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“Can you help me change it, Bryce?” Colleen asked.
“Can you help me change it? Bryce? Please? Please help me.”
Dear Lord. This was going to be a long afternoon.
* * *
THEPUBLICSAFETYbuilding, half begun and currently stalled, was in a state of chaos. First of all, every one of the three agencies—police, ambulance and fire—felt that theirs was the most important. Lucas had already changed the plans so the police department office was situated between the fire and ambulance departments, because apparently those two fought the way his twin nieces did over who got to sit in the front.
Besides that, the ventilation had to be specialized, and the alarm system was fairly complicated. It was tricky to make such a functional building also be attractive inside and out, and the builder who’d quit hadn’t tried very hard. Lucas had requested the plans, then got to work on the design. He moved the back entrance so it didn’t come right into the fire department kitchen, repositioned Dispatch to the back of the building and reinforced the walls, added some windows on the eastern side so the place didn’t look like a crematorium. The town council was falling over with gratitude.
It was nice to be needed.
Funny, how much he really did love construction work. Never minded it a bit in the summertime during college, though back then, he thought it would be temporary.
When Frank Forbes had first summoned him after learning that Lucas had impregnated his angel, it was fair to say that Lucas expected to be thrown from the fifty-fifth story.
Frank Forbeswasfurious. Lucas couldn’t blame him. “So you want to marry my daughter, do you?” he asked.
“Yes, sir.”
“And why is that?”
“It’s the right thing to do.”
“The right thing.” Frank shook his head. “How do you plan to support them, my daughter and grandchild? You won’t be able to work if you’re in law school.”
“No, sir. I withdrew and got a job with Windy City Construction. I start on Monday. I can join the union after a year.”
Mr. Forbes gave him a long look, his jaw knotty. The silence was leaden.
Then he took a sharp breath. “Quit Windy City. You’ll work for this company, on construction, because Johnny Hall says you’re not bad. You’ll earn what all people at your level earn, and you’ll have a health care plan, same as all my employees. Windy City has an abominable safety record, and their work is shoddy at best.”
Lucas hesitated. “I’d rather make my own way, Mr. Forbes.”
“Yes, well, you should’ve thought of that before you got my daughter pregnant!” he snapped. Then he took another deep breath. “You and Ellen can live in one of my apartment buildings,” he went on. “I don’t want my daughter and grandchild living in a bad neighborhood, and that student apartment of hers isn’t big enough for a baby. You, however, will support your family. You will pay your bills on time, and I will never bail you out financially. You will sign a prenup saying you’ll never get a dime of Ellen’s trust fund. I will pay for Ellen’s law school; you will pay for your family’s living expenses. You will give this marriage a real try. If you hurt, mistreat or cheat on my daughter, I promise you your body will never be found. I love my daughter. She’s the most important thing in the world to me. Do you understand me, young man?”
“Yes, sir. I imagine I’ll feel the same way about my own kids.”
Because yes. He was going to be a father, and if some kid from the wrong side of the tracks knocked up his baby girl, he imagined he wouldn’t be quite as civilized as Frank Forbes.
Frank looked at him for a long minute.
Then, to Lucas’s extreme surprise, he sighed, all the anger seeping out of him like air from a balloon. He walked around his desk and hugged Lucas. “Welcome to the family. I don’t like how it happened, but I appreciate the fact that you’re owning up to your responsibilities. My daughter is smart, and she says you’re honorable and decent. She loves you, and whether I like it or not, you’re part of the family now.”
You could’ve knocked him over with a feather. Lucas had expected Frank Forbes to try to pay him off or threaten him. Possibly beat the shit out of him, which, Lucas admitted, he deserved.
Instead, Mr. and Mrs. Forbes took him and Ellen out to dinner that night. They asked about his family, expressed their condolence over the loss of his parents, murmured sympathetically when he told them the truth about his father’s criminal activity. In fact, Frank had already run a background check on him and knew full well how both parents died. And again, Lucas would’ve done the same for his daughter.
A daughter (or son) who was growing in Ellen’s belly right now.
Lucas did all the right things. Held her hand, held her chair, asked how she was feeling, went to the obstetrician’s office with her. He cooked for her, which she thought was charming, and listened to her when she talked.
He’d always wanted kids.
He couldn’t think about Colleen. That was forbidden now. He was with Ellen, and they were starting a family. The only thing to do was be a man about it.
Though it had been thrown together at the last minute, the wedding was at a huge downtown hotel with three hundred and fifty guests, five bridesmaids and an eleven-piece band at the reception. Frank made a speech and referred to Lucas as a fine young man who’d put himself through college, who knew the value of a hard day’s work. Hugged him, reminded him to treat Ellen like the princess she was, and seemed to bear him no ill will whatsoever.
