Page 44 of Travis

“Are you threatening me?”

“No, I'm not threatening you, I'm just asking you to have a fucking heart, Cher. You can do all the baby stuff you want after the wedding. It’s in a couple of weeks. I think you can manage.”

She's snide. “Well, if mama and daddy already know, like you say, then this point is moot.”

“No it’s not.” I guffaw, exasperated, losing my shit. I put her on speakerphone right after I got the wink from Liam a few minutes ago. “It’s fine if the girls and mama know,” I say, referring to ‘the girls’ as the wedding party, “but if you use my wedding as a platform to announce your pregnancy, not only are you setting yourself up to look like a selfish whore, but you’re also going to make a fool of yourself and of this entire family!”

“She’s right, Cher.” Liam chimes in. “Everyone gets to have a wedding day. You got yours.”

“Oh, fuck you, the both of you.” she spits. “I’ll tell anyone that I want to, when I want to. It’s a free fucking country! And, Hanna, if you go off and tell anyone else, I'll make sure that everyone knows how big your fucking mouth is!”

“Oh yeah! Well, how about how big your fucking snatch is!” I shout, throwing my patience out the window, along with my reason and my sanity. “At least I didn’t cheat on my husband and get knocked up by some two-bit loser because you think he looks like fucking Sean Penn! Which, he doesn’t, by the way!”

Silence.

Liam looks over to see the display indicating that she hung up. He plops down on the couch next to me. My hands are in my hair. I’ve just dug my own grave and I know it.

Liam combs his fingers through my hair. “I think we need to take a drive over to your folks’ place, babe.”

Chapter 13

Becky

JustasIsuspected,Greg is here before me, but luckily, Hanna has already left. “We spent the night at her folks’ place.” Liam explains. “I just came back to get a suit for work.”

“Would you like us to wait until you’re both here?” I offer.

“No, man, we’re fresh out of time, from what I understand.” he reasons. “Besides, Hanna’s in the middle of a crisis with her folks, so I'm the decision maker today.”

“What happened?” I ask, watching Greg make it look like he’s casually taking things out of his briefcase, but I can tell from the corner of my eye that he’s snooping.

“Well, it wouldn’t be a proper wedding without a family kerfluffle, now, would it.” Liam states. “Her sister’s a piece of trash and Hanna’s afraid that she’ll fuck the whole day up.”

“Oh, no. I’m guessing you know about...” I trail off, letting him fill in the blank, so I don’t overstep.

“She’s pregnant, yeah.”

Greg’s eyes dart over to Liam. “Hanna’s pregnant?”

Liam smiles sheepishly. “No, her basketcase of a sister is.”

Relief washes over Greg’s face, making me feel uneasy. My stomach starts to roll again. “Do you mind if I get a glass of water?” I ask Liam.

“Help yourself.” he gestures. “If you’re hungry, there’s croissants over there on the counter, too.”

Greg rises. “So, what’s her sister going to do to fuck things up?”

I give him a look. I thought he was sharper than that. My stomach eases slightly.

“Cher’s threatening to tell everyone about the baby at the wedding, but I think that we’ve allayed that through her folks.” Liam explains. “Hanna’s been browbeaten by Cher all her life, so she thinks that Cher has all this power over their folks, but they told Hanna that in no uncertain terms is Cher welcome to do any such thing, and they’ll make sure of it.”

“Oh, thank God. I bet Hanna’s relieved.”

“Sort of.” Liam says tentatively. “Now Cher’s pissed off that Hanna’s let the cat out of the bag, so to speak, even though most of us had already guessed about Cher, so now Cher is threatening to pull out of the wedding party.”

I laugh without a trace of mirth. “Great timing.”

“Yeah.” Liam scoffs. “Now that Hanna has ruined Cher’s big plans, she wants revenge.”

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