"I'm meeting my Mom for brunch this morning, remember?" Amy reminded her fiancé, looking up at his reflection in the mirror, as he stood behind her straightening his sweater vest. She'd finally managed to get her second earring in when he pulled her back into his embrace. He kissed her neck and she giggled. "Stop it," she exclaimed defensively, though she was smiling for ever minute of it.
"Did you really think I'd forgotten? You told me just last night," he replied with a smile. "You're discussing wedding stuff," he added.
"We are," she agreed. "All the big details, you know? We figured it would be best to get those out of the way before the baby gets here."
"Speaking of the baby, have you decided on a name yet?"
"Ben, we've tried to talk about this, but we can't agree on anything, remember?"
"I told you. You can name her whatever you want. I want you to be happy with it," Ben reminded her.
"How do you feel about Allison? I've always liked that name, but I hadn't thought of it until now. Plus it fits in with all the A names in my family."
"I think Allison is a pretty name," he said, nodding.
"Really," she questioned.
"Of course," he said, returning to her from across the room. "Like I said, I want you to be happy. Regardless, I do like Allison."
"I know you'd prefer to name her Sarah," Amy hesitated to finish the sentence, "after your mother."
"Again," he said gently, "that's up to you."
"I think we'll save Sarah for the next one," she whispered, quickly kissing his lips.
"Next one?" he asked, cocking one eyebrow upward.
"Yes, next one. At some point, I mean, not for quite a while, of course. But at some point, we'll probably want to have another child, one that is totally and one hundred percent ours. We can save Sarah for that one."
"Amy, this one is ours," he said, earnestly, taking her hand.
"I love you," she replied with a smile. God, I'm lucky, she thought. "You know what I mean," Amy replied with a somewhat sad sigh. She wished she hadn't gotten herself into this situation. It wasn't fair to Ben, but he was right there every step of the way being an amazing boyfriend and willing father.
"I love you too, Amy. I do know what you mean and I appreciate the thought. I look forward to the arrival of our little Sarah sometime down the line," he said with a smile. "Let's focus on this one though," he whispered, patting her stomach.
"Allison Marie Boykewich," Amy replied.
"Allison Marie Boykewich," Ben repeated. "That sounds perfect."
"Come on," she replied. "I'm gonna be late for brunch and you're gonna be late for school." They both went downstairs and headed out to the waiting car which dropped them off at their respective destinations.
--
The clock on the wall seemed to move at an unbearably slow pace during Ben's first period math class. His classmates went up and did problem sets on the board, and the teacher lectured about how to do the new theorems they had learned, but Ben just sat there somewhat out of it. He took notes, and he looked relatively engaged (so as not to raise the suspicion of the teacher), but he wasn't really paying attention.
He glanced out at the window and saw that it was a beautiful day. Second period would be here soon enough.
--
"A June wedding will be really amazing weather, Amy," her mother cooed. Splayed out in front of Anne was an assortment of swatches and color samples, laces and fabrics, names of catering companies and florists. She was prepared.
"I thought so, and it gives us some time to get settled in with Allison," Amy replied.
Anne looked up from the books of samples and ideas she'd laid out. "You named her?" she asked excitedly. Amy nodded with a smile.
"Ben and I agreed on it this morning. We both love it, and it follows the Juergens girl "A" names rule. Allison Marie Boykewich."
"You know you have to do some official adoption papers so that her last name is Boykewich, right?"
"Yeah, Leo has a lawyer who is gonna take care of all that, I guess."
"Shall we talk about the wedding?" Anne interjected, nodding in understanding of the last matter.
"Of course, that's why we are here," Amy replied, taking a sip of her orange juice. "Okay, so it's going to be June 27, 2009. I think I would kind of like it to be at sunset. That's how I've been picturing it lately. You know, a smaller service, outside or something."
"Not in a church?"
"No, neither Ben nor I are really church people. I mean, I thought about it just because it is tradition, but I've pretty much bucked tradition here," she laughed. "Why start now?"
"So, you want the service outside, in the evening? Do you want some kind of big tent or something?"
"If that's what you think, that sounds good."
"Guest list?" Anne asked.
"I'm still working on that. It really shouldn't be huge, just all the people who are the most important to Ben and me."
"What about the food?" Anne asked.
"I hadn't really thought about that," Amy replied. "Let's figure that out later."
"Okay, perhaps the most important question," Anne paused and looked up at her daughter. "Your dress," she smiled.
"This, I have thought about. I want a very light tan, almost cream colored dress with kind of a silver ribbon at the waist. The silver will tie in my bridesmaid dresses, which will be knee-length, light silver, almost white with pink ribbons at the waist."
"Do you even need my help?" Anne laughed.
"Doesn't every girl have her wedding planned out years in advance? Of course I need your help. You're my mother."
"Have you thought about bridesmaids?" Anne asked.
"Do you think Ashley will want to be my maid-of-honor? I know it's probably not really her thing, but she's definitely been the closest to me through all of this. She knew about the baby pretty much right away."
"Under that tough exterior is a sister who really loves you. I think she'd like that."
"Other than her, I don't know. I mean, I don't really talk to Madison or Lauren anymore," she sighed.
"You should, Amy. Just because you have Ben – who, don't get me wrong – is amazing, doesn't mean you can't have girlfriends. I'm sure he's smart enough to have told you that a time or two," Anne responded. Amy nodded.
"He has, but I just don't know. Things just fell apart after I decided to keep the baby. Neither of them thought it was a good idea. Then there was all the Ricky drama. I just don't know if I could talk to them again. It wouldn't be the same."
"Of course it won't be the same, Amy. But, don't you want something like the friendship you had? Your life is about to change tremendously. Why should their friendship not change as well?"
"I guess," Amy said, shrugging.
--
Anne dropped Amy off at the Boykewich house and she struggled with her shopping bags and the fumbled the keys in the door. She had barely entered the house, when Ben popped out from out of nowhere and tackled her with a hug.
"Oh, hello!" she exclaimed, pleasantly surprised, dropping her bags as she reciprocated his embrace. "Are you okay?" she whispered into his shoulder, as he held on a little longer than usual.
"Yes," he replied, squeezing her tighter. "I'm just glad you're home. That's all."
"Was class that horrible today? It's only been like eight hours since I've seen you. It must have been pretty bad to warrant such a hug," she replied, reclaiming her purchases.
"You mean I can't just hug the woman I love because I want to? Because I missed her?"
"Okay, you can, Ben," she laughed. "I was just saying."
"It was pretty boring. I spent most of the day wondering what you were up to, and what you'd decided about the wedding."
"You really care that much about the wedding? I didn't think you'd really care about the details so long as I go the "I do" part right," she replied. He glared at her. "I'm kidding," she added. "I didn't know you wanted to be involved. I would have involved you, in the details, I mean."
"Well, I think we should at least discuss it, don't you? I mean, it's your big day, so you should make most of the decisions, but I'd like to be in the know."
"It's our big day," she corrected him, grabbing his hand as the walked into the kitchen. "So, yes, we can discuss it."
"What have you got there?" he asked, referring to her shopping bags.
"Mom took me shopping. I guess she thinks it's the least she can do for me," Amy replied.
"Did you have a nice time with her?"
"Yeah, I did," she replied with a smile.
"You want something to drink?" he asked, poking his head into the refrigerator.
"Water," she replied, setting her stuff down on the table and sitting down carefully in a chair. "Would Alice want to be a bridesmaid?" Amy suddenly asked. Ben thought for a moment, a little confused by the spontaneity of the question.
"I don't know. Probably, she likes things like that." He sat down, and placed a water bottle in front of her.
"We've never really been very close, but she is one of your best friends. I think it's only fair that I ask if she'd like to," Amy replied.
"You're so thoughtful," he said, placing several slow kisses on her lips. "I'm sure she'd love to. What about your friends? Madison? Lauren?"
"Ben, it's been a long time since I've talked to either of them. I think it's past the point of awkward. There's probably no chance that we could be friends again."
"Well, if you're sure. It's their loss though – because you are amazing."
"You're just saying that because you love me," she smiled.
"It's true, but and I do. I love you very much," Ben replied with another kiss.
"Hey, you lovebirds! How's it going?" Leo exclaimed entering the kitchen. He had just come from work.
"We're just discussing wedding plans. Amy planned some things out with her Mom today," Ben responded.
"You have the food all set up? If not, I could take care of that. Sausages all around," Leo replied.
"Actually, Mom and I didn't decide on the food. We could do like a classy barbecue," she pondered aloud. "We'd probably need a vegetarian option, but that could be good. Certainly easier than finding a caterer," she added.
"Well, you just let me know what you want and in what quantity and the Sausage King will take care of the whole thing," Leo nodded. "I see you two kids at dinner time," he added, leaving them alone for some private time.
"So, is there anything I can help with?" Ben asked, looking back at the love of his life.
"How do you feel about black tuxedos?"
"I feel like it I could wear anything as long as I get to hold your hand and finally make us one hundred percent official, just you and me forever," he replied, leaning his forehead onto hers.
"You're too much sometimes, Ben Boykewich, but I love you more than anything else in the whole world," she replied beaming.
"See, it's not cheesy because you mean it, right?" he replied with a smile. "It's the same with me."
She nodded, "I guess so."
"We can talk about this later. You wanna watch a movie before dinner?" he asked. "Anything you want," he added.
She nodded and they put a movie in and sunk back into the giant comfy couch in the living room. He lifted his arm and she scooted underneath. She laid her head against his chest and she could hear the beating of his heart and feel each breath he took. He played idly with her hair, smoothing it down gently. He found her hand with his and she smiled, trying to pay more attention to the movie than how his caresses made her feel. Slowly, but surely their previously separate breaths fell into a natural rhythm.