Chapter 20 #3
To have an actual wedding. With the decorations and the guest list and the reception and the dress and the… Well, whatever else weddings involved. He wasn’t really sure. But didn’t Jenna deserve that? Didn’t Jenna deserve to walk down the aisle towards Jack on her father’s arm?
Jack wasn’t seeking the man’s approval. He could care less what the man thought, but he knew that Mr. Scanlon’s rejection and Mrs. Scanlon’s actions had hurt Jenna.
Mrs. Scanlon was serving time for her crimes and she would never have Jack’s forgiveness because her selfish actions had caused the death of an innocent woman.
Though Mr. Scanlon was innocent of her crimes, he had done nothing to stop his now ex-wife.
Jack could care less about what Mr. Scanlon thought of him.
The man didn’t deserve a daughter as good and purehearted as Jenna.
But Jenna deserved a father who was kind, accepting, and loved her enough to let her make her own choices and decisions.
Jack hated that she didn’t have that and it wasn’t something he could give to her.
The passenger door to his truck opened. Lilly tossed her backpack onto the floorboard before climbing in.
“Hi, Jackie!”
“Hi, Lillypad.” His little sister was almost ten years old.
How the hell had that happened? They were already planning on celebrating her birthday in South Carolina, because it was the same week as Jack’s graduation from boot camp.
She was also the only person in the world who got away with calling him ‘Jackie’. “How was school?”
“Boring. We’re so close to the end of the year that most of the teachers just have us watching movies or slideshows. Mrs. Bulow’s carousel projector got jammed so she took us outside for an extra recess.”
“That’s awesome.” Jack carefully pulled out of the lineup to head home.
“Is Jenna coming over tonight?”
Despite his mental concerns, Jack’s heart still skipped a beat at the mention of Jenna’s pending arrival. “She is.”
“She’s taking me dress shopping for the wedding on Sunday.”
Jack already knew that. Lilly was upset that she was only allowed to skip school on Tuesday to attend the wedding, unlike Jack and Jenna who were also missing Monday and Wednesday next week. But she was thrilled about getting a new dress as well as a sister.
Lilly didn’t seem to be grasping the concept of ‘sister-in-law’ and instead kept referring to Jenna as her future ‘sister’. Not that Jenna or Jack really cared. In truth, Jenna found it adorable and claimed that she already thought of Lilly as a sister, which of course had made Lilly’s day.
Jack knew that Jenna had a dress already for the wedding. He hadn’t seen it and knew nothing about it. All she’d said was that she’d found it while prom dress shopping, so Jack wasn’t entirely sure what to expect.
He was wearing his black suit with a black tie. Done and simple.
But wasn’t simple the problem here? Jenna deserved extravagant.
“Are you nervous, Jackie?”
He glanced to his sister before turning his eyes back to the road. “What? Why would you ask that?”
“You’re doing that thing with your nose.”
Jack blinked. “My nose?”
She nodded, very self-assured. “Whenever you’re nervous, your nose does this little flaring thing. But it’s not a constant. It just flares every few minutes.”
Jack looked at his sister quickly. “What?”
“Trust me,” she pressed. “You do it. So what are you nervous about?”
“I’m not,” he insisted. Lilly moved over on the bench seat and touched her fingertip to his nostril, pushing it into his nose. After a second, he asked in a nasally voice, “What are you doing?”
“Wait for it…” They were nearly home when she shouted, “Ha! Nose flare!” She took her hand away. “You’re nervous. Spill, Jackie. Is it about Jenna?”
Jack let out a long groan, pulling into the driveway. “You should work for the CIA. They wouldn’t need to torture prisoners of war if you were their interrogator.”
Lilly beamed at him.
He turned off the truck. “I’m not nervous,” he repeated.
When she raised her pointer finger as if to touch his nose again, he leaned back out of her reach and said more forcefully, “I’m not!
Really! It’s just…” He sighed, rubbing his hand down his face.
“I love Jenna and I want to marry her. But what if I’m rushing things?
What if marrying her now is a mistake and we should wait?
I mean, at least until I graduate from boot camp. ”
“Hmm…” Lilly tapped her finger against her chin in thought. “I have two questions for you.”
Jack raised an eyebrow. “Shoot.”
“First, would it make a difference? Would you love her more or less if you married her on Tuesday or in August?”
Jack shook his head. “No.”
“So it’s your pride then that’s giving you cold feet. You want to marry her as a ‘big bad Marine’,” she used air-quotes, “and not a high school senior.”
Jack hadn’t considered the fact that he wasn’t out of high school yet. Neither of them were. When he’d done the same comparison a few minutes ago outside Lilly’s school, he’d called himself a ‘bagboy’.
But she did have a point. It was the fact that he wasn’t yet a Marine that was giving him cold feet.
Lilly continued without pause, “If being a Marine is more important than marrying Jenna, then wait. She’ll do it if it’s what she thinks you want. But if you love her like I think you do, then it won’t matter, Jackie. High school senior or senior citizen, you’ll still love her.”
Jack stared at his little sister. She was getting so freaking tall.
Jenna and Lilly loved to cook together on the weekends, but Lilly’s little chubby body that she’d had as an infant then a toddler and then as a kid was thinning out with her height.
She was going to be a knockout when she hit high school—and Jack was going to be right there with his service rifle to scare off all the boys.
“When did you get so smart?” he asked her softly.
She smiled at him. “I’ve always been smart. You just refused to believe your little sister could be smarter than you.”
Jack shook his head at her silliness. “You’ve always been smarter than me, Lillypad.” He opened his arms to her. Lilly scooted over to throw her arms around his neck. He crushed her to his chest. “Thank you. You’re right that it was my pride talking, making me question what I already know.”
“That’s why you need me around,” she told him, clinging to his neck with all her might. “I know how to see through your pride and tell you when you’re being a dumbass.”
Jack chuckled. “I always need you around.” He rubbed his palm against her back. “You know that, right? No matter that I’m getting married on Tuesday. I will always need my little sister.”
Lilly nodded onto his throat. “I know. And one day, when it’s my turn to get married, you’ll be the one to give me away.”
Jack cringed. “No man will ever be worthy of you.”
The siblings held each other for another long moment before Lilly moved back. Jack rubbed his thumbs under her eyes to wipe away her tears.
“What was the second question you wanted to ask me?” She’d already helped him see through his mind’s bullshit with her first, but he was still curious.
Lilly pointed behind him out his driver’s door window. “Who do we know that drives a limo?”
Jack turned in his seat. Across the street from their house was a shiny, black limo.