A Very Merry Superhero Wedding (Adventures of Lewis and Clarke) (9 page)

“If you’re interested, I could take a look at your security system here, see if I have any suggestions for improvements.”

Danny’s expression cleared a little. “That’d be great. Let’s talk later.”

Joe nodded. Tori’s family may not have warmed to him any more as a “security guard” than they had to conversations about superheroes. But maybe he could win them over one person at a time.

Chapter 7

TORI tried not to be disappointed. Yesterday was the perfect mother-daughter day. Dixie was everything a girl could want — supportive, loving, laughing and smiling with everyone at both the dress fitting and the shower.

Today, well, it almost seemed as if her mother needed to make up for yesterday. As if, for one day, she had forgotten how much she didn’t want Tori to get married and be happy. Might she be so worried about appearances that she would pretend to be supportive in front of Joe’s family? That didn’t even make sense since his family would be happier if they moved back the date, too.

“Flo is right, you know,” Dixie said in the kitchen after dinner. “We need to know if he makes enough money to support you. I don’t know why I never asked before.”

“Probably because it’s none of your business,” Tori said, scraping bits of food off plates into the trash. She wished she were a boy child so she could go hide in the living room and pretend to be excited about football. She couldn’t remember Kevin ever having to help in the kitchen when they had company.

“It is their business,” Aunt Flo interjected, taking the plates from Tori and loading the dishwasher. “They don’t want to be supporting you years from now like George and I are with Jessie and her husband.”

Tori prayed for patience. She would not play this game with them, especially with Joe right here in the house. And at Christmas! She ground her teeth to keep her mouth closed.

“That’s so true,” Dixie agreed with her sister. “And you don’t want to turn out like Lexie, either,” she added.

“Mom!” Tori looked through the kitchen door to make sure Lexie wasn’t within earshot. “That’s mean.”

“But true,” Aunt Flo said, shaking her head. “Two babies, one taken away, no husband.” She made a tsk-tsk sound. “Your mother says that you said you aren’t pregnant, but if you are, you definitel
y
shoul
d
get married this week. You can always get divorced after the baby is born. That way you won’t shame your parents.”

Tori wondered why Christmas was advertised as this beautiful, loving time of year when everyone put their issues on hold for a day. That had never been her experience. Since Aunt Flo and her family only visited at Christmas and during the summer festival season, those seemed to be the times when all the gossiping and nastiness came to the center.

Now that she was getting married, Tori decided she would be away on vacation during Aunt Flo’s visits.

“There are too many things you don’t know about him, Tori,” said Aunt Flo. “And I’m not talking about does he snore, though that will definitely impact your future happiness. I’m talking about things like does he have a retirement plan, how does he vote, does he buy expensive man-toys without asking. A couple of weeks is not enough time to know if you’ll be compatible, let alone if he can support you in the manner you deserve.”

Be quiet. Don’t speak. Think about something pleasant…like the plane that will take you away from this family in three days.

“See? You don’t know, do you?” Aunt Flo nodded. “And what about his relatives? What do you know about them? When you marry a man, you marry his whole crazy family as well. You’re going to have problems. Mark my words.”

Tori shot her mother a glare
—
make her stop or els
e
. Dixie didn’t seem so bad when compared to her sister. Tori should be grateful for that small favor.

“You can never fully know another human being,” Dixie said, “no matter how long you know them. And part of the fun of a good relationship is getting to know them and all their idiosyncrasies. But you can do that while you’re dating. That’s what dating is for.”

“Okay, I think the table is clear,” Tori said, changing the subject. “Shall I find out who wants coffee?” She left before anyone answered.

In the living room, everyone was watching the Lions with varying degrees of excitement. Sam was only half-watching as she texted someone. One of their cousins read a book on her tablet.

“Who wants coffee?” Tori called out, then counted hands.

Her little brother grabbed her in a gentle headlock and kissed her temple. “Gonna miss you, sis.”

She pretended to try to wrestle out of his grip in their usual play. “I’ll only be gone a week. Then you can come over and we’ll watch an NCIS marathon some weekend and eat until we can’t move.”

“You’re on,” Kevin said and pushed her away. Something happened on the TV, and he was off on a rant, yelling and jumping around.

Tori glanced at the screen, but she only saw a bunch of uniformed men wandering around hitting each other on the head or the back or the butt. She shook her head. She had never understood the draw of this game. She couldn’t wait till spring. Baseball, that was a sport she enjoyed.

Back in the kitchen, she helped cut and serve pie while Lexie passed out coffee and other drinks to the family in the living room. When everyone had a plate of dessert, Dixie urged her sister to go relax. Tori took her slice of chocolate cream pie in an Oreo crust and headed for the living room.

“Tori, just a minute,” Dixie said.

Aunt Flo raised her eyebrows at Tori and sauntered from the room.

Great.

Tori waited for her mom to speak. She tried as hard as she could not to have a combative look on her face, but she suspected she looked defensive, at best.

“I apologize for some of the things I said earlier.” Dixie’s gaze dropped to the kitchen towel in her hands, one finger tracing over the holly berries. “It’s hard not to get carried away agreeing with everything your older sister says. Sometimes you say things or let her say things that you later regret.”

Dixie looked up from the towel, and Tori could see she meant it.

“You have an older sister, and you are an older sister. You must know what I mean.”

Tori nodded. Though personally, she didn’t think she agreed with everything that came out of Lexie’s mouth the way Dixie seemed to always agree with Flo. Something to be aware of in the future.

Dixie took a deep breath. “I’m trying to protect you. I love you, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. You don’t—”

“Mom, I don’t need protecting anymore,” Tori interrupted as gently as she could. “I’ve seen a lot more of life’s dark side than almost any other 27-year-old I know. I can—”

“Yo
u
don’
t
know how bad it can be,” Dixie insisted. She tried to keep her voice down. “You’ve seen a lot, but you have no idea what I’ve protected you from. You don’t know what’s out there in the world, how quickly things can go horribly wrong
,
especiall
y
with a new husband and—”

“But that’s true for anyone, anywhere.” Tori waved her arm toward the street. “Any of our neighbors could have their house burn down from a few sparks on their Christmas tree. Any of our friends could go to the doctor tomorrow and find out they have cancer. I appreciate that you want to take care of me, but you must know you can’t keep me safe from every bad thing that can happen.”

Dixie shook her head. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Then wha
t
d
o
you mean?” Tori asked in exasperation, her stomach feeling queasy from arguing. “Tell me!”

Her mother’s expression froze for a moment. Then she said, “Your father was a very bad man.” Her voice had a dead quality to it, almost without emotion.

“You’ve said that before. But just because you had a bad marriage the first time doesn’t mean—”

Dixie frowned, pulling her arms around herself and rubbing one shoulder. “Tori!” she snapped. “Are you still taking your medicine? Dr. Huntington’s office told me you’ve missed two appointments this month. I know you’ve been busy planning the wedding, but you can’t stop going to the doctor just because you’re busy.”

Tori closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Should she lie or tell the truth and have an even bigger fight?

“Everything is fine,” she said. That was true. She felt great. Maybe a little weird sometimes, but that was no doubt what happened as drugs left your system.

“I want you to call the receptionist tomorrow and get an emergency appointment—”

“Mom—”

“—for tomorrow or Tuesday, before you leave town.”

Tori opened her mouth but her mother interrupted.

“Promise me,” she insisted. She moved her hand as though to touch Tori’s shoulder, then she pulled back. “Promise me you’ll take care of this.”

Tori sighed. She would take care of herself, but in her own way. She was an intelligent adult. She’d researched the pros and cons of the medicines Dr. Huntington had prescribed. She’d researched the various disorders the shrink insisted she had. And she had been writing how she felt in her diary every day to track the changes.

One thing she could promise her mother was that she would take care of herself. “I promise,” she said. It wasn’t really a lie so much as it was sidestepping the specifics of Dixie’s demand.

“When you have children of your own…” Dixie paused and shook her head. “Go eat your pie.”

Dixie turned back to where she’d left a plate for herself. Tori watched her for a moment. When her mother picked up her fork, her hand shook so badly Tori could see it from across the room.

Feeling like she’d once again not only let down her mother but somehow done something worse that she didn’t understand, Tori picked up her plate and looked for a quiet corner.

She ended up in the window seat in her old room, now Sam’s room. She pulled her feet up and stared out the window at the falling snow. She’d always fallen short of her mother’s expectations and she’d never understood why.

Would she end up being a disappointment to Joe as well?

Maybe the rules she and Lexie had drawn up when Lex was pregnant with Ben were something to reconsider. No men. Keep everyone out. Protect themselves at all costs.

Fourteen years ago, when Lexie got pregnant at fifteen, their parents had insisted she give the baby up for adoption. It had nearly destroyed her. She’d been arrested several times for stalking the adoptive parents, and eventually she ended up living on the streets using who-knows-what to try to choke off her emotions. It had taken years for her to get her life together again. And it had scared Tori and Kevin and Samantha into trying to be perfectly well-behaved overachievers.

Well, Kevin and Sam were overachievers. Tori had been trying to help Lexie save herself since Tori was barely thirteen. She hadn’t had much of a life outside of that mission. When Lexie got pregnant with Ben, Tori moved in. Add to that their pact not to date, and Tori had been focused on her sister and nephew most of her adult life.

But then she’d met Joe. He was practically a fairy tale hero. Tall and strong and good-looking with a big heart and an easy smile. The only “weird” thing about him, and she wished she could think of a different word, was how strong and courageous she felt around him. She not only felt safe, which is what she’d yearned for her whole life, but she felt like she was strong enough to keep other people safe, too.

She ate a bite of the chocolate pie. Her eyes closed for a moment. Her mom made the best pies.

Maybe that’s part of why she wanted to be with him, to use that strength for the good of others. Tori had enjoyed helping Lexie build a new life. She liked taking care of Ben. She simply liked helping people. Period. Maybe that’s why she enjoyed her temp jobs — she knew she was helping people who needed it. Maybe how she felt with Joe made her want more of the same.

She sighed. Or maybe she didn’t know th
e
wh
y
of anything in her life.

She savored her pie while she watched the snow fall. She’d think about it later. She wanted to be in a good mood today. Her dad would call everyone in after the football game and they’d exchange presents since Tori and Joe would be in Florida on Christmas Day.

Tori smiled. That was a thought to put her back in a good mood. Disney World at Christmas as a bride.

Wow.

She finished her pie and watched the snow for another minute. Finally. She was beginning to wonder if they weren’t going to have a white Christmas after all. The way it was piling up this afternoon, the kids might even have a snowman built in Joe’s parents’ yard by the time Joe and Tori arrived later.

Before Tori knew Joe or any of his family, she’d admired the various snowman scenes in Owen and Hannah’s front yard each winter. She always wondered if the family who lived there was as fun as the silly snow statues suggested.

God, help me not to compare my family to someone else’s, but to love them for who they are. And please let Joe and his family be truly as wonderful as they seem.

Tori took a big breath and left the room, determined to love each one of her family members the best she could.

At least for Christmas.