Bay Kennish ruined everything.
He had his whole life figured out at sixteen, and then she happened. Went to school one day, took a blood test, and turned his world upside down. Not only upside down, but inside out.
He didn't deserve that.
He had it all figured out; Daphne would fall in love with him. Sooner or later. She couldn't resist his charm.
Then they'd date and go to Gallaudet and get married, have a household full of children who would be equally talented in the arts and sports.
But Bay Kennish ruined everything.
Oh, sure, at first it was simply intrigue.
"Who is that?" He asked Daphne.
"Me, in another life."
Well, who wouldn't be curious after hearing that?
He prodded Daphne for hours after he picked her up about the mysterious 'other Daphne' in the driveway.
"I don't know, Emmett. Damn. If you're so interested, why not just talk to her yourself?"
"Yeah, like I'm gonna do that."
He would forget all about Bay and concentrate on Daphne. She was the goal. She was the one he wanted.
And yet, Bay kept plaguing his thoughts.
He reminded himself over and over that a relationship between the two of them would never work. She was hearing; he was Deaf. Not only that, but her taste in guys left something to be desired.
Daphne told Emmett that Liam was Bay's ex.
Oh, of course he was.
What was it about that guy?
And then she was moony over Ty.
He could sort of see the appeal in Ty. He never really had an opinion of the guy one way or the other. At least Daphne never saw him as anything more than a big brother figure.
He couldn't pinpoint why thinking about Bay with Ty bothered him.
Bay was free to date whomever she wanted.
Hell, he and Bay had barely had a conversation. Why should it bother him if the two of them were getting all down and dirty?
It didn't.
Nope.
Not for one second.
And yet, it so did.
He tried slipping it casually into a conversation with Daphne one day. Key word: tried.
"So, is Bay still hanging out with Ty?"
He was met with an epic eye roll. "I don't know, Emmett. Why do you care? You don't even know Bay."
"No, I know. I was just asking for you. It must bother you. Especially after Liam."
Daphne scoffed. "Well, that's Bay for you. She gets whatever she wants."
"I'm sure she's not that bad."
"Just consider yourself lucky that Bay Kennish is not directly involved in your life."
Yeah, he certainly considered himself lucky alright.
His life was complicated enough as it was. His parents were splitting up and he had unrequited feelings for his best friend.
Then there were the dreams he was having about Bay.
Where the hell did they fit in? Daphne was right; he didn't even know Bay. But still, the dreams came. They were super annoying, too. Dreams of kissing her on a blanket in the park; dreams of dancing in 50's Las Vegas.
Frankly, he had no time for them.
And the more Daphne droned on and on about Bay, the more Emmett figured Bay must be a huge pill. A gigantic pain in the ass.
But then he started talking to her, interacting with her. Damn, she was beautiful. She was also smart and hilarious. She had this uncanny ability to be strong and vulnerable all at the same time. That is not an easy combination to find in a girl or in anyone.
He wanted to kiss her. He wanted to kiss her, but couldn't.
If anything were to happen between the two of them, she'd wreck him for sure.
He had no time for that.
No desire for that.
Somehow, though, his mind and his heart were not on the same page.
"You okay, man?" Jackson asked him one day during lunch while they were looking at some comic book, "you look all loopy."
"Huh? No, I'm fine."
"Uh-huh," Jackson said, not buying what Emmett was selling at all, "is this about Daphne? Man, why don't you just do it already. Please, put us all out of our misery."
Emmett studied his friend. "It's not about Daphne."
Jackson shook his head in disbelief, "yeah, right."
"It's not!" Emmett looked around. He couldn't believe what he was about to ask his good friend now, but he was, "you ever….been interested in a hearing girl?"
Jackson's eyes grew wide. "No way. You? And a hearing girl?" An impish grin appeared on him. "Tell me more, Bledsoe."
"There's nothing going on. I mean, I don't think there is."
"Who is it?"
Emmett looked around once more to make sure Daphne was nowhere in the vicinity; she'd freak out if she learned about Emmett's nighttime fantasies. "It's Bay."
Confusion spread across Jackson's face. "Who?"
"Bay. The girl Daphne was switched with?"
Emmett noticed Jackson starting to laugh. "Why is that funny?"
"Because," Jackson started, putting one arm around Emmett, "only you could pick a girl semi-related to Daphne to crush on."
"They're not related."
"I said 'semi-related.'"
"They're not 'related' at all. And I'm not crushing on her. I barely know her. We're friends at best, if that."
"So what's the problem?"
"I can't stop thinking about her."
"Yeah, well, good luck with that."
Yeah, well, good luck with that.
Jackson's words hit him like a whoosh of air ready to sucker punch him.
That conversation was ten years ago.
He should have left well enough alone.
Emmett was rarely one to follow the rules, though, and Bay was no exception, which is how he found himself in the dining room of a one bedroom apartment with a girl who was currently eating her pizza with a fork.
Really, now, who ate pizza with a fork?
Bay Kennish, that is who.
Bay Kennish: life ruiner.
Bay Kennish: life wrecker.
"What?" She asked, noticing Emmett's piercing stare. How could she just do that, smile unabashedly at him like she had no care in the world? Like she had no clue of her affect on him? "I know you think it's weird."
"It is weird."
"You're weird."
But he didn't say anything. Just continued to look at her.
"Stop that," she demanded.
He couldn't. Can one stop the earth from rotating around the sun? No. One cannot.
No one could stop Emmett from looking at Bay like that, like she was the center of the universe. Because, in a way, she was. She was the center of his universe.
"Marry me."
He could feel the force with which she dropped the fork as it landed onto the plate.
"What?"
"Marry me, Bay."
Screw it. He got down on his knee and fumbled through his pockets for the box. He had it all planned out, you know. He did.
Ask anyone.
They were going to go out to a romantic dinner; afterwards, he'd take her for a ride on his motorcycle to Blue River Road and pop the question.
If only she hadn't done that blood test.
If only she had been as awful as Daphne described.
Once again, Bay ruined everything.
Only Bay could make eating pizza look so alluring. Emmett didn't want to waste another second. He wanted to make it official right then and there in their apartment filled with hideously frightening Frida Kahlo figurines and these even worse masks that could probably freak a poltergeist out.
"You wrecked me, Bay. There's no one else I want to spend my life with. Marry me."
Bay took the ring out from the box and placed it on her finger.
"I've wrecked you, huh?"
"Yeah, you have."
"Well, you ain't seen nothing yet."
Well, you ain't seen nothing yet.
She's walked towards him.
She's was in this gorgeous white gown and walked towards him. Him, of all people. He wore a tux and although there was at least seventy-five people sitting in chairs staring at him, he only saw Bay.
He only wanted to see Bay.
John looked at Emmett before he gave Bay to him. He didn't have to verbalize it; Emmett understood. Emmett nodded at him.
I'm giving you my daughter. Cherish her. Don't you dare hurt her or take her for granted. Love her. Give her the world.
And Emmett responded with I know. I will. I won't. I will. I will.
He looked over at Toby who was officiating the ceremony. Let's start this man.
There was lot said during the ceremony, but all Emmett cared about was "I do."
Hours later it was just them in their hotel room, and it couldn't have felt more right.
He felt whole.
He felt complete.
He longed for nothing else.
"For you, Mr. Bledsoe," Bay said handing him a champagne glass.
Clink.
"Whoops," Bay laughed when a little bit of champagne made its way onto the sheets.
"Are you turning into a lush on our wedding night?"
"No." She took his face in her hands. "No," she said more fiercely, "I want to remember every second of this."
"Me too."
"Did you ever think we wouldn't make it, Emmett?"
How to answer that question?
Yes.
No.
Both.
"Sometimes," he admitted.
"Me too." Her foot entwined with his. "But we did, you know? We really did. God, Emmett, I want everything with you."
"I want everything with you too, Bay."
He got up from the bed and went to his camera bag.
"Oh, of course you brought your camera."
"Just smile."
Bay did as Emmett asked.
"I can't wait to see how it comes out."
"I can't wait to see how she comes out."
The sonogram is 4D and already they can tell from it that she looks like Emmett.
"She looks like you, you know. Think she'll have your hair?"
"I kind of hope she has yours."
"I was kind of thinking…" but she stopped herself, biting on her quivering lip, "do you think we could name her Angela? It's stupid, right? It's not like it's going to bring him back."
"I think Angela would be a great name."
She looked up at him with innocent, childlike eyes. Was she afraid he'd say no? Or that it would be stupid? Wanting to preserve a loved one's memory is never stupid, he wanted to explain to her.
It hurt that he couldn't erase the pain of losing her birth father. He could give her this, though. The memory. The connection.
"Really?"
"Really."
"Angela Bledsoe," she said to herself, "kinda has a nice ring to it."
"It does."
Months later, Bay would awake to find Emmett attempting to rock an inconsolable infant back to sleep.
"Come on, Angie," and Bay remembered being sixteen and watching Emmett sign and eat at the same time. Now he was doing the same thing. Signing and holding his baby daughter in his arms.
Bay crept slowly beside him.
"She's stubborn, you know," he told Bay when he noticed her, "I wonder where she gets that from."
"You want me to take her?"
Emmett shook his head. "No, I got her." The two of them sat in the silence, Emmett rocking back and forth with Angie. "It won't be like this forever. We'll blink our eyes and she'll be grown up. I want to enjoy it."
"I want to, too."
"Dad, you're ruining this for me. I want to enjoy this," a defiant sixteen year old Angie said to her father who was sitting beside her in the passenger's seat, "of all people, I thought you'd understand this. I mean, didn't you have a motorcycle?"
"Yeah, I did, and if I acted the way you are, your grandmother would have taken the keys away from me so fast. In fact, she did."
"Oh, grandma would not do that."
A smug expression crept across Emmett's face, "just ask your mother."
"Fine." She huffed. "Fine, I'll go slower," she said, looking at Emmett for approval.
"Good. Now, drive." After about fifteen minutes or so, Emmett motioned for his daughter to stop. "Pull over." He opened the car door and got out, waiting for Angie to do the same.
"Dad, what is this place? Why are we stopping?"
"It's called Blue River Road, and it means a lot to me. To your mom. And now I want it to mean something to you."
"Ugh, dad, enough with the schmaltz, yeah?"
"Hey, you might not be here if not for this place."
Angie suddenly looked disgusted and horrified. "Oh, no, please tell me you and mom didn't, you know, here. Dad, please. Don't tell me you brought me to my conception spot."
"Haha, no. I just meant, we had moments here, me and your mom. It's a part of our history. And yours, and Graham's."
"You going to take him here when he starts to drive?"
Emmett thought about his thirteen year old son, the one whose backpack was filled with spray paint. Yeah, he was going to be trouble. He was probably skateboarding all over the neighborhood tagging with his Sullen Boy paintings as they spoke. Emmett was nothing but proud however.
"I'd like to."
"He'll probably wreck the neighborhood when he does."
"He takes after your mom like that."
"Mom was a wild child, eh?"
"Oh," Emmett laughed, "you have no idea." He hugged Angie's shoulders. "One day, I hope you meet someone who makes you feel the way your mom makes me feel." Angie started to pretend barf. "Okay, okay. Enough with the 'schmaltz'. Let's go home."
There was a faint smell of burnt food when Emmett and Angie arrived home.
"Don't ask," Bay said when he walked into the kitchen, "Chinese is on its way."
"You're a disaster. You know that."
"I know." Bay walked over to him and hugged him. Then she kissed him. "How was driving with Ms. Daisy?"
"I'm sure she's going to total about three cars in her lifetime."
Bay shook her head and threw up her hands in defeat. "Great."
"It'll be okay."
"I know."
"So," Emmett began kissing her neck, "do you think we have time to –
And then a door slammed.
"What was that?"
"Ugh, hold that thought." Bay made a move to go upstairs and check on the ruckus.
"Wait," he said, pulling on her elbow, "whatever it is, it'll still be important in ten minutes." Emmett raised his eyebrows.
"Ten minutes?"
"I promise." He enveloped her in his arms. "Bay Kennish, you have absolutely wrecked me."
"I think you told me that once before."
"Well, it's still true."
Another door slam.
Bay sighed. "I don't think it can wait ten minutes, babe."
Emmett kissed her cheek. "Go," he motioned to the stairs. "Go take care of whatever crisis it is. I'll be here."
As he watched his wife run off to take care of parental duties, he realized no, this wasn't what he imagined.
Not even close.
But what he got wasn't worse.
On the contrary, it was better.
And that's when it hit him: Bay hadn't wrecked him. She had saved him.
And she was right; he hadn't seen anything yet.