Page 26 of The Bride
I took it. It was square and fairly heavy. When I opened it, it was a framed picture of my mom and dad that I had never seen before. It looked like Christmas, because there were lights up on the porch. My dad was standing behind my mom with his hands over her stomach, her hands on top of his.
They were both beaming into the camera. Oh my God I missed them.
“Turn it over.”
I did and I could see the frame in the back was clear. So I could read my dad’s handwriting scrawled on the back of the photo.
We’re pregnant!
I put the picture down on the counter and walked over to Jake. He had his arms open and I stood in them for five solid minutes crying on his chest. Finally the crying turned to sniffles.
“Where did you find it?”
“It was stuck in the back of the top dresser drawer. It was pretty creased, but I found a good frame person who made it look nice again. I thought you would like it.”
“I love it.”
He stroked my hair and rocked me in his arms because I wasn’t ready to let go yet. I guess we didn’t hear the front door open, but Janet walked into the kitchen and made this little gasping sound.
I’ll never know why I did it. I mean it wasn’t like Jake and I were doing anything wrong. He gave me this awesome and kind of sad picture of my mom and dad, and was comforting me through that sadness.
Totally legit.
Still, as soon as I heard that gasping sound, I pushed him away. So hard he stumbled back a step. We stood next to each other looking at Janet and it was officially weird.
“Hey Janet,” he said.
“Hey.”
“Janet, look at this awesome picture Jake gave me for my birthday.” See the reason why I was hugging him. Why he was holding me. I picked it up and showed it to her. She was looking at it, making this humming sound in the back of her throat.
“I brought cupcakes,” she said. “For your birthday.”
That was super nice. I wondered if there was arsenic in them.
“I’m making eggs,” Jake said. “Want some?”
“Sure.”
Jake went back to the stove. Janet sat next to me. I tried to eat my eggs, bacon and toast as fast as I possibly could, but I wasn’t leaving a crumb behind, because it was my birthday breakfast. Eight minutes later I was done.
“Okay, I’m out. You remember it’s prom tonight, right?”
The deal was Chrissy, Karen, and Lisa were coming over and we were all going to get ready here. Then we were going to take Chrissy’s Jeep, because she had the coolest car, into town and meet the guys at the dance. Then Riley was going to drive me home, by way of my dad’s hunting cabin where I was going to have sex for the first time.
The cabin was prepared with five stolen beers, to get in the mood. Sorry, Javier and Gomez. A strip of five condoms—thank you, Karen’s boyfriend—and a really soft blanket. And a bag of Combos in case we got hungry after.
“Yes,” he said as if I hadn’t been reminding him all week, which I had. “Midnight, Cinderella. Not a minute later or I come looking for you with my shotgun.”
The plan was to leave the dance at ten. By the time we got back to the cabin, that left a solid hour and fifteen minutes for sex.
“Yep. It’s a deal.”
I grabbed my picture and hugged it to my chest as I scrambled out of the kitchen.
Totally the best night ever.
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