Chapter 12

Conner and I weren't talking. I was to busy to do much but plan Teddy's wedding and Conner was just being stubborn, so our argument was continuously being unresolved. Teddy and Conner were coming over and spending time with David more and more now though. Since, Teddy and I had to work on the wedding it was the perfect way for Conner to bond with David while we worked. Conner and I had our moments where I thought we might resolve something, but then it always passed because Conner always saw a confrontation coming and got out of it faster then I could blink. It was amazing how little the man had changed and how much he was the same guy.

I was mad at him and he was mad at me and it looked like it was going to stay that way for awhile. It really didn't bother me too much, or so I was busy telling myself. Everything had been on track until Teddy's mother had come into town. That woman liked control and she knew how to get it. Teddy had warned me that there was likely to be some major changes, but neither she nor I had any idea what this woman would want out of this wedding.

She invited almost 700 people to the wedding, which meant that although out location was okay, we had to rent a hell of a lot more chairs. She didn't like the cake and so we got another cake which was perfect since it had to be a hell of a lot bigger anyway. She didn't like the location of the wedding but on that she was dealing with it there weren't a whole lot of places in Sweet Valley that worked for a big wedding. We needed more food, chairs, decorations, invitations, tables, place cards, and so much more. I almost pulled my hair out, and had to call in help because it had gotten so bad. I hated Teddy's mother more then life itself.

It was three in the morning and we were still working. I was sure that we all would have went nuts if the wedding hadn't been pushed back, but all those people had to have time to plan to fly out here and so Teddy had allowed us to change the date. We now had a month to plan this big wedding. I don't think Teddy liked any of this at all, but she wasn't saying anything so I kept my mouth shut. We liked each other but I didn't know her well enough to comment on it. It also gave Conner more time to spend with his son. The more time they spent together the more time I had to think about what was going to happen after we left.

Right now I had Jess, Leah, and surprisingly Zack, all at the table. All of us had taken more time out of our schedule to do this. If it hadn't been so personal and there hadn't been so much money involved I would have quit a long time ago.

"I want to know how a small wedding turned into something so…." Zack could find the words.

I wrote out another invitation, "It's something that you would find in a circus. I feel for Teddy. If she wanted a small wedding she's not getting one now."

This was supposed to be her dream wedding. NOT her mothers.

"Well, it's not too late," my sister reminded.

I glared, "I sympathize for her, but I still sympathize for me more. We're all sitting around a table writing out invitations so they can get out tomorrow because Mrs. Carman decided that we needed to give all these people enough time to make it to her daughters wedding."

"Well, we are making a bundle," Zach reminded.

"You already have a bundle of money. You don't need any more."

"It's still nice to know that we're getting paid for all the work that we're doing."

"There is not enough money to forgive that Jess had to be here instead of with her husband." Even though Zack always looked at the bright side of things I knew that no matter how much he was hiding it, he was pissed to.

Teddy's mother, Mrs. Carmen, treated us like we had nothing else better to do then to plan her daughters wedding. She treated us like the hired help and flung money around like that would get her anything she wanted. The sad thing was it was true because I hadn't seen a case were that woman didn't get anything. We were all surrounded in dining room writing out seven hundred invitations because we all had families to feed. I was pissed.

Zack was pissed because he wasn't the hired help, and he didn't need the money. I knew it pissed him off when Teddy's mother made a crack about he would know class if it bit him in the ass because he wasn't around enough of it. It was amusing to see Zack's face turn colors when the woman pissed him off.

We worked all through the night and most of the morning, but we got the invitations out and sent by 11:30 in the morning. I couldn't watch David today because I was ready to fall over and everyone else had something to do today so I had to call Teddy and see if she wanted to watch David. She picked him up around twelve and I passed out before she left the driveway. I knew Teddy felt guilty about all the work she was making us do. It was in her eyes when she came and picked David up.

Teddy knew that we had been up all night because she had been there when her mother had made the announcement about those damn invitations. But I knew I wasn't giving Teddy enough credit, even if she wasn't feeling guilty, she would have taken David without a complaint. Teddy wasn't just taking David because she felt guilty, she was taking him because she cared about him, and that mattered to me.

I woke up three hours later with a pounding headache. I had just enough sleep that I didn't feel like I was going to pass out, but I didn't have enough that my body was pissed about being up. Sadly, I wasn't going to allow myself to sleep all day. I went into the kitchen and my mother was there making coffee. I took the cup she offered and sank into the chair.

"I thought you had work," I said, my voice still thick with sleep.

"I came home around lunch hour and found you passed out on the couch. I figured I would take a day off and see if you needed anything. You're really are working to hard."

"There's enough money involved that no one is going to say anything. I have help so it's not so bad."

Mom sighed. "Yeah, I know that, but I also know that you have enough problems that you have enough problems to deal with. You don't need to add anything to it."

I knew that my mother was talking about Conner because she always brought him up. She was the only one who had never agreed with my decision to not tell Conner about the baby. She had respected my wishes and hadn't said anything to him but the cost had been a great big dent in our relationship because she was always giving me looks and reminding me that I was making a mistake. I was beginning to strongly dislike my mother and her constant meddling.

"Mother, I'm handling it," I growled.

"You are not."

"How dare you!"

"How long has it been since you've talked to Conner," she argued.

She had me there and I knew it. I didn't respond and I sat there and though about it. I would never agree with her out loud, but she was right. I wasn't handling it. I had been telling myself that I was too busy; dealing with the wedding, to deal with Conner, but the truth was that I was avoiding him. I was doing it because I didn't want to share David with anyone so I was going to hold on to my anger for as long as I could, because as long as I thought Conner was doing something wrong I allowed myself the comfort that he was a bad father for David.

I felt like a bad person when I realized what I was doing. I got up as soon as I finished my coffee. I didn't tell my mother where I was going because even though she was right I still wasn't happy with her. It was none of her business were I was going. It was three hours later when I went up to Mrs. Sandborn's house. All the lights were on so I knew that everyone was there. I didn't relish the idea of having another fight with Conner while David was in the house. I knew he was there because Teddy still had him and when she was watching him you knew that Conner was close by. He wouldn't watch David alone until he thought he knew enough to trust himself,

I knew that he would be fine with David, but that was my logical thinking. I hadn't had a dad like Conner's. I knew that Conner didn't trust himself to know how to be a good enough father. I had more respect in him because he was willing to try.

When I walked up to the house and rang the doorbell no one answered so I used my key. When I walked into the living room I saw that Conner and Teddy were playing with David on the floor. They were so caught up in there game of Charades that they didn't even notice me. I watched for awhile while Conner and Teddy played.

Conner and Teddy were so good with David that it made me worried that I might be replaced. I mean, I was just a mother and Conner and Teddy had the full family package. What if David started to like them better then me? I couldn't be there for him all the time because I had to spend too much time working, and when I was off work, we really didn't much because there really wasn't a lot of money to spare to do fun stuff. With all of Teddy's money they could do anything that David wanted.

By the time I stopped worrying enough to take a breath everyone had noticed my presence. David was running to me to get into my arms and Conner was looking at me worriedly.

I blinked against a couple of tears that I hadn't noticed before and sunk down on to the floor, "Come to mommy David."

He ran to me and I put my arms around him and hugged him so tight that he began to squirm in my arms. I let him go and told him to go back to Teddy, because I had to talk to Conner for awhile. As soon as David was back with Conner's fiancée I turned to him.

He got uncomfortable then, "We were in the middle of a game."

Both Teddy and I glared at him, "Now!" we both said at the same time.

It was like pulling teeth but I lead him upstairs were be wouldn't be bothered and I went straight into the room that once used to be mine. I would have gone into his, but that room held too many memories. It was hard to go in a room with you ex when you had sex in there.

I looked around the room and found that even years later it was the same room. For awhile it almost felt like I was seventeen again. When I turned, I crashed back into reality and faced an older Conner. He was looking at me like he knew why I had picked this room. I hated that he had figured it out because now I felt awkward.

"We need to talk."

"I figured that's what you called me in here for."

"Listen, Conner I'm sorry that I hinted around to Teddy about David, but I really couldn't help it. I was thinking about myself when I did that and it could have turned out really bad if I had done it the wrong way."

"You could have screwed up if you did it right," he pointed out sarcastically.

He was right and I knew it, "I'm sorry."

"I understand why you did it," he said slowly as if he had a hard time admitting that.

I raised a brow. "Don't look at me like that Liz. I know that I was wrong too. I should have told her sooner and I didn't. I don't know if she would even know now if you hadn't come in. Even though you should have waited it probably worked out better this way."

I was so surprised that he had admitted that that I had a hard time saying anything. Conner and I had spent so much time apart and he was showing me so many new sides to him that I was having a hard time keeping up. The Conner I had known would not have admitted that. Feelings started to come up that I quickly stopped. I knew that he wasn't the only one that changed. It was bothering me that he kept throwing curve balls and he kept calm. It pissed me off slightly.

"Now for the next thing I came here for."

He looked worried. "I want to give you this first," I said handing him a tape.

"What is this?"

I sat on the bed, "It's a copy of a tape of my pregnancy. From the moment I found out and until I moved away. There was always someone with a camera in my face and with all the hours they collected they put together a best moment's thing. I know that it bugs you that you missed so much so I'm giving that to you. When I get home I'll send you more, but that's all I had with me."

"His birth is on there too."

I said that more to get the look on his face then anything. He had an emotional moment. I knew he would hate it if he knew that he was cracking so I had helped. It had the effect I wanted because he was looking at the tape a little more warily now. I laughed at the look on his face. It's like getting something new on a menu and not knowing what it's going to taste like. You want to know, but you're really not sure.

"Don't worry. You'll have Teddy to hold on to. I have a whole tape at home that had my labor and the birth on it so I can use it as birth control on him later. When he sees that he'll think before he acts I'm sure."

He turned a little green, "I don't even want to know."

I laughed, "Now for the third thing I came here for," I handed him an envelope.

"What's this," he said looking even more worried.

"I'm getting a kick out of this," I was delighted. "Open it up."

Slowly, he opened the envelope and when he looked inside he got a whole new look on his face.