It's Better This Way(44)

His smile grew, and so did Carrie’s.



* * *



—

Hillary had a table outside on the patio and was waiting for Carrie once she arrived. Carrie quickly collected her lunch and joined her cousin. The hospital cafeteria food wasn’t half bad. The two occasionally met at the hospital, as Hillary had only an hour’s break. To make the most of their time, Carrie generally joined Hillary there. At first she’d had her doubts about finding any cafeteria food appetizing, but she’d been pleasantly surprised.

    The sun was out and several hospital staff were also taking advantage of summer on the patio. Carrie slid her tray onto the tabletop and claimed the seat across from her cousin.

“Thanks for coming,” Hillary said, as she unwrapped her sandwich.

“You said something about your dad.” Carrie didn’t mean to leap directly into the conversation; however, time was slipping away.

Hillary nodded. “Dad showed up uninvited at my apartment the day before yesterday. I hadn’t seen him in nearly six years, so it was a shock.”

“I bet.”

“He asked if we could talk,” she said, lowering her gaze. “Seeing that he was at my front door, I couldn’t very well ignore him.” She shrugged, as if it was hard to admit how eager she was to talk to her father.

“Of course not.”

“He congratulated me and said he was excited for me and Blake and wanted to talk about the wedding.”

The engagement was exactly what was needed to get Hillary, Marie, and their dad talking again. While neither of her cousins would admit it, they missed him. If the situation were reversed, Carrie knew she would miss her father terribly. It was stubborn pride that had kept them apart this long. Carrie knew Hillary had the stronger personality, and Marie would follow her sister’s lead. Eddie had made a terrible mistake early on and had paid a price. The entire family had.

    “He said it had been wrong to say what he did…you know, about Marie and I accepting Laura.”

“He actually apologized?” Wow, this was unexpected. “That’s great.”

“I thought so. He asked for a hug, and I gave it to him.”

“I know how hard this separation has been for all of you,” Carrie said. “I couldn’t be happier for you.” To have Eddie finally admit he’d been in the wrong was colossal. It changed everything. However, if he had patched things up with his family, then it didn’t make sense that her cousin had asked her not to say anything to their mothers.

“What happened?” Carrie asked.

“I should have known,” Hillary said, and her voice wobbled as she struggled to hold back emotion. “I should have known.”

“What?” Carrie pried.

“Dad offered to help with the wedding expenses. I put money down on the wedding dress and asked the shop to hold on to both, in case I could squeeze an extra six hundred dollars out of our budget for the more expensive one. When I mentioned the dress, Dad offered to make up the difference so I could have the one I wanted.”

Carrie waited, knowing there was more to come, and whatever it was had deeply wounded Hillary. Her cousin had tears in her eyes as she fiddled with the plastic wrap from her sandwich.

“Then he said he wanted to pay for the wedding invitations.” She swallowed tightly. “He went so far as to write out the way he wanted them to read, and wouldn’t you know, he listed Laura’s name.”

    Carrie shook her head, angered at her uncle’s blatant attempt at manipulation. “In other words, he’d pay, with several strings attached to his generosity.”

Straightening her shoulders, Hillary continued. “I explained that given the circumstances, Blake and I had decided we weren’t going to list either set of parents on the invites. Blake and I were the ones paying for most of the wedding costs, and we were the ones sending out the announcements, not our parents.”

“That makes sense.”

“But Dad insisted that if he was putting money into the dress, then he was contributing, and therefore his and Laura’s name should be included.”

Oh boy, Carrie could see where this was going, and it didn’t look promising.

“Then I said he could keep his money. I made sure he realized I couldn’t be bought, and furthermore, I had no intention of ever inviting Laura to the wedding.”

So Hillary had thrown down the gauntlet.

“At that point, Dad blew up at me,” she continued, “and said I was being vindictive and unreasonable.”

This was what Carrie had feared.

“Then he blamed Mom and said she was the reason, which we all know isn’t even close to the truth. I made sure he knew Mom had been after us to mend fences all along, only I doubt he believed me.

“He needed to know the only one keeping us from him was himself. I told him he couldn’t shove Laura down my throat and reminded him that in all the time he’s been married, not once has she made an effort to reach out to either Marie or me, and frankly, I was glad. I wanted nothing to do with her, and if his apology was his way of forcing me to accept her, then he had wasted his time and he could keep his money.”

    How quickly their meeting had disintegrated. Not only were Hillary and her dad both stubborn, they both had a temper. “So that was it?”