hire him full time?”
Billy chuckled. “As he always said when he coached, it’s the Jimmys and Joes, not the Xs and Os.”
“Unless you’re talking about Jimmy Choo shoes, I have no idea what you’re babbling about.”
“It means it’s about the people involved, not the strategy. He’s always been a master psychologist, who knew what made each individual tick. And when he got every person headed in the right direction, that’s when the team formed.”
Which was exactly what he was doing with the wedding preparations. He understood that yelling at Miss Rose, who was in charge of catering, would accomplish not
hing but having him sent to the ER to get her foot removed from his ass. But others like Carolyn, needed a forceful nudge. While Carol Ann Pennington, Beth’s biological mother, needed her confidence uplifted. He knew that after years of captivity, and dealing with the plantation guards, loud, authoritative language would only make her shut down. Coach properly read this … Billy also thought he had a little crush on Carol Ann.
Dana’s phone rang, and a pleasant look came over her face. “It’s Chuck.”
Chapter 58
“Put him on speaker,” Billy said. Chuck’s presence had been greatly missed these last few months … even if Billy wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know.
The call was very broken up. “I hear you’re having some nice weather there.”
“It’s a true winter wonderland,” Dana said.
“In Canada, we used to call this summer,” he said with a laugh, but then got to his point. “I need to make this quick—my plane’s about to leave—but just wanted to let you know that I’m coming in tonight … our game tonight was canceled, so I’m catching a ride on the team plane with John Dobbs—he’s on his way to Boston for the holidays. Hopefully we’ll beat the storm home for Christmas.”
“Sucking up to your boss … smart thinking,” Billy said.
“I hear it’s hard to find a new wedding venue at the last minute in the middle of a snowstorm, eh?”
Dana glared at Billy, as if Chuck was actually serious.
“Speaking of which, how’s the wedding fun going?” Chuck asked.
“Ever since Billy hired a new wedding planner, things are looking up,” Dana said with a smile.”
“For some reason that doesn’t sound like a Billy move.”
“I think he thought he was hiring the Jennifer Lopez character from that Wedding Planner movie.”
“Maybe you’re smarter than you look, Billy.”
The Carolyn Chronicles, Volume 1 Page 28
