Rachel did not wanted to call Walthams under any circumstances – the less contact the better, and what if Emily was the one to answer the phone? – so she decided to call Monica instead, early in the morning New York time, early afternoon London time, the day before the wedding that she was trying to stop. Monica could tell Ross, not that Rachel loved him, because that was a personal message, to be delivered face to face, but simply that she was on her way. He could prepare himself until he saw her again. Hopefully the knowledge that she was on her way would make him wake up to the truth.
'Rachel,' Monica exclaimed, 'I'm glad you called.'
'Are you?' Rachel asked in surprise. Had something gone wrong already, without her being there? She felt suddenly hopeful that it had, and that the something was to do with Emily, because then it would save her some trouble. 'Why? What's happened?' Monica sighed.
'I just miss you being around.'
'Are Emily's family being okay?' Please say no, Rachel said. Please say they are horrible, and that Ross is biting his tongue all the time, and that Emily is reminding him of them.
'Well her father and my father are not exactly hitting it off because of the cost,' Monica said dismissively. 'They're treating me okay. Emily's stepmother is treating me okay. I wish I could say the same for my mother.'
'Oh Mon,' Rachel said, 'What's wrong?'
'She's just being herself. I don't measure up. She's never going to see me get married, I'm going to be an old maid.' There was a trace desperation there, and Rachel felt for her. It wasn't right that her mother did this to her. Did she think it was helping? Of course not. Like a lot of mothers - and fathers - she was just making remarks that reflected her own feelings, not expressing concern for her daughter.
'You will get married,' Rachel said, 'You're wonderful. You'll get married, and to the right person, someone who wants what you want.' It was no use Monica getting nostalgic about Richard just because she happened to be at a wedding. He had not wanted what she had wanted.
'I guess…'
'That's just the way your mother is, don't listen to her,' Rachel said firmly.
'It's hard. I wonder when it's going to be my turn, that's all,' Monica said. 'And if it was my special day coming up, instead of Ross's, would I be okay with her?'
'Of course,' Rachel said, though she knew that was probably not true. On the other hand, if it was Monica's big day, she would probably be too busy to notice.
'I don't want to waste your call on talking about me,' Monica said, sounding bright in a way that made Rachel feel all the sadder. 'I'm sure you called for a reason. Is Phoebe okay?'
'Phoebe's fine. I called to say I'm coming over. I've changed my mind, I'm coming to the wedding.'
'Oh,' Monica said, 'That's great, I'm so glad and I'm sure Ross will be happy too. What made you change your mind?'
'I just thought I should be there. I mean a good friend is getting married! How can I not be there? So I just decided to buy a ticket,' Rachel said, matching Monica's fake brightness with some of her own.
'Will you be okay?' Monica asked. She wouldn't burden Monica with her true thoughts, Rachel decided. She had enough to bring her down.
'Of course,' Rachel said, 'That's why I'm coming. Everything is going to be fine Monica, you're going to catch the bouquet.'
'And you're going to have fun too, right?'
'I will,' Rachel assured her.
After Monica hung up, she felt brighter. Aside from her mother's attitude, Monica enjoyed being in London; she liked her bridesmaid's dress, she liked Emily and the whole wedding business was exciting. Here was her brother getting married for the second time. Of course, it wasn't desirable that it was the second time – ideally, it should be just one marriage, lasting forever, but considering the first divorce wasn't at all his fault, he could be excused a second marriage. If it wasn't for Richard not wanting… she was relieved that the thought of him did not cause her pain for him – it was the situation she regretted now, not the man.
Monica found Ross and told him the news, and then was criticised by her mother again. Rachel couldn't be here soon enough, she thought despondently. There was no-one she could talk to. She turned around and caught Chandler's eye.
'Hey,' he said.
'Hey, guess what? Rachel's coming.'
'That's good,' Chandler said, looking into Monica's eyes. 'You've been looking a bit down.'
'Oh,' Monica said, thrown at being seeing through this way. 'It's just…'
'I know. Every time you come away from your mother, you're like that.' Monica didn't know what to say. Chandler took her hand.
'Why don't we escape for a while?'
When Ross heard that Rachel was coming to the wedding, his first thought was one of relief. He hadn't felt good when Rachel had decided not to come to the wedding. She was one of his friends, and it was bad enough that Phoebe couldn't share it. Phoebe couldn't help it. Rachel had made the decision that she wouldn't attend, and that was harder to take, but she had been firm.
He had wondered about Emily's remark about it being odd to invite exes to weddings, and whether that had anything to do with it. But Rachel wasn't just an ex, she was his friend, a good friend and all of that was in the past. She knew that as well as he did. He'd be happy enough to watch her get married, and he'd be hurt if she had excluded him. When Rachel had decided not to come, that had seemed to bear out what Emily had said, but now that she'd changed her mind, he could be relieved again. She was coming as a friend, and it would be okay between them.
At the rehearsal dinner, after he and Emily had greeted each other, he nearly told her that Rachel was coming, but thought better of it when he heard Emily say,
'Oh, I adore that.' Someone had pushed towards her to show her something, and the word 'adore' made Ross think of Emily's use of it in connection with Rachel when he'd challenged her about not wanting Rachel there. She'd acquiesced quickly enough, but she done that because she wanted to please him, not because she wanted Rachel there. Because she'd agreed without argument, Ross hadn't thought to investigate any further, but now that he heard her use the word 'adore' in something more like the tone of voice it should be used, Ross thought that perhaps Emily did not understand the true nature of his friendship with Rachel. He would have to get that straight with her... Then Joey said something ridiculous, and he shelved the problem of Rachel until later.