Page 19 of Our Little Wedding

“Jon, please… just calm down,” Spencer commanded as he wrapped his arm around me, trying to get me to calm down. “Ainsley, breathe, baby,” he said in a low voice.

Only I couldn’t. My chest was so tight I couldn’t inhale. The thought of losing Spencer, Nikki, or my father was too much for me to handle as tears streamed freely down my face. Spencer wrapped his arms around me, holding me as I sobbed.

“You know, when I told you to find a younger woman to help you get over Brittany, I honestly never thought it would be my daughter you’d turn to. Sneaking around behind my back. I tried hard to be rational and allow you two to date. I even swallowed my fears of what your intentions were with the proposal, but to find all this out now, I have nothing left to say. I want you home!”

“I was going to talk to you. You shouldn’t even have gotten one of those invites until after we spoke.”

“When were you planning on talking to me, after the fucking wedding?” my father yelled and stepped forward, taking hold of my upper arm.

Immediately, Spencer grabbed his arm, forcing him to remove his hand from me and stepped in front of me. “Jon, I’m warning you. Don’t touch her. Now, I never meant for this to happen this way. I never meant to fall in love with your daughter, but I have zero fucking regrets. Now I will not tell you again. You either calm down and talk to us or you leave our home. This isn’t good for Ainsley or the baby.”

As the words left Spencer’s lips, my heart began racing. At first, I thought maybe my father hadn’t heard him, but he stopped moving and stood there, staring at us.

“Tell me I didn’t actually hear what I think you said,” my father said in a low, controlled voice.

“No, you heard me correctly.” Spencer stood there, his back straight, his eyes glued to my father’s. He wasn’t backing down, not this time. I turned my back away from the two of them, afraid of what was coming next. I left the kitchen, stepping intothe living room and up against the wall as the room I’d just left fell completely silent.

I tried to breathe, tried to calm down, but the room spun. Still, there were no words spoken between the two of them. The kitchen was completely silent. I wanted them to yell at one another, to get it over with so we could sit down and talk things through after, like rational adults. Instead, the silence was overwhelming, until I heard my father speak.

“Fine, kick me out. She can stay here tonight, but I want her home in the fucking morning. Got it.” The front door opened and then closed. Then, suddenly, Spencer appeared beside me.

“He left?” I questioned, looking at Spencer with tear filled eyes.

Spencer nodded his head. “He did.”

Tears poured. “Just like that, he left?”

Spencer grabbed me, pulling me into him, doing his best to comfort me. “It’s okay, Ainsley, shhh. I promise things will be fine. I’ll speak to him tomorrow.”

“I’m not going there.” I sobbed. “I’m not leaving us.”

“You don’t have to.” Spencer’s arms tightened around me, and I cried harder. I was afraid that with all this backlash that Spencer would soon tire of being the one to hold us together and that he too would give up on us. After all, he didn’t need this type of drama in his life.

“Come, we are getting you into bed,” he whispered, grabbing the remote for the stereo and silencing the music I’d been enjoying before all the craziness had erupted. He turned out all the lights, then quickly locked the front door and walked with me into the bedroom.

I pulled back the blankets and crawled into bed as tears still ran down my cheeks. My body was exhausted, and as soon as my head hit the pillow, I let out a yawn. He turned his bedside lamp on and then shut off the overhead light, coming around to hisside of the bed. He stripped down and slipped under the covers, his warm body sliding behind me, providing me with comfort, while I shivered.

He pulled me into him, my head resting on his shoulder, and wrapped his arm around me. Not another word spoken between us. He just held me tightly against him. I never wanted to leave his arms. I closed my eyes and took comfort in the security and warmth he provided, finally drifting off into a restless sleep.

Spencer

It had been four days since the confrontation with Ainsley’s father.

Ainsley had asked me repeatedly when I planned to speak to Jon. I could see the stress piled not only on her face, but in her actions and body language. However, I took it upon myself to decide it was just best to let things calm down before I tried to speak with him. I wanted things to be as stressless for Ainsley as possible, and I figured letting him calm down first would help the situation and make him more receptive to hearing me out.

Even though I knew this, I was still worried about her. She hadn’t been feeling well the last few days, and I was concerned for not only her wellbeing but that of the baby too. I feared if Jon wasn’t receptive to talking this through, our situation would become worse, and that would only upset Ainsley more, which was the last thing I wanted.

I got up from my chair and walked over to my printer when my office door opened and Ainsley appeared. “I made myself a tea, thought I’d bring you a coffee,” she said, placing the mug down on my desk. She didn’t make any eye contact with me, instead, she walked over to the window, looking thoughtfully at the city beyond and saying nothing.

I frowned. “How are you feeling?”

She looked at me over her shoulder. I tried to hide the worry from my face, but I knew she could see it. She turned and went back to silently looking out the window.

“Ainsley, how are you feeling?” I repeated.

“Okay,” she answered, then she began quietly humming a song to herself as she looked back out the window. I guessed she was only trying to wash away my fears, but I also knew by the look on her face, and this odd behavior that she wasn’t telling me the truth.

“You’re sure?” I questioned.

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