Nothing to fear

Chapter 19

Nick looked at the dress uniform and tried to draw in a calming breath as his uncle lounged on the couch, a glass of iced tea in his paw as he watched his nephew pacing nervously. "I don't understand, Nicky," the older fox said with a curious expression. "You and Judy are all ready married, so why the nerves?"

Squinting at the left sleeve, Nick leaned closer, what he thought was lint turning out to be a figment of his imagination. "The Justice of Peace was just Judy and I," he muttered, his breakfast from earlier that morning sitting in his stomach like a lump of cold mud. "Tomorrow we have to do it in front of everybody we know. Screwing up isn't really an option."

"It will be fine Nicky," Uncle Ray said. "And you can stop trying to see if there is something wrong with your uniform. I went over it with a fine toothed comb and magnifying glass." He smiled as his nephew grunted, actually sympathetic for the younger fox's angst. "You'll be nervous at first, but then you will see Judy and you really won't be aware of anything until you kiss her. That's the worst part ... at least it was for me. Too short and everyone there will think there is something wrong between the two of you. Too long and they'll laugh and joke and you won't hear the end of it for months."

Nick turned to look at his uncle as he spoke and did a slow blink as he stared at the older fox with annoyance. "Gee thanks Uncle Ray. That's just something else for me to worry about now." He resumed pacing and started wringing his paws together. "And Bogo's throwing this. I bet there are going to be reporters."

"I thought that was right neighbourly when i heard," Stu said from the kitchen area where he was making a pitcher of carrot juice and berry smoothies, happy that the blender Nick and his daughter had wasn't one of the of those new fangled ones. "In BunnyBorrows we have to keep things small otherwise whole families would go broke with trying to pay for a good hitching shindig." He tripped the button, his paw on the lid while the blender chopped and crushed then mixed the ingredients. The rabbit continued talking as soon as he shut of the machine. "At least it won't be like mine. Bonnie and I were in a bit of a pickle and she had to do some creative work to hide her bunny-bump from some of her folks. Talk about a possible disaster!"

Ray smiled with a chuckle "Shotgun wedding?" the older fox asked.

Stu nodded as he filled his glass. "That wasn't the problem, though. We were going to get hitched one way or another. Bonnie liked her tomato cocktails and didn't get any on account of the kits which got her a little on the surly side ... or maybe it's 'cause she was in a family way that was causing her mood swings. Made dancing a little difficult, too. Kind of hard for a gal to dosedo with all that weight up front like that."

Before he could continue to work himself into a frenzy a loud knock sounded from the apartment door. With a frown Nick walked over, barely getting the door open before it was pushed from the other side. An angry looking Finnick entered the apartment, but then the desert fox almost always looked angry. He scanned the room, still used to a life of hustling on the streets where being aware of what was going on was paramount to staying out of both trouble and the hospital.

The sandy coloured fox once more glared at his old friend, paws on his hips, before his expression softened and a slow grin spread accross his muzzle. "She hustled you good!" he crackled gleefully before bursting into a belly laugh that went on for some time until the diminutive fox could catch his breath. "Done hustled you right out of your mind!"

"Good to see you, too, Finn" Nick replied, still too nervous to make one of his normal snarky reposts. "Come on in. Everybody is trying to keep me from running."

Finnick pushed a chair from the dining room table to the counter that separated the kitchen from the rest of the large area and helped himself to the smoothies that the older rabbit had made. "You must be the bunny-daddy," he said, making it a statement instead of a question.