Chapter 47: Probing Questions

Several days after Coach Bills' funeral Martin was sitting alone in his office at the hardware store when Jordan paid him a visit. Martin had always admired Jordan a great deal, even before Frank and Jordan had become best friends. "What can I do for you Doc?" Martin asked when he glanced up to see Jordan standing the doorway of his office.

"May I talk with you for a minute?" Jordan asked.

Martin motioned for Jordan to come inside his office, "Sure come in."

Jordan turned and closed Martin's door and took a seat in front of his desk. "I'll get right to point," Jordan said, "I want to marry your daughter."

Martin looked up at Jordan with astonishment and then leaned back in his chair. "And?"

Jordan began to chuckle, "Your son Frank thought it was appropriate for me to ask your permission."

Martin broke out in laughter. "Are you kidding?"

The laughter was contagious, "Angel doesn't want to marry me. So Frank somehow thought this would help."

"What do you mean she doesn't want to marry you?" Martin stopped laughing.

"I mean," Jordan cleared his throat, "That she won't marry me and I've asked her several times."

Martin leaned forward, "I can't force her to marry you, but I'm not sure why she's hesitating."

"A lot of it has to do with her past," Jordan pointed out, "And I think she worries about us having a traditional wedding and whether or not it would be appropriate for her to wear a white wedding dress."

Martin had never thought of that. "I see."

"Do I have your blessing?" Jordan asked. That's all he wanted to know.

"Yes, by all means," Martin said without hesitation. "I would like to walk her down the aisle if that's what she wants, but I don't have to. Maybe I better have a talk with her," he looked at the clock and realized it was midmorning. "I'll take her to lunch."

Jordan nodded. "Whatever you think is best."

This time when Martin took Angel to lunch he let her choose the restaurant and she chose one near Jordan's office where she and Frank had once gone for pie and coffee. Martin seldom varied his dining tastes, so he was surprised to find the menu to his liking.

"They have great salads here," Angel informed him.

Martin shook his head in disgust. "What happened to pasta, don't you enjoy pasta anymore?"

"Of course Pop," Angel said, "But I love salads too."

Martin perused the menu, "I think I'll order some spaghetti," he said to the waitress and Angel ordered a large salad with grilled chicken.

"Your boyfriend came to see me this morning," Martin informed her.

Angel shook her head, "That son of a bitch," and then she realized she was swearing in front of her father and her face turned pink. "I wondered where he went this morning for such a long time."

"He asked me for my permission to marry you." Martin said.

"He what?" Angel was livid for the first time in a long time. "Who does he think he is?"

"Frank put him up to it," Martin said, not realizing how upset she would be.

"I'm gonna kill Frank next time I see him," Angel griped. "For God's sake, I don't need your permission or anyone else's to decide whether or not to get married."

Martin was amused at how worked up she was becoming. She was definitely returning to her old self. "I agree with you," Martin said. "Do you love him?" Martin asked.

"I think so," Angel said. "But after this little stunt, I might just change my mind."

"I knew your willfulness was still inside of you somewhere," Martin chuckled.

"Oh," Angel spat, "Between Parker and Frank, those two will be the death of me."

"Angel," Martin looked at her with affection. "Just so you know; I don't care what sort of wedding you have if you decide to get married. I would like it if you had a traditional Catholic wedding where I could walk you down the aisle, but I will support you no matter what you decide. If you don't want to get married in the church you don't have to on my account."

Angel felt the tension drain out of her, "I think if I get married I want a traditional wedding. I've always wanted one."

"Then have one," Martin said. "Get the most beautiful white wedding dress in town and do it right."

A tear rolled down Angel's face. "I seem to always cry when we go to lunch."

Martin chuckled, "Yes, but you cry a little less each time."

"I love you Pop." Angel smiled up at him through her tears.

"I love you too Angel," Martin squeezed her hand. Their food arrived and Martin rubbed his hands together, "This spaghetti looks great."

Frank and Amanda decided to make their second wedding very low key. They went to see the Justice of the Peace. The first time they had a huge wedding and a huge reception and one of those was more than enough to last anyone a lifetime. This time they wanted to keep it low key, so they didn't even bother to invite anyone. They just wanted it to be the two of them and Colton.

It took awhile for Amanda's mother Marla to get over the fact that they had gone ahead and got married without informing anyone. She felt her daughter was making a huge mistake getting remarried to Frank, but she realized after it was done that there was nothing she could do about it. She soon came to terms with it and she even agreed to watch Colton while they snuck off to the city for a quick overnight honeymoon.

Claudia and Martin didn't find out they were married until after the family had attended Mass on Sunday. As soon as Frank announced it, Claudia and Martin were pleased. Usually Martin was upset when he wasn't told in advance, but he had made a lifetime of progress in the past two months, and things like this no longer set him off.

Rori on the other hand was fuming. "What did you think would happen if you told us about your wedding? I didn't want to miss your second wedding." Rori was going to have a difficult time forgiving them.

"C'mon Ror," Frank coaxed, "It's OK."

"No it's not!" Rori raged. "I may never speak to either of you again, and don't think I don't mean it."

Martin laughed despite himself over Rori's behavior.

"Just drop it for God's sake, Rori," Angel implored.

Rori whirled around to face Angel, "Are you going to bother to let me know if you and Parker decide to tie the knot?"

"I might," Angel said with raised eyebrows.

Rori gritted her teeth, "Ugh!"

"Everyone is entitled to have their wedding any way they choose," Jordan pointed out to Rori, attempting to calm her down.

Rori whirled around and glared at Jordan. "Until you actually marry my sister, if you marry her, you don't really have a say here," she raged, "and what Frank did was inexcusable if you ask me."

"Aurora!" Martin shouted. "That's enough!"

Rori tightened her jaw. "I'm honestly never going to forgive either of you for this."

"Even if we agree to name our next child after you?" Frank asked hopefully.

"Oh God!" Rori raged. "If you name your next child after me then I will never forgive you for sure!" Everyone burst out laughing and even Rori cracked a smile at her own words. "Well I hate the name Aurora." She added.

No one was about to debate with her about that. "You could always have it legally changed to something else," Jordan suggested.

Rori gave him a crusty look "Yeah, Pop and Mama would forgive me for that."

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the wedding sis," Frank said in his most sincere little boy voice, which annoyed all of them.

"God Frank!" Rori said in disgust and stormed off.

"You're going to ruin our dinner," Claudia lamented as they all gathered around the table. "I prepared veal today. It's Frank's favorite."

"I deserve it after that long Mass this morning," Frank sighed as he sat down at the table, pulling Amanda down on the chair next to him.

"Don't criticize the service," Martin warned.

"I can't tell you how great it is to be here with all of you again," Amanda smiled. "It seems as though I never left."

"You should have stayed away as long as you could," Mia said sarcastically

Angel laughed out loud, "That's my daughter!"

Martin winked, "She sure is!"

"Mia had a date last week," Claudia announced. "She met a boy at the mall."

Mia turned three shades of red.

"No way!" Rori was amazed. "You're so soft on her compared to the way you were with us," Rori glared at Martin with disapproval. "It would have been a cold day in hell before I was allowed to ever meet a boy at the mall, especially at the age of fourteen."