“What is he doing here?” a male voice cried out.
Oh, crap. Too late. Bliss rose and dashed from the room into the hallway, which was clogged with people.
Some of them stepped back and cleared a path so she could see what was going on. Yup. Just as I thought.
Drake stood still while her father poked him in the chest. “You’re not good enough for my daughter. If you want to be part of this family, you have to know how to stand and defend yourself.”
Wow, that’s for sure. “Dad!” Bliss elbowed her way to her father. “Leave my boyfriend alone.”
“But he ran away. One little insult and he was gone.” Romeo Russo was using his hands to talk in grand gestures destined to whack someone in the face.
“I wasn’t insulted,” Drake said.
Bliss reached him and whispered in his ear. “Yes, you were. It was the only way to explain your disappearance.”
“I’ve got this, honey.” Drake put his arm around her shoulder and addressed her parents. “Mr. and Mrs. Russo. I’m sure you must know how unnerving it can be to meet your future bride’s family, and then when you think they dislike you for some reason—”
“Bride?” Mrs. Russo’s hand covered her heart.
“Now, wait just a—”
Mrs. Russo’s other hand covered her husband’s mouth. “Blissy, did you know about this?”
Bliss stared at Drake’s face, looking for a clue. He seemed perfectly calm and happy. Then he winked at her.
What is he up to? “Uh, no, Mom, I didn’t.”
“I wasn’t planning on doing this until after the winner’s announced, but maybe you should know that win or lose, I want you in my life, Bliss.”
The hallway fell silent and all eyes were on her. She tried to whisper in his ear so they wouldn’t be overheard. “Are you sure? Even with the amount of insanity in my family?”
Drake chuckled. “I’m sure. And your family’s insanity isn’t that bad.”
They smiled at each other until Mrs. Russo burst out with, “Say something, Bliss!”
“Like what? I don’t think he proposed. He just said he wanted me in his life. I want him in mine too.”
“Even if your father doesn’t approve?” Mr. Russo asked and crossed his arms over his big barrel chest.
Bliss rolled her eyes. “Even if my father posted attack ads in the Boston Globe.” She palmed Drake’s cheek and kissed him.
Mrs. Russo tried to put her arm around her husband’s considerable waist and laid her head on his shoulder. “I’d say that no matter what happens in a few minutes, Bliss won the biggest prize of all. Love.”
Mr. Russo humphed. “There was a time when a girl had to have her father’s permission.”
Bliss broke the lip-lock to give her father an annoyed glare. “Yeah, and there was a time when you’d have had to pay him in goats to take me.”
Mr. Russo sighed. “Fine. How many goats would you like, Drake?”
“No goats. Just your beautiful daughter.” He swept a stray lock of hair behind Bliss’s ear and kissed it. “Does that mean you approve?”
“And start World War III with my wife if I don’t?”
Romeo Russo extended his hand and Drake shook it.
Just then, Judith reappeared and clapped her hands to get everyone’s attention. “It’s time to take your seats.”
The double doors to the auditorium opened, and as people filed through, the hallway emptied. Drake dropped Bliss’s hand and said, “Lead the way, honey.”
“I have to sit up on stage, but I’ll find you in the audience.”
“I’ll sit with your folks.”
Bliss chuckled. “You’re a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?”
***
Five hours of film later, the three finalists all sat on the edge of their seats. The jumbotrons set up on either side of the stage were used to showcase their work for a large audience. The giant screens made something as small as a greeting card or as flexible as an animated, online card look great.
Bliss had to admit the competitors’ designs were fantastic. Some of them. And some of hers were home runs too. It was really anybody’s contest.
At last the judges returned from their backstage deliberations and presented Judith with an envelope.
This is it. Either fifty grand in my hand or back to the drawing board.
She thought about how she and Drake might use the money. A down payment on a house, maybe? A magazine ad campaign to kick-start her business? There were no stipulations on how the money was to be spent. Bliss had previously only thought about winning it to pay off a small mountain of debt and maybe lengthen the vacation the winner got as part of the prize. She needed a long one.