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My dress was understated and white; my hair had been braided all day and it made for big soft curls when I let them out. I swung my head down and fluffed my curls to give them volume.
“What about make-up?” my mom asked.
I already had some on but applied a touch-up and spread my hands out. “How do I look?”
My mom tilted her head with tears welling up her eyes. “Beautiful. Just beautiful.”
“Mom, you’re going to make me cry too,” I said in a thick voice. “Will you go and get Dad? I want him to take me to Adam even though it’s an informal wedding.”
My mom’s head bobbed up and down and she dried away a tear. “Of course, honey, he wouldn’t miss it.”
As soon as she was gone, Faith spun me around to face her. “You always said you wanted a big fat celebrity wedding – what the hell is going on? And why didn’t you tell me he proposed?”
“Because we wanted to surprise you.”
“But was the proposal as romantic as you imagined it?”
I laughed. “Not at all. It was more like an ongoing conversation that ended up with us coming up with this plan together.”
“And you’re not disappointed?” she asked with concern. “Chloe, I know how much you dreamed of the perfect proposal and the biggest wedding.”
I lifted my hands in surrender. “And yet here I am, realizing that all of that didn’t matter as much as I thought it would.”
Faith teared up.
“You’ve grown so much, Chloe; it’s like you’re a different person sometimes, and it’s been happening so gradually that I didn’t fully realize it until now.”
I brushed a lock of hair from her face and smiled. “Thank you. Onava said something similar to me and it sounded so good that I had her say it twice.” I looked up in concentration, wanting to get it just right. “A seed grows with no sound, but a tree falls with a huge noise. Destruction has noise but creation is quiet.’”
“Yeah, that does sound like something Onava would say.” Faith smiled. “So you’re truly happy with this small wedding?”
“I am. If we regret it, we can have a big party later, but I’m just so ready to bond to Adam – and this way we don’t have to worry about the media finding out.”
“True.”
“Plus,” I said with a secretive smile, “Adam and I agree that our children deserve to have their parents be married.”
Faith narrowed her eyes suspiciously, “Children?”
I broke into a wide smile and pointed to my belly.
Faith’s shriek was so loud I had to place my hand over her mouth.
She pushed my hand away and flung her arms around me. “Chloe, I can’t believe you’re actually having a baby at the same time as me.”
I giggled. “Yes, just like we planned it when we were younger.”
“Does Adam know?”
I grinned. “Duh! Of course he knows.”
“And is he excited?”
“No, deeply depressed, couldn’t you tell?” I said and shook my head with laughter.
“Okay, but tell me this: did the subject of marriage come up before or after you found out that you were pregnant?”
“Why? Do you worry he’s marrying me out of duty?”
