Page 38 of Zane

Four days ago, I married the woman of my dreams. Kels, I knew pretty early on in our relationship that you were the one I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. Our wedding markedthe start of our life together. It was a beautiful day. And you were beautiful, too.

Kelsey, thank you for taking a chance on me… on us… I am so thankful for you and can’t wait to see where life takes us. I love you. Always and forever.

Zane’s curiosity grew exponentially as he read the post and looked through the attached photos. They were the same ones he’d seen in the photo app, but he still paused on each one.

“Zane? Are you okay?”

Zane looked up from his phone as his mom slid into the seat across from him, concern on her face. It was a familiar sight since he’d woken up after the accident.

“I’m fine,” he said, setting his phone down on the table. “Just looking through my phone and coming to some realizations.”

“Oh? What are those?”

He hesitated, not sure how his mom was going to respond. “I need to spend some time with Kelsey. I need to learn more about her and our relationship.”

The concern on his mom’s face did not ease at his words. “I know that your relationship with her has been a stress.”

“Well, I have to say that I don’t believe it was stressful to me prior to the accident,” he said. “I loved her very much.” Picking his phone up, he found one of the pictures from the wedding and turned his phone to face his mom. “Look how happy we were.”

His mom’s gaze flooded with tears as she looked at the pictures. “I wish I knew why you didn’t invite us to your wedding.”

“Is that what all this is about?” he asked. “You’re upset because we didn’t invite you to the wedding?”

“It’s not just that,” she said. “But you know that weddings are a big deal in our family. We should have been there with you.”

“And you think Kelsey’s the reason you weren’t invited?”

His mom shrugged. “I tried asking you, but you just said that it was what both of you had decided worked best. You didn’t give any more details.”

“I don’t know my reasoning, but I know that I always questioned the need for big fancy weddings. When Charli and Blake had a fast engagement and a small wedding, I do remember thinking that made so much more sense.”

“I didn’t know you felt that way,” his mom said, still staring at the picture on his phone.

“So you assumed that Kelsey was the one keeping everyone away?”

“Yeah. I guess I did. I thought for sure you’d want your family with you for such an important occasion.”

“Maybe I’ll be able to tell you more than that one day,” Zane said. “But for now, just know that even if it was Kelsey’s idea, I probably didn’t object.”

“Was her family there?”

“I don’t remember,” Zane said, reminding her that his memory was impaired. “But from looking at the pictures, I think only a couple of people were with us, and I don’t think either of them were Kelsey’s family.”

“So, what are you going to do about your marriage?”

“I’m going to hope my memory comes back,” Zane said. “And while I wait, I’m going to spend time with Kelsey.”

“Make a go of the marriage?”

Zane shrugged. “I’m not committing to anything just yet. I feel like all I can do is take it a step at a time.”

His mom nodded, the concern on her face having been exchanged for resignation. She might be accepting his relationship with Kelsey, but she still wasn’t happy about it.

As Zane reached for his phone, the back door opened and Rori stepped into the kitchen. She headed for the door that led to the garage, then paused when she saw them sitting at the table.

“Kelsey called to say she was ready to come home,” Rori said.

“Don’t forget she wanted a bottle of water,” Zane reminded her.

---