His face a mix of stern and excited, Oliver put the ring on my finger. I followed his every move, wondering if I was dreaming this on some plastic covered bed in Sandy Hills. But then Oliver raised his northern lights eyes to mine, and the depths in them never let go until we both gripped each other and kissed.
Later, in his bed—our bed—he leaned back against the fluffed-up pillows and looked at me. I was sitting on top of him.
We held hands, my left in his, the ring peeking from between our fingers.
“I prepared myself for the chance you’d say no or not yet.”
I laughed. “So, you still have no idea how much I love you.”
“I know you do, but all the flaws, faults, defects, and all ...”
I raked my fingers through his hair then clutched it, bringing his mouth to mine. “You mean flawsome, faultgnificent, defectacular! I want it all.”
I was on my back in the blink of a green eye, with Oliver on top of me, diagonally across the rumpled sheets. “So, you’re going to get it all,” he rasped.
Now, at our wedding, my mom approached us, excitement illuminating her face. She grabbed both Oliver’s hands and held them. “Ready?” She was to escort him down the aisle to the flower canopy in the garden. We had been surprised when she had offered it upon hearing we were getting married. She had sensed that Oliver needed a parent. She had never witnessed what I had but knew that Alfred Madden hadn’t been a nice man.
Her reaction when I had first told her about us made me laugh.
“Oliver? Madden? How?”
“Yes and yes. And what do you meanhow?” I asked.
She shook her head, as if trying to clear her confusion. “He’s always been a great kid. I just … I didn’t know you two were in touch. Especially like that …”
“We weren’t. It’s new.”
“It’s new and you’re living there?”
“It’s not exactly new. Mom, it’s complicated.”
“Oh. Complicated, I get.” She smiled cheekily at me. Then, shrugging, she added, “Congratulations, sweetie. He’s a good one.”
I hugged her. “He is.”
Though this house was our home now, and the welcome mat at the entrance declared it to be so, it was more a Riviera View wedding than Wayford. Most of the guests and all the suppliers were from Riviera. Amy Locke catered, Life’s A Beach set up a bar outside, and Anne from Breading Dreams did our wedding cake. It was her specialty. A two-tiered white cake with pink and purple flowers, topped with a delicate iron-wrought arrow wind vane carrying Oliver and my initials. To me, it symbolized us—wherever the wind had carried us, we found our way to each other. And always would.
When Anne brought it, she looked paler than usual. There were rumors floating recently that she had gotten with her cousin’s ex-husband. I knew life, and love, and Anne just enough to know that if there was any truth to the rumors, then it was her heart’s necessity, not only a mere choice.
“No waitressing today, January,” Amy said when I brought back a few plates I had picked up from the side table outside.
“That’s lightweight,” I replied. “Everything’s great out there, thank you.”
“What on earth are you doing?” June asked when I walked out of the kitchen. “It’s your day!”
“It’s our day.” I looked over at Oliver, who was standing with my mom and Tammy.
No one except us knew we were expecting. At the cadence my life was going, I had been almost unsurprised when we’d found out.
“You’re a natural, Oliver. You’ll be amazing,” I had told him, knowing what he was afraid of. I couldn’t wait to raise a child with him. I knew for a certainty that he or she would have the best, most loving dad. For his sake, and because I wanted him to enjoy the experience rather than worry, we agreed he’d take a few counselling sessions to work through his childhood traumas and their effects on him. “I want to be better for you,” he had said when I’d offered it, stroking my abdomen.
“You’re already the best,” I had replied. “Butyouneed to accept that, too.”
June smoothed a hand over the off-the-shoulder sleeve of my dress. It was an off-white swing dress, fitted at my waist and flaring into a knee-length skirt with a deep V-neck. “You look so beautiful.” Were those tears glistening in her eyes? June, who didn’t have a romantic bone in her?
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yes. Just … great!” She smiled to prove it, but it had the opposite effect.
