Page 63 of One Wild Wedding Weekend

Daley grabbed her up and hugged her, alarmed. “Hey. Easy. Sorry I said anything. The name plaque isn’t important. We’ll get this stuff done. No problem. Why don’t I start moving the desks where you want them?”

“It’s not that,” Tabby wailed.

“Then what is it, sweetheart?”

Tabby was pale as milk. She glanced around the open classroom configuration to make sure no one was close by. “I think I’m pregnant. But it’s too soon.”

Daley beamed. “That’s incredible, sweetheart. Congratulations.”

“It’s not incredible,” Tabby insisted, looking defiant and scared. “Teachers are supposed to get pregnant in late June so they can go on maternity leave after state testing in the spring. But I think we slipped up the first night we got home from our honeymoon. We were so excited to be in our own bed that we—”

Daley covered her sister’s mouth with her hand. “TMI, love. And besides, do you know how crazy you sound? No one can legislate due dates.”

“It’s not a law,” Tabby said sulkily. “But it might as well be.”

“What does John think?”

The tears flowed again, Tabby’s expression several notches beyond distressed. “He doesn’t know yet. I’m afraid to tell him. He’s been trying to make changes at work so that his schedule is more conducive to fatherhood.”

“You’re not having a baby tomorrow. There’s time.” She hugged her sister again, marveling that little Tabby had taken a huge step beyond Daley. “Congratulations, hon. I think it’s probably the hormones making you upset, right? Everything is going to be okay, I swear. We’ll get this classroom whipped into shape, and then you can go home and tell your sweet husband the good news.”

Finally, Tabby quit crying and found a roll of paper towels to wash her face. When she was calm, the two of them came up with a system.

Daley insisted on moving all the furniture. “You put names on workbooks and label cubbies. I don’t want you getting all tired and sweaty.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Tabby’s smile was tremulous, but at least it was a smile.

They worked in tandem for two and a half hours. When it was almost time for the custodial staff to lock up the building, Tabby’s room wasn’t finished, but it was a lot closer than it had been that morning.

Daley straightened a poster on the wall and glanced at her sister, who was filling the drawers of her teacher desk with supplies. “Tabby?”

“Hmm?”

“May I ask you a personal question?”

Her sister’s head snapped up. “Of course.”

“Was it easy falling in love with John? Did you see it coming, I mean? From early on? Or was it a struggle?” Daley knew they had been set up on a blind date by mutual friends and that there had been a considerable gap between the first date and the next.

Tabby was no fool. She had to know the context of Daley’s query. But she didn’t pry. Instead, she answered, “Oh, no. It wasn’t easy at all. He and I had almost nothing in common. I work with children all day, and he manages huge portfolios worth millions of dollars. At first, I was sure we wouldn’t have a thing to talk about.”

“What were your biggest struggles?”

Tabby shrugged. “Time. He stood me up once, early on, and that was almost it for me. I’m not a diva. I don’t demand slavish loyalty. But I certainly wanted a man who cared enough to be with me and to respect me.”

“What happened after that night?”

“I made it clear his behavior was unacceptable. But the truth is, Daley, I had to do some changing, too. John’s work requires a lot of social functions. I tried to bow out of those for months. I was sure his clients would see me as a boring public school teacher. I had a chip on my shoulder. And you remember how shy I was for a long time. John insisted on making me admit there was more to me than my job. He wouldn’t let me fade into the background. We argued a lot. But the making up was fun.”

“And then?”

Her sister’s smile was wistful. “There came a day I just knew. I saw him walking up the driveway to pick me up one evening, and it hit me hard. I was head over heels in love with him. Those feelings scared me so badly.”

“But everything turned out the way it was supposed to in the end.”

“It’s true. I’m a very lucky woman.”

Daley didn’t press any more. She had a lot to think about. John and Tabby were proof of the old maxim “opposites attract.” But if that were the case, then maybe Daley and Tristan’s similarities made them a bad bet.

---