Father of the Bride – Part 5
By Littlepinkbook
Author's Note – Here you go guys, sorry about the wait and also for committing the senseless crime of having another chaptered fic running along side this one! Two at once, eek slap my wrist! But hell, when inspiration hits you simply cannot ignore it!
Helga awoke feeling bright, refreshed and extraordinarily happy. She was due to get married to the most wonderful man on the planet and things between her and her father could not be better. She felt on top of the world when she finally emerged from the bedroom, prepared to face the day and its challenge's head on.
As she turned into the kitchen she saw the man in question waiting for her, cup of coffee at the ready.
"Mornin' sunshine!" He greeted cheerily, handing her the cup of warm bitter liquid. She grinned at him mischievously, accepting the cup and quickly discarding it in order to snake her arms around her fiancé's neck, to which there was very little protest but rather was countered with him tucking his own arms around her slender waist.
"You know what? I had the weirdest dream last night…" she began, leaning her forehead on Arnold's.
"Oh yeah?" He replied, amused.
"Mmm, I dreamt that I was engaged to a sexy blond!"
"Hey what a coincidence, me too!" He countered dropping his lips on hers, her giggles becoming muffled. She pulled herself closer to him, deepening the kiss and letting her hands glide slowly away from her loves neck and towards an area much lower down. Arnold gasped in amused surprise upon realisation of where Helga was heading.
"Whoa", he laughed, breaking the kiss and kidnapping her roving hands "Awful frisky this morning aren't we?"
She grinned at him deviously and bit her bottom lip coyly "Are you arguing?" She whispered, attempting to free her hands, they had better things to do.
"Usually…" he broke off to plant a little kiss on her neck "never, but on this particular occasion I have a surprise for you!" He gestured for her to stay put as he darted away to a nearby closet.
Helga's eyes lit up in confusion and delight "Oh yeah? I like surprises".
Arnold producing a large, beautifully wrapped box grinned at her excitedly as he ran over to deposit the gift.
"Arnold! Are you serious?" Squeaked Helga, surprised "What's this for?"
"Well, the only reason I can think of is because I love you"
The blonde woman grinned widely at her love, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world, she was so unbelievably lucky to have Arnold in her life. She caressed his cheek lovingly and laughed in amazement "I love you so much, you nut!"
"Open it, open it!" He pleaded in excitement.
Not wanting to wait any longer Helga tore the brightly coloured paper from the box and discarded the lid to reveal a shiny, white plastic object. Her sunny expression suddenly became overcast…
"A blender…you got me a blender", she stated with feigned enthusiasm
"Yeah! You like?" Smiled the man, pulling the appliance from the box and holding up for all to view "I thought it would be great in our new place – you know – for when we're married"
Helga stood up slowly and busied herself with cleaning away the wrapping paper – trying desperately to take her focus away from the awful flashbacks she was having of seeing her mother in the kitchen, blending smoothies, every night of her childhood. The bored, dead expression on her mothers face coming back to haunt her.
"Helga?" Arnold eyed her quizzically "What's wrong, don't you like it?"
"It's…um…certainly not what I expected"
"I thought it would be a good start to the first of many appliances for our first house!" He smiled, tapping the machine lightly.
"So…is that the way you think it's gonna be? You're the breadwinner and I'm going to stay home blending things, eagerly awaiting your return to the castle!" Helga hissed – turning on him suddenly – startling him beyond belief. This was certainly not what he expected.
"No, honey, that's not what…" began the bewildered man only to be cut short by his rapidly raging fiancée.
"Because believe me Buster, just because your gaining a wife does not mean your getting a mindless slave into the bargain!" She cried, becoming more hysterical by the minute the more she remembered her mother and the alcohol that found it's way into the smoothie recipe.
Arnold gaped, wide-eyed and completely aghast. What had come over her? How could she have so grossly misinterpreted this tiny token of his affections. It wasn't meant to mean anything other than that soon they would be starting a whole new life together.
Helga was beginning to rant on her own rather than having a two-way argument, her eyes glazing over with threatening tears. She paced the room frantically, pressing her hand against her forehead as though that would push out the images of Miriam; she was like a caged animal.
Arnold's shock was soon replaced with concern as he realised that there was a deeper meaning behind all this – the blender had just touched on a nerve, it had been a trigger that set off something from her emotionally broken past.
"I don't even like smoothies!" She screeched suddenly, her voice cracking as emotion threatened to take over.
"Helga, I…" Arnold moved to calm her but she darted away and towards the door.
"You know what – I need…I need to go. I need some time to think, I'm not sure this marriage is such a good idea!" She squeaked, tears beginning to roll down her cheeks.
"What!" Whispered Arnold – now very distraught. He moved to grab her but she was already igniting the ignition in her car and making her get away.
"Shit!" Cursed the stunned man – slumping against the doorframe.
*
"So I said I didn't think getting married was a good idea anymore and left". Helga's breathing was stilted as she tried to refresh her tired lungs. She sniffed loudly and dabbed her red-raw eyes with a tear soaked bedsheet.
Sheesh thought Bob, as he sat at the end of the bed, not sure how to deal with the situation that Miriam insisted he handle All this trauma over a blender, she's always been so emotional. Look at her, she's completely broken by this. She doesn't want to call off this wedding one little bit; she loves that weird headed kid too much. No wonder she's so distraught – she's just scared, it's all too overwhelming for a little girl to take I guess the blender thing just pushed her over the edge. Although – the evil side of me is quite pleased at the idea that I don't have to give my little girl away after all. Besides, she's clearly not ready to get married. Bob tried vainly to justify then schemes of the devil on his shoulder.
Helga suddenly sat up, dragging Bob's thoughts back to reality, she looked at him, her blue eyes over flowing with pain.
Oh man, look at her, she's in agony over this. Maybe this Arnold kid isn't that bad after all if she's so afraid of losing him.
She leaned in and hugged him tightly in desperation, knocking Bob's thoughts off track for a second in surprise. Whoa, this is new; she's actually looking to me for comfort…of her own free will!
The large, stiff man suddenly relaxed and welcomed the warm sensation of having his youngest daughter reach out and need him. Something inside him ached suddenly, he wanted more moments like this and as long as the girl holding onto him was married and gone she wouldn't need him like this anymore. He was about to say something along the lines of calling off the wedding just for while when a frantic knocking at the door interrupted his thoughts. He inwardly cursed when he heard his own wife greet a very frightened Arnold.
"Wait here!" Ordered Bob, squeezing her shoulders gently as he made his way to rid his life of the pesky Arnold.
He met him halfway in the hallway and was about to give him a mouthful…
"Listen Kid…" but he was stopped short when the young blond man looked up at him. His eyes brimmed red and puffy from an obvious torrent of tears – his green eyes mirrored the same agony that he had seen in his daughters. For the first time in his life, Bob's heart twisted.
"Mr Pataki…I love her! I love her so much it hurts!" He whispered, his voice torn.
Shit! Thought the blowhard man, his wall crumbled I was so close!
"Helga! C'mon, get up!" The older man bellowed.
Surprised by Bob's sudden demanding tone, the girl in question turned to look at him quizzically and was met with a pair of emerald eyes shining on her, desperately looking for forgiveness.
"Don't give me any of this no wedding nonsense! Everyone knows that wild dogs couldn't keep you two from tying the knot – now enough of this and get over there a kiss her!" Scolded Bob, nudging the young man into the room.
Helga blinked in disbelief for a moment before a wave of giggles washed over her. Grinning, Arnold felt a relief so strong it made him dizzy.
Once again Bob's simple, hard-ass logic had saved the day and the two young lovers kissed deeply in reconciliation.
Criminey! Bob thought, rolling his eyes in disgust!
To be continued…