The house was warm and buzzing with people as we entered. My Aunt Rosie immediately retreated to her room, at the top of stairs, to freshen up, before she could mingle with our other relatives. Eve and Phil wondered into the kitchen to find Fulton, or so I assumed when they disappeared, putting the bags down in the hall closet with a resounding bang. I didn't intent on drawing attention to myself just yet but everyone standing in the hall looked up. I smiled awkwardly, looking down to continue putting down the remaining bags. I was definitely not ready for company yet. Luckily I didn't see anyone I knew looking in my direction. My hair was toppled up in a loose bun and I was in my sweat pants and an old Olympic t-shirt I had dug out.

"Hey Tammy! Did you just get in?" The voice caused me to turn from the closet and look to the direction it had come from. The sparkling green eyes of my cousin Katherine caught my attention. She smiled brightly, stepping forward to embrace me in a hug. She was always the favorite of the boys growing up, at least that was my experience from all the times we'd been out to visit them in Idaho.

"It's so good to see you." She squealed with excitement, jumping up and down a little "I can't believe you're getting married before me. I'm older!" I smile, pulling back from the embrace.

"How have you been?" I asked with a shrug in response to her comment. I needed to get up the stairs and change into something that I could be proud of wearing with Fulton's family.

"Fine… you know, the usual string of boys, dance clubs…you remember, don't you? What it's like to be a city girl." She smiled brightly. I looked down at the bags at my feet for a moment,

"No, I never really got into that with you when I was in California." I reminded her, slipping the bags into the hall closet along with my coat and closing the door with a click. Katherine had moved out to Los Angles after I had to go to college and we'd briefly met up on some occasions to hang out. I really never got into the crowd she was in but it was nice to see a familiar face from time to time.

"Well, either way. So you have to tell me about this fiancé of yours, everyone's been talking about him. He sounds amazing." She mumbled, locking arms with me and following me to the bottom of the stairs. I spotted Melissa squeezing in the front door just before I moved up from Katherine and up the stairs. She followed, continuing in her string of comments, having a conversation on her own with herself. I swear the girl could talk to a tree all day long and she'd be happy just hearing her own voice.

"Kat, I need to change." I told her, stopping at the door to my bedroom.

"Oh…" She looked down at my attire and cringed, " Yeah, I'll check on my Mom." She motioned, moving towards the last guest room on the right. I heard a soft knock as my door clicked shut. Leaning my head against the door, I let the cold wood seep into my forehead to let my mind relax for the two seconds it was placed there. Sighing heavy, I turned to change into something more presentable for the party.

It was twenty minutes before I could decide that I looked alright to go down and introduce myself to Fulton's family. My soft blonde ringlets hung loosely over my shoulders. I felt the clicking of my heels on the hardwood as I smoothed the dark blue dress I had chosen over my tights. Katherine and Aunt Rosie had emerged from the room down the hall and were talking in low voices before they noticed me and smiled.

"You look lovely, dear." Aunt Rosie commented, bringing my self-esteem up a few notches. Taking a deep breath, I began my decent down the stairs. People were still standing around the bottom and into the living room but they seemed to notice me more now that I wasn't all Sunday morning-just rolled out of bed. An older woman in her late 40's stepped out of the crowd,

"You must be Tammy. I'm Fulton's Aunt Mary." She smiled graciously. I nodded, extending my hand to hers to shake it.

"It's nice to meet you. Have you seen Fulton?" I asked, a look of confusion crossing my face.

"Yeah, he was in the kitchen with Eve a few moments ago." She motioned with her hand.

"Thank you." I smiled, excusing myself and moving passed her in search of my fiancé.

Entering the kitchen, people moved from wall to wall, trying to grab something to eat from the food that Scott was preparing. He stood at the refrigerator, taking another tray of vegetables out.

"Tammy, these people all came hungry. Dinner still wont be ready until 7 and we've already gone through 2 of our platters of munchies. I don't know how you expect me to work under such pressure." He wiped his brow with the dishcloth he had slung over his right shoulder and sighed, letting his eyes fall shut.

"Easy, you remember Kat right?" I asked as my cousin entered the kitchen behind me. "How about you take Kat around and introduce her to some of my friends here in Minnesota and I'll take over cooking." He looked at me seriously for a moment.

"No, this is your wedding. I will overcome the challenges I face and finish this meal." He straightened his back to stand up taller and sighed heavily. "You just go find Fulton." He muttered, placing the platter on the table and returning to the stove with a pat on my shoulder. I smiled a little, laying my eyes on Fulton across the room, his black hair easily spotted among the guests. He had his back to me and I slowly made my way around the table to stand behind him. Letting a smile play on my lips, I went to grab him around the waist in surprise when Eve, who could always be counted on to ruin the fun, began to talk.

"So, Melissa, what do you have planned for this expensive wedding?" She asked, her eyes meeting mine over Fulton's shoulder. He still had no idea I was there. I scolded at her, my eyes narrowing to give her my best death glare.

"Oh, Eve it's going to be fabulous! Has Tammy told you about the center-pieces? They are just to die for." She snickered, her annoying voice echoing in the small, crowded area.

"It's such a shame you and Fulton didn't work out." Eve said, Phil trying to stop her mid-sentence. Melissa chuckled lightly, Fulton's eyes rolling a little at she was back on this topic.

"Mom, give it a rest." His voice so sounded tired of the repeat conversation.

"Oh, It's alright Fulton. Your mom just likes to reminisce." Melissa reassured the small group.

"Well, shall we move unto a new topic?" Phil asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yes." Fulton agreed, taking a nervous step away from Melissa. I went to turn around and leave the room when I heard my name called from the doorway.

"Tammy!" Connie called, drawing attention to myself. Fulton turned from his position in the crowd and smiled,

"Tammy, I was wondering where you were." He leaned down, placing a soft kiss on my flushed cheek. I smiled nervously at the entire situation, seeing Connie moving through the crowd.

"There you are Tammy. I was beginning to think you might have fell in the snow on the way in and lost consciousness. What a shame that would be." Eve added, a renewed form of hatred playing on my lips.

"No, Eve but better luck next time." Fulton looked between us for a moment wondering if the talk was just friendly banter or if we were really hurling threaten words at each other. He laughed to himself and cocked his head downward to let a laugh escape his lips.

"Easy girls. Mom, Tammy, I didn't realize you two were getting along so great." He laughed again, Phil joining on the private joke, Fulton seemed to be having all by himself.

"Oh, we're the best of friends." Eve remarked, wrapping an arm around my shoulders and pulling me to her side. I wanted to gag at the old lady perfume she had picked out, probably at some dollar store clearance sale. I coughed into my sleeve a little, before plastering a fake smile on my face. Just get through these 4 days I kept repeating in my head. She finally released me and I rubbed my shoulder with my sweater-covered hand before pulling Katherine to my side.

"Fulton, this is my cousin Katherine from Idaho. She's Aunt Rosie's daughter." I commented as Connie finally made it through the crowd.

"It's nice to meet you." Fulton remarked, shaking Kat's hand. She smiled, her eyes sparkling at him. She gave me a knowing glance and silently excusing herself to grab something to eat.

"Tammy! Where have you been?" Connie's voice sounded winded and she looked to have been ripping her hair out in frustration. Guy appeared following close behind.

"You will not believe what we've been through!" Guy added, sounding just as out of breath. I looked between them, wondering what had been going on and then realized that I never called them back to tell them what to do about the missing reservations. I covered my mouth with my hand.

"I'm so sorry…I forgot to call you back." Connie looked at me annoyed,

"Yeah, well, we just took it as you wanted us to do whatever we could to get rooms for these people." Her eyes looked back at Guy for a moment, " So first we started out with that this was for a wedding…"

"Your wedding." Guy added,

"Right, and they really didn't care." She paused to see if I would react. When I didn't she continued,

"Then we tried offering more money…" She searched my eyes to make sure I wasn't going to kill her.

"But that didn't work either." Guy added again. I looked between them for a long moment,

"So, where are the relatives staying?" I asked. They remained quiet for a moment before realization hit me.

The sounds of people turning and snoring filled the air as Fulton, Scott, Madison and I stood in the kitchen later that night.

"Can't we just rent a hotel or something?" I asked low as to not disturb our houseguests. I thought it was bad having four houseguests, now I had fifty-four. I sighed, deep in concentration. Fulton silently wrapped up the last of the vegetables, shrugging his shoulders.

"Do you think we would be able to find something on such short notice?" He asked, placing the item in the refrigerator. I groaned, flipping open the phone book on the counter in front of me. Madison came to sit next to me, her overgrown stomach getting in her way as she tried to sit.

"Jeez, I'll be happy when this kid decides it's time to come out." She groaned finally getting settled on the stool. She leaned on her hand to relax when she suddenly jumped in surprise.

"What is it?" Portman asked, having just walked in the room.

"The baby moved!" She said, a smile spreading across her face. "Here, feel." She said taking his hand and placing it on her stomach. He smiled after a moment.

"This kid's going to be a football player." She joked, Dean looking down at her with confusion.

"No, he's going to be a hockey player." He countered, looking thoroughly offended.

"He. So now you decided that it's a boy too?" She said her voice getting slightly louder. Fulton and I both tried to shush them but it was too late, Madison's mood swings were in high gear.

"So suddenly everything has to be your way." Madison started to get defensive.

"NO! I didn't mean it like that and you know it! Why are you always trying to start a fight with me when we should be happy about this." He asked, completely confused as to how he was suddenly the bad guy again.

"Look, Portman! I can just as easily remove you from this child's life." She said threateningly, pointing an accusing finger his way.

"I don't understand what I did." He pleaded. Madison threw her hands up in the air and stomped out of the room. Portman stood looking at us for a minute before quickly following her to continue the fight upstairs. I stared after them for a few seconds before looking back at the two men to remain in the kitchen with me.

"I thought they were done with that." Scott said shaking his head, " It really isn't good for the baby to have so much anger.

"They'll work it out, they always do." I mumbled to myself, returning to the phone book. Fulton finished cleaning up and hung the towel he was using to dry the counters back on the rack, before setting his sights on me.

"Let's not worry about this now." He mumbled softly into my ear, closing the book in front of me and wrapping his arms around me.

"I mean we bought out Charlie's store of sleeping bags and travel items so we can wait until morning to find a hotel." I smiled a little as his nose touched the croak in my neck, rubbing it gently.

"What about breakfast, we don't have enough food to feed these people." I mumbled back, enjoying the feeling of being in his arms.

"We'll work it out." I could feel his breathe on my neck with each word he spoke. Scott cooed from the other side of the room, earning a small giggle from my lips.

"You two go get some sleep. I'll finish up here." Scott reassured us.

"No, You need to get some sleep too." I said worried about my former fiancé. He waved his hand at us as if to say, no big deal and before I could respond Fulton had me up in his arms.

"Fulton!" I squealed as he carried me bridal style up the stairs to our bedroom. I laughed with excitement as we passed the guestrooms and finally made it to our door. Little did I know that a certain Mother-in-law to be was watching from a small crack in her guestroom door.

The warm sun poured in the window through the drawn curtain the next morning and radiated on my bare shoulder. I kept my eyes closed, taking a deep breath in and feeling for Fulton on the opposite side of the bed. It would figure that he had already gotten up and not woken me up. Feeling Tigger at my feet I rolled over to find the not so small anymore, cat looking up at me with playful eyes. He would have to stay in my room for the day, too many people and on top of that Eve and her pretend allergies might get me into trouble. I quickly flipped the covers off myself and threw on a robe over my short nightdress, making my way to the bathroom. I didn't even think to knock, opening the door to find a 6-year-old girl standing at the mirror. She looked to have each one of my make-up products on her face and she had the bag strewed over the marble sink top.

"Do you mind?" She asked rather snottily, my eyes widening in terror.

"Sorry. I didn't realize anyone was in here." I gestured for her to continue and moved back through the door to my bedroom. The door closed with a click and I leaned my back against it.

"Okay, just get through today and we'll be fine." I tried to tell myself, heading for the other door to my room. Entering the hallway, I immediately heard the chatter of people. As it turns out there was a line for my bathroom that spanned down the stairs. An eager Mother stood at the door to the bathroom,

"Susie, what are you doing in there?" She asked, trying to be as sweet as possible in the situation. I didn't stick around to hear the answer but headed down the stairs passed our houseguests. The hall, the living room, the den and backroom were all filled with emptied sleeping bags. I finally found Fulton in the kitchen trying to help Scott as they cooked breakfast for the fifty unexpected houseguests and the four we were expecting. I looked on with a little bit of pride as to how strong Fulton could remain in the circumstances and went to step into the kitchen. A door shut behind me and I turned at the sound to see who was standing behind me. Her cold eyes bore into me with a hatred I had never seen before. Eve moved towards me in a determined fashion.

"I really hope you don't think this wedding is actually going to happen?" She asked, coming to stand in front of me.

"Eve, can't we just try to get along. I really don't want to do this." She face turned up into one of surprise.

"Get along? After everything you did to me?" She asked, sounding a little confused,

"I don't think so." I moved to my other foot and shook my head,

"You know, do you really want to have this conversation here with Fulton standing just a few feet away?" I asked, motioning to the man standing behind the counter. He still had no idea we were even standing there.

"Oh, don't you worry before this weekend is over he'll know what you are…" She poked a finger at me.

"Don't touch me, I have just as much dirt on you." I warned. She smiled a little,

"Yes but a son can't turn away his mother, especially one who he's been so protective of since he was 7 years old." I backed off a little, regaining my composure.

"Well, he won't leave me either, we love each other." She smiled to herself,

"If you're so confident, go ahead, tell him everything that's been going on between us." My lips tightened against my teeth, it would be easier to just admit what was happening and let Fulton process it on his own rather than let Eve hold it over my head.

"Just think about, either way Fulton will know before this weekend is over and you'll never marry him." She warned, turning to walk into the kitchen. I stood there staring in the direction she had gone, lost in thought before Madison came up next to me,

"Hey…" She said slightly cheerful, "What's up?" I shook my head,

"Nothing…absolutely nothing."