Author's Note:
Thanks to my friend for the use of his form and for Tseranc for the use of his editing skills. Enjoy ~ Red.
*
She blew her hair from her face and looked at the flat tire, she then looked down at the white dress she was wearing. She then started to cry and that was how he found her.
"Miss?"
Kimberly turned around and wiped a tear from her cheek, before looking up at the man in front of her. "Yes?" she asked, though she knew what he was going to ask her.
Frank looked at the woman before her, gauging her age to be about thirty, perhaps thirty-five, either way it was an age that seemed a little young to be stuck on the side of the road with a flat, while wearing a long white wedding gown. "Are you late? Or are you running?" he asked.
"Both?" she whispered and the tears fell hard and fast. "I'm late and I'm running." Her brown eyes filled with unshed tears which didn't stay that way for long as they fell down in rivers upon her freckled cheeks. Kimberly's shoulders slumped and her hands came up to cover her face as she leaned back against the car and let the words spill from her lipstick-covered lips. Suddenly, she just erupted and began to tell him everything.
"I'm late, you know pregnant late and I am running from the wedding. I know I should be at the altar giving the baby a Dad, but oh it so shouldn't be that guy. Sure he's the father, but I was on my way to the church and it was like this light bulb went on in my head. It blinked, Kimberly, you can't marry him. Sure you're knocked up, but he's not worth it. He has no job, no future, no prospects. You'll support him and his habits. You need to stop now." She looked up at the older man and sniffed. "I wish that light had blinked on months ago."
Frank chewed on his lower lip and studied the young groomless bride. "Let me take you somewhere. You can't drive, you're in no condition to and the baby you are carrying isn't going to be really happy you're having stress."
She took several breaths and pulled her hands away from her face and looked at him through swollen, red eyes. She sniffed. Kimberly really studied the man this time. She wished she could say she was an excellent judge of character, but she wasn't. That was obvious, she thought as she patted her slightly curved belly. Her brown eyes sought out his green ones and she relaxed immediately. He wasn't going to harm her, she read it in his eyes as well as in the way he looked at her.
"Thanks, I appreciate it. I'll call a tow truck when I get home," she said quietly. "Let me get my purse." Kimberly started to walk away then stopped and walked back to him. "My name's Kimberly Myers," she extended her hand. "It would have been Trembly, but thank God that's not going to happen now."
"Frank DeMarco," Frank said as he took her hand in his and shook it firmly. "Kimberly Trembly wouldn't have been a bad name, but if the guy wasn't the best stock then it is good to have left before you tied the knot." He released her hand and walked back to his car while she collected her purse and whatever else she may have needed.
As Frank got into his Cadillac he watched the short redhead grab her purse and he found himself staring at the round ass that was wiggling as she reached in and got her belongings. "Down boy," he told himself. "She's young enough to be your daughter." He watched her lock her car up and come toward him, he reached over and unlocked her door and watched her gather up the large white skirt of the dress and slide in. In her hands she had her purse and a small suitcase, which he took and placed in the rear seat.
"Spare clothes," she told him as she tried to buckle up, but was finding it difficult with the amount of puffy, white, material that was billowing everywhere. "Damn, I should have eloped. . . no, I guess it is good that I didn't." She finally got buckled and grinned at Frank. "I was thinking that they are going to come looking for me at my place. Would you take me into the city? I'll grab a hotel. I'll call mom and dad and let them know I'm safe. Then I'm getting out of this Barbie doll dress."
Frank chuckled and agreed to take her wherever she desired. He hadn't had an adventure in years and he looked forward to one now more then he realized. "How far along are you?" he asked. He had casually checked out her figure while she'd been crying, her head buried in her hands, and saw no real sign of being pregnant.
"Just a few weeks," she answered back. She ran her hand over her stomach and wondered again if she'd made the right decision in keeping the baby. She patted her belly, grinned and decided to stop second guessing herself and accept the fact that she was going to be a mom. Now, she was going to be a single mom. "I met Tim at a party and we hit it off, but then I sobered up." She giggled. "We dated off and on. He didn't have a job, no money. . . a real bum, but," she sighed. "I am thirty-two and not married, never have been and damn it," she sniffed. "I wanted to be married."
"But?" Frank asked, knowing there was more. He drove and listened to the woman, who had moments ago confirmed she was indeed young enough to be his daughter, Frank had only been off one year. He was sixty-seven and had lost his wife several years ago. Now he dated a few women in town that knew him, but all where his age. His son was married and his wife was in her late thirties. He glanced at Kimberly and found himself wishing he was forty again. He'd been a looker at forty, now he was anything from it, or so he thought.
They drove onward Kimberly found herself growing very comfortable in the older man's presence. She wasn't sure how old he was and she wasn't about to ask, but she knew he would be somewhere in his late fifties or early sixties. She found that comforting, so comforting that she was soon asleep with her head leaning against the window of her door.
Frank chuckled while he listened to the young woman sleeping beside him. How long had it been since a woman fell asleep on him and it wasn't because she was too old to keep up with his active lifestyle? He thought back to his wife Helen and how busy they had always been. Volunteering in the community after he retired from the Service as well as working at a few of the local shops, just to have something to fill his time with.
When Helen passed it had taken him a while to get moving again, but when he did he never thought about the ladies his age not keeping up with him. Helen always had. He saw Kimberly sleeping and knew it wasn't that she couldn't keep up because of age, but because of her condition and the fact she was under a lot of stress. He sighed and quietly continued driving deeper into the city, hating the fact that the woman beside him wasn't his bride in white.