I am by no means pleased with this. It's my least favorite chapter yet but I had to do this somehow.
Whitney rolled over and covered her head when she heard the hotel room phone ringing. They had flown in late last night and hadn't gotten into bed until nearing two that morning. Finally, realizing that no one else was going to answer it, she moved to pick it up and groaned as she saw the clock read seven.
"Hello," she said with the sound of sleep still clearly evident in her voice.
"Don't we sound all bright and sunshiny," her dad's voice greeted her on the other end.
"Daddy it's seven in the morning and I'm tired."
"So I take it no one's up in your room yet?" he asked.
She managed to sit up and look over at the other bed and noticed Chloe was there by herself. Just as she began to wonder about Jenna she heard the noise of puking coming from the bathroom.
"Well, Chloe's still dead to the world, but Jenna's wide away and puking as we speak."
"Poor baby," he said and Whitney knew he meant it. Her daddy had never dealt well with them being sick so she was sure that this really made him feel bad.
"Okay, wake Chloe up and get Jenna in the shower. I'm giving you guys two hours to get ready and then we're heading downstairs for breakfast. And I want you to know that two hours does not mean two and a half of three hours. It means exactly what I said, two hours. Am I clear?"
"Very," she said. "What about the guys, have you woken them up yet?"
"Sweetie, they're down at the hotel gym right now. They'll probably have ordered room service or raided the vending machines by the time you three get ready. You should have heard them when I told them nine o'clock."
"Beauty takes time. They need to understand that."
"Hungry stomachs sometimes take precedence and you need to understand that," he threw back at her.
"Well, if you want us ready by nine then I need to get away from this fun filled lecture and start getting the other two up and going."
"Alright, I'm putting you in charge. Don't disappoint me."
"I won't."
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Breakfast actually occurred at nine o'clock, just as requested by Derek and plans were laid out for the day as they ate. Of course the girls would be shopping. They had called earlier in the week and set up appointments with several of the premier bridal designers in the city. Jenna wanted Jordan to go to Armani and get a suit so he had agreed to do that and then he had said that he wanted to go by and touch base with some of the Ranger's management and that Cam was welcomed to come along. Of course to Cam, this was the equivalent of a kid in a candy store and he had eagerly accepted. And of course, Derek would be spending the day with Gage.
They had all agreed to meet up outside their favorite restaurant at seven o'clock for supper. Derek had made reservations earlier in the week and had included Gage in the number he had requested. Now he had one day to try and talk some sense into the boy and he knew exactly what he was going to use to do it. He wasn't going to try and guilt him into anything, but he would definitely be using Casey in the argument. If Gage had a weakness bigger than his sisters, it was his mom. He adored her and Derek planned on pounding home the fact that he didn't want Casey to have to deal with one more ounce of stress than she already had too.
Derek and Gage had hung out at Gage's until lunch and they were now seated at a table and left with menus to look over.
"You know this is where it happened," Gage said.
His dad looked at him, not sure of what he was talking about.
"This is where Jordan told me about Jenna and the baby. I really wanted to kill him Dad. I've never felt pure rage like that in my life. How in the world could you have not put him in the hospital or something when you found out?"
"You don't think I wanted to do that son? But what would it have accomplished? Jordan and Jenna would still be together and Jenna would still be pregnant. And then your sister would have resented me and I wouldn't have a relationship with her at all right now. Plus, you're forgetting about a very important person in all of this. Your mom comes first Gage. No matter how I feel about Jordan or the whole situation in general, your mom and our baby are my first concern. Do you think this has been easy on her? And let me tell you, your reaction to the whole thing has just made it worse."
Gage looked down as his dad chastised him. He knew what his dad was saying was the truth but it didn't change the way he felt about Jordan.
"I want you to look at me Gage. Look me straight in the eyes and tell me that you can't put away your feelings about Jordan for your mom's sake. I've been there when the stress has gotten to her. I've been there when we thought we might lose you. I'm begging you to put aside your feelings and just do this for us."
Gage took a deep breath and held it in for a few seconds before slowly exhaling. "I want to Dad, I really do. But just the thought of seeing him and Jenna together makes me want to kill him. He was my best friend. He was the brother I never had and I feel so betrayed by him. How could he do this to our family after everything we've done for him?"
"I'm not condoning what happened by any means, but maybe I can look at this from a different perspective from you. For one thing, I'm older and I've had more experience. But for another thing son, you've never been in love before. You've enjoyed dating and girls, but you just haven't found the one person that makes it hard to think straight. And if you can't imagine that, then you don't get what's happened between them. I know that feeling; I felt it for months with your mom before she ever even gave me the time of day. Love is a powerful thing Gage and it makes you do crazy things."
"So Mom's really upset with how I'm acting?"
Derek shook his head yes. "You know all she's ever wanted is for the three of you to be happy and if you're not happy, then she's not happy. Gage, she's trying to plan a wedding in two weeks time, come to grips with the fact that her barely eighteen year old daughter is pregnant, all the while being pregnant herself. Then you add the stress of your reaction on top of it and it's been hard. I'm not asking you to buddy up and be his best friend. I don't want you to pretend like nothing's happened. But please, just be civil. Show your mom that you're trying. And above all, please show up at the wedding. I know you don't believe it now, but if you don't come you'll regret it for the rest of your life."
Derek saw a softening on Gage's face and for the first time thought that maybe he was getting through to him.
"Gage, I know how much your sisters mean to you. You're an amazing big brother and they worship the ground you walk on. Jenna is heartbroken over this. No matter how you feel about Jordan, I know you still love your little sister. Do it for your mom and Jenna."
"What time's the wedding," he asked in acceptance of his fate. He wouldn't intentionally hurt his mom for anything in the world and out of respect for his dad he'd do what he asked. He'd show up and be civil. But under no circumstances would he let Jordan think for a minute that he was okay with any of this. He would go for his family but Jordan could still go to hell as far as he was concerned.
Derek grinned at his son. "Thank you. It takes a real man to put aside his differences and do what's right. Don't think I'm not proud of everything you've accomplished on the field, but I'm so much more proud of the man you are."
"Well, you can thank yourself for that. I am who I am because of you. Now," he went on, wanting to get away from the heavy emotional level that the talk had taken, "what time do I need to show up. I've got a game with the Steelers Sunday and I'm going to have to make arrangement to fly to Pennsylvania from London. I'm not sure how happy my coach is going to be, but I'll try and make him understand."
"The wedding's at one in the afternoon. We're having it in the back yard and your mom is going overboard, obsessing over everything. It's going to be very small, just our family, Jordan's mom, the Rippels and the Shepherds. But then we're having a reception catered with a sit down meal. Even though it's not the best circumstances, I still want her to have a day that she can look back on and be happy."
"I know and I'm sorry I've acted the way I have Dad. And I'm really sorry that I upset Mom. I'll go to dinner tonight and be civil, but I'm still not ready to act like everything's okay."
"I don't want you to son. I understand where you're coming from and all I'm asking you to do is make an effort. Just let your mom see that it'll be okay."
"I can do that," he said as he opened his menu.
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Derek had taken a cab to get to Gage's and Jordan and Cam had also taken cabs on their outing, but Derek had insisted on hiring a driver for the girls. He couldn't stand the thought of his girls in a cab and besides, he didn't want them on the streets of New York waiting for one to pull up. He also knew that even though they were going to have the wedding and bride's maid dresses shipped, there would be a huge number of shopping bags accompanying them after a full day on the town and this way, after the driver dropped them off at the restaurant, he could take their packages back to the hotel before coming back to wait on them to finish supper.
And he had been correct; they had shopped until they were ready to drop. Jenna had thought that she'd have a really difficult time narrowing it down to just one dress and she had for a while. But when she had finally tried the one she had bought on, all other thoughts were gone. She had looked in the mirror as her mom had tears running down her cheeks and she knew it was the one. Now she just couldn't wait to wear it on Saturday and see Jordan's reaction when she walked towards him.
They had found beautiful pale blue dresses for Chloe and Whitney and she thought they'd go perfect with the pink and white roses she had chosen. Everything was finally coming together and in less than a week, she'd be Jenna Hart.
The driver pulled up at the front entrance of the restaurant and she saw that their timing was perfect because a valet was getting into Gage's car as he and their dad got out and the cab with Jordan and Cam had just arrived.
As they each made their way towards the entrance they stopped to exchange pleasantries and Jenna felt a huge sense of relief as Gage came towards her and gave her a hug. She noticed that he made no acknowledgement of Jordan at all, but still he was there with them and it was a start. She smiled at her brother as he pulled away from her, but her real smile was reserved for Jordan as he came towards her.
When he reached her, he wrapped his arms around her and she brought her left hand up, her thumb caressing his cheek, as he leaned down to kiss her. After the kiss he whispered in her ear how much he had missed her and then went back for one more kiss before grabbing her hand and walking into the restaurant with the rest of the family.
Little did they know that across the street were several paparazzi. It was a very popular restaurant for celebrities and it being a Saturday night, they could usually score some pictures that would earn them some money.
But tonight they realized that they just might have struck pay dirt. Because they had instantly recognized both Derek and Gage and it didn't take long for one of them, a huge Rangers fan, to realize that Jordan Hart was with them too. It was well known that Jordan and Gage were best friends and that Derek had used his pull in the hockey circle to get Jordan in New York with Gage, so it wasn't really that surprising to see them together. But what was exceptionally interesting was the greeting that Jordan had given Derek's oldest daughter, who they were almost positive, was still in high school. And even more interesting was the ring that was very visible on the left ring finger of the girl. They were definitely going to have to do some investigating. And after the driver came back and delivered the family back to wherever they were staying, they'd be trying to see what they could get out of him.
This whole thing smelled of scandal and they couldn't wait to see if their hunch was correct, because in their world scandal equaled money. And if they were right, this would be worth a lot of it.
Yuck!