There’s an instant hush over the crowd.
You could hear a pin drop.
James looks around, totally satisfied, and then looking at me, he makes his way down from the podium, grabs both my hands and hurries us both out the nearest exit.
“Wha- James? What are you doing?” I ask him, laughing nervously as he breaks into a jog to his car before the crowd catches on he’s actually leaving.
“We’re going to see your dad,” he says, his eyes shining with delight.
“I’ve got some great news for him. And I need to ask him something, kind of a favor,” he adds with extra mischief in his voice.
I try and get him to tell me all the way to the hospital, but he won’t say another word about it, only smiles like a lunatic every time he looks over at me.
Only telling me how much he loves me and not saying anything else, no matter how much I bug him about it.
The nurse at the hospital repeats what she told me on the phone. “Mr. Newland is very tired. He’s not to be disturbed,” she says firmly.
“Oh, I think he’ll want to see his daughter,” James says innocently. “Just for a minute?” he asks, flashing one of those winning smiles of his and making her blush.
“Well, I could ask,” she murmurs, and in a few moments we’re both sitting by my dad’s bedside, his face turned away as he huffs in anger.
“Dad, did you see James’ speech just now?” I ask, and he snorts, pretending to sleep as he closes his eyes.
I feel James’ hand on my arm, signaling he’ll take it from here.
“My first action as Mayor was to appoint a deputy,” he says in his best business voice.
“Someone who’ll act on my behalf, every duty, every job the position calls for with full salary and entitlements, just like the Mayor would,” he adds.
I watch my dad’s face as he rolls over in his bed, wincing a little from pain, but looking just as confused as everyone at the town hall.
“What have you done?” he asks, his face falling.
“I’ve passed it with the council, Bob. I’ve nominated you as my deputy, Mayor in title and deed really, because as of today and for the next whole year… We’re on holiday.
“We?” My dad asks, yelping when he sits up, but the color returning to his face, his eyes wide with excitement.
“Krystal and me, maybe not so much holiday as… a honeymoon?”
Dad’s eyes narrow and he starts to turn a shade of purple, but James is quick to remind him of something.
Me? I’m still wondering if I just heard him right.
Did he just say honeymoon?
“You said Bob; that if I brought Krystal back to you, then all would be forgiven. That you’d owe me one. Remember?”
Dad’s shoulders shrink and he groans, nodding.
“I knew it,” he mumbles, then looking over to me, “I knew you were lying to me, Krystal,” he says mournfully.
That hurts a bit because I never lied to my dad. Not really.
“Krystal never lied, Bob. And I only ever omitted one or two things, we wanted to wait until after the election, to avoid any scandal,” James says matter of fact.
Dad grunts. “Scandal! Then what would you call this?”
But all I can do is ask James, “Did you just say honeymoon?”
“I did,” he assures me, and taking my dad’s hand under his he asks him properly.
“Mayor Newland, Bob. I love your daughter and I want to marry her. I want to give her a home and a family, I want to make her the happiest woman in the world. But I want your blessing, I want a place at our table with you in it. I want you to be a part of our family…”
“Honeymoon,” I hear myself say again like I’ve lost my mind.
My dad’s quiet for a long time and James waits patiently for him to speak.
“I knew I’d lost her, long before she ran off to that cabin,” he muses quietly to himself.
“All I’ve ever had is her and being Mayor.” It looks like dad’s about to tell James where he can stick his deputy Mayor and his proposal, but he suddenly looks up at us both, smiling.
“I guess with your deal, Mr. Silverthorn, I get to keep my job and my daughter, is that right? Just not in the way I might have imagined it say, yesterday?” he asks, suddenly looking more cheerful.
“Exactly!” James agrees. “You’ll still be Mayor, provisionally. And you’ll still have your daughter, only you’ll also be gaining a son,” he beams, sounding more like a used car salesman than a self-made millionaire businessman.
“Well, go ahead and ask her,” my dad cries out. “Don’t ask me, I’m not the one you’re trying to put a ring on!”
I’m sure I’m still mouthing the word honeymoon as James kneels down in front of me, producing a small velvet box that makes me gasp, and suddenly come right back down to earth.