Page 3 of Our Little Wedding

Carly closed the magazine and rolled onto her back. “Ainsley, it’s just the engagement party. What difference does it make? You’ve worn that dress plenty of times before, and you weren’t picky about the way it hung.”

I shrugged. “Well, it matters to me now.” I slid the dress off and put my jeans and T-shirt back on. “I just want everything to be perfect.” I sat down on the edge of the bed beside Carly just as Nikki walked into the bedroom.

“I know, but seriously, it’s only a small gathering of a few people.”

“Yeah, only a few people.” I giggled, thinking about all the invitations I’d sent out.

“Ainsley, can I have dessert now?”

“Sure, bug, let’s go,” I said, putting my hand on her head and leading her out of mine and Spencer’s room. Carly let out a sigh and got up, following behind us.

“What kind of ice cream do you want? Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberry?”

Nikki put her forefinger to her lips. “Mmmm, chocolate and strawberry,” she said, her eyes lighting up.

I shook my head and placed my hand on my hip. “No, one or the other.”

“Mmmm…” Nikki thought hard for a moment and then yelled, “Chocolate with syrup and sprinkles!”

I laughed as I turned and pulled a bowl down from the cupboard, while Nikki climbed up on a stool beside Carly and watched as I plopped a scoop of ice cream into her bowl.

“Anyway, back to what we were talking about earlier. Now I’m being serious, and I want a serious answer. Picture your life for me for just a moment?”

“I am picturing it. I’m happy, Carly,” I said, drizzling chocolate syrup onto the ice cream in Nikki’s bowl, then covering it with pink and white sprinkles.

“I don’t mean now. Yes, sure, you’re happy now. You have all the warm and fuzzy feelings of being in a rather new relationship. I mean, think about your future.”

I put the lid back on the ice cream container and shoved it in the freezer. “I am thinking about the future! We have Nikki and two other babies. This one, and perhaps a little boy, who looks just like Spencer.”

“A brother and a sister!” Nikki exclaimed, taking the bowl from me. “I thought you said there was only one baby in there?Two can’t possibly fit in there?” she said, pointing to my flat stomach.

Carly looked at Nikki and mouthed to me, “She knows?”

“Nikki, eat your ice cream,” I said, knowing full well we shouldn’t be talking about any of this in front of her.

“She only knows because she heard Spencer and I talking about it and asked. Spencer doesn’t believe in not telling her. So, we sat her down and told her that one day she would have a little brother or sister,” I whispered to Carly.

“I see. Well, regardless, two others? You are nuts. And I’m talking distant future. He’s all hot now, but what do you think he is going to look like in, say, twenty years?” she said, keeping her voice low.

“Can I go into the living room and colour?” Nikki asked, grinning at me.

“Sure, just don’t spill, okay? Keep everything at your little table.”

“I will.” She grinned, shoving a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth. “Bye, Carly.”

“Bye.” We both watched as she carefully carried the bowl into the living room with two hands, leaving the two of us in the kitchen. “Now seriously? What about twenty years from now? What do you think it will be like then?”

“God! What are any of us going to look like in twenty years?” I cried.

“I’m being serious! You’ll only be forty, but he’ll be sixty,” she said, scrunching her nose up in disgust.

“So am I being serious. Now please, I am marrying Spencer. I’m happy, I’m excited, and it would be nice for my best friend to be excited for me as well.”

“You say that now.”

“She says what now?” Carly jumped at the sound of Spencer’s voice as he poked his head around the corner.

“Nothing,” I immediately said, looking at Carly letting her know the conversation was ending.

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