Ignitable

Ignitable - Chapter Twenty Four

"Anna is right, once you are married, you will soon learn just how late our girl can be. This one will be late for her own funeral, let me tell you that. God willing, I won't be around to have to endure her incurable lateness, though." Sophia's father is winking at his daughter as he politely reaches out to shake my hand. "Nice to meet you, Cade...I'm Vinny." Although he only has small hands, he has a firm and strong grip. "It's about time that we met." His smile is natural; natural and genuine. "Let me show you something."

Sophia calls out to her dad, who is already guiding me through the hallway. "Dad? Where are you going with my future husband?"

Turning with a smile, Vinny pats my right shoulder. "To the garage. It's called bonding with my future son in law." He then pats me again, a little harder this time. "As a man who drives a BMW i8, I think you'll appreciate what I'm just about to show you, Cade." Leading the way, his grin is one that insists on me following him.

Following Vinny through to the end of the hallway and through to the shaker-style kitchen, I am soon being shown outside and into a large double garage that's attached to the classic 1930's detached property. Before going right inside, I quickly admire the extensive and secluded garden that is so impressively lawned with established shrubs that all prettily border the grassy area. I also can't help but notice a summer house that sits in the corner of this very pleasant garden, charmingly sheltered by a wild cherry tree. I love this garden. This is the kind of garden that I would love to spend time in. The shag pad doesn't even have a potted plant, so I can fully appreciate a garden such as this. "You have a lovely home." I'm soon looking for Vinny, wanting him to know how much I like his well-loved home.

"The house and garden are very nice, but this...this is mechanical perfection." His hands are caressing the shiniest bonnet I think I have ever seen. "She's a 1965 Triumph Spitfire Mark II. Isn't she a beauty?" He doesn't even look my way, he's enjoying the feel of his beloved car far too much to even want to lift his eyes away from the red curves of his priceless soft-top. "There are only two things that I love more than this perfectly designed car—my wife and my daughter—which is why I would do time for anyone who harms a single hair on either one of their precious heads." His eyes start burning holes into mine; searing holes of fatherly protectiveness. "I am yet to know you, Cade, but my daughter has chosen you as the man to own her heart. I trust in my daughters heart, because it is a heart that loves to love. It's a good and honest heart, one that sees what others often cannot see." Standing taller, with only the tips of his fingers now gliding across the bonnet of the Spitfire, his eyes never leave mine. "I have heard many things about you, boy...things that a father doesn't ever want to hear." Vinny frowns now, a perplexity that causes deep creases across the bridge of his nose. "But, I've also seen how happy you make my daughter. She talks of all the things that you're prepared to do for the two of you. That to me, doesn't sound like the selfish and arrogant man that I've been warned about. That to me, sounds like an evolving man." Minimising what space there is between us, Sophia's father stands right in front of me now. "An evolving man is a man I can welcome into this family, Cade. There's a protective part of me that thinks that you and Sophia are going too fast, rushing too far ahead with your love for one another. But I'm also a man who knows all about love, Cade. I know that time cannot control love. Love is what controls time. I know that, and I think you know that too. Which is why I'll give both you and my daughter my blessing to go ahead with this quick wedding. I'll give it, because I believe that you're really trying to change." Reaching out to take a firm hold of my shoulder, those dark eyes of his start to bore into me all over again. "I'll only say this once, though...if you ever hurt my daughter, I will knock you onto your Lapley ass—without question, I will."

Respectfully, I look him truthfully right in the eye. "If I ever hurt your daughter, I would want you to knock me on my Lapley ass."