“Yes, I just got in a few minutes ago. Where are you? What’s wrong?”
“I’m on my way over. I hope that’s okay. Will is driving me and we’re just a few minutes away. I can explain when I get there.”
“Of course it’s okay. And you can stay as long as you like. I’ll get your room ready for you.” Mia hung up and went to check the spare bedroom. There were clean sheets on the bed. It hadn’t been used since Mia moved back in. She turned the light on and folded the covers back, and the room was ready for Izzy. Mia got two towels and a washcloth out of the linen closet and laid them on the dresser for Izzy to use in the morning.
She heard footsteps coming up the stairs and went to open the door. A clearly shaken Izzy and a concerned Will walked in.
“Can I get you something to drink? Hot tea, water?” Mia offered.
“A hot tea would be nice,” Izzy said.
“Anything for you, Will?”
He shook his head. “No, I’m all set.”
“You guys have a seat. This will just take a second and then I want to know everything.” Will and Izzy went into the living room and sat on the sofa while Mia made a cup of tea for Izzy. It only took a minute or so and she brought it to Izzy, who accepted it gratefully.
“So, what happened? Start from the beginning.”
“Well, I mentioned to you the other day that things were going well for a change, and I wanted to go to keep that going so I went to the party? Rick’s still been moodier than ever, and I thought going to this party with him might help. And it was fun at first. I didn’t know many people there, so when Will walked in, I was glad to have someone to talk to. Rick was off in the other room talking with his work buddies and I’d been trying to get to know some of their girlfriends. But they weren’t overly friendly.”
“I’m friends with the guy that had the party. He’s sent some jobs my way recently,” Will added.
“So anyway, as the night went on, everyone was drinking and Rick was having margaritas instead of his usual beer. One of the guys made a big batch, and they were all drinking them. I tried a sip, but they were too strong for me. Will and I were hanging out chatting and Rick came into the room and lost it.” She lifted her sleeve and showed Mia deep red marks on her right arm. Mia gasped. “Rick did that to you? Tonight?”
“He did. He’s never touched me before, but he grabbed me by the arm, hard, and dragged me outside and screamed at me. Accused me of all kinds of nasty things, but the gist of it is that he was jealous that I was talking to Will and insisted that I was cheating on him—with Will. I told him he was out of his mind.”
“I went outside after them because I was worried for Izzy’s safety. He’s twice her size, and he was pissed off,” Will said.
“He saw Will come outside, and he got mad again and grabbed my other arm and tried to drag me to the car to take me home.” She pulled up her other sleeve and there was a matching set of ugly red marks from where Rick had squeezed her arm hard.
“I went after them then and gave Rick a taste of his own medicine,” Will said.
“What did you do?”
“I hauled off and clocked him hard right on the jaw. He let go of Izzy, fell over and we ran off.”
“Wow. Izzy, you can’t go back there. Ever.”
“I know that now. It took me a while to get here, but he crossed a line with me. And you were right. Rick’s anger issues aren’t getting any better, and I don’t feel safe around him anymore.”
She sighed and put her head down so that Mia couldn’t see the tears that suddenly overwhelmed her. Mia jumped up and rushed over to her sister. She pulled her into her arms and gave her a gentle hug, being careful not to touch where she was sore and bruised. “Go ahead and cry it out, Izzy. You have nothing to be ashamed of. This is all on him.”
“She’s right, Izzy. You’re much too good for that guy.” Will stood. “I should probably get going. Izzy, if you need anything you let me know.”
Izzy nodded and looked up through teary eyes. “Thank you, Will. I don’t know what I would have done without you. You’re a good friend.”
A strange look passed across Will’s face before he smiled and wished them both a good night.
Once he was gone, Mia made herself a cup of tea, too. She’d been exhausted earlier, and now she was wide awake and worried for her sister. She didn’t think they’d seen the last of Rick.
Chapter 25
The rest of the summer seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Before Mia knew it, August had arrived and she had two weeks of back-to-back weddings. Bethany was up first on the fifteenth and a week later, it was time for Angela and Philippe’s wedding. Izzy was still living in Mia’s spare bedroom and planned to stay at least until the end of the year before looking for her own place. Mia wasn’t in any hurry to see her go. She liked Izzy’s company and felt she was safer for now, living with Mia.
Rick, as predicted, didn’t take Izzy’s leaving well. He alternated between ranting and raving and sending flowers and apologizing. But this time, Izzy wasn’t having any of it. She was devastated, but remained strong, and Mia was proud of her for it. Finally, after more than a month, Rick finally seemed to accept that Izzy wasn’t coming back, and he stopped calling.
Things were going well with Sam. They both agreed that it was best to take things really slow and to hold off on telling the girls that they were dating. Sam wanted to wait until some time had passed and they were really sure about the direction that things were going before he told them, and Mia understood that. Neither one of them was in a rush. They were enjoying their Monday and Wednesday nights out, and now they added in either a Friday or Saturday night on most weekends. Mia knew that Sam’s mother was rooting for them and that she was thrilled that Sam had found someone.
Bethany’s wedding went off without a hitch, although there was one glitch when the goats almost didn’t make it in time for yoga. The woman who booked goat yoga had an event in Chatham and they were due to come back on Saturday, but the boats stopped running because of high winds. Fortunately, the seas were calm in the morning and they made it onto the first ferry over and there was goat yoga after all at Bethany’s brunch. Mia smiled, picturing all those tiny goats running around on the Fast Ferry. She got some funny pictures for Bethany at the brunch of the goats hanging out on people’s backs while they held various yoga poses. She thought it was the strangest thing, but it was all the rage evidently.
Ben brought Alexis to Bethany’s wedding, and it seemed like the two of them really were hitting it off. Alexis flew over most weekends and usually stayed with Ben. And now he was talking about heading back to Manhattan after Labor Day weekend instead of staying until October.
Angela’s wedding was a size and scale that Mia had never seen before. No expense was spared. They decided to offer a unique wedding favor that also in a way made things easier for everyone, too. The six hundred and fifty blue and white folding director style chairs that were carried down to the beach were the wedding favors. They told each guest to take one home when they left. There were a few stray ones left behind, but overall the chairs were a huge hit.
And Angela was a beautiful bride. She looked elegant and effortlessly beachy in her white JCrew slip dress. Philippe looked great in his purple tux, and it seemed like all of Nantucket was there. Mandy did a fantastic job overseeing the catering and the food, as usual, was delicious. They got married on the beach, with all their friends and family around them and Philippe had buses shuttling people to and from his house, because there wasn’t nearly enough parking anywhere for a wedding that big.
Sam came as Mia’s date, though she wasn’t able to spend much time with him until the ceremony and meal service was over and the dancing began. A few hours later, platters of mini burgers and fries were brought out, and they were a huge hit. People were hungry again after dancing and drinking.
It was a wonderful night and Lisa and Rhett were among the last to leave the dance floor.
“This was s
pectacular. You and Mandy did an incredible job,” Lisa said. Mandy and Mia were relaxing with a glass of wine. Mandy still had the catering clean-up to oversee, but she had time to take a short break.
“Angela and Philippe look so happy,” Mia said. Angela was glowing and Philippe couldn’t stop smiling.
“Won’t be long before it’s Beth and Chase’s turn and then Kate’s. It’s going to be a busy fall,” Lisa said.
As the party started to wind down, Mia ran into Izzy and she looked exhausted.
“I’m going to head home, I think. I’m beat.”
“Are you feeling okay?” Mia asked.
“I’m fine, just tired. I’ll see you a little later.”
By the time Mia left, it was almost midnight.
When she walked in the door, she expected Izzy to be in bed, but she was sitting on the living room sofa, with her legs crossed, Indian-style, and her eyes were red. She looked up when Mia walked in and smiled. And then she started to cry.
“What’s wrong?” Mia put her purse down and went to her sister. She looked like a mess, like she’d been crying for some time before Mia got home.
Izzy reached next to her and held up a pregnancy test stick. “Can you believe it?”
“You’re pregnant?” No wonder Izzy had been looking so tired lately.
“I’ve had the test for a few days. I put off taking it because I wasn’t ready for the news. But after the wedding, I couldn’t wait any longer. I’ve felt bone tired this past week, like all I want to do is crawl into bed and I’ve wanted to eat everything in sight, except watermelon. I can’t stand the thought of watermelon now, isn’t that strange? And my bras are suddenly too tight. That’s never happened before. I think I knew what the result was going to be before I took the test. I just had to prepare myself for it.”
“Oh, Izzy. How are you feeling about this? Besides not feeling well.”
“I dread having to tell Rick, of course. But I’m not upset about being pregnant. I’m actually excited to have this baby. I love it already. My emotions are just all over the place.”
“I’m going to be an aunt. And Izzy, you have to stay here now. Don’t even think of looking for a place until after the baby comes.”
Izzy smiled. “I hoped you’d say that.”
Chapter 26
To no one’s surprise, Rick didn’t take the news of his impending fatherhood all that well. He went through various stages beginning with rage, and more accusations that the baby wasn’t his to his most recent stage which was the most concerning to Mia. He was now in love with the idea of being a father and was determined that Izzy should come back to him, for the sake of the baby, so they could be a family. So far, Izzy was staying strong, but now and then, Mia knew she was wavering and considering the idea of going back to Rick. Rick claimed he was a changed man and that he was going to start going to anger management classes. To his credit, he did sign up for them and started going. It was a twelve-week program, so to appease him, Izzy said she’d reassess when he finished.
And that twelve weeks would be up just before Kate’s wedding, the first weekend in December, same time as the Nantucket Stroll. Mia reminded Izzy more than once that she didn’t have to give him an answer the minute he finished the course. It would be wiser to wait a few more weeks and see how he did after that.
In the meantime, Izzy wasn’t even showing yet, so she hadn’t told anyone the news. She wanted to wait until it was obvious and when ultrasounds had given her the all clear that everything was going well.
And Mia was excited to be going to a wedding that she wasn’t involved in coordinating. Sam was on his way over to pick her up and they were heading to Beth and Chase’s wedding. The service at the church was lovely, and Beth looked so beautiful in her lacy wedding dress. The church was walking distance to Mimi’s Place where they were having the reception, so they all walked over. It was Columbus Day weekend and as it often was in mid-October, it felt like Indian summer with unusually warm and lovely weather.
Mia said hello to Mandy and Emma when they arrived, and then she and Sam took their seats. They were seated with Angela and Philippe, and Izzy and Will. Will and Chase often passed projects to each other, and Izzy and Beth had become friendly through Kate’s get-togethers. Izzy and Will weren’t dating, they were just friends, but Beth figured it made sense to put them all at the same table. And Mia sensed if it was up to Will, that they would be dating.
He didn’t know about the baby yet. Izzy hadn’t told anyone, but somehow Mia didn’t think that would deter him. Will was around often, checking in on Izzy. The two of them had started coming to trivia on Monday nights, and they all had a good time together. Mia was hopeful that once Izzy was more settled that maybe something might develop with Will, possibly. But she knew her sister wasn’t thinking along those lines yet. She was busy learning everything she could about how to be a good mother.
Mia had a feeling that both Sam and Will suspected what might be going on with Izzy, though. Izzy used to always have wine when they went out and now she only ordered soda water with lemon and while her stomach was still flat, her bras were overflowing and even though she tried to dress in a way that would de-emphasize that area, she was still looking curvier than usual. And guys tended to notice that, even if they didn’t think about the reason why.
The food, of course, was excellent. There was eggplant and chicken parmesan and meatballs and beef braciola. There wasn’t a band, but there was a really fun DJ with a great personality and excellent music choices. Soon after dinner, everyone was up on the dance floor. Lisa danced with Chase and was beaming, so proud of her son and his lovely wife.
Mia danced with Sam and loved swaying in his arms as they slowly moved around the dance floor to Eric Clapton’s Wonderful Tonight. They had grown closer in the past few months and she was hopeful that maybe by Christmas, Sam might have a conversation with the girls and they might include them more when they went out. She didn’t mention anything to Sam yet, but if he brought up wanting to tell the girls, she was going to suggest that they might take a trip to Boston for a night, to go see the Nutcracker and have dinner in the North End.
At the end of the night, Beth tossed her bouquet and everyone cheered when Kristen caught it. No one looked more surprised than she did, and no one more pleased than Lisa as Kristen would be the last of her four children to get married.
Chapter 27
“I think it’s time you introduced Mia to the girls, don’t you?” Sam’s mother said one day while the girls were at dance class and Sam was visiting.
“The girls already know Mia,” Sam teased. He knew what his mother was suggesting, and he’d been thinking that it was about that time, too.
“You know what I mean, Sam.”
“I do. And I agree. I was planning to tell them soon.”
“Good. Christmas is coming and I want to invite Mia and her sister to join us, since they don’t have any family nearby.”
“I’ll mention it to her, but I don’t know what their plans are, if they’re going home to New York to see their parents.”
“Well, as long as you extend the invitation, so they know they’re welcome.”
“I’ll do that. Thanks, Mom.”
* * *
Sam left soon after to go pick up the girls. He thought about Mia the whole way. Things had been going so well, almost too well. It scared him a little, but it also made him excited for the future. He pulled up in front of the dance studio and waited. A few minutes later, the girls came running out and raced over the car. They both climbed in the back seat and buckled up.
“How was dance?”
“Good. What’s for dinner, Daddy? Are we going to Grammy’s?” Becky asked.
They always went to his mother’s for dinner after dance class. It was a Tuesday night ritual.
“Yes, we are. She made spaghetti and meatballs, your favorite.”
“Yay!”
“So, girls, I have something to tell you. You know my friend
, Mia?”
“Wedding planner, Mia?” Sarah asked.
“Yes. That’s the only Mia I know.”
“What about her?” Becky said.
“Well, you girls like her, right?”
“Yeah, she’s nice,” Sarah said.
“I like her,” Becky added.
“Well, I like her a lot, too. So, I’ve decided that she’s going to be my girlfriend. How do you girls feel about that?”
“Will you kiss her?” Becky asked.
Sam did not anticipate that question. “I might. How would you feel about that?”
“It’s okay with me, Daddy. Do you know if Grammy is making garlic bread, too? I’m really hungry.” Sarah said.
“I’m hungry, too,” Becky added.
Sam smiled. He’d been so worried about breaking the news about Mia, and the girls were more interested in what was for dinner. But at least they said they liked her.
* * *
“So, I told the girls about us,” Sam said while they were sitting at the Rose and Crown after the Wednesday night meeting.
“You did? Where they okay with it?” Mia was eager to hear.
“They both said they like you, Becky asked if I was going to kiss you.”
“What did you tell her?”
“I told her I might.”
Mia smiled. “And what did Sarah ask?”
“She said it’s fine with her, but did I know if her grandmother was going to make garlic bread for dinner.”
Mia laughed. “Priorities.”
“Right. Oh, and my mother said to be sure to tell you and Izzy that you’re both invited for Christmas dinner. I told her I’d ask, but wasn’t sure if you were going home to see your family.”
“Oh, that’s nice of her. We usually do go home around Christmas, but this year my parents said they are actually going to be traveling so we’re going to go see them the weekend before New Year’s Eve instead, so tell your mother we’ll happily accept her invitation.”
Nantucket Weddings Page 15