Liz clutched her stomach. “No, I’m good, I’m good.”
“Do you have to pee?”
“No I, oooh—” Liz said.
“Oh no. You’re going into—”
“Shhhh!” Liz hissed. “Don’t say the L word! I am a goddess. I am an Amazon warrior princess. I will have my wedding. I will dance all night.”
“Don’t you want to go to the hospital?” I asked in concern.
“Fasten up the rest of those buttons!” Liz ordered. “I will have this wedding! The ceremony is in half an hour. Then there’s pictures, the reception, and the after-party. That’s like eight hours from now. My mom said that when she had my older brother, she was in labor for thirty-two hours. So I clearly have time. I am enjoying this day!”
* * *
Liz looked decidedly lessconfident thirty minutes later when I had to half drag her through the entrance to the back path to the garden.
“I can do this. I’m good. I’m good,” Liz whispered to herself.
But even I could feel the contractions wracking her body. “Dude,” I said.
“Oh my gosh,” Ivy hissed as Dana and I half carried Liz to the starting position. “Is she about to have a baby?”
“I’m good. I have thirty-one more hours.” Liz doubled over.
“Liz?” her dad said. “Oh crap! Oh my God, I need to call my wife!” he said in a panic.
But the music had already started. I peeked around a hedge to watch the groomsmen escort the bridesmaids down the aisle. Liz’s mom had already been escorted to her seat by Liz’s brother.
“Oh Liz, honey,” her dad said, nervously patting his daughter on the shoulder. “You need to go to the hospital.”
“I will not have this baby out of wedlock,” the bride wheezed.
“Ivy, what do we do?” I asked my friend.
“Bride’s day, bride’s way,” she said grimly.
“There’s a wheelbarrow in the gardening shed,” Dana told me. “I had one of the groundskeepers fetch it.”
“I’mfine,” Liz hissed, grabbing my hand so hard I thought she was going to break it.
“This isn’t fair!” she said, blowing out two breaths. “I almost made it. Just one more day.”
“Babies come when they come,” Ivy told her.
“You have to promise me,” Liz said to me. “You have to promise me you’ll marry Mark.”
“Okay, sure thing,” I told her as Ivy fanned her. Liz’s dad looked as if he was going to collapse into a nearby rosebush.
“You owe me a fancy wedding. I’m going to miss my whole wedding!” Liz said, starting to sob.
“We will save everything for you,” Ivy assured her. “All the food. You’ll have a bag of party favors and cake.”
“I wanted the nice wedding,” Liz cried.
“When Brea marries Mark, you can share the wedding, too,” Ivy assured her as we half dragged her to the front of the aisle. “You can plan her whole wedding and even wear a white dress.”
“Yep,” I told Liz. “It will be great! We’ll do it as a team.”
