Page 94 of Summer Weddings
“Are you sure she’s over this other guy?” Duke asked.
“I’m sure.” Although he made it sound like there could be no question, John wasn’t entirely convinced. He was grateful Duke didn’t challenge his response.
“What about her family?” the other pilot asked instead.
“What about them?” John said defensively. He didn’t much like where Duke’s questions were leading.
“From what you’ve said, they’re the old-fashioned sort. If you’re serious about marrying their daughter, the thing to do is talk to her father first. Meet him face-to-face and tell him you love Sally and—”
“How am I supposed to do that?” John wanted to know. “Sal’s dad lives in some dinky town on the coast. It’s not like I can leave here. Especially now.”
Winter had set in full force. Temperatures had dipped into the minus range every day for a solid week. Whenever it fell to minus thirty, Midnight Sons had to cancel all flights. The stress to the aircraft was too great a risk.
Snow accumulations measured forty inches or more in the past month alone.Thanksgiving was two weeks away, and there didn’t seem to be any break in the weather ahead. In a word, they were snowed in. No matter how much he wanted to meet Sally’s family, for the time being it was impossible.
“First,” Duke said, and held up his hand. He folded down one finger. “You got a woman who’s only recently turned twenty-one, so she’s young. Younger than any of the others who’ve come to Hard Luck. Secondly—” he bent down another finger “—she moved here on the rebound, hoping to cure a broken heart.”
“Third,” John said, fighting back his frustration, “she comes from a family who wouldn’t appreciate their daughter marrying a man they haven’t personally met and approved.”
“If you start out on the wrong foot with her parents, it could take years to make up for it,” Duke said. “If you truly love her—”
“I do,” John insisted, then added in a lower voice, “I’ve never felt so strongly about anyone.”
His friend nodded in understanding. “Then do this right. I can’t think of a single reason to rush into marriage, can you?”
John could list any number of reasons to marry Sally that very day, but said nothing.
“If she’s the one for you, then everything will work out the way it’s supposed to, and you’ve got nothing to worry about.”
John shrugged. He didn’t like it, but Duke had a valid point. The engagement ring could continue to wait in his pocket until he’d had a chance to square things with Sally’s father. Until he could be sure she loved him for himself—and not as an instant cure for a broken heart.
* * *
“Daddy, I don’t feel good.” Chrissie came slowly into the kitchen, clutching her Pooh bear to her chest. The stuffed animal was a favorite from her preschool days. Now she sought it out only on rare occasions.
Worried, Mitch slid the casserole into the oven, then pressed the back of his hand against his daughter’s forehead. She did feel warm. Her face was flushed and her eyes were unusually solemn.
“What’s wrong, pumpkin?”
She shrugged. “I just don’t feel good.”
“Does your tummy hurt?” There’d been lots of flu going around.
Chrissie nodded.
“Do you have a sore throat?”
She bobbed her head and swallowed. “It hurts, too.”
“You’d better let me take your temperature.”
Her eyes flared wide. “No! I don’t want that thing in my mouth.”
“Chrissie, it isn’t going to hurt.”
“I don’t care. I don’t want you to take my temperature. I’ll… I’ll just go to bed.”
Mitch had forgotten how unreasonable his daughter could be when she was ill. “Don’t you feel like eating dinner?”
