Thwarting Cupid (16 page)

“Daddy.” Christina tightened the embrace, obviously forgetting about wrinkles and pulled sequins and beading. “I love you.”

He kissed her temple. “I love you, too, Sweetness.” He smiled and enjoyed the moment. A moment he knew would be ending all too soon. He was right.

“Come on, Chris. I have to finish pinning your veil.” The giggle accompanying the statement told Hutch the intruder was Gillian, Christina’s oldest friend and maid of honor. His daughter gave him one more squeeze and a grin that took him right back to her childhood, then she scampered back into the bridal suite. Well, it was the best scamper she could muster in that gown, but it was a scamper nonetheless. He sighed.

Carissa squeezed his shoulder. “How’s the father of the bride doing?” she asked when she circled in front of him. He wrapped her in his arms without hesitation.

“Hanging in. How about the mother of the bride?”

She bit her lip and lowered her gaze in the way that told him she was fighting back tears. “’Bout the same.” He felt her take a deep breath. Then she smiled up at him in the way he had never tired of no matter how many years had passed.

“Have you seen That Boy yet? He’s here, right?”

Carissa giggled. “Rumor has it, he and the groomsmen all slept here last night. He wasn’t taking any chances on missing the wedding.”

Hutch straightened his spine. “I must’ve done pretty good putting the fear of God in him. Excellent.”

Carissa adjusted his lapel and smoothed it on his chest. “’Course you did, dear.”

He glared at her when he saw that she couldn’t quite keep a straight face while she agreed with him. “Well, I did.”

She laughed outright and patted his chest. “What exactly did you do to inspire all this fear? Was it those weekly bonding sessions at the diner that continued even when they broke up?”

“Stern talking-tos. That’s what those are.”

“Or maybe it was all the ballgames you took him, his father and Josh to.”

“We needed to get to know the family.”

“All of you had season tickets for the past four years!”

“Methodical grilling. Nothing more.”

Carissa laughed again and planted a kiss on his lips. “Yes, well, now that he’s charbroiled, how about you go ahead and admit you like him?”

“Tenth wedding anniversary. Not a day earlier.”

“Mom? Dad? I’m ready.” Carissa and Hutch both turned at Christina’s voice. Carissa’s hands shook when she brought them up to cover her mouth.

“Darling. You look stunning.”

“She does look pretty great, don’t she Mrs. H?” Gillian forwent her usual giggles in favor of sniffles.

“Stop it, Gilly. If you cry, then my dad cries and we end up with one big cry fest.”

“Hey!” Hutch protested, even though he knew she was right.

Gillian got herself together. With a bouquet gripped in a fist tight enough to snap the stems if they weren’t fake, she straightened her spine. “You’re right. Bridesmaids! To your positions!” Gillian led the cluster of bridesmaids to their positions by the entrance to the sanctuary. She waved in the window. At the cue, the organist began the music and Hutch’s heart clenched. He was about to give his baby girl away.

Christina gripped Carissa’s hand, then picked up his. “Don’t look like that, Daddy. Don’t you want me to have what you and Mom have?”

He smiled at Carissa. She had him over a barrel there. Nevertheless, he needed to get in one last protest. He opened his mouth, but she interrupted.

“Don’t go telling me again about how you don’t like ‘That Boy.’ We all know you adore him. Even he knows that.” She squeezed his hand.

“Transparent, am I?”

She smiled. “Maybe a little.”

This time he could care less about the dire dress warnings that had been tossed his way for months now. He pulled both his girls into one last family embrace while his little girl was still his little girl instead of That Boy’s wife.

After one long, blissful moment, he eased his hold on them. Carissa was to lead the procession down the aisle while he and Christina would be the finale.

“All right then. Let’s get you married.” He blinked back his tears. “Besides, it’s about time you grew up.”

Carissa smacked his shoulder with her free hand.

“What?”

His wife ignored the exaggerated way he rubbed at his shoulder. She smiled at Christina. “Ready, darling?”

Christina nodded. “I’m following your lead, Mom.”

“Good girl.”

The two of them exchanged one of their little secret smiles that Hutch had learned over the years meant he’d just missed something big. He hadn’t yet managed to crack the mother-daughter code, but he was working on it.

Carissa took her position at the front of the processional while Hutch escorted his baby girl to her spot behind the bridesmaids.

The music began and he got himself together. It was one thing to be all teary eyed with his family and quite another in front of everyone they’d ever met.

While the bridesmaids started off down the aisle one by one, Hutch could feel Christina growing more and more tense. He patted her hand where it rested in the crook of his arm.

She turned her big green eyes on him, the same eyes that had wrapped him around her little finger moments after she was born. Nothing had changed since that day all those years ago.

“Can I ask you something, Daddy?”

“You know you can, Sweetness.”

“How did you know Mom was the one?”

Hutch looked at the girls gathering at the altar and all the guests waiting for him to escort Christina to her waiting fiance. “Now? You’re asking me this now?”

With uncharacteristic fear in her eyes, Christina looked at the scores of waiting guests and nodded. “Yeah, and you might want to be quick with the answer because we’re running out of time here.”

Way to put him on the spot. His mind went blank. He had deep reservoirs of wisdom to share with her. Hutch just couldn’t put any of them into words at the moment. Since he was at such a loss he decided to speak from his heart.

“You want me to tell you that you’ll know you’ve married right the person and never have any uncertainty about it until the day you die?”

His baby girl forced a smile. “Would be nice.”

“Why don’t I just tell you truth instead?” He squeezed her hand. It was their turn to walk down the aisle. The bridal march began. The guests all stood and turned to look at them. But Christina was looking to him. He could put an end to this wedding right now.

Hutch smiled at her and started walking down the aisle. She hesitated a moment, but fell in step beside him.

“Thing is, you’re never gonna know with absolute certainty. All you can do is make the decision, then fight with everything in you to make it work.”

“Thanks, Daddy.” She turned and took her first look down the aisle. “He’s so handsome.” Hutch looked the same direction. Everything looked a bit blurry and a lot darker than it should have. He rubbed at his eyes hoping that would help. He paused and looked at Christina. Somehow she’d gotten way ahead of him. Hutch tried to catch up, but couldn’t.

“Sweetness?” he called, but she never turned around. Instead, Christina grasped another man’s hand and grinned at him. He’d just lost his baby girl. Everything faded around him until he could just make out the bright white of Christina’s dress. Before long, that was gone, too. His arm ached where his daughter had last held on to him.

Hutch sucked in calming breath and rubbed his eyes. He was surprised when it worked since the first time hadn’t had any effect. Except, he wasn’t at the church. There was no Christina. The guests were gone.

Instead, he found himself staring at the familiar surroundings of his bedroom. He lifted his head and took in the pile of laundry on the floor in front of his closet. The dresser next to the closet was cluttered with the random junk he had never quite got around to throwing out. He sighed and dropped his head back to the pillow. Another dream. That’s all it had been. With the exception of the pain in his arm. That really did hurt.

He lifted it with a groan to take a look at the stitches holding the skin together. Yep. That was real all right. He put it back on the pillow where it had been resting. Funny. He didn’t remember putting a pillow under it. Then again, quite a bit about the night before felt no more substantial than the dream he’d just had.

He remembered the officers dropping them off at his apartment. He’d taken a shower and he thought Carissa had said something about going home to do the same.

“How are you feeling?”

The sound of Carissa’s voice startled him out of his musings. Carissa? He turned his head to the right and saw her curled up in the king sized bed next to him. He must have been way too out of it to not remember getting into his bed with her. She looked so very sexy there next to him. And so right. He rolled over on his side to take advantage of the situation. His regrets were immediate.

Hutch groaned. Every muscle in his body protested the movement. Then there was his arm. It felt like it was on fire. Since he’d just gained experience in that very area, the description was quite accurate. The one thing that didn’t hurt was his face. He assumed that was just because he hadn’t tried to move it yet.

He remembered her question in time to answer before she could think anything was amiss. “Like I got hit by a truck.”

She opened one eye to look at him. “I’ve got some pretty nasty bruises on my back so I’m putting off moving for as long as possible.”

Hutch rolled to his back again and rearranged his arm on the pillow. “Smart woman.” He frowned when the rest of her statement sunk in. “Your back is bruised?”

“From being tackled by that nutso bride, I would imagine. She got me pretty good.”

“You didn’t say anything. You should’ve mentioned it to Dr. Taylor.”

“It’s a bruise, Hutch. I’ll be fine.” She took a deep breath and closed her eyes again. “Long as I don’t have to move from this spot for like, forever.”

He did like seeing her in his bed, but not moving kinda defeated the purpose. Considering the fact that he was in worse shape than she was, he decided to give her a pass. For the time being. He relaxed against his pillows and closed his eyes. Maybe a little nap would take his mind off of things his body couldn’t follow through on for the time being.

The throbbing in his arm stopped him from drifting off. He should probably take another pill. He also needed to call in the prescription. If this was a preview of the pain he would feel when the painkillers wore off, he had no intention of letting the drug leave his system completely.

He groaned and sat up. Carissa opened that one eye again. “You’re a brave man.”

“Desperate is more like it.” He frowned and tried to remember where his pills were. “Do you remember what I did with the painkillers?”

“You didn’t do anything with them. Dr. Taylor gave them to me. They’re on the table next to you with a bottle of water.”

He looked at the night table. She was right. He reached for them. “Have I told you lately how awesome you are?” He downed a pill with some of the water then lay back down. The moment he got comfortable again, his cellphone rang. He lifted his head and looked at the dresser where it was charging.

Before he could say anything, Carissa read his mind. “I’m not that awesome.”

“C’mon. You’re closer.”

“Perhaps, but it’s your phone so it’s also your caller. You get it.”

Hutch sighed. Maybe if he stalled long enough, it would stop ringing. When silence returned to the room, he smiled. Success! He relaxed. Then it started ringing again. He groaned. Whoever it was wasn’t giving up without a fight. Hutch drug himself out of bed and made his way to the dresser. He checked the caller ID. Of course.

“Hi, Mom.”

“Oh good. I’m so glad I reached you. I need you to come home right away.”

Hutch forgot all about his aches and pains under the weight of sudden worry. “What’s wrong? Is Dad okay?”

“Your father is fine. It’s just that we’ve got a situation here.”

“What kind of situation?”

“The most wonderful thing happened! Your father and I won a cruise!” She actually squealed in his ear. His mother never squealed. She was much too practical for all that. “Not just any cruise. An all-expenses paid, seven night excursion around the Greek Isles. I’ve always wanted to go there and now I am!”

“I’m so happy for you, Mom, but how does that translate to me coming home?”

“Darling, have you forgotten what date it is?”

“No.” Hutch struggled to recall even while he answered.

“It’s Founder’s Day weekend coming up. See? You go off to the big city and forget all about home.”

“I didn’t forget,” he lied. “It’s just that you mean this weekend. As in two days from now. This is a little quick to be springing a cruise on me now.”

“We just found out ourselves. We have to fly out tonight to make the ship’s departure.”

“Wait, what?” Hutch rubbed at the bridge of his nose and regretted it when it set the one part of his body that didn’t hurt off. “You’re leaving tonight? What about the Founder’s Day activities?”