The Truth About Ever After (4 page)

After
that, the waiters started to bring out the food, and the table filled with
noise as the guests began to eat. I was sitting next to Matt and Eric’s
parents, my in-laws, and we settled into comfortable conversation. I loved my
mother- and father-in-law. They were about as different from my parents as you
could get, but they were such good people, so clearly crazy about their sons.
At first, I think they were a little bit unsure about my relationship with
Eric. They were probably kind of freaked out about the whole money thing, a
reaction I was very used to. But I think I won them over, eventually.

“This
is such a nice wedding,” Eric’s mother, Stella, said to me over her wine glass.
It was only her second glass, but already her cheeks had gotten slightly
flushed. She wasn’t much of a drinker—I would bet that the last glass of
wine she had was probably at my own wedding. “When Matt told me they wanted to
get married at the beach, I was worried. But this is much nicer than I
thought.” She patted my leg under the table. “You did a great job, dear.”

I
smiled at her. Somehow the praise carried more weight coming from her. Stella
Thompson was a no-nonsense kind of woman. She had worked night shifts when Matt
and Eric were in school, making up the gap between Matt’s hockey scholarship
and the expensive tuition at the private high school where I had met him.
Sometimes she seemed a little hard to me, not quite cold but not overly warm
either. Compliments didn’t come from her all that often.

“Matt
and Jen seem happy,” I said, cutting into my salmon.

“She’s
such a good girl,” Stella said, looking across the table at them.
Wow, she must really be enjoying her wine
,
I thought.
Two compliments in less than a minute?

“She
is,” I agreed.

“She’ll
make a great mom, I think,” Stella went on. “She told me that they want to
start a family right away.”

I
felt a little dip in my stomach. Jen hadn’t mentioned that to me. Stella leaned
closer to me. “And what about you, dear? Any plans for you and Eric?”

I
practically choked on my fish. This was the most personal Eric’s mom had ever
gotten with me. “I’d love to start a family,” I told her, wiping my mouth with
my napkin. “I just need to convince Eric it’s time.”

Stella
actually clapped her hands. “Really?” she cried. “Oh, Kiki, that makes me so
happy!”

I
caught sight of Eric across the table, raising his eyebrows at me. I smiled at
him, feeling awkward. I hoped he couldn’t hear her over the din of voices and
music. I wasn’t so sure how he would feel about me having this conversation
with his mother before I even broached it with him.

“John
and I have been looking for an excuse to redecorate the boys’ old room,” she
said, dabbing at her eyes now. Wow, either this woman needed to be cut off, or
she had been holding in all this
grand-baby
talk for a
very long time. “It still has their old bunk beds, you know, and all of
their
sports trophies. John keeps telling me we need to
clean it out, turn it into a library or something, but I just can’t bear it. A
nursery, though! A nursery would be wonderful!”

I
looked at Eric again, feeling a little bit of panic now, but he was talking to
Matt. Stella was babbling loudly about the color scheme she would use, about
whether or not she would need two cribs, just in case Jen and I had babies at
the same time. I had no idea my simple statement about wanting a baby would
morph the usually reserved woman into some kind of baby-crazed Grandma-to-be.

“It’s
probably too early to really decide anything,” I told her, trying to rein her
in. “I mean, neither of us is actually pregnant. I haven’t even talked to Eric
yet.”

“But
you will, dear,” she said happily, patting my leg once more. “I know you. You
can convince that boy to do just about anything.” I felt a little twinge at her
words. Did she think I controlled Eric? It wasn’t an idea that I was very
comfortable with. “Oh, this is going to be such a wonderful year, I can tell
already.”

“You
need rescuing?” a familiar voice said, close to my ear. I looked up to see my husband,
kneeling beside me. “Mom looks like she’s getting a little sloshed there.” He
grinned at me. “You doing okay?”

“I’m
fine.” I smiled at him. “She’s got grand-babies on the brain, apparently.”

Eric
rolled his eyes. “Come on,” he said, grabbing my hand. “You done with your
food? Let’s go get some drinks and mingle.”

I
felt a flash of relief. Eric’s mom was freaking me out a little bit, to be
honest.

“Hey,
Dad,” Eric called, pulling me up to my feet. “Maybe you need to cut your wife
off, you know?”

Stella
tittered most uncharacteristically, and her husband grinned at us. “It’s a
party,” he said, winking. “I like to see my wife get a little tipsy. Might come
in handy for me later.” He winked again, and Eric groaned.

“So
not the visual I need,” he muttered, putting his arm around me and steering me
toward the bar.

I
giggled. “I think they’re cute,” I said. “I hope we’re still that in love when
we’re their age.”

“You
can count on it, babe,” he whispered in my ear, his hand drifting down to smack
my butt lightly.

“Watch
it, mister,” I said, elbowing his ribs. “I’m kind of on the clock here, you
know.”

At
the bar we met Annie and Nate, both drinking Coronas from the bottle. “This is
great, Kiki,” Annie said, looking around the patio. “Seriously, you did a wonderful
job. I know Jen is so happy.”

“Thanks,”
I said, grinning. “And thanks for the toast.”

“What
are you drinking?” Nate asked, gesturing for the bartender. Eric and I both
ordered a beer and the four of us moved away from the bar, where a line was starting
to form. Nate led us over to the railing of the patio. Darkness had fallen now,
the
tiki
torches out in the sand providing the only
light on the beach. I could barely make out the ocean, but the sounds of the
waves demonstrated its close proximity.

“This
is heaven,” Nate said, looking out over the beach. “Why don’t we live near the
ocean?”

“Because
we’re Detroiters,” Annie said. “We may bitch and moan about the city and the
weather, but we wouldn’t actually change it for anything.”

“Speak
for yourself,” Nate said. “I’m an East Coast boy, remember? Nothing compares
with being within driving distance of the ocean.”

“You’re
talking to the wrong people here, buddy,” Eric said. “You won’t find many
people more devoted to Detroit than these two.”

“Cheers,”
Annie said, clinking her bottle against mine.

“What
about you?” I asked Eric. “You’re a pretty big Detroit cheerleader yourself. I
mean
,
look at all the work you’re doing for Daddy’s
company. That’s all about revitalizing the city.”

Eric
just shrugged. I wondered if he was stressing out about work again. After
finishing his graduate degree in architecture, he had worked in some crappy
entry-level position at a big firm downtown. Last year he had finally taken my
dad up on his offer of a job in the development sector of his business. Daddy
owned a bunch of properties in and around Detroit—restaurants, hotels,
clubs,
office
buildings. He specialized in taking
buildings that had been abandoned or neglected, and revitalizing them. He made
a ton of money in the process, don’t get me wrong, but I knew he wouldn’t have
been happy doing it any other way. Helping improve the city was a major passion
of his. I was excited for Eric to take the job—it had to be more
fulfilling to work at a company with a purpose than to just be at some
entry-level position in your average firm. Eric seemed to enjoy the work, but I
knew he felt pressure to prove himself as more than just the boss’s son-in-law.

“So,
are
the newly-weds sticking around?” Nate asked. “It
seems like they have a built-in honeymoon right here.”

“No,
they’re headed to one of the other islands in the morning,” Annie told him.
“More privacy.”

“I
don’t blame them,” Josh said, joining us. He was holding Maggie on his hip, and
she seemed very determined to get down and join her brother, who was now
running around the exterior of the patio with another kid, probably a guest at
the hotel. “It can’t be very relaxing for any of you guys here with my crazy
kids.”

“You
could always take them to another hotel and leave Ginny here to enjoy her
friends,” Annie said, smiling sweetly at him. Annie and Josh had a bit of a
history of not liking each other, something to do with an old break-up between
him and Ginny. It had mellowed out into good-natured ribbing now—for the
most part.

“Or
you could do your auntie duty and take them away so your best friend could have
some alone time with her husband,” he shot back, smiling just as sweetly.

“Fat
chance,” Annie said, laughing. But she did hold out her arms for the baby. “
Gimme
,” she said. “Go get yourself a beer or something.”

As
Josh headed over to the bar, I looked out over the crowd of people. Mostly
everyone seemed to have finished their meals by now, and most of the guests
were mingling on the patio, enjoying drinks and the music of the steel drum
band. I looked down at my watch.

“We
should probably do the cake,” I said. “Then we can get the dancing started.”

“I
want to dance!” Danny cried, running up to us, his new friend behind him. “Momma
said I could stay up late for the party.”

“Awesome,”
Annie said, looking down at him. “But you better be good, little man. No
running into people, okay?”

“Got
it,” Danny said, taking off again.

Annie
sighed. “That kid is a handful. I don’t know how Ginny does it with a ten-month-old,
too.” She looked down at Maggie, who grinned up at her. “Guess it helps that
you’re so
stinkin
’ cute,” she said, kissing the
baby’s forehead. Maggie reached up to grab at Annie’s earrings, laughing.

Watching
her, I felt warmth growing in my chest. I knew Annie had a point, that babies
were a lot of hard work. She would totally know, since she and Jen had helped
to raise Danny before Josh was on the scene. But
I could do
it
,
I knew I could
. Wouldn’t all the hard work
be
worth it if I had a little face like that to look at
every day?

“You’ve
been listening to my mother, haven’t you?” Eric asked. I looked up to see that
he was watching me closely. “I can see it on your face. Having babies on the
brain is contagious, isn’t it?”

I
smiled at him. “I was just thinking that we would have really cute kids.”

He
rolled his eyes. “Let’s get through the wedding, okay? Didn’t you say something
about the cake?”

“Crap,”
I said, setting my beer down on the patio railing. “I almost forgot.”

As
I rushed over to the headwaiter to let him know we were ready for the cake, I
tried to keep my mind focused on the evening. I’d been looking forward to this
party for months, not to mention the fact that I still had work to do. Getting
distracted by thoughts of babies was silly.

My
resolve didn’t last very long. No sooner had the cake been cut than Ginny asked
if I could hold Maggie for a few minutes so she could go to the restroom.

“Of
course!” I said, taking Maggie from her arms. “I can watch her for a while. Why
don’t you eat some cake and relax with Josh?”

She
looked at me uncertainly. “You’ve been working all day, Kiki. I think you’re
the one that needs to relax.”

“Don’t
be silly,” I said. “I love Maggie and I don’t get to see her nearly enough. Go
on, have fun. I’ll find you later.”

She
still looked unsure, but finally grinned at me. “If you’re sure,” she said,
leaning over to kiss Maggie’s cheek. “Thanks, Kiki!”

After
Ginny had gone, I walked with Maggie over to the patio wall. Sitting down on
the ledge, I settled her on my lap and looked down at her. Maggie was looking
at me intently, a curious expression on her face.

“Hey,
Maggie girl,” I cooed. I smoothed out her pale blue cotton dress. What a
perfect little flower girl she had made. The white bow in her wispy brown hair
was starting to slip, so I readjusted it. “There you go,” I said. “Now you’re a
pretty girl, aren’t you?”

I
had the unmistakable feeling that someone was watching me. Looking up, I saw
Eric’s mom across the patio. She was watching me with the baby, a knowing look on
her face. She winked at me before turning back to Eric’s dad.

“Is
my hubby right?” I asked Maggie. “Am I
gonna
turn all
baby-crazy on him?”

Maggie
stared at me, wide-eyed. She looked so serious it made me giggle. “That’s quite
an expression for a little pumpkin like you,” I told her. “Can I get a smile?”

She
continued to stare at me solemnly. “Please?” I asked, my voice taking on a
singsong quality. What was it about babies that made people automatically talk
like this? “Please smile for me, Maggie girl!” I made a face at her, opening my
eyes wide and sticking out my tongue. For a minute I thought maybe I had scared
her, but then her face broke out into a huge grin, a wide toothless smile that
made me feel all warm and gooey inside.