Mr. Grady’s loud voice boomed, startling me. “Sam, you get out of my diner right now. I will not stand for you treating my family like that, no matter how you feel about them. You’re fired,” he yelled.
Surprised, Sam threw the towel on the counter and grabbed her coat from a hook on the wall. As she was walking out, she glared at me. I rolled my eyes, and she ran out of the diner.
Mr. Grady put his arm around my shoulder. “You all right, darlin’?”
I half laughed. “Oh, I’m fine. You should worry about Mrs. Grady. I can’t believe you slapped her in the face!” Mr. Grady broke into a full belly laugh.
She shook her hand and laughed. “Well, the little brat deserved it. I can’t believe she called you that filthy name,” she said.
I shook my head as Mr. Grady went to get her some ice for her hand. “Well, that was the most awesome thing I think I’ve ever seen.” I walked over to her and gave her a hug. “Thanks for sticking up for me, slugger,” I said, and she laughed.
“Any time, baby girl. Well, Vi’s waitin’ on you, so I better let you go. You want me to have someone walk you out?”
“Oh no, I’ll be fine. Thanks, you guys. I’ll see you at the wedding tomorrow,” I said, blowing a kiss to Mr. Grady. I walked out the door. Violet’s car was waiting by the front door, and I climbed in to the passenger seat.
As I was buckling my seat belt, Violet asked, “What took you so long? And was that Sam I saw running out of here a few minutes ago?”
“Yes, and I’ll explain later. Let’s get home,” I said, and she put the car into reverse and we began the drive back to the house.
Chapter 18
Slumber Party
“Are you serious? She actually slapped her? That is awesome,” Daisy laughed, and popped a handful of cheese popcorn in her mouth.
“I think what’s awesome is that you went off on Sam like you did,” Violet said.
Smiling, I said, “What do you mean? I run a five star restaurant in San Francisco. I can be a bitch when I need to be.” I took a few bites of popcorn, and took a long drink of my soda. It had been too long since I had a carbonated beverage. We were all piled in Violet’s old bedroom on the floor, and there was a ton of junk food everywhere. We had given each other manicures and were just waiting for our pedicures to dry.
“I know, but I just always thought of you as the calm one of the three of us,” Violet said, and we all laughed.
“Calm one?” I asked.
“Yes, you know what I mean. I’m the hyper one, Daisy’s the rebellious one, and you were always the calm one. The voice of reason,” she replied.
“Well, I don’t know about that, but thanks, I guess,” I laughed.
“Okay, let’s change the subject. There is something I have been dying to know and I have wanted to ask you all night,” Violet said, nudging Daisy.
“And that would be?” I asked, shoving a Dorito into my mouth.
She looked at Daisy, and they both grinned. “How was the sex with Luke? Was he big?”
We all giggled, and I sighed. “It was…earth shattering,” I said, dreamily. “All that pent up sexual tension between us…hot damn. And I’m not tell you how big his penis is, Daisy,” I laughed, shooting a look at her that made her laugh.
They both squealed. “I knew you two would finally get it right. You two looked so great together tonight,” Violet said.
“Thanks, Vi. I just…I just love him so much. I actually miss him so bad right now,” I admitted, and Violet swooned. Daisy, on the other hand, snickered.
“You mean you miss his massive junk in your pants,” she joked, and we all laughed.
“So, what does it mean? You think this thing will work with you being so far away?” Violet asked me.
I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know yet. I know I have to decide what to do, but right now I am just trying to enjoy us, ya know?”
She smiled at me. “Yeah. Well, I know that whatever you decide, it will be the right thing.”
“I hope so. So, let me ask you something,” I said.
Violet smiled at me. “Shoot.”
“How is the sex with Evan? Judging by those dance moves from last night he has to be pretty damn spectacular,” I said, and she smiled.
“God, he’s amazing. I mean, he’s the perfect guy. He’s gentle when he needs to be, but he can definitely get rough too, which I have to admit I like a little more.”
My mouth fell open in surprise. “Wow…I thought you were gonna get all blushy on me, but I wasn’t expecting you to say that,” I laughed.
She rolled her eyes, and laughed. “What? I’m a grown woman that likes sex, especially when it’s with an incredibly sexy man that I happen to love more than anything in the world. That part just makes it so much better.”
I smiled at her. Placing a hand on her leg, I said, “I’m so happy for you Violet. Evan is so great, and he’s the luckiest guy in the world.”
“Thanks, Lilly. I know this is going to sound cheesy, but with the wedding and everything, I just feel like love is just everywhere, ya know? Me and Evan, you and Luke, and Jack seemed to hit it off with my friend Amber. Maybe he’ll find love too,” Violet said.
Daisy’s head snapped up. “H-he did? What, did they go home together?”
Puzzled, Violet looked at her. “Well, no, I don’t think so. Evan said that Jack was going to give her a ride home though. Why? What’s wrong?”
Daisy shook her head and looked down at her freshly painted nails. “Nothing’s wrong.” She looked back up at me, and I nodded at her, giving her an encouraging look.
“Daisy, come on. Tell me,” Violet pleaded.
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “All right, fine. Jack and I have kind of been sleeping together for almost five months. He’s been wanting us to be a real couple, and I thought I was only interested in a friends with benefits thing.”
Violet’s eyes went wide. “Oh my God, are you serious? Daisy…this is so great!”
Daisy shook her head. “No, it’s not, Vi. He’d been stressing me out asking for a relationship, and it had been physically making me sick. I was finally able to get him to back off a bit, and then I started to feel better. But, the other night, he showed up at the hospital when I got off, and he brought me flowers and ribbon candy, and asked me again to be with him. He told me to take all the time I needed, and I agreed to think about it. Well, last night I decided to give him an answer,” she said, her voice starting to crack.
“What did you tell him, Dais?” Violet asked.
“I told him that I thought he was a great guy, but that I needed more time to try and figure things out, but I guess he didn’t want to wait anymore, and he just walked away from me.”
I reached a hand out to her, and she took my hand in hers. Violet asked, “And I take it you didn’t want that?”
Daisy shook her head. “No. It took him walking away from me to see it, but I…I love him,” she said, and suddenly the dam broke, and she started to cry hard. “I just couldn’t admit it to myself because I was terrified.”
We both crawled over to her and wrapped our arms around her. “Oh Daisy…” I said. Violet handed her a tissue from her night stand.
“That’s not even the worst part,” she said. Suddenly, she sat up right and looked serious at us. “Okay, I am about to tell you two something huge, and if I do, will you both promise you will never, ever tell anyone? Not even Luke or Evan? That it will stay just between us for now?”
Violet and I looked at each other, our eyes wide. “Of course,” I said.
“Promise,” Violet said.
She sniffed again, and looked at both of us. “I’m pregnant.”
Our mouths dropped open. Although she was concerned, Violet’s face lit up. I, however, was trying to work it out in my head.
“How is that possible? You took a test a few weeks ago, and it said it was negative,” I said. Violet looked at me, a little stunned. “Vi, I’m sorry, but I figured out about her
and Jack the night I came back. I was concerned about her being so sick and throwing up, so I made her take a test. Please don’t be mad.”
“I’m not mad at all. Don’t even worry about me. Oh my God, Daisy. Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. After we talked last night, and he walked away, I just broke down. I barely slept. Then, this morning, I woke up and I thought I was going to puke everywhere. I barely made it into the bathroom before I threw up. While I was sitting there, I was doing the math in my head, and it wasn’t adding up. I realized right then that I couldn’t remember when my last period was because I’d been so stressed out. I checked my calendar and it finally hit me that I am three weeks late. The pregnancy test I took before obviously was either defective or hadn’t detected it yet. I ran out and got another test, came home and took it, and…baby makes three,” she said.
“So, what are you going to do? Are you going to tell Jack?” I asked.
“Well, I would if he would talk to me, but he was too busy flirting with that girl tonight to even notice me.”
“Dais, you have to tell him,” Violet said. “Make him listen.”
“How?”
“We will ambush him at the reception tomorrow. Daisy, this is huge. You need to tell him so you two can decide what to do together,” I said.
She sniffed. “I know that I need to tell him, and I will, but I’m scared. What if he doesn’t want anything to do with me or the baby?”
Violet shook her head. “Believe me, Daisy, he will be happy. He loves kids, we all know that.” Daisy sniffed and nodded.
“Well, the most important thing is how you feel. Do you want to keep this baby?” I asked.
Daisy was quiet for a moment. We waited with bated breath, and after a whole minute, her hand dropped to her stomach, and she looked up at us, fresh tears in her eyes. “Yes. Yes, I want this baby. No matter what, he or she is a part of Jack that I’ll always have.”
We both hugged her tightly. At this point, we were all crying. “So, does this mean we’re going to be aunts?”
She grinned at us, and said, “Aunt Lilly and Aunt Violet. I like how that sounds.”
“We do too. Daisy, this is the best wedding present I could ever imagine,” Violet said, smiling.
My eyes flicked from her face to her stomach. “Can I?” I asked, holding my hand up.
She smiled. “Of course.”
I placed my hand on her stomach, and a few tears fell down my cheeks. My little sister was going to be a mother. My little niece or nephew was growing in her stomach. I was in love with this baby already. “Daisy, this is so great,” I cried.
“It really is,” said Violet, who had now moved her hand to Daisy’s stomach too.
“And, no matter what happens with Jack, good or bad, we are going to be here for you, supporting you through it all. We love you,” I said.
Daisy looked at us and smiled a smile that radiated pure love. “I love you both so much,” she cried, and we all nestled into a group hug.
After a few moments, we broke apart, and we were wiping our eyes. “Okay, enough crying. This is a happy night, and I want to have fun with my girls. Let’s watch a movie,” Violet said, dabbing her eyes with her tissue.
“Sounds good. What should we watch?” I asked.
“Let’s watch ‘American Gigolo’. There’s nothing in the world that can pep a girl up after crying than Richard Gere’s johnson,” Daisy said, and we all burst out laughing.
Chapter 19
Wedding Day
“Violet, are you almost ready?” Mama called. “Darlin’, the limo is here and we have to be at the church in less than an hour.”
Mama, Daisy, and I were all dressed and ready to go. Daddy was waiting by the front door in his tuxedo. He looked so happy and sad at the same time…it was so sweet. Mama was wearing a beautiful baby blue silk dress and her hair was done in a pretty low elegant chignon. Daisy looked so gorgeous in her long flowing dress, and her hair had been styled in loose curls with one side pinned with a small blue flower. I had my hair twisted and curled into an intricate style that rested at the nape of my neck, and I had a few loose curls hanging down, touching the top of my back. My new side bangs made the style look just perfect.
“I’m coming, Mama,” Violet called, and we all walked to the bottom of the stairs, waiting for her to make her debut. I heard the rustling of her dress as she began to descend down the stairs, and when she came into full view, I choked back my tears. I had never in my life seen any woman look more beautiful than Violet did in that moment. The silhouette of the dress was like a ball gown, made for a princess. It had a sweetheart neckline, and it laced up the back. It was decorated with beautiful beads and crystals, and they made the dress glisten like snowflakes. Her blonde hair was up in a gorgeous style that was loosely curled and pinned, and her veil was attached on the underside of her hair. Thank God I had the foresight to wear waterproof mascara, but it was still a struggle to keep from crying. She took my breath away. Just then, my heart tugged a little bit as I realized that my baby sister was all grown up and getting married.
“Oh, my,” Daddy said, a lump in his throat. “I can’t believe I’m about to give you away.”
She walked to him and hugged him tight. “Don’t cry, Daddy. This isn’t an ending, it’s a beginning. This is a happy day,” she said.
“That we’re going to be late for if we don’t leave soon,” Daisy said. We slid our wraps around our shoulders as Daddy put on his dress coat, and we carefully helped Violet out the door, careful not to get her dress dirty. Once we were comfortably in the limo, Daddy opened a bottle of champagne and poured five glasses, one for each of us. Thankfully, neither he nor Mama noticed that Daisy just held hers and pretended to drink.
We finally made it to the church, and we all hurried inside. It was packed out, and every pew was filled with friends and family. In the third and fourth rows on the left side, Violet’s whole kindergarten class was in attendance. They all looked so precious. Violet was waiting with Daddy in a side room, and Mama was getting lined up in the precession. Suddenly, I felt an arm slip around me, and I looked up. My breathing stopped as my eyes fell on Luke looking dashing in his tuxedo. It was all black except for a silver cummerbund, and he had his hair slicked back and parted off to the side. He kissed me on the lips. “You know, it’s really not right to look this breathtaking. You’ll take the attention off the bride,” he said.
I leaned into him, inhaling his scent. He smelled like delicious musky cologne, peppermint, fresh laundry, and just his signature Luke smell. “Thank you. Oh God, you look so…hot,”
He smiled his crooked, sexy smile. “Thanks, baby.” There was a rush of excitement as we started being paired off for the wedding to begin. Pachabel’s Canon in D started playing over the speaker system, and we knew it was time to take our places. He leaned his lips to my ear and whispered, “Save a dance for me?”
“You can have them all,” I replied, and I kissed him quickly as he was ushered away to join Daisy behind me.
Just then, Jack appeared at my side, and he held his arm out for me. “Lilly, you look beautiful,” he said, giving me a playful nudge. He led us up the line to stand behind Mama.
“Thanks, Jack. You look handsome too. I didn’t know that you could clean up this nice.”
“I have my moments,” he said, smiling. His eyes flicked to Daisy, and for a moment, he looked sad.
“Anything wrong?” I asked.
“Of course not,” he said.
“So I take it things didn’t go well with Daisy the other night?” I whispered.
He looked at me. “Lilly, come on. Don’t act like you don’t know what happened.”
“I do. And Jack, I really think you need to talk to Daisy.”
“She made it clear that she didn’t want me, Lilly.”
“No, she just asked for more time to figure things out, and believe me, she didn’t need that long.”
He sighed. “How do you know that?”
I wasn’t about to tell him that Daisy was carrying his child. “Jack, I just know. Have I ever lied to you?”
He looked at me for a moment, and said, “No.”
“Okay then. So, will you please promise to talk to her? Trust me,” I asked.
“Okay. I will. For you. I just don’t think I can take another rejection,” he said, and the doors to the sanctuary were opening.
“It will be okay, I promise,” I said, giving his hand a squeeze. The doors opened all the way, and my mother began her walk down the aisle to take her seat in the first row. After Mama was halfway down the aisle, Jack and I started to follow her.
The sanctuary was absolutely beautiful. I felt like I was walking through a snowy wonderland. Evan was waiting at the front, looking so handsome in his tuxedo. He looked so happy. When Jack and I reached him, we took our places on either side of Evan, and we turned to watch as Luke and Daisy followed us. I looked over to Jack, and his eyes were on Daisy. I looked over to her, and she was looking at Jack with a hopeful look on her face. I hope that this worked out, because even if they weren’t going to be parents, Daisy and Jack made a perfect couple.
I looked over at Luke, and his ice blue eyes were on mine. He was smiling at me, and I could feel the love radiating from him. He took his place next to Evan as Daisy stood next to me. We looked at each other and smiled. Then, the traditional wedding march began to play, and all eyes in the sanctuary turned toward the back. As Violet and Daddy started to walk down the aisle, everyone gasped and muttered their awes at how beautiful she looked. I looked at Evan for a moment, and there were tears in his eyes. I could feel my eyes beginning to moisten as well. Oh no, Lilly, don’t cry, I thought to myself. After they reached the front of the sanctuary, Daddy placed Violet’s hand in Evan’s, his eyes brimming with unshed tears. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, and patted Evan’s arm. After taking his seat, the preacher began to perform the ceremony. “Dearly beloved, we gathered here today on this joyous day to celebrate the union between Evan Christopher Sanderson and Violet Hope Harrington…”
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