Chapter 3

Sara Bailey looked at her calendar; it was six weeks until her baby sister's wedding. She was so happy for Jean, she had someone who loved her, and she loved him back the same way. Sara could only wish she had that with her husband, and then she realized why she hated Scott so much. She was jealous of her own sister love for her fiancé, and the love she got in return. It was untainted. It finally dawned on her that it wasraw jealousy that fueled her loathing of her sister's soon-to-be husband. They had a pure love that was true.

"Get over yourself, Sara." She told herself and stepped back in front of the long mirror to look at her dress once more. Tonight was a dinner that her parents had planned months ago where Jean would introduce Scott to the family that hadn't gotten the memo of her engagement yet. "Even Paul doesn't like him." Sara said.

"I don't like who?" Sara turned to see her husband standing in the doorway dressed in very causal pants and a polo shirt.

"Jean's fiancé." Sara said.

"I like him enough. I mean all that really matters is how much he loves her, right?"

"Right, dear."

"You ready to go down to dinner?"

"Yeah. Hey, Paul."

Paul stopped and stuck his head in the doorway. "Yes."

"Do you think maybe we could have dinner alone tonight, out on the terrace?"

"Why?" Paul walked in. Sara took his hands and held them in hers. "You ok?"

"No, I feel like our relationship is starting to fall apart. We need time alone to put it back together. Can you please take a week off from work so we can spend some time at home together?"

"I can try, Sara, but I can't promise you anything. You know how busy I am."

"I know." Sara leaned up and kissed him quickly. "Just try, for me. Please."

Paul hugged her and kissed the crown of her head. "I'll try, I promise."

Jean had been clinging to Scott's arm all night for support, ever since her mother had announced that she and Scott would be getting married in six weeks. Everyone had received an invitation, but most were still in shock. "Jean, you're so young." Was mostly what she got. Scott didn't get anything except for some rude glances and remarks about his glasses. Jean's father explained everything without blowing both of their covers. He had always had a way with words. Jean's cousins loved Scott. Most of them were her age and a few years younger. Most of the girls were jealous of her because they all thought Scott was drop dead gorgeous, and the few other girls were jealous of her love with him.

"I want what you have." Her one nineteen-year-old cousin Chelsea said in private. "He's so cute, Jean. You definitely got the winner in the family."

"I'm getting tired." Jean whispered into his ear. The whole family was still eating, the air filled with aromas of food, clink of China, and voices talking non-stop. "And I want to know where Sara and Paul are. They were probably smart and ditched."

"I saw them taking plates and a bottle of wine out to the terrace, I think they wanted the evening to themselves."

Jean pulled away from Scott and looked at him for a minute. "Oh, yeah, that would make sense. They need time to themselves." Jean leaned her head back onto his shoulder.

"Why, is something wrong?" Scott asked making it look like he was still eating, although he had lost his appetite a long time ago, actually when he had first walked in the door maybe even before that.

"Yeah, she and Paul haven't been spending a lot of time together lately because his job has been keeping him extremely busy, and since Sara has been stuck at their house all day waiting for him to come home, she's been getting very aggravated. She actually got to the point where she thought Paul was cheating on her and didn't talk to him for almost three weeks. She was telling me everything the other day, and I told her to suggest to him the next time she got a chance that they take a week together and go somewhere romantic and spend all their time together and get everything straightened out."

"You're a good sister."

"I'm a shoulder to cry on."

"You're more than that."

"Yeah, you're right. I'm a scapegoat for everything that goes wrong around here."

Scott just sighed and kissed the top of her head. Jean was definitely tired of the all the crap her family was giving her, and he was tired of watching her suffer from it.

"Scott," someone down the table called. Jean picked her head up and looked down toward where her parents were sitting. It was her mother's sister, her aunt Judy.

"Yeah." Scott answered, politely.

"Why isn't your family here, I'd love to meet them." The whole table went silent.

Jean gasped. The memories were painful enough for Scott; he still had nightmares about his parents. "My parents died when I was eight, and my brother is in Hawaii with his foster parents. He's a pro-surfer."

"Oh, I'm sorry, dear, I didn't know, what happened to them?"

"It's ok. But I don't want to have to go into detail."

"You don't have to, Scott. I'm sure everyone here understands." John said loudly with a slight implying tone. 'Thank you,' Jean mouthed to him. John nodded back to her and the table returned to normal within a few seconds. Jean let her head fall back to his shoulder once more.

"I feel like getting drunk." She said a few minutes later.

"No way, you remember what happened last time I let you get drunk."

"Yeah, those were the best two hours in a hot tub I ever had with you." Jean leaned up and kissed him passionately then parted and let out a long yawn. "I'm ready to go."

"Me, too."

"But we have to stay."

"Yup."

"Jean, let me see your ring." Jean looked over at Sara's sister-in-law, a very stuck, snotty girl who thought she was perfect. Jean held out her left hand. "This is nice, but it could be better, like mine. I love this ring it's so perfect. Scott, is this a real diamond?"

"It better be, I paid enough for it."

"Well, you don't have to be rude. I was asking you a simple question."

"Yes, it's a real diamond, Kate." Jean answered.

The conversations went on and on like that the rest of the evening until everyone had left after congratulating Jean and wishing her the best. By the end of it all both Jean and Scott had had enough of her family and knew that the next six weeks would fly by and they would have to deal with it all over again, and this time longer.

"I want to get married now." Jean said they walked to Scott's car. "I want this all to be over. I've never been so furious or so embarrassed by my family. I'm completely dreading six weeks from now."

"You shouldn't." Scott said opening the passenger door for her. "You should be so happy."

"I am, Scott, I mean. I just can't stand this shit anymore. I'm sure that I'll beso happy on our wedding day that nothing could bother me, but I swear if one person speaks out against you…"

And they dropped the conversation right there.

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