A Friend of the Bride's

He and Amy couldn't meet each other's eyes. After he'd gone, I looked at her and managed to wipe the grin off my face. I could tell that my lovely lady was not nearly as amused.

"I'm sorry I made light of the situation, Amy, but it's one of the things you have to get used to. The public is fascinated by celebrities. When you're at home you try and protect your privacy as well as you can, but in public you just have to grin and bear it."

Amy managed a weak smile at first, but then she visibly brightened, seeming to come to terms with it. Unexpectedly, a wicked grin swept over her face.

"I'd say we sure 'bared' it for them," she said, conspiratorially. "Let's watch that video while we eat."

I nearly spewed my sip of fine wine. It was right at that moment that the very last of my doubts about stealing Amy away from Clint were dispelled.

The camera must have had that fancy image stabilization feature because the picture on the little fold out screen was quite clear – and very complete. There we were in all our impassioned glory.

"Wow," Amy said, awe in her voice and a blush on her face. "We flat got after it, didn't we?"

"Boy howdy, did we ever. I think it was even better than what we did with your little 'surprise' yesterday."

Amy covered her mouth with her hand and her face took on a look of profound shock and embarrassment. This wasn't exactly what I was expecting.

"Oh my God, Tim. This weekend has been so totally insane that I completely forgot your surprise!"

She could have fooled me. I thought I'd already had my surprise.

"So our little rendezvous yesterdaywasn't it?"

"No, it's something totally different. I can'tbelieve I forgot to tell you."

"Well, Amy, what is it?" Now I was dying to know.

"Um, well, there's a story to it."

I nodded. She was killing me with the suspense.

"After you disappeared, you know I hired that PI to try and find you a few years ago."

"Uh huh," I confirmed. It was like Chinese Water Torture now.

"Well, he managed to find and interview every one of your mom's relatives. None of them would admit to knowing anything about where you might have gone. A pretty unsavory group of people they are, if you'll forgive me for talking like that about your family."

"Not at all. You put it much more charitably than I would have."

"Well, I was pretty much forced to give up at that point. But after getting to know you so well this summer, I got to wondering about how you'd turned out to be such a nice guy, considering your mom's family. I figured there was only one place those genes could have come from, so I called the PI back into action. I figured it might be a nice thank you for all you've done for me. He finally made a big break."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. It wasn't possible! They hadn't managed to actually…

"Tim, we found your father."

I couldn't even open my mouth.

"The PI managed to find someone who had several albums of frat house pictures from about the right period. It was a long shot and I must have examined a couple hundred possible candidates, looking for one that looked like you. Finally, I came upon one that had your eyes. The PI tracked him down and he immediately acknowledged having been with your mom at a party. He said he'd be willing to take a paternity test, but after looking at your picture, he told me it would only be ifyou wanted it. He saw what I saw, Tim. He's thrilled to have a son."

Still speechless, I thought about the implications of that. Was he a loser like my mom? Maybe he had recognized my face from the media and was angling for a shot at big bucks? Ah, hell, if it turned out that he really was the guy, I'd be willing to support him even so. I just wanted my father.

I finally found my voice.

"When can I meet him?"

"He said to tell you he was sorry he couldn't be here this weekend, but he couldn't back out of a concert date in Munich."

"A concert? In Germany?"

The excitement in her eyes was magical. I could tell she was just dying to tell me the next part.

"Tim, your dad is Bob Merrick."

You could have knocked me off my seat with a feather. My idol and biggest musical influence - the man whose last name I had stolen - was my father? I seriously began to reconsider my doubts about the supernatural. My unexpected musical talents were now explained, though.

The funny part was that our paths had already nearly crossed several times. I knew for a fact that we'd both been at the Grammy's the last two years. I'd meant to meet him for a long time, but now it was imperative.

"Wow," I said, thinking aloud, "It's a good thing that this jet has long range. We can pick up a full load of fuel and be there in the morning."

"Tim," Amy said patiently, "you know as well as anyone how crazy things are out on tour. I'm sure that he'd be happy to meet you as soon as possible, but maybe it would be better to wait until he's back home. His tour will be over in a few weeks and everything will be much more relaxed."

She was absolutely right of course.

"Okay, well, do you have his number?" I asked, reaching for the phone.

"Yes, but it's like two in the morning in Germany."

I took a deep breath. I realized that the whole obsessive thing had grabbed me again. I was glad that my beautiful fiancé was here to settle me down. I could tell I was going to rely on her for that.

"Thanks, Amy, both for finding my father and for bringing me back to reality. You're right of course. We've gone twenty-three years without each other, so a little while longer isn't going to hurt us."

The twinkle in her eye told me that she'd been able to read every bit of my internal struggle. That was a bit startling, but I knew I could trust her.

"Did I ever mention how much I love you?"

"A time or two, but a girl never gets tired of hearing it," she said with a big satisfied grin. "And you're welcome."

I dragged my head back to the situation at hand.

"The next couple of weeks are going to be crazy," I said, returning her grin. "It's not every day that the wedding singer steals a bride away from a member ofthat clan from right in front of the alter. The tabloids are going tolove this one."

"'Wedding singer'? The fact that you're a multi-platinum Grammy winner may actually make it into the story too," she giggled. "Poor us, we're going to have to stay out the public's eye for a couple of weeks."

"My cabin is just the place for it," I told her. "Even my agent doesn't know exactly where it is."

To call my mountain retreat a cabin was like calling the Queen Mary a boat – it was the one thing I'd really splurged on before today. It was over five thousand square feet worth of luxury log home on sixty acres overlooking Lower Priest Lake. It was my refuge from an insane world and I spent as much time there as I could get away with.

To myself, I thought that there was a very real chance that this weekend might have been the end of my career. I had made some very powerful enemies and I wouldn't have been surprised if enough pressure were applied to get me blacklisted. The thought didn't bother me a bit, though. I'd already made more money than I could spend in a lifetime and hey, showbiz was tough on marriages anyway. My cabin might just be the place we'd settle down.

"Great," Amy said as she held her glass up to mine in a toast. "We have five years of loving to catch up on."

The thought ofthat made me as happy as I'd ever been in my life. As I gazed over the table into her beautiful eyes, I reflected on how well this weekend had eventually worked out. It seems that at critical junctures in my life, things often just go my way.

Why? Just lucky, I guess.