Chapter Twenty-Seven: Family

The 1970s. The most influential, bizarre decade of my life.

"Where are you off to tonight?" asked Penny as Patty came into the living room. Patty was wearing a pretty blue dress and a pair of her mom's old knee-high boots. Her hair was piled loosely on top of her head.

"Cynthia's," said Patty. "She and Bill are having a party tonight." She glanced down at her watch. "Victor should be here any minute."

"Did you invite Cynthia to the...uh..."

"Wedding?" supplied Patty with a smirk. "Yes. She and Bill are coming, making a grand total of somewhere between ten and twenty guests."

"Between ten and twenty?" asked Penny. "The...wedding is ten days away. Shouldn't you know by now?"

Patty shrugged. "Victor told his family about it at Christmas and they had a bit of a fight. He's not sure if his parents are coming or not. And he's still trying to reach his sister. Plus Susan and Barry may be bringing dates. We kind of left things open ended."

Penny shook her head. "Heaven help you. I really wish you'd let me do more than give you away."

"You are, Mother," said Patty. "You're also keeping the entire affair demon free."

"Yes, well," said Penny with a flick of her wrist. "Someone has to."

The doorbell rang and Patty smiled widely. "That's Victor," she said. "I'll see you later, Mom." She blew Penny a kiss, and without another word, headed for the front door. She was really hoping that tonight would go well. Since Christmas, Victor had been withdrawn and upset. Not that Patty could blame him. Even if her mother hadn't decided to make amends and to respect her choice to marry Victor, she still would have come to the wedding. Victor didn't even know if his parents would show up.

Patty had decided that this party would be the perfect way to get Victor's mind off of his problems with his family, at least for one night. If nothing else, at least there would be no whirlwind wedding planning to spin him into a rant about his parents.

Picking up her purse, Patty opened the door and grinned at Victor, determined to be cheerful. "Hi," she said, leaning up and giving him a soft kiss.

"Hi," Victor said, managing a smile that actually reached his eyes. "You look beautiful."

"Thanks," said Patty. "You clean up pretty well yourself."

"I try," said Victor. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yep," said Patty. She stepped outside into the chilly December night and shut the door behind her.

Victor knew that Patty was trying her hardest to bring his mood back to its usual level of optimistic pleasantness, but it simply wasn't working the way she hoped it would. Although he liked to consider himself a positive person, he couldn't help but feel his life dragging him down at times. It was absurd. Especially now, when he was less than two weeks away from marrying the woman of his dreams.

Using the party as a distraction was a good idea in theory, but so many people kept asking about his and Patty's relationship to one another, and then asking for every detail of the wedding, that his mind kept drifting back to his problems with his parents. As a temporary reprieve, Victor headed to the kitchen to grab a beer.

The kitchen was deserted on arrival, but just seconds after he pulled a beer out of the large tub the Trudeaus had set out, the door swung open and Patty walked in.

"Hey," she said. "I came for a refill." She held up the glass of soda she'd been drinking and rattled the ice.

"Yeah, I'm getting a drink too," said Victor.

Patty smiled, and opened her mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the door opening again and Bill Trudeau walking in.

"Oh, hey," he said. "Having a good time."

"Great time," said Patty, popping the tab on her drink and pouring it into her glass.

"It's a good party," said Victor.

"Thanks. So," said Bill, popping the cap off of a beer bottle, "you and Patty are getting married."

"Yeah," said Victor. Patty came over and looped an arm around his waist. "January tenth."

Bill shook his head, taking a long drink. "God bless you, man. You're a hell of a lot braver than I am."

"What do you mean?" asked Victor. "You're married."

"Yeah," said Bill. "But it took me forever to work up the nerve to propose. And the engagement lasted a year because Cyndi's mom was sick. If I hadn't had that time to prepare. I mean, wow. Especially since Joey was born within a year after we were married."

Patty laughed. "I don't think we'll be having kids any time soon," she said.

"You never know," said Bill with a wink. "The miracle of life."

"Or the backhanded slap of destiny," muttered Patty. She raised her soda to Bill. "If it's meant to be..."

Bill nodded. "Exactly."

Victor nodded too, although his head felt foggy and he wasn't quite sure what Patty and Bill were talking about. Wasn't destiny some elusive, broad, wide-reaching idea? He'd always just considered children a part of the future; a joy many people experienced. Destiny made it seem so high handed. Maybe it was a religious thing. But Patty wasn't religious, and she spoke about destiny and fate all of the time. Befuddled, Victor shook his head and put down his beer, excusing himself from the conversation and slipping away. Suddenly he wanted to clear his head more than anything, so he quietly went outside.

Right before he'd left to pick Patty up for the party, his sister had finally returned one of the multiple phone calls he had made to her since Christmas. Hey, little brother. Heard you were getting married. Congratulations and all that jazz. No, Lou and I won't be able to make it down for the wedding. The disappointment had settled like a stone in his stomach, making him feel slightly ill. Desperately, unknown until that moment, he wanted a family. A real, genuine, united family. Like Patty's. God. Her immediate family had dwindled to just her and her mom and they were still held together by unbreakable chains. And he knew, no matter how much he was sure Penny Halliwell would get under his skin, he would never come between her and her daughter. He respected their bond entirely too much.

"Hey," said Patty, breaking his chain of thought. Her arms snaked around his torso from behind. "You disappeared in there."

"Sorry," said Victor. He took one of her hands and kissed it. "I needed to clear my head."

He felt Patty lean her head against his back and he reveled in the security it provided him. "You need to talk about anything?" she asked. The words reverberated in his chest.

"No," he said. "I'm okay. I just...I can't wait until we're married. Until we're a family."

"Me either," said Patty. She released her grip on him and came around so she was facing him. "You want to go back inside? It's almost mid-"

As if on cue, the people inside of the house began to count down from ten, chanting loudly and, most likely, slightly intoxicated.

Patty smiled and moved as though to go inside, but Victor caught her by the arm. "Just wait," he said.

"Three...two...one...Happy new year!"

"Happy new year," said Patty, looking up at him with incredibly warm, soft eyes.

"Happy new year, Patty," said Victor. He leaned down and kissed her. When he pulled back, Patty hugged him tightly.

"I've got a good feeling about nineteen seventy," she said. "Just wait and see."

"Yeah," said Victor. "Me too."