Maybe I knew then that one day, I’d end up with Mark.
And now, all these years later, it was crazy to think that it was finally happening.
After our makeup session, Mark and I were sailing as smoothly toward the Labor Day wedding as the slick, waveless sea beyond Mom’s porch. On the bright side, Mark and I couldn’t get enough of each other, and I was more convinced than ever that this was the right decision. On the dark side—the very, very dark side—Mark’s mother would be arriving soon. And she would be living with Mark until she found a new place. Poor Mark. He was a saint. I wouldn’t have lasted an hour and a half.
On the other dark side, the extreme fatigue, dizziness, loss of energy, and bruising that I was hoping would go away if I ignored it hard enough were still constant companions. But I kept rationalizing that with all I had going on, I didn’t have time to deal with that, too.
Vivi, Preston, and James had already arrived, and Caroline’s entire family was piled into Mom’s guesthouse. Sloane had suggested that her family take Mom’s guesthouse and let Caroline and James back in their house, but Caroline had insisted—very unselfishly, if you ask me—that Sloane stay. Adam was recovering quickly and had graduated from a walker to a cane, but it had become clear that he would never be back in the field again. I was sure that inside he was devastated, but outwardly he was taking it very well. He said that this was a new chapter for him, that he had made a deal with God that if he could survive his capture, if he ever got back home with his family, he would never ask for another thing. I’m sure nearly dying put it all into perspective for him. Despite his progress, it was still very challenging for him to climb stairs, and you couldn’t get to the guesthouse without climbing a flight.
With all that settled, we had something even more potentially thrilling than my wedding to look forward to. Today, I was pretty sure, was going to be the best day of my life. We were all sitting on Caroline’s front steps: Mom, Jack, Mark, Sloane, Adam, Taylor, AJ, James, Caroline, Preston, Vivi, and me.
“Hey,” Mom said casually, “I was thinking... could we have a sister-and-mom dinner tonight? Just Caroline, Sloane, Emerson, and me at my house?”
“Nope,” Mark said. “She’s all mine.”
“She’s not all yours until Labor Day weekend,” Caroline said. “You have to share between now and then.”
“Speaking of...” I said. I had purposely been waiting to drop this bomb on Mark until we were in public and he couldn’t get too mad at me. I smiled at him enthusiastically. “Us Weeklywants to do an exclusive on the wedding!”
Mom cut her eyes at me, and Mark sighed. But it was Caroline who spoke first. “That’s really tacky, Emerson. You do not want your private wedding splashed all over the press.”
I looked pleadingly at Mark. “This is a big deal for me. It could be a big opportunity.”
He took my hand, and I could tell he was trying to be sweet. “Honey, I want our day to be about us. That seems so intrusive.”
Great. I could only imagine how many hours I had paid my publicist to orchestrate that kind of incredible press. These people didn’t understand. Weddings were the perfect time to get your name out there. I rolled my eyes.
“So, dinner?” Mom asked, as if we had put theUs Weeklyissue to rest.
“I don’t know, Mom,” Sloane said. “I feel like I need to be here. Adam had a particularly rough day at PT.”
“You know I can hear you, right?” he said, laughing. Adam was sitting on the step above Sloane, and she was leaning back onto him. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head. “I’m fine, babe.” He paused. “Men,” he said to AJ and Taylor, “with Mommy out of the house tonight, I say we order pizza and have...”
They all flexed their muscles and said simultaneously, “Dudes’ night!”
They were cute. I knew that Mark would be a really good dad one day, too. I couldn’t wait to see him with our own kids. The thought made my stomach sink for the second time in as many hours. I had to get those test results. I leaned in closer to him and kissed him to distract myself from the bad feelings.
“I’m cooking tonight,” Vivi said.
“You are?” James asked, surprised.
She nodded enthusiastically. “Yup. I’m cooking like Mommy. I’ll make reservations at Full Moon.”
We all laughed as Kimmy’s truck pulled up with a small trailer. Kimmy jumped out of the driver’s side, Hal jumped out of the passenger’s seat, and we got up and scattered around the yard. We had been plotting all morning about how we were going to grill Hal about the torrid McClasky affair. But Mom had said we needed to give Hal his privacy and had sworn us to secrecy. All that meant was that she knew what was really going on and didn’t want to share the juicy gossip with us.
“She’s here, she’s here!” Vivi yelled.
AJ and Taylor ran ahead. They were the first ones to the trailer, and Kimmy handed AJ a leash.
Caroline and I stood in the yard while everyone else made a fuss. “How did I let them talk me into this?”
“To piss James off, remember?”
She crossed her arms as we heard the first ear-shattering “Bleeeeeaaaatttt.” Caroline groaned. “It was so not worth it.”
“You don’t have to get anyone to cut the yard now,” I said optimistically.
“What do I care about having someone cut the lawn? James deals with all that and pays for it. It affects me in no way.”
