4
Ally finally caught up with her new husband at the firm and stayed the night with him in his suite at the local Hotel Tipton. The following morning after breakfast, the two of them flew down to Towson, Maryland where her parents lived. Driving in from Baltimore in a rented car, Ally had tried several times to phone ahead, but failed to get through to them. Her mother was either in a long conversation, or her father's phone was turned off. William took her hand as they nervously paused outside the quaint colonial in a wooded neighborhood that was Ally's childhood home. Along the way, she pointed out the deserted house her brother had thought was haunted, the field where she and Billy had played as kids and the big oak tree where they had their first kiss. Pulling up to her childhood home, Ally eagerly wanted to jump out and return back home. After William parked the car, she started striding up from the front porch as Jenny McBeal rushed out to meet them.
"Ally, honey." She kissed her daughter. "William, good to see you two together."
"Yeah," Ally mumbled as she looked to William for support. Her father, George McBeal, was hovering on the porch as he glanced over what he thought was just another in a long line of his daughter's boyfriends. He was a tall silver-haired former barrister himself now retired. Ally was the only one to follow him into the field.
"George," Jenny pulled William closer. "This is the young man who's been dating Ally."
"Really," The man with the silver temples grinned. "And how are you treating my little girl?"
"Mom, Dad…" Ally grinned with all her ecstasy and emotion bundled up to explode all at once.
"We're married!" She shined ready to start giggling again.
"No!" The older couple absorbed the shock a moment as they looked at each other. Looking back, they noticed William scared to say anything and Ally squeezing him lovingly as her proud trophy.
"What?"
"Ally, are you kidding?"
"Um, uh, ah, no." Ally pulled her hair back. "William asked me to marry me and…" She grinned sheepishly. "I did."
George McBeal looked into the nervous eyes of his new son-in-law. He looked like a nice enough young man he thought as he groaned under his breath. The only problem was that he didn't know him. A slow groan came from him.
"Ally, you're not pregnant are you?" Jenny asked.
"No!"
"You can talk, can't you?" George asked William.
"Yes, sir." William finally spoke. "I just hope you like me."
"Ally, Ally, Ally," Jenny led the way into the house talking the entire way. "This is not the way I pictured it. I always thought I'd be there to watch you wear white. Your brothers and sister there..." It was a nice house. Very rural from the exterior, but comfortably modern on the inside, it was decorated with a woman's eye. Bric-a-brac and pieces decorated the wall, wall pieces filled empty spaces. The furniture matched as a full set, but was too scared to even start feeling at home.
"You've got brothers and sister?" William suddenly reacted and asked his wife.
"Don't ask!" Ally stopped him, but he could see the framed photos and pictures in the stairway. Ally oldest brother, Spenser looked remarkably like Kevin Bacon while Andrew partially but almost resembled Christian Slater with a goatee. There were a few child photos of a girl who didn't appear in any other photos who had to be Chloe, the sister Ally said she had lost, but Sondra McBeal, the surviving older sister, looked like Michele Pfeiffer with the body of Cyndi Crawford. Following Ally through the house to the breakfast nook, the walk took the New England heir cross the living room in to mountain cabin style eating area with wood paneled walls and modern fixtures. William peeked into the kitchen and saw a Golden Retriever stretched out outside the back door.
"What do you do for a living?" George asked him.
"Dad," Ally spoke for William again. She was so different here at home! She was so eager to show him off and impress her parents. "You know those Collins you read about in the paper with the Kennedys. William's one of them." George looked back at William standing awkwardly near him.
"Welcome to the family, son !" He spread wide his arms and hugged his son-in-law. He leaned over to Ally. "Have Richard make you a pre-nup."
"Dad!"
"Ally, William," Jenny sat down where she had left her coffee. "Don't get me wrong, but..." She smiled fondly at Ally and briefly became a nostalgic mother with a grown daughter. "My baby, married... We expected a lot more. Not just the news, but... all of it."
"Mrs. McBeal," William started.
"Call me, mom."
"Mom," He grinned. "If that's all you want, let's have another wedding." William looked to Ally. "The works. We'll repeat our vows. We could have it at Collinwood where you can meet my parents." William paused as Ally beamed even harder.
"Collinwood?" Jenny grinned as a phone rang. "Us at Collinwood? I like it." They heard a phone ringing somewhere. George looked for his phone as William and Jenny checked theirs. Clicking open his phone, William apologized to his in-laws and took his call.
"Hello?"
"Why, William, why?" Elaine's voice came from Boston.
"Because I love her, Elaine!"