The Devil You Know: Chapter 59

One of Todd Manning’s laments about his life was it always seemed to go too slow.  It took him too long to heal after Ireland and because of that, Blair had seemingly moved on.  He had been gone for eight years, time he would never get back with his family.  Time, for him, seemed to stop, or go in reverse.



That was why it felt weird for him to be two days away from his wedding.  It felt like yesterday when the kids had shown up at the MetroCourt to get moving on the rest of the wedding plans and now, it was December thirtieth.  Todd knew part of the reason it was going fast was to help him cope with the family that was here for it, his and Blair’s.  Cassie had shown up a few days ago, not surprisingly with Andrew Carpenter.  It was good to see the family priest and Todd had, of course, asked him to perform the ceremony.  But there was something in the look Andrew had on his face as he answered that made Todd suspicious. 



Something was up and Todd was determined to figure it out.  He was sharing his suspicions with Blair in his office when Victor waltzed in, unannounced.  “Alright, come on, we got places to go,” his twin said in an annoyed tone.



Todd looked to Blair than back to Victor.  “Go where?”



“Don’t ask questions, just move your ass,” Victor retorted.



“I’m not moving my ass until you tell me where to move it to!”  He’d be taken away from his family one time to many to trust when someone wanted to take him somewhere. 



Victor saw the mild panic in Todd’s eyes and understood where his brother was coming from.  “The Floating Rib,” he answered.



“You’re taking me to a dive bar?  What for?”  He looked to Blair, who rolled her eyes before he understood.  “I’m getting a bachelor party?  Is that such a good idea for me?”



“Will you just get moving!  Don’t worry, there’s not going to be much debauchery,” Victor assured him with a smirk.  As Todd stood up and moved to the office door, Victor added, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he gets to the chapel on time.  No psychos, no car crushers, nothing is going to stop this wedding.”



Blair smiled at Victor before taking Todd in her arms.  “Whatever is up, he’s in on it.”



“Yeah, I can tell that,” Todd said.  Then he looked deeply in her eyes.  “I really don’t want to go with him.  I want to spend every second with you before the wedding.  Trying it the traditional way hasn’t worked well for us in the past, has it?”



She shook her head, remembering then night before the Gold Balloon wedding, her with Dorian and him finding out the truth about his father.  Then, the night before their remarriage, when Max set them up had turned that wedding into a horror show.  “No, the traditional way hasn’t worked.”



“Then I’ll tell him to pound salt, and we’ll go back to the house and lock ourselves in the bedroom for forty-eight hours.  How does that sound?”



“If necessary, I will pull you out of there by your ear!” Victor yelled.



“Sounds like it won’t happen,” Blair answered wryly.  “Go on, get out of here.”  They walked into the reception area together as the elevator doors opened and Starr, Dorian and Cassie stepped out. 



“You haven’t left yet?” Starr asked anxiously. 



“Slow poke here isn’t too enthusiastic,” Victor commented as he pointed to Todd.



“Well, I’m going now,” Todd said.  He turned back to Blair and kissed her, deeply and with the point of embarrassing those that were there.  It went on for a few good minutes until he was jerked away by Victor into the elevator.  They rode down to the lobby and got into the car in silence.  Finally, when they got to the Floating Rib, Todd used his cane to keep Victor in the driver’s seat. 



“You are going to tell me now what it going on,” Todd demanded.



Victor tried to remove it from across his chest, but Todd put more pressure on it.  Victor looked at him and sighing said, “Jack is in there.  He’ll tell you.”  His then pushed the cane away and went in.



Todd followed and found the place nearly empty.  The usual bartender, Coleman, was at his place, along with Jack and three generations of Buchanan men.  Clint, Cord, CJ and, to his surprise, Joey were all at the bar.  Also there was Jasper Jacks.  “Wow, all this for me?  You really shouldn’t have.”



Clint offered a narrowed glare.  “Well, considering you have so many friends to start with…”



CJ just rolled his eyes at his grandfather.  Then he turned to his uncle.  “I’m just happy this is happening for you…again,” he said with a smile.



The image of a young, blonde boy walking down the aisle with a ring pillow flashed in Todd’s brain and, by the look on his nephew’s face, it did in CJ’s as well.  “Well, this time, it will work out.”  Todd moved around and came face to face with his elder nephew.  “What, no Kevin?” he asked sardonically.



“I came because…I was there for the first one-“



“Second, actually.” Victor piped up with.



Joey just shook his head.  “I guess I wanted to be here for this.”



Todd nodded his head.  “Your mom talked you into it, right?”



Joey grimaced without answering then turned back towards the other men.  Todd walked over to his son.  “You organized all this?”



Jack gave his father a mirror image of Todd’s own smile.  “Well, that’s what a best man does, right?”



“Yes, that’s what he does.  He also tells the groom when something is going on,” Todd explained to him.  “John Cramer Manning, something is up and you are going to tell me what it is.”



As Jack scrambled to figure out a way to throw his father off, Blair was lying on her back getting a facial at the Metrocourt’s spa.  Starr was next to her, flipping through a a magazine while getting a pedicure.  “How is that feeling, Mom?”



“Heavenly.  Absolutely heavenly,” her mother answered.  “But we should have done this tomorrow.”



“Oh, the, um, spa was booked up for tomorrow.  People getting ready for New Year’s Eve parties and all that,” Starr replied. 



“Well, thankfully, we were able to do this today,” Blair said.  “And with having everything ready for the wedding, it is a much appreciated relaxation.  Thank you, sweetie.”



Starr smiled at her mother.  Blair had no idea what was going to be happening in the next twenty-four hours.  It seems as though the whole plan was going to work.



“Now, tell me what that little conniving mind is up to,” her mother then demanded.



Or would it?  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said with a hitched breath.



“You and Jack and the rest of the family have been up to something and I want to know what it is.”  She looked at her daughter and saw the classic caught expression on her face.  “Starr Manning…”



Starr didn’t know what to say.  Sure, she had been caught any number of times throughout her childhood in some scheme or another.  Usually, she was in cahoots with her father.  But now, for some reason, she could feel the walls crumbling around her.  She closed her eyes as she said, “The wedding isn’t going to be New Year’s Day.”  When she opened her eyes, she saw her mother’s raised eyebrow.  “It’s tomorrow.”



Blair reaction surprised her.  “Okay then.  I’m going to guess you planned it, right?”



Starr nodded.  “With help from Jessica and Aunt Tina.”



“TINA?!?’  Blair exploded.  “Why Tina?”



“Well, it was just after Dad came out of his episode from the Nurse’s Ball and I needed help, and Tina was there…” Starr began.



Blair waved her off.  “Fine, Tina helped you.”



“It was just in the organization.  We were working off Dad’s plans,” Starr said to assuage her mother’s obvious concerns.  “Dad actually had everything planned down to the last detail.  We just put the plans into action.”



The pregnancy hormones may have gotten to her, because Blair’s eyes welled up with tears.  It was so like Todd to plan their wedding.  She was briefly transported back to the ballroom at the Palace Hotel and gold balloons were floating down around them.  “Todd…planned the wedding?”



“He recreated your prefect day.  I think he’s been working on it for a while.  He just never got the chance to move forward with it all, for some reason,” Starr told her.  “But it’s tomorrow night in the ballroom here.”



Blair gave her daughter a watery smile.  “And you saw it through.  Oh, Starr!”



“It’s my dream come true.  I’ve been trying to get you back together for years.”



“And now, it’s going to happen,” Blair said.



Just then, Dorian and Cassie came into the spa and Blair began telling them the news.  Neither woman made a good attempt at being surprised but Cassie basked in Blair obvious joy while Dorian remained her usual reticent self with anything to do with Todd Manning. 



While the Cramer women talked Starr sent a text message to her brother.  Jack had, by then, found a way out of admitting anything to Todd.  Nonetheless, when he read the message, he verbalized a curse.



“Bad hand?” Todd asked.  The party had evolved into a poker game, one that Jack was cleaning up at. 



Jack looked at his father.  “The wedding is tomorrow,” he blurted out. 



Todd smiled.  “I knew something was- -wait, what?”



In as fast a tone as he could manage, Jack spilled about the wedding being the next day and how Starr, Jessica and Tina had used Todd’s own plans.  Much like his fiancée, Todd latched on to one piece of information.  “Tina helped?”  He leaned his forehead in his hand, wincing as he did so.  “If there is one scrap of leopard print anything, so help me…”



“Starr found your plans, Dad.  It’s going to be just like you envisioned it,” Jack said, trying to calm him.



Todd sat back in his chair as Coleman came up to him.  “You look like man who’s about to be led to his execution.”  The bartender failed to see Victor’s expression at his crack, but Todd did, feeling a moment of upset for his brother. 



The moment passed, though and Todd’s smile slowly grew as the realization hit him.  He was going to be getting married tomorrow.  Married, again, to Blair Cramer.  For the fourth time.  The last time.  He looked over at Coleman, after eyeing his twin.  “If that is a death sentence, I will gladly go through it a hundred times more.”


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