Thanks to randaroo32 and the guest reviewer SarahAllanna and Pheonix07 .shanalemons0404 your words mean the world.
Chapter 55: The Wedding
Monday morning Fulton and Lizzy headed for breakfast. According to Fulton, Portman was still in the shower and Lizzy knew that Julie had already left. He looked at her as they reached the school building that contained the cafeteria. "Hey Liz," Fulton said gently. "What did he say Friday night?"
Lizzy looked at him, confused. Then she thought back to Friday night. She had spent all day Saturday and Sunday at Matt's place in Stillwater to give Portman time to think it over. On Friday there had been the game then her date. He must have been talking about the date; her date with Portman to be exact and wondering what he had to say about it. "Not much of anything really. He was still worried about messing things up, but he said from a purely date standpoint it was a good date. Of all the dates I've been on, it was one of the most romantic ones I've ever been on. You can say what you want about Dwayne, but he was very romantic when it came to dates."
"Romantic? All you did was dinner and walk."
"Yes, but it was very sweet and he kept my interest through the entire date."
"Hey Mav, wait up a second," Portman called.
Lizzy looked up at Fulton, who gave her a half smile, but walked off. Lizzy swallowed and turned to face Portman as he walked up. "I thought about what you said Friday night and yesterday I talked to Bombay, my brother, and Fulton. I also spoke with Adam last night. Part of my fear does stem from the expectation of our team and our friends. As I said on Friday, I really don't want to mess things up between us. You're beautiful, smart, talented, and above all too good for me. I don't deserve someone like you. You, for some unknown reason, want me so I'm going to do my best to make you happy but I still don't think I can."
"Can you honestly say you love me?"
"Yes, from the deepest part of my heart and soul."
"As long as you keep that in mind and try your best to remain faithful then you and I won't have a problem. You love me and that's all I need to be happy."
"You actually mean that?"
"Of course I do. Why wouldn't I?"
"Then," he swallowed, "will you go out with me Tuesday night? Uh ... tomorrow night?" Portman asked nervously. "After practice we can go see this little park I found; it's perfect."
"Sure, and I understand if you want to take this slow."
"So no telling anyone but Fult and Ads, okay?" he asked.
"Okay." Lizzy smiled up at Portman.
"You're not going to ask if you can tell Charlie?"
"I love my cousin and I care very deeply about him but getting him involved is a very dangerous thing. I definitely value his opinion but I don't want him to judge what we have, okay?"
"That makes sense."
"What did they say to change your mind about us?" Lizzy asked.
"My brother and Fulton both told me they didn't want to get involved but Jeff did say that if I had a sweet, caring, kind and understanding girl that was still willing to go out with me and understood my fear, I shouldn't let her go. Fulton on the other hand just let me talk about it and how I felt. Bombay did the same then asked me a question–a question I didn't and still don't really have an answer for. He said, and I quote, 'If Lizzy has heard all your reasons and fears for not going out and she's not worried about them, why are you letting that fear hold you back from what could be a very happy relationship?' I didn't know what to tell him. Suddenly my fear seemed stupid. I mean, I know Coach didn't intend to make me feel that way but it was like he was asking to make me see that I shouldn't be afraid of a little risk. He also told me about his relationship with your aunt and how he shouldn't have let her go the first time; how they had been up and down but true love prevails no matter what happens to them. If love can get them through, it can work for us too."
"You think if you hadn't talked to Bombay you wouldn't be okay with us?"
"Probably. I mean, he made a lot of sense."
"If this works out we should probably thank him."
"Yeah. Have you—are you okay with him and your aunt?"
"I don't know. I'm not going to make a fuss at their wedding if that's what you mean."
"You're going?"
"He invited me. Said since I'm her only niece I have to be there."
"He cares about you, you know."
"Yeah and it is sweet but ... I don't know; I guess I see how hurt Charlie's been by the rollercoaster and I don't want this to be the top of the hill again."
"The excitement before the fall?"
"Exactly."
"I'm sure he's not going to do it again."
"Yeah, I hope not." Lizzy looked away then back at him. "If we don't go to breakfast soon, Fulton's going to think something's up."
"You're just saying that so you don't have to admit you're hungry."
"There is nothing wrong with liking to eat a normal sized meal."
"I never said there was. Besides, believe it or not I like my girls with a little meat on their bones. It gives me something to hold on to. I don't have to worry too much about hunting them." He dug a finger into her side and she squirmed away, trying not to laugh. He grinned and they went to breakfast.
"What did Adam say when you talked to him?"
"Oh that? It's not all that important."
"It's obviously important if it helped you change your mind."
"Really, it's not important."
"If you say so." Lizzy shrugged it off as they sat down to eat. Portman had been right. Tuesday after practice they strolled to the little park not far from the school and the park was perfect. It was small but uncrowded, cozy but not too intimate, and with the leaves changing colors. It was beautiful. Then they sat down to a picnic dinner and Lizzy was super impressed. It was very romantic on Portman's part. They went on four more dates after that over the next two weeks and Lizzy was beginning to see how they really belonged together.
One week after their date in the park, on the 13th of October, Portman ask Lizzy a question he couldn't stop thinking about as they had dinner. "So about this weekend," he prompted.
"You mean my aunt's wedding."
"I know we're both going anyway, but officially, will you be my date?"
"You sure you want to meet my dad and brothers as my date? I know they already know you but this will be different since you're no longer just a friend."
"I'm sure they can't say anything worse than what Fult said."
"Yeah ... you don't know that."
"You think they will?"
"Well they are my brothers and my last boyfriend wasn't—yeah, so let's just stay away from the boyfriend word to be safe."
"Okay. I'm not scared of them, you know. I know how much they mean to you, but anything worth having is worth fighting for." Lizzy grinned at his words, knowing he'd turn out alright in front of her brothers.
As the next four days passed between the date and the wedding, Lizzy did some heavy thinking. She thought back over the previous five years–the five years she had known Bombay–trying to come up with something to keep her mind off the past times that he had broken her aunt's heart and had disappointed Charlie. The more she thought, the more she realized just how many times their lives had touched and in how many ways he had influenced her life. Lizzy couldn't decide if that was a good thing or not, but she knew she had to talk to him before the wedding. If she didn't, it could become one of the biggest mistakes she had ever made.
Saturday, about an hour before the ceremony was to start, Lizzy reached the church in panic mode, having finally gotten the guts to talk to Bombay and a bit panicked because she had left it so late.
"Welcome to the Bombay/Conway wedding—" the greeter started as Lizzy stepped inside the massive church.
"The groom, where is he?" Lizzy asked, cutting him off before he could finish what Lizzy was sure was a well-rehearsed speech.
"And uh ... you are?" he asked, looking completely flabbergasted.
"His soon to be niece. The bride's brother's daughter. Now spit it out man, I don't have all day. "
"Uh—down the hall third door on the left." Lizzy grinned then raced off, feeling slightly bad for the guy. He wasn't to blame for her rushed mood and she shouldn't have taken it out on him. Lizzy marveled at the size of the church as she raced down the hall. Though her grandparents were Catholic and had raised Rob and Casey in a very large church similar to this one, Rob hadn't forced Lizzy or her brothers to go since Lizzy's fifth Christmas–midnight mass, when Lizzy had thrown such a huge tantrum that the entire service had come to a standstill and Matt had to calm her down by leaving the sanctuary and walking her to the nearest diner for cookies and milk. Alicia had been majorly embarrassed and had tried to ground Lizzy but Rob had reminded her Lizzy was only four and up long past her bedtime. In fact Lizzy didn't set foot in a church after that until her grandfather's funeral service nearly eight years later.
Once Lizzy found the room she knocked and the door was opened by the man himself. "Lizzy, is something wrong?" Though he sounded pleasantly surprised to see the girl, Lizzy could tell how nervous he was that something was wrong.
"Get some shoes on, Coach, we need to talk," Lizzy answered simply, seeing that the man was nearly completely dressed in his tuxedo minus his shoes and jacket.
The man flinched at her use of the term Coach. Once again, he knew she only used that word when she wanted something. "Liz, I'm getting married in an hour."
"I know, but it's either we have this talk or you don't marry my aunt. We really need to talk. Please, Coach?"
Bombay looked at her and knew he wasn't going to get out of this talk but at the same time he wasn't sure he wanted to get out of it. The girl had never asked for much from him and she definitely deserved to be heard out.
"Better go, Gordo, this sounds pretty important," Basil said. Bombay had invited Basil McRae to be one of his groomsmen as the two had become better friends since Bombay's minor league days. He nodded and put on his shoes. Bombay and Lizzy walked out of the church and down the sidewalk as he waited for her to speak.
Finally she did, softly. "For the past four days I've been doing some thinking. Trying to think of a way to ignore the heartbreak and disappointment you always leave, perhaps unintentionally, in the wake of your departure from the team's and Charlie's and Aunt Casey's lives. I've come to realize that you've touched my life in more ways than I've noticed in the past. You were behind it all, weren't you?"
"Define all."
"The stuff I knew about: Getting me out of that legal trouble, Portman coming back, Adam rejoining the Ducks, Coach Orion, Port and I getting together this year, Charlie changing his stance on Coach Orion, keeping the Ducks at Eden Hall ..."
"Yes to all of that," Bombay admitted.
"Then there's the stuff I wasn't—I'm not sure about: Getting me over my fear of the ice, Connie and Guy getting back together, making sure they were all okay with the split last year, my dad and Michelle, keeping the school from forcing me into therapy?"
"With your dad and Michelle I just got them in the same room. I never expected anything become from it. According to Casey, Michelle is a lot like your mom was. She's sweet, caring, and—"
"I know; but the rest of it?"
"Yes, I was behind all of that too."
"Why?"
"Why what?"
"Why do you care so much?"
Bombay sighed and motioned to a nearby bench. They both sat down and Bombay looked at her carefully. "Believe it or not District 5 gave me a life. I was spiraling out of control and they helped me out of it. I can never pay them back for that. Never. Helping them out is the least I can do to show them how thankful I am for what they did for what they did for me even if they don't know it. I am so thankful that they never gave up on me."
"Oh." Lizzy stared across the street twisting part of her long, blue dress in her fingers. She wondered where that left her.
"You gave up on me though. That hurt and it put me in my place, knowing that I let you down. Part of me will always be trying to win your trust back and never let you down again. You're smart and talented and amazing and I feel like I've done you the biggest disservice in the world by letting you down. You deserve to be happy. I'm trying to help you to be happy."
"What if I don't think you can ... or should try so hard to make me happy?"
"That's the thing, Lizzy, I think you deserve to be happy and you can't stop me from trying. The more unhappy you are, the harder I'm going to try to make you happy. Why don't you think you deserve to be happy?"
"It's not that I don't deserve to be happy, it's that I think there are about a dozen or so people you should worry about making happy before you worry about me," she admitted softly.
"And that right there is why you deserve it more. You want everyone else to be happy and always put yourself last."
"Thanks, Coach. So you're actually going to do this?" Lizzy asked, referring to the wedding.
"I love her–her and Charlie both. I always will," Bombay answered.
"You promise?"
"I promise and will do my best to protect them and you. I don't want to take your aunt from you; I just want the chance to love her as much as you do."
"You love her; that's what matters."
"Remember that when it comes to Michelle and the new baby. Your dad still loves you; that's what matters."
"Yeah, I suppose."
"That everything?"
"Yeah," Lizzy said. They stood up and started walking back to the church.
"I can work from Minnesota, you know." Bombay said when they were less than a block away.
"What's that?"
"For the committee. I can stay here instead of going back to California. Even if they do find a new coach."
"Okay." They reached the church and as Bombay went back to the groom's dressing room, Lizzy allowed the cute boy to escort her to her seat. She slid into the seat next to Portman and clasped her hands together in her lap.
Lizzy stared up at the altar where her aunt and Bombay would be standing in just over a half hour. She didn't say anything, just stared and listened to the soft music. "I take it your talk with Bombay went well," Portman said, the uncertainty evident in his voice. Lizzy nodded but didn't look at him or say anything. Portman reached over and worked his hand between hers, entwining his fingers with hers to calm her down. "So he's still going to marry your aunt?" Lizzy nodded again. Portman turned his head to look at her, instead of looking out of the corner of her eye. "Do you want to talk about it?" She shrugged this time instead. "He loves her–even I can see that–and he wants to be there for all of you."
"Do you think I'm a bad person?" Lizzy asked, still refusing to look at him.
"Not at all," Portman answered. He knew that sometimes she suffered from self-confidence issues, as hard as she tried to hide them. "You can be a little high strung, arrogant, a bit bossy, and cocky from time to time but don't think it makes you a bad person."
"Do I deserve to be happy? More so than the rest of the team?"
"Maybe not more than the rest of us but at the very least as much as we do. Did Bombay say something?"
Lizzy thought about it as the church filled up. Perhaps her being happy at the same time as everyone else could happen and wasn't impossible. Before she could say what Bombay had told her Charlie spoke, appearing behind them out of nowhere. "Lizzy, Mom needs to speak with you."
Lizzy nodded and went to see her aunt. Mr. Jacobs opened the door and stepped into the hall before letting Lizzy in the room. Looking around the room, Lizzy saw it was empty save her aunt. "You wanted to yell at me?" Lizzy asked plainly. She had known this was coming since she had spoken with Bombay, she had just hoped to avoid it.
"No, I wanted to talk to you. I'm getting married in 25 minutes and I want you to be okay with that," Casey said.
"And if I'm not?"
"Then as much as this wedding and the reception cost and what it took to reserve this church, we will postpone until you are."
"What if I'm never okay with it?"
"What do I have to do to help you be okay with it? You're my only little niece—"
"For now."
"For good, but don't tell your dad I told you. Their appointment was two days ago and they're going to tell you after the reception."
"They're having a boy?" Lizzy asked, slumping into a chair near her aunt.
"Yes, bit of a relief for your dad to tell the truth. Your dad was so scared of how you'd feel if it was a girl. He was scared that you'd see him making the same mistakes with her and hate him even more or feel like he was trying to replace you. He's also said that he's not having any more. Michelle's okay with that too."
"Instead I'm going to think I'm the only one who got shafted because I'm the only girl."
"Elizabeth, language. Like I was saying, you're my only niece–only one I'm going to have–and I need for you and Charlie both to be okay with this. I don't like committing to a man who my family can't stand. I learned that lesson. I know you've had your history with Gordon and now that we're talking about this, I realize we should have had this discussion when he proposed." Casey sighed.
Having finally heard everything she needed to hear from her aunt about why she should accept Bombay, she put her aunt's fears to rest. "I try as hard as I can not to be vindictive or mean but sometimes I like to watch people ramble on to convince me of something. About half an hour ago Bombay and I talked. He promised me that he loved you both and he would do the best he could to take care of you. He also told me that he could work from Minnesota so you could stay here. You know ..." Lizzy trailed off, staring at her lap. She hoped her aunt would get it and she wouldn't have to say how much she still needed her aunt.
"I know, Sweetie," Casey said, taking Lizzy's hand. "I'm glad you're giving him a second–or rather third–chance."
"As long as he keeps his promise, we'll be fine."
"He may not deserve this extra chance but I'm glad you can give it to him. He's trying, Liz, give him a chance."
Lizzy nodded. "Where are your bridesmaids?"
"Pictures. Lizzy, please look at me," she looked up. "As you know, the first dance is traditionally between me and my dad and the groom and his mom. Since Dad has passed on, Rob has agreed to stand in. After that Gordon and I will have our first dance then comes my dance with my son. This is where I ask you for a favor. You can say no but we want you to dance with Gordon at the same time. It would be a nice gesture."
"To show there isn't any open hostility between us?"
"That's not what I was going to say. Yes, it would show that, but we were hoping that you would do this as a gesture to welcome him to the family."
"I don't dance, Aunt Casey."
Casey sighed. She had known the girl wouldn't instantly say yes. "You used to. When your dad married Alicia you danced with him and Matt nearly all night. It's important."
"That's how Matt got me to dance at his reception when he married Star. If you remember correctly, I didn't when my dad married Michelle or when Chris got married last year."
"Okay, we'll ask Michelle." She looked so deflated.
Lizzy instantly felt bad. If this was that important to her, it was the least Lizzy could do. "This is really that important to you?"
"Yes," Casey said softly.
Lizzy took a deep breath. "As long as it's one dance–a slow dance–and I don't look stupid."
"Thank you." Casey smiled for the first time since Lizzy entered the room.
"Casey," Rob called as he knocked on the door, "it's time." He looked in on them and smiled at his daughter. Casey nodded and both women stood.
"Daddy," Lizzy said as she stepped towards him, "you love me, don't you?"
"Of course I love you sweetheart; now you should get back to your seat," Rob said, glancing at his watch.
Lizzy looked at her aunt but sighed and left, going back to her seat.
Thanks for reading and the three reviews. You guys are great.
