Page 20 of Fathers of the Bride

“You did?”

“I told him I didn’t want to marry someone with the kind of money he has.”

“And how did he get around that?”

“Well, first he laughed. He never expected anyone to say anything remotely like that. And then he realized I was serious. That’s when he told me a secret. When his parents are gone, he wants to give all the money away. And he wants me to help him with that.”

“Can you trust him though?”

“Oh Papa, you didn’t see his face when he said it. I know he means it.”

Part of me wanted to dispute that. Even if Avery was sincere—and for the sake of argument let’s say he was—it was never a good idea to take someone at their word regarding what they planned to do decades down the road. Life had a tendency to throw you off track. But I couldn’t say that… the look onherface. She was happy and her happiness was infectious. I found myself standing there, dumbly smiling at her. I shook myself.

“Has he mentioned a prenup?”

She shook her head. “No. I’m the one who brought it up.”

“Have you seen it yet?”

“Oh, no, he doesn’t want one.”

“He doesn’t—” I tried to wrap my head around that. All that money and, presumably all the money he’d get in the future, and he didn’t… “Well, it sounds like you found a good one.”

“I did.”

“And you really want Daddy to do your wedding?”

“I want youbothto do it.”

“You know it’ll be mostly Miles.”

She shrugged.

A moment later, I asked, “Doesn’t Avery want to be involved?”

“He doesn’t care. He says he’ll marry me any time and any place. All I have to do is tell him where to be.”

“And his family? They don’t mind?”

“That’s a little trickier. They like to get their way.”

“Do they? Well, that reminds me of someone I know.”

“Papa.”

“You’ve got a lot of good will built up with these people. They want to like you. Don’t blow it all out of the water first thing.”

I looked back at Miles and asked my daughter, “How much longer do you want to torture him?”

“Exercise is good for people your age.”

“I don’t think you’ll ever convince Daddy of that.”

“We’ll turn around in a minute. Even though Daddy will probably make a lot of the decisions, if you would… I’d like the wedding to be green. Zero impact.”

“Can I buy carbon emission credits?” I asked. It was a joke. I didn’t think that was a thing. Not for average people.

“No, you can’t. You have to do everything the smart way.”