Let It Be (Butler, Vermont #6) - Marie Force Page 0,19

a friend of Molly’s.”

Elmer shook his hand but continued to size him up with sharp blue eyes that made Lincoln feel like a little boy. “What kind of friend are you, son?”

“The boyfriend kind, sir.”

“Is that right?”

Lincoln refused to be the first one to blink. “Yes, sir. I love your daughter very much, and I hope to marry her as soon as possible.”

“Linc! I told you to ease him in. That doesn’t count as easing him in!”

Elmer scowled fiercely. “My Molly doesn’t have boyfriends.”

“Honestly, Dad, I’ve had a boyfriend before, as you well know, so stop acting like a fool and be nice to my new friend.”

“Is he your friend or your boyfriend?”

“Um, well...”

Linc nudged her and gave her an annoyed look.

“Boyfriend. He’s definitely my boyfriend.”

“Who wants to marry you,” Elmer said, giving Linc another suspicious glare.

“That’s what he says.”

“You two do know I can hear you talking about me, right?” Linc asked.

Elmer sent him a withering look that made Linc thankful looks couldn’t actually kill. “No one is talking to you.” To Molly, Elmer said, “Where is he staying?”

“With us, Dad. Now stop acting like a Neanderthal and take me home to see Mom and Hannah.” Molly took her father by the arm and pulled him along with her as they headed out of the bus station.

Lincoln followed, hoping Elmer would let him into the car.

“I decided right then and there that if I ever had daughters, I wouldn’t act the fool with the men they brought home,” Linc said. “I’d be much more evolved than Elmer was, that was for sure.”

Hannah, Ella and Charley lost it laughing when they heard that.

“Whatever,” Charley said. “You were the biggest ass-pain in history when we started dating.”

“Remember how he’d never let Caleb and me be in the same room by ourselves, even if we were just watching TV?” Hannah asked.

“I remember that,” Hunter said, laughing. “He’d sit between you on the sofa.”

“It was outrageous!” Hannah said. “Even when we were engaged, he was ridiculous.”

“My father-in-law taught me everything I know about keeping my daughters away from scheming young men,” Linc said, amused by their memories. He’d discovered some promises to himself were easier to keep than others, such as when boys had begun sniffing around his three precious daughters. Like Elmer, he’d been a little over the top, not that he’d ever admit that to his girls.

“I had your number from the second you stepped off that bus,” Elmer said. “Imagine showing up out of the blue and talking about marrying my Molly. You were out of your mind.”

“I was madly in love,” Linc said with a smile for his beloved.

“It was revolting,” Elmer said, making his grandchildren howl with laughter.

Molly reached for Linc’s hand. “Nothing revolting about it, and you have to admit, Dad, he jumped through all your ridiculous hoops.”

“He did,” Elmer conceded. “Even the ones I thought would trip him up.”

“Like when he sat outside your mother’s bedroom all night the first night I stayed at their house to make sure I wouldn’t wander during the night,” Linc said.

“How did you know I was there if you didn’t wander?” Elmer asked, raising a brow.

“I refuse to answer that question on the grounds that there’s no statute of limitations on crimes committed while in the throes of forever love.”

“Barf,” Landon said.

“Nothing to barf about, son,” Linc replied. “Your mother was and is a beautiful woman. I wanted to be with her all the time. Still do.”

“And I knew that the second I saw the way you looked at my little girl,” Elmer said.

“Your little girl was almost twenty-three.”

“She’s still my little girl, even after you had ten children with her. It would do you well not to forget that, young man.”

“I never do, sir.”

Elmer’s smile lit up his adorable face. Despite their auspicious—and suspicious—beginning, Linc and his father-in-law were the best of friends. They spent part of just about every day together, even if it was over a cup of coffee at the diner, during which they usually did nothing but push each other’s buttons. He’d learned everything he knew about being a good husband and father from Elmer and turned to him any time his heart was heavy, including now.

“What did you think of Butler when you first came, Dad?” Will asked.

“I loved it immediately, especially the store. I’d never seen anything quite like it.”

“I decided to hire him so I could keep an eye on him,” Elmer said.

“Oh, puleeze,” Linc said. “You were lusting after my Yale