by M.L. Cameron
child would age rapidly for the first few weeks of life, I think that there’s a few Artists who can help control the aging, or maybe you’ll be able to. I don’t know, all I know is that since the baby will be full Artist they’ll age fast and Ana will only be pregnant a few months at the most.”
“So you mean that we could get married in June and she could have a baby by August?” Lucy nodded and I smiled. “That would make things a lot easier…”
“I figured I should explain that to you. And how do you feel about twins?” My jaw dropped. “Yeah… Her grandmother is a twin, so is your father… It’s sort a hereditary thing. So maybe she could have twins. You just have to keep an open mind. And if anyone tells you it’s a stillborn, don’t believe it.”
I nodded at her and took a deep breath. “Will the baby look like me or her?”
“It depends, most of the time it’s male dominant. Like you. But sometimes it’s from the mother, like Anastasia. It just sort of depends. The baby could have oddities about it…” I must have been making a pretty odd face because she laughed a little. “Not like an extra leg or anything, just some physical things, like hair color… It could have hair that’s two colors. I knew a Musician once, her hair was black and red, it was never just one color, and whenever she cut it the ends would change back to red.” I let out a sigh of relief.
“It could be a he or a she, a blonde or a brunette, blue-eyes or brown-eyes. It’s just random, she might know, if she remembers her dreams about it. All Artists dream about their children before they are born but few of us actually remember what we dreamt about. You two will be just fine.”
She reached out and squeezed my hand. “And we’re always here for you Luke, whether you think we are or not. We’re always here for you.”
“I know Mom,” I said and her smile was like the light of the sun. I didn’t get why she was so touched by me calling her mom, I had called her that plenty of times before.
Ana
I spent hours with my grandmother and soon to be mother-in-law. They planned most of the wedding, besides the colors and the dress. My mother’s dress was gorgeous and fit me perfectly. Luke was getting excited about the wedding and whenever I tried to talk about it with him he wasn’t completely opposed to children. I wondered if anyone had talked to him…
My classes went by slowly and all I wanted to do was go home, see Luke and get closer to summer…
“I love you,” I whispered and he smiled.
“I will never be able to chew bubblegum again without thinking about you.” He kissed my forehead and I slipped into a deep sleep moments later…
Luke
I sat in the apartment and flipped through the twenty different local TV channels we had. Sesame Street was about the only interesting thing on. Ana wasn’t due home for about two hours and I didn’t have any plans until she got home. We were watching movies and ordering pizza.
The phone rang and I almost ran to it, a phone call was a diversion to my incessant boredom. “Hello?” I answered quickly.
“Luke? Is that you?” a female voice asked.
“This is he. Who am I speaking to?”
“Your mother!”
I tilted my head to the side and thought. “But… This isn’t my mother… Lucy?”
“No. Your mother. That bitch can say whatever the hell she wants to say. She’s not your mother though. I am your mother. I raised you. But whatever, that’s not the conversation I was trying to have. I was mad at you for something else. Why did you tell me you were getting married?”
“Because you aren’t my mom.”
“Of course I’m your mom, I deserve to know when my only son is getting married.”
I shook my head. “No… You don’t. Diana, Adriana, they know. And Scarlett because Ana sent her an invitation. They deserve to know. That’s it. So go away, don’t call me again.”
I hung up the phone and took a deep breath. That was such a distraction from my boredom. I wondered idly if I would need a restraining order against the woman who raised me. I shut my eyes and ended up falling asleep on the couch. I didn’t wake up again until the doorbell was ringing hours later. Ana was walking to answer the door and she paid the delivery man.
The smell of pizza invaded my senses and I sat up. “Good evening,” Ana said and smiled at me.
She grabbed two plates from the cupboards in the kitchen. I could see through the hole in the wall. When she came back I was rubbing at my eyes and yawning. “I fell asleep…”
“Yes you did.”
“I’m sorry…”
“It’s okay,” she said and smiled at me. “So what did you do today?” she asked, setting the pizza in front of me. I took a bite of the pizza and shut my eyes, I was so tired.
“My mom called,” I said and she nodded. “No, not Lucy. Jennifer. Yeah… She called a little while ago and yelled at me for not telling her about the wedding. I thought you said you sent her an invitation.”
“No, I asked you if you wanted to send an invitation and your response was, ‘Sheflemengisma,’ something or other.” I laughed as she made indescribable words. “So I took that as a no.” And then I laughed again. “It was your response. And I also figured that you wouldn’t want her to even show up. So she’s not coming, Diana and Adriana are coming, Scarlett has yet to respond.”
She shrugged and turned on the TV. “Thank you,” I murmured and she looked at me with a confused expression, “For dealing with my insane family. For putting up with me. Thank you, for loving me.” I kissed her and she smiled. “Soon we’ll be married.”
“And have a baby.”
“And then graduate.”
“And move back west.”
“And grow up happily ever after.”
I smiled and she laughed. I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and we sat on the couch, eating pizza, watching movies. The phone rang and when Ana answered it she hung up. “I supposed that was the appropriate response to, ‘Why didn’t I get an invitation bitch?’” Ana shrugged and sat back down. After three more calls that all started with insults we disconnected the phone… Anyone who was important would call our cell phones first.
♪♪♪
The wedding came so much sooner than I thought it would. It wasn’t like I had to do anything, Lucy and Kait pretty much took care of all that. When the eve of the wedding came up I was so confused. Charlie’s idea of a bachelor party was to take me to meet his friend with a baby. I liked it, the baby wasn’t really a baby, she looked like she was a year old. They told me she was really only a week or so old.
Lucy and Kait took Ana for a bachelorette party but they were probably just sitting around, talking and watching movies or something. I knew Ana wouldn’t do anything too crazy. The day of the wedding was sort of insane. I just sat in my dressing room pretty much the whole time and watched everyone else run around like chickens with their heads cut off.
Charlie stayed in the dressing room with me the entire time. My other groomsmen walked back and forth between dressing rooms and the chapel. “Hey, how are you feeling?” Lucy asked me, peeking her head in the door. Her dress was long and light blue, she wasn’t a part of the actual ceremony, even though Ana had begged her to.
“Nervous, sort of. I don’t know. We’ve been waiting four years to get married and have a child. I’m just nervous that she isn’t really ready…”
“Of course she’s ready. She’s been ready for years Luke, so have you. You’re both going to be a wonderful married couple and amazing parents. You will love that child like nothing else in the world. Nothing is going to go wrong Luke.” She smiled at me and squeezed my hand. “We all love you… But now you have to get out to the altar,” she whispered and I felt my whole body tense up.
“What?”
“Yup, now.” She tugged on my hand and Charlie stood behind me, pushing me forward.
“But, what if she doesn’t love me?”
“Of course she loves you.” She pulled me out the door and tugged me to the altar.
I was so close to running. I made lists and lists in my mind of why I was justifiable to run… And then Ana walked in the room and I stopped making lists. I was frozen again, but this was the good kind of frozen. The moment where everything in the world seems right and together and I got to feel it. There was a long moment of awed silence as she walked down the aisle.
My whole world fit… It all felt amazing. And we hadn’t even slept together yet…
People told me the ceremony was beautiful, but they were talking about the flowers and the clothing and the décor, when I said I knew it was beautiful I was only talking about Ana. After the ceremony the reception was… interesting to say the least.
Mark was my best man, he didn’t go to MIT but to Harvard on a full hockey scholarship. I knew that his toast would most likely be embarrassing but I knew he had spent weeks writing it. When the glasses started ringing Ana laughed and leaned over to kiss me. Then Mark was standing up with a microphone in his hand. The room was huge, it had to be to fit the three hundred people we had at the reception. Most of the tables were round and there was one long strip for the family of the bride and groom. People I had never even met showed up to see us together.
Mark coughed and the microphone screeched. “Oh wow… Okay, cool.” He looked at the microphone and cleared his throat. “I’m Mark, for everyone I haven’t met, which is almost everyone. I do know Luke and Anastasia. I think I dated Anastasia once when we were freshmen in high school. She was always obsessed with dancing and after middle school he had his sights set on MIT.
“Luke and I have been close since before I can remember. Now, I remember a night that must have been six years ago, at least. My girlfriend at the time was spending almost every second with me, we weren’t really a concrete couple but it didn’t matter. Luke was dedicated to hockey and all things math related. One night we were playing some Call of Duty and I told him that he would get why I spent so much time with a girl when he met the one for him.
“He just laughed at me and then said that no girl would ever be important enough to give up his life for. And then he met Anastasia. He told me that all girls sucked. So I would just like Anastasia to know that Luke hates all girls.” He grinned. “I love you both. Keep him in line,” he nodded at Ana and she smiled, “To a happily ever after.”
The crowd clapped and everyone was smiling. I heard the doors open and when I glanced over it was Scarlett. She walked silently to the empty seat on the far end of the table on Ana’s side and sat down. No one said anything, which was probably for the best. There were only a few toasts until the dancing started.
I held Ana close as we danced among the other dozen or so couples. “I love you,” I whispered and she held me tighter.
“I love you too… Sometimes there are moments when I want time to just stop, you know? Where I want everything to just stay exactly like it is… And then I remember that there are always good times ahead and that I’m able to make it through anything. I don’t know what I would be able to do without you.” I closed my eyes… she was right, it was perfect moment.
“Can I cut in?” I heard Jack ask. Ana pulled away from me and Jack took her hand. “Happy wedding day Doll,” he said and whisked her away.
I turned around and ran into Adriana. She smiled and I took her hand. “So, are you happy?” she asked as we swayed back and forth, she was never to into dancing. I nodded and she laughed. “I can see it, whenever you look at her. We’re all happy for you Luke… Well maybe not mom, but she can just get over it. You’re still my baby brother.”
“Maybe, but I’m taller than you,” I said and she just rolled her eyes.
“You’ve been taller than me since you were thirteen.”
The night went on and I rarely saw Scarlett. She didn’t come up to me and it took me two