Page 120 of Vicious Arrangement
I hug the rich, deep cream color of the velvet gown I’m wearing, and I smile. It’s been an amazing two years, and life just seemsto get better. I’m nursing part-time and I’ll go back full-time, no matter what my husband says. At some point, I’ll step back into my calling.
But my favorite thing of the last two years has been Noah. Every day he lets me in more and more and with each discovery, I think we fall deeper in love.
He’s amazing, everything I deep down knew he could be, and more.
I’m lucky he’s part of my life.
“Are you ready?” Katie whispers as the music starts and Asher corrals children and the dog into position. He’s got the rings, but Kiara will carry flowers, and Josh a velvet pillow for the rings. Asher will tie them to Angus’s collar, and then with ceremony, Joshy’s going to remove them, put them on the pillow where Kiara will also put the flowers, and then he’ll hand it to his dad.
We don’t trust Kiara with the rings, and she’s happier with the flowers.
It’s the sit down and get ready music, not the wedding march, which I know is a silly choice, but Noah wanted it.
Suddenly I’m hit by nerves, and nausea rolls through me. I bolt to the bathroom, only managing to get there in time with Katie and Kiara, who’s clearly made a run for it as witness to my humiliation.
I get up and rinse my mouth, grab a guest toothbrush, and open the package and the untouched toothpaste and brush.
“Are you okay?”
“Nerves,” I say.
I lean against the counter, wanting to splash my face with water but unwilling to ruin my makeup that Katie did. She reapplies the lipstick, then drops the tube back in her bag.
“Are you sure?” She raises her brows. “I feel like I’ve been in this situation before.”
“I’m not pregnant,” I say with a laugh.
“We can test that theory.”
She reaches into her bag and pulls out a pregnancy test.
“Humor me, Ari.”
I take it but frown. “You want to explain why you’re carrying around pregnancy tests?”
Her face reddens and I gape.
“Oh my god. Are you serious, Katie?”
She holds her fingers to her lips. “Shh. It’s super early, and only you and Asher know.” “Pee on it now.”
“There’s a thing called privacy.”
She rolls her eyes. “We’re basically the same person. One that has no shame. Do it. Open that sucker and pee on the stick.”
I humor her, my daughter watching me with stark interest.
I don’t know how the hell I’m going to handle it if she starts screaming out, ‘mommy likes to pee on things.’
Katie takes hold of Kiara’s hand and slips out of the bathroom, and I hear her talking to Asher. She comes back in alone. “Hurry up, people are waiting. They came for a wedding, they want that wedding now. What does it say?”
“Fuck. I’m pregnant.”
“You got one of the cool ones. All of mine were just lines.” Then she claps her hands. “We’re having twins!”
“That’s not how it works.”
I’m shocked. Happy, amazed shocked.
