“And, Gray—” I said, swallowing hard.
“Don’t say you’re moving out for real. I know you already spend half your time at Frank’s, but I can’t hear you say it.”
I was moving out, of course. I had to. I was marrying him. I was having his baby. I still couldn’t believe it. I nodded and kissed her cheek. It was all real Southern and respectable.
That night, getting ready for a redo date with Frank’s mom, I asked, “So, do you think I’ll do better this time?” I slipped on the same pearl earrings I’d worn to our last lunch attempt, still feeling nauseated, but happy that at least now I knew why. Gray was right. These thingswerelucky.
“Well,” he said, grinning from ear to ear, “at least if you vomit on her this time, she’ll be kind of happy because she’s getting a grandchild.”
“Do you think she’ll be happy?”
Frank shrugged. “I don’t know if that woman’s ever been happy a day in her life.”
He kissed me. Then he leaned down and kissed my belly, a new habit he had, a new habit I kind of liked. He looked into my eyes and said, “Diana, I didn’t think I could love you any more. But, wow. This is the best surprise of my entire life. You, this baby. It’s like it’s all coming together, everything I’ve wished and prayed for, everything I ever thought possible.”
I kissed him again, despite my nausea. “Oh, Frank.”
My phone rang, and I wasn’t going to answer it, but I saw it was my brother. “Hi, Charles.”
“Hi, Di.”
“What’s going on?”
“I wanted to see if I could come visit next week. I need a beach fix.”
“Of course! The boys too?” I stood up and started pacing around, realizing that I couldn’t invite my family to come stay at Gray’s. But now I had Frank’s. It made me smile.
“No. Just me.”
“Come stay with Frank and me!”
He cleared his throat. “That’s part of the reason I’m coming.”
“Oh?”
“Frank called.”
I was surprised at first, but I guess it made sense. Charles was the one who’d introduced me to Frank, after all. Charles and Frank had worked together on a fishing boat one summer. Well,thesummer. It had been only a few months, but I had so many memories from that time it could have been a decade.
“And, D, I was skeptical,” Charles continued, “but I think he’s serious. I just wanted to see you two with my own eyes, make sure he’s going to take care of you right this time.”
“I think he is.” I debated whether I should wait to tell him in person or just say it now. But I didn’t have all that many people to tell, and I couldn’t contain myself, so I said, “Charles, we’re getting married.”
He hooted. “Well, hot damn!”
I laughed. “I know.”
“I knew he was going to do it, but I didn’t know it was going to be so soon. Now I really can’t wait to see you.” He paused. “And, Di, I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“You know, Charles, I might have a surprise of my own.”
What a happy, happy time.
An hour later, almost to Frank’s momma’s house, I wondered if love was enough. The mere idea of having to spend the next however many years with his momma was about enough to do any woman in.
As we pulled up to the imposing cedar-shake house, of a size and scope that seemed more like New England than North Carolina, it was like Frank could feel my nerves. “It’s going to be fine, you know,” he said. “We’ve talked about it. She knows we’re together, and she knows there’s nothing she can do about it.”
I nodded. “But the wedding and the baby might be more than she bargained for.”
