I stretched and setting up. Eric lay next to me softly breathing. The summer had passed in such a blur I could hardly believe I watched my brother and Pam get married, there was the passing of Eric's father, and Lafayette had returned home to a hero's welcome. Then there was the trial and testimony, uggh I didn't want to think of that ugliness so early in the morning.
Rays of sunshine were weak in the early light of this mid-November. The sky looked like it was on fire casting the pink hues on the surrounding White Mountains, causing the whole valley to look like it was on fire. I knew from the lack of clouds it was going to be a bitter morning. Fall had always been my favorite time of year with the riot of colors from the trees, Halloween with children dressed up in adorable costumes, and pumpkin spice lattes from the coffee shops. Although, I couldn't stomach the last very well because the past few weeks there had been a stomach bug going around, first Eric had it, then the kids, and now finally me. I hadn't been able to keep anything down for the past three days and it was impacting my busy schedule at work.
Gingerly I rolled myself off of the stupidly high king size bed Eric had claimed we needed; for our 'three months of us living together anniversary' in September. Gran had not worried about my living with Eric on the other hand, even though Dad knew Eric all his life, Dad was putting pressure on all fronts for us to either get separate houses or 'tie the knot'.
Going to the bathroom my stomach seemed to be settling a bit so I went about my normal routine to get ready for work. There was a new kid on the unit who was in need of extra care. Renee L., it was common practice for us to only get their first names as of late because of some stupid case worker had been 'friending' all of her former clients on Facebook. She was an idiot really. Yet this kid seemed like he really did need a friend, his meds were working fairly well but his psychotic episodes were varied from the mild hallucinations to full out rages that required him to be placed in soft restraints. I hoped today was one of the easy days with him.
Stepping into the shower I let the water cascade over my shoulders, soaking my hair in the process. I heard myself let out little moans of pleasure to having the hot water entirely to myself. Although that was short lived, I hadn't heard Eric wake up or use the toilet next to me but the gust of cold air slipped before him to surround my body just before he rubbed his hands all over me to warm me up again. I just kept my eyes closed the whole time. Slowly he turned me around and walked me back a pace; so we were sharing the water. Placing my head on his chest I could hear the rhythmic beating of his heart. His skin was smooth and taut under my fingers curled around his arms; a shudder traveled through my body causing me to vibrate against him.
"Good morning Lover." His voice still held tones of huskiness due to sleep.
"Good morning my handsome." I replied, rubbing my face against his soft chest hairs.
"You snuck out of bed before I could give you a proper wake up." His hands were running the length of my back to the nape of my neck. It felt like a gentle massage.
"The shower was beckoning me." I smiled, arching my back away from him to be able to see his face. There was my favorite smirk on it waiting for me. He arched his eyebrow.
"Do you want the shower to yourself?" It wasn't a serious question because even if I did say yes he would stand off to the side; watching me lather my body and rinse. I would much rather have his help with it all.
"No but you could help get the really hard places to shrub in the middle of my back." I turned around a bent forward slightly causing our genitals to have contact. A low growl emitted from him and I never really did get too clean with this morning's shower but our love making was special as always and wonderful.
Forty five minutes later we were dressed for the day and I was blow drying my hair while he woke up the kids. I was humming to myself when a wave of nausea swept over me. Dashing to the toilet with milliseconds to spare I hurled the small amount of yogurt I ate for breakfast right after our shower. Thinking to myself 'Uggh, this cannot be how my day is going to go'.
I looked up to see Amelia, Copley, and Eric all standing in the door way of the bathroom. Copley had horror on his face; Amelia had sympathy and Eric was squinting his eyes like he does when he is thinking really hard. He left the kids standing there to go do… something I wasn't sure where he took off to.
Amelia grabbed a wash cloth for me to wipe my face on and Copley shut the lid to the toilet then flushed it. Both of them were still in there jammies the nanny would be here in twenty minutes to begin their day of fun. A colleague of mine had recommended the young woman who attended night classes; it was her niece of sorts. The young woman had a daughter while in high school but was determined to do it all. Diantha was 19 and very mature for her age, her daughter was the same age as Amelia and they got on famously.
"Mom you're not going to stay home today is you?" Copley asked.
"We are supposed to go to library time with Octavia and Diantha today. If you're sick and stay home with us we won't go." Amelia chimed in trying to still be sympathetic but oozing with irritation.
"Even though I just threw up; I have things I need to do in my office today. I don't have to see any patients; trust me I will not interfere with your busy social lives." I wiped my mouth and stood up.
Eric was back at the door way grinning. I caught his eyes and they were twinkling, like they do when he wants to 'play' all day. I really didn't have time to be sick nor did I have time for more sex right then.
"Okay everyone, show is over. I need to finish doing my hair so I can make it to work by noon. I love you all but out. Eric can you get the kids a bowl of cereal?" I hated like feeling like a freak show with all of them hovering.
"Sure Lover." He took each one of my children by the hand and led them down the stairs to the kitchen.
Once my hair was done, I went to go put on my hose. I saw a little package sitting on the bed. Glancing at it when I sat down I did a double take at the intruding package. It was a pregnancy testing kit. The kind I had used when I found out I was preggo with Amelia. Sitting sort of stunned on the side of the bed, it took me five minutes longer to put on my hose than it normally would have. I shrugged into my suit coat with my eyes never leaving the box. Thinking furiously to the last time I had my period.
September- at Pam's and Jason's wedding
"Oh, Sookie don't look so happy." Pam had yelled at me from across the saloon. She had chosen me to be the maid of honor. At this point in the process I wasn't so honored. The combination of Pam's mood swings because of her hormones, natural bridezilla emerged and then to add to the problem Hadley was running the show making us all jump through hoop after hoop to prepare for the big day. The large majority of the summer was spent planning a 'beautiful fall wedding' as Hadley stated time after time.
"Pam I hate having hair spray in my hair. Why does it have to be fluffed like this?" I winced as the beautician caught a few strands of my hair on the rounded brush only to yank them out. "Frannie I am going to start counting now and for every hair you pull out from now until this is over, I am going to cut the same amount off your head." I gave the woman a meaningful look towards her shears sitting on the counter and then back to her face in the mirror which had gone quite pale.
"I'm sorry Sookie, it just got stuck." The young woman stammered.
"Don't do it again. I am not in a good mood about my hair almost standing straight out at all angles." My phone vibrated in my lap. Eric and I had been texted back and forth about how his end of the whole wedding party was doing. Amazingly Eric talked Jason out of sky diving on the morning of his wedding; something that Jason thought would be hilarious to do. Tray had turned green just at the mention of it and had excused himself from the room.
How is Bridezilla? ;) E
Breathing fire btw wtf u were 2 have the kids. Where r u?
ETA 5 min. Stopped work. E
All OK?
No. we'll talk later. E
Now.
Driving. E
K
"Is that Mr. Northman your texting? Or should I say sexting?" Frannie giggled and pulled out two more hairs. The whole salon erupted in a fit of estrogen, giggles, and lewd comments flew so fast it was hard to tell if they were complements or insults.
"Yes that was Eric and by the way Frannie you are up to ten." I glanced to the scissors and smiled fondly. "Pam, tell me one more time why my hair has to be so big?"
"Because Hadley showed me wedding pictures of parties who had 'natural' hair and their heads looked like pins in comparison to their dresses. I want us to look proportional to the dress." She huffed out a huge breathe, "I know you didn't want the big puffy dress but Gran and I had plans on what the wedding party was going to look like long before you came home."
That stung a little, Gran had known of Pam's pregnancy long before I had. She had even drafted out the wedding dress for Pam, altering my mom's dress so it would fit Pammy. I had no use for the dress and it was poignant that Pam, who was like a second daughter to my mom, would ultimately marry in it. It was just icing on the cake moms dress would be a representation and blessing from her through the ceremony.
Amelia was sitting in the chair next to me and started complaining that her hair felt stiff.
"Momma, I don't like that sticky stuff. My hair makes noise now; listen." She took a wad of perfectly curled ringlets and squished them before the elderly beautician could stop her. The matronly woman clucked at Amelia, smoothed out the curls to make them angelic again only to apply more hair spray. Amelia scrunched her face up when the aerosol can was posed over her head, she was turning blue.
"Amelia, breathe." I was ready to pounce on the matron in a second. I hadn't seen Eric walk in the building. He took one look at his daughter's face and went to her rescue.
"Hi princess," Eric gave Amelia a very fatherly smile and all the while shooed the old woman away from the little girl who captured his heart. "Where's brother?"
"In the corner, all they did was a trim a few curls from the top of his head. He didn't even get any icky stuff in his hair." Amelia was going to show her new Dad how her hair crunched when her hands compressed the crisp curls. But Eric was too quick and gently took her hand in his, giving it a small peck on the knuckles.
"You look like a princess, everyone will be wondering if you are a fairy from a fantasy land with that beautiful hair and light purple dress Auntie Pammy picked for you." He gave her knuckles another quick peck and brushed his thumb over the little ridges. Smiling at her, he continued. "I wouldn't want to spoil your fun by messing up your hair before you get to play dress up." He was so clever to turn the dreadful day of poking and prodding into a day of wonderment for the kids.
He paused and looked around the beauty shop many of the women were sighing over him, I had to admit I was one of them but the panic in his eyes was cute. It endeared me to him that much more. The single beauticians were watching him with interest whereas the two married beauticians tried coughing gently to get the other women back to work. Eric realized in the end the only way to have all of the bridesmaids at the church on time would be for him to leave; and in a hurry.
"Well lets go get brother for our surprise." Eric hadn't told me about any surprise but that wasn't uncommon considering he had a lot of bombshells for me lately. Amelia put her hand over her mouth and giggled she must have been on the surprise as well but the darted glance she gave me hinted the surprise was for me. The duo became a trio, came and gave me kisses; then promptly left for their surprise.
Lafayette walked through the doors a few seconds later with a kit of makeup. Somehow God blessed this man and he was walking and talking normally. His memory was still a little fuzzy about the events that happened after Quinn attacked him but he was returning to his pediatric practice at the end of the month.
"Hey sister from a very white mister." Was his standard greeting for Pam and myself.
Our reply was, "Hey there brother from a very dark mother."
He was going to do our makeup for the wedding, which was less than 3 hours away. It seemed like eternity but in actuality it would go by in the blink of an eye with everything we had to accomplish still.
Pam's hair was finished and she was in the back room wiggling into my mother's wedding dress. I hadn't seen her in the dress yet. Stepping out from the back room, I felt tears sting the corners of my eyes. I attributed it to my monthly which had showed up predictably on September 23; nice. Therefore I was a little on the emotional side too. I hadn't gotten back into the rhythm of taking my birth control pills; it was too difficult to remember them every morning. Eric had just taken on the responsibility for birth control. It was a process to find a condom all the different ways and times we had coupled in the last three months but we had managed.
Frannie was nice enough to hand me a tissue, even though for the last half hour she had risen to 45 hairs I was going to cut. Pam twirled on the spot and looked over her shoulder at me. The pose was as familiar to me as the back of my own hand; there was a picture from my parents wedding day on the wall leading up the stair case with my mother looking back at the photographer. The veil was different, the white dress had yellowed slightly over the years but Pam was breathtakingly beautiful and it was a touching moment for the two of us, with all the chaos happening around us.
Lafayette ushered Pam to sit in front of the mirror while he pulled out brush after brush from his kit. We had been having slumber parties at my house when Eric was out of town on business; which was more frequent since his father passed in the beginning of August. Jesus would take photographs of us after the make was applied, Lafayette had taken his part so seriously that he had a journal of all the ways he had done our makeup with the pictures attached to the corner of the pages. He told us this would help eliminate last minute jitters about how things would turn out.
Everyone hurried to get their last minute accessory emergencies taken care of and by the time I knew it, we had twenty minutes until we were due at the church. There was a limo waiting outside of the salon for our transportation. Tara, Pam, Gran, Hallow, and I all crawled into the limo, there was a bottle of apple cider chilling on ice with a note attached 'To my wife to be, allow our life to be as full as this bottle, rich as the spices lacing the flavor, and as full of love as my heart is for you. I count the minutes until you and I are tied forever. Love, Jason.'
Tara took one look at Pam's face and tried preventing her from crying. It was a bit futile and by the time we arrived at the church her eyes were rimmed with red but true to Lafayette's word none of the makeup came off with the tears and sniffles. One hurdle overcame, the second happened when we walked into the bridal suite; there were two dozen pink carnations and roses littering the makeup tables. She burst into tears again. I chalked it up to hormones; I had no personal experience with men buying me flowers. For my wedding, I was married in a track suit with a tacky veil the lady said every bride needed at their wedding. Promptly I burst into tears as well; somehow I was mourning my lost on a wedding. A wedding with family near, with my father walking me down the aisle like he would be doing in a few minutes with Pam; I was mourning stupid flowers.
Just then Gran marched in and took us both by the wrist, shoving us in front of the mirrors. "Is this what you want the wedding photographer to take pictures of; two grown women crying? Your eyes are both bright red and your noses look like they could help Santa deliver his presents for the next two years."
Pam hiccupped in response. Once she had her emotions under control she turned to me, "Really Sookie you shouldn't get so upset by these things. You better get rid of your red eyes in the next five minutes."
Yep, Bridezilla was back with vengeance. Lafayette had some drops in his kit of tricks and tips by the time we were walking down the aisles everything in the world seemed right.