Dear Diary,
Tonight = EPIC WIN.
We were all pitching in to help decorate Viv's house for Christmas, and I was just chatting with Link when all of a sudden Zelda comes waltzing up to us, interrupts me, and says to Link, "I would say yes." I asked her what she was talking about, and she had her jaw set like she does when she's about to wrap up a killer closing argument—and she said to Link, "If you asked me, I would say yes." Needless to say, for a few moments I was sort of lost. But they were looking at each other like he was Paul Newman and she was Joanne Woodward, and it struck me then that I had never seen so genuine or excited a smile on Zelda's face. Link took a step back and fell into a chair, slapping a hand to his forehead and laughing. Zelda joined him in both the laughter in the chair, and I finally got it.
"SHUT UP!" I yelled, jumping up and down.
"Malon, what's going on here?" Terra asked me, appearing at my side.
I didn't want to say anything because it was Link and Zelda's business, so I just pointed at them and squeaked in excitement yet again. Terra looked at me as if I were ill or something, but then she noticed Link taking a scrap of silver tinsel, bending it into a circular shape, and slipping it onto Zelda's finger. Terra's eyes got as wide as saucers and she mouthed wordlessly at the couple.
Then Vivien came over to see what all the fuss was about, and when she caught on, too, her jaw dropped. "Where's mom?" she asked in a hushed voice.
"The old curmudgeon is upstairs," Zelda replied, sitting calmly next to Link and putting her arm around his shoulder. "Feel free to tell her about this, I don't care. For once in my life, I'm doing something for me, and… for once in my life, I know it's the right thing." That was an extremely uncharacteristically cute thing for Zelda to say, and I had to wonder if this really was my best friend. She rested her head on Link's shoulder and sighed softly in content. I've never seen her so at peace, so happy.
"How about your job?" Vivien asked, her eyebrows contracting slightly. "Are you still going to pay Link to nanny his, uh… step-daughter?"
"You make a good point," Zelda frowned. "I hadn't thought about that."
"Whoa!" I gasped. Everyone stared at me, but I didn't say anything; I didn't want to worry Zelda or Link. It's just that in all the years I've known Zelda, she has almost never made a single decision without thinking it through piece by piece first. This didn't seem like a tactful thing to say, however, so I kept my trap shut. But I think it's great. It shows that Zelda is following her heart.
"Link, what did you do before I hired you?" she asked curiously.
"I was writing a sports column for the town paper," he answered. "I was up for a promotion, too, but …I got word from my mom, and just felt that I needed to move over to California to be near her."
Why can't I find a man like this?
"Wait, that's perfect!" Vivien laughed. "Our brother Will's Los Angeles division has been looking for a new sports writer ever since Hildy Johnson quit! This is FATE!" Her glee was infectious, and for some reason or another I started to guffaw. But she was right! The planets were aligning, everything is just going so dang well. "And you don't have to worry about the pay, either," Viv said in a stage whisper. "He's a Cleverly, so you know he sure isn't cheap!"
"Depends on which definition you use," Zelda muttered. She was looking over at the staircase, and we all followed her gaze. Clarissa was coming down the stairs just then, looking sort of like a wounded lion: her ego had taken a fall of some sort, but she didn't want to let it show. All eyes were on Mrs. Cleverly as she crossed the gargantuan living room, except for mine. I looked back at Zelda and Link—to my surprise, she had shifted so that she was now sitting on his lap and she had both arms around his neck. Oooh, that sure caused a crease or two in old Clarissa's countenance!
Her eyes narrowed at the tinsel ring that Zelda wore and her own fingers slowly curled into fists. One of them unclenched so that she could extend her hand, palm up, towards Link and Zelda. "So," she said in a dry, dangerous voice. "This is how you'd like to get back at me?"
"Mom," Terra said in a warning voice, drawing out the one syllable. I half-hoped Clarissa would go on—this is the sort of drama I usually only get on my soaps!
"I already told you," Zelda said, cool as a cucumber. "If you think I'm doing this to spite you, you're even more self-centered than I thought. And I pity you, you know. I don't know if you've ever felt anything so pure and beautiful as I feel for this man. In fact I just want to take him back up to my room and have sex with him all week long." OKAY, I admit, she did not say that last sentence, I just made it up. I wish she'd say it, though—really knock the socks of her mom, that's for sure! And I know she's thinking it!!
Anyway, at this point, Link tapped Zelda and she moved off of him so that he could get to his feet. I felt like I was watching a movie when he stood in front of Clarissa Cleverly, almost her height exactly (a tad taller). I was standing close by him so I could see that he was trembling and had put his hands in his pockets in an effort to calm himself down. I'll try to reproduce what he said as accurately as possible:
"Mrs. Cleverly." Very smart move there, not to get all informal and just call her Clarissa. She'd hated it when Zelda's friends growing up called her by her first name. But anyway, I digress. Link went on: "I am in love with your daughter. I fell in love with her six years ago, when we met for one night. I saw that she was with an odious young man and she and I went to a movie together, just the two of us. I was fascinated by her. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen."
"A thing, is that it?" Clarissa very rudely interrupted him, not bothering to try and hide the loathing in her voice. "My daughter is just a 'thing' to you? Well how very romantic. She was—she IS—a very beautiful woman, Mr…" I had to laugh. She didn't know his last name. Awkwaaaard! No one dared point this out to her, though, so she just very clumsily went on, "Link," and injected his name with as much hatred as possible. "I don't appreciate your saying you love my daughter just because she's attractive."
"With all due respect, Mrs. Cleverly, you did not allow me to finish," Link said. "There's a reason why I said your daughter's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen, not person. Poetic figures of speech might have compared one's beauty to a rose, or sunset on a summer's day, or a clear blue sky. To my eighteen-year-old self, all those paled in comparison to Zelda. Then, after I'd gotten over the initial shock of seeing her, we just talked. We talked and I had never spoken so candidly or deeply with anyone in my life. Walking away from her that night was that hardest thing I'd ever had to do, and I am so angry with myself for not trying to walk back into it sooner. But thank God I did."
Once again, my eyes shot to Zelda. She was still sitting on the chair, staring at the floor. To my great surprise, she was blushing. Not like she was embarrassed by what Link was saying, but like she was very moved, and unaccustomed to such unadulterated consideration towards her.
"I must have been an idiot not to recognize her right away when she hired me again," Link continued. "But I didn't. All I knew was that I had an employer who I wanted to help the best I could. Not just by watching her daughter, but just…" He seemed to struggle to find the right words. "I wanted her to be happy." That's when he sort of started to tear up, which made me wince, because if there's one thing Clarissa Cleverly can't stand, it's crying—especially if it's a man. "I wanted so much for her, and I didn't even care at first if it was me who was making her happy, I just wanted her to be happy no matter what it took."
"You're saying she was unhappy?" Clarissa balked. "Such a kind remark for you to make, Link! And how very presumptuous! Thank the Lord you happened to step in at just the right time and pull her out of it!"
By this time, people were awkwardly draining out of the room. Mostly they were relatives (plus all the in-laws) who were less comfortable around Zelda and felt that this should be a very private discussion. Clarissa Cleverly doesn't leave a room to talk; it's your job to leave if you don't want to listen in. All the kids were quickly hurried away, and there went the background noise. Soon it was just Link, Zelda, Clarissa, Vivien, Jack, and me. Terra tried with her eyes to get me and her siblings to follow her, but there's no way I could walk out on something this juicy unless I was expressly asked to.
"He's right, mother," Zelda suddenly said, still looking at the floor from where she sat. "I was unhappy. That's actually putting it very nicely. I was stuck in just a black hole of… of depression, all this time… and Link brought me back into the world again."
"Seen the light, have you, dear?" Clarissa asked. "Let me tell you something, young lady, you're not even twenty-five years old yet! I've lived, I've experienced things, I have been where you are! This is the first man who you have ever been in close contact with since your disastrous first marriage! For all you know, you're just settling!"
"Excuse me, mother, but you of all people should know that my age has very little to do with my life and my experiences," Zelda shot back. You go, girl! She went on: "I've come into close enough contact with men since Marth, maybe just not in the same way. I've gotten ogled at when I go into stores, I've been groped in a crowd, I've been constantly underestimated by every attorney I go up against! It's a lot easier to read men than you think it is, mom. But do you have any idea how long and painstaking of a process it was for me to realize that Link was different? It's been months! I just stood there on my pedestal, like you, wondering what on earth a man his age could gain by looking after my daughter—but I bet you know what's coming next, don't you? I'll tell you something, I envy him. He has a better relationship with my daughter than I do. He's learned so much and I know so little."
"Are you marrying him for Megan, then?" was Clarissa's next tactic. She pursed her lips before saying the word "marrying," and nearly spat it, the old crone.
"Without Megan, I never would have realized what kind of a person I had hired," Zelda replied. "She plays into this but is far from being the sole reason for my wanting to get married again. Coincidentally, though, ever think maybe this isn't any of your business?" Zelda asked. I shifted my glance and saw that Jack had left. Vivien tugged my sleeve and nodded towards the next room. "No!" Zelda suddenly said, looking over at us. "Don't leave—Viv, you can go if you want, but Malon, I'm calling you to the stand."
I raised my eyebrows and Vivien silently exited. "Character witness?" I guessed. Zelda nodded. I hated to be brought into this, but as it seemed to be the only logical way to justify my presence, I spoke up. "Well, Mrs. C, I don't think there's anything else that can be said to further stress Link's personality. I would vouch for him in any situation in any place at any time. I know you don't think much of me and you never have—" I could see her lip curling in dislike—"and if you don't want to listen to him and you don't want to listen to Zelda, I don't know why you'd listen to me."
"You've been staying with them, haven't you?" Clarissa inquired, putting one hand on her hip and the other resting in her sweater pocket.
"Yes, for a few months. All the time Link's been there, I've been there."
"And he means what he says?"
"He's never said a false word to my knowledge."
"And Megan?"
"She's crazy about him," I laughed. "If you ask me, there'd be no greater father for her on this earth."
"How do you know he doesn't want to marry Zelda for her money?"
Link looked quickly over at me and I bit my tongue. I'd promised not to bring this up, but now I felt like I had to. "Well, there's an interesting answer to that one," I said slowly. "So far, Link's gotten a check at the end of every month that he works, and so far he hasn't taken any of it. I mean, he's taken it, but he's been saving the money for Megan and wanted to wait for a good time to ask Zelda when he could invest it in a legitimate bank… deal thing."
Zelda stared at him in complete surprise, but her mother seemed not to have noticed. Clarissa looked for a moment as if she were going to tell me "no further questions," but she didn't say anything and just turned back to Zel. "I think you are making a very rash, very unwise decision, Zelda. You're so intelligent, probably the sharpest of all my children, but when it comes to matters of the heart—"
"—you're afraid I got an attitude from your side of the family?" Zelda cut in. "Mom, how dare you have the gumption to give me this sort of lecture! You're on your sixth husband, and had kids by five of them! Which of us is the romantic, which one of us is flighty? You're nothing but a hypocrite!"
I could not believe it when Clarissa took a step forward and slapped Zelda across the face. I thought that sort of thing only ever happened on TV. My eyes darted quickly to Link, who looked as if his initial reaction was to kick the old lady in the stomach. But before any of us could do anything, she had turned swiftly on her heel and marched out the front door. Zelda, who hadn't so much as flinched at the slap, just stood there.
"Zel?" Link asked quietly, walking towards her. "You all right?"
"Please," she scoffed, the tough, I'm-a-lawyer-and-can-handle-anything side of her coming back out. "I've had to endure much worse." Without missing a beat, she then casually remarked, "You lied to me, Link."
"Er, if this is about the checks—"
"No, it's not about that, although I see that's a conversation we're going to have in the near future," Zelda said. "But about your job. That night I first took you out to dinner for an interview, you never said anything about having been a sports writer. You talked about life-guarding and working in a pet store."
"Wow, you've got quite a memory," he chuckled. "I didn't bring it up because I didn't know if it was, uh… classy enough. I was trying to impress you."
"Well, nothing like sitting around half-naked in a chair blowing a whistle or walking around a store sweeping up chinchilla poop to get you in with a Cleverly," I said. They both looked at me and for a moment their expressions were kind of freaking me out, but then Link burst out laughing and Zelda granted me a small smile. "Hey, is that the last time you two went out to dinner together?" I asked. "For your interview?"
"Now that you mention it, I guess so," Zelda said slowly.
"Unless your sister would find it to be very rude, I'd like to remedy that," Link said, taking both of Zelda's hands in his.
"Nonsense!" I half-guffawed. "I'll go ask her for recommendations of good nearby places." And so off I went, and now I'm kind of annoyed because it was my idea to send Link and Zelda away for dinner so now I can't eavesdrop on what all's going on! Ah, speaking of food, Terra's calling me down now to eat. The second that Link and Zelda left the house, I ran upstairs to write everything down as best I could because I didn't want to forget a second of it!
I may have to ask someone too feed me; both of my hands are totally cramped.
-----
The drinks had arrived, the food had been ordered, and now Link and Zelda were left to their own devices at their table in a quaint (intimate) Italian restaurant Vivien had recommended in town. A little smile found its way onto Link's face as he eyed the tinsel ring that Zelda still had on her finger.
"So we're really doing this?" he asked softly, and her lavender-blue eyes looked up to meet his. "You and me?"
"Link," she said back in a whisper. "If you'll have me …I don't think there's anything in this world that could make me happier."
"I'm in, Zelda, I'm all in," he assured her, reaching across the tiny table and taking her hand. "I meant everything I said to your mother, and there's a lot more that I didn't get to tell her."
"Can I ask you something?" Zelda asked.
"Anything."
"If you recall, my associate Eliza Schreiber went to high school with you," Zelda said. "When I told her I had hired you, she started telling me some of the things you did back in your teenage days. Oh, nothing embarrassing!" she added when Link turned the slightest bit red. "But she did mention something like you… had dropped out, or moved away, and then went back…?"
"I didn't drop out, although I'm sure that's what a lot of people assumed," Link said. "That wouldn't make very much sense, though, because if I'd just got up and left and had no schooling whatsoever, there's no way I could have come back at eighteen and graduated with all of them." He withdrew his hand from Zelda's and grumbled a deep sigh. "I was very different when I was in high school, Zel. You've met my father, you know what he's like—I tried way too hard to undermine his authority, and finally he just got sick of it. He thought sending me to military school would straighten me out."
"Military school?" Zelda asked. "Oh, my…"
"Yup," Link said casually, leaning back and shrugging. "I spent two years in that fine place. Murnau's Military Academy for Incurably Delinquent Boys."
"Am I engaged to an incurable delinquent?" Zelda teased him.
Link let out another laugh. "Heck, no! I used to think of myself as sort of this cool, tough guy, you know? But then these other boys there, man, some of them really were messed up. I was like a little sparrow compared to them. My drill sergeant didn't think too highly of me, either. He called me a lot of things I don't care to repeat in front of a lady, but he hated my guts, that was for sure. That sort of inspired me to work a lot harder, I wanted that guy to be really surprised. So I bulked a bit and finally got enough of a reputation to gain some respect from the other guys. The summer after my junior year, though, my mom was so distraught at the thought of my being some place like that that she finally was able to convince my dad to let me come back home."
"Were you glad?" Zelda asked. "To go back to a public school?"
"Mostly, yes," Link laughed. "Murnau's was tough, but it taught me a lot. It taught me respect and how to look out for someone else and how to make sure my own back was covered. The only thing I did not like so much about returning to my old high school was that I… discovered my former principal had retired and he was replaced by my old drill sergeant."
"What? You're kidding!" Zelda gasped.
"Wish I was. Beats me how he wound up there, but there he was, and he wasn't all too pleased to see me. I'm afraid I may have been a bit of a jerk to him, but I just had to show him that in my old school, no one messed with me. And nobody messes with me today, either," he said. "That includes your mother."
"Heh, bet she makes your old drill sergeant look like a complete pussy," Zelda snorted, idly picking up her glass of water.
"You'd know best about that," Link laughed. "Well, okay. All my cards are out on the table, now. Feel free to ask me anything else, Zelda. I don't want to keep any secrets from you."
Zelda wanted to reply by saying the same thing, but knew she couldn't. There was some things Link could just never know—she didn't want anybody to hear about them, even him. It was better that way, she'd keep quiet for his own sake. "There is one more thing I'd like to ask you," she said. "When…" She took a deep breath and let out a shaky laugh. "This sounds so strange, but when do… you think we should get married?"
"What about that sounds strange to you?" Link chuckled.
"It just feels a little odd to be saying it," Zelda answered, smiling but not able to look directly at Link. "Married, I'm… getting married. I sort of can't believe it."
"Zelda, I don't want to rush you or make you feel pushed," Link said very seriously. "I know the question seemed like it just… came out of nowhere, so I would understand if you just felt obligated to quickly give me an answer."
"I know this is a serious thing, Link," Zelda told him, taking his hand back. "But as I thought about it… life without you in it just doesn't seem like a possibility any more. And I don't just mean for Megan's sake." She grinned in a slightly feline manner (almost reminiscent of her mother) before leaning across the table and giving Link a delicate kiss. Had their food not arrived at just that moment, she probably would have deepened it enough to make their fellow restaurant patrons uncomfortable.
"What was it you wanted to say a minute ago?" Link asked once their waiter had left again. "You said you were going to ask me something else."
"Oh, right," Zelda said, a faint blush tingeing her cheeks. "I wanted to ask you when you want t-to… get…"
"Married?" Link guessed, and she grinned and looked down at her plate, nodding. "That's a good question, Zel. Do you feel any particular—"
"Soon," Zelda answered before Link could even finish his sentence. "Let's get married soon, Link. Long engagements are for sissies. When something is right it's right, and I've been partially blind ever since I met you. I don't really believe in fate or destiny, but …I do feel like we are supposed to be together."
Link flashed another of his infectious grins at her. "I agree one hundred percent, Zelda Cleverly." He paused, wondering if she would want to take on his name and be known as Zelda Vaughn. The only reason he didn't bring it up was because Zelda had gone through so many name changes in her life that he didn't know whether she just wanted to stick with the one she had.
As if she had read his mind, Zelda sucked in a long single stand of spaghetti and said "Call me…Ishmael."
------
"Is it just a given that there's always an exorbitant amount of leftovers when you get Italian?" Zelda asked as she and Link carried an unusually large amount of take-out boxes to the car Vivien had lent them. "I mean, I think this is more than we actually ordered. How is that?"
"One of many mysteries left unsolved from Antonio's," Link laughed.
"Too bad the food wasn't even very good," Zelda said.
"Oh, it was…okay," Link chimed in, rather unconvincingly. He started up the car and pulled out of the parking lot.
She had to laugh at that. "But the waiters were so kind and insistent! Vivien usually has such good taste in food. I think I know the reason she must have told us to go there, though. She can be sentimental when called upon." Zelda issued a small sigh and stared out the window at the passing landscape. "Our dad was named Antonio."
"Is your father Italian?" Link asked, raising his eyebrows.
"No, he was…a quarter Italian," Zelda replied, having to think about it first. "Yeah, his mom's dad was Italian, and his name was Antonio, and my dad was her first child so she named him after her father. So I guess that makes me an eighth Italian, doesn't it?" Her hand went up to her mouth to cover another laugh that she worried might turn into something more sad if she didn't shut up. "I don't look it though, do I? More Nordic, that's what everyone tells me. That's the Cleverly side."
There was a slight sense of foreboding in her tone; an unhappy ending to this man's life. "What happened to him? Your parents divorced?"
"Actually, no," Zelda responded, drawing her hand away from her mouth. There were no tears, surprisingly. Well, she hadn't cried when it happened, why should she now? "He died in a car accident when I was fourteen. It's a shame, too, because I think my mom may have actually loved him. Or cared about him, at least. It was impossible to hate Tony, it really was. Now that I think about it, you sort of remind me of him," Zelda murmured. "He cared about other people, he really did, and they all loved him. I just didn't appreciate him until it was too late. I'm sorry you never got to meet him."
"Sounds like a great guy," Link said gravely. There was a bit of a silence between them then, but it felt very natural. It wasn't awkward or uncomfortable in any way, but Link still felt as if he should say something. "Zelda?"
"Yes?" she whispered.
He took his eyes off the road for a moment to look over at her. "I'm sorry."
She let out a quick breath that may have passed off for a rueful laugh, and curled her fingers around Link's when he reached out his free hand to her. "Thank you," she said in her quiet voice. "Thank you for everything, Link. I don't know if I'll ever be able to thank you enough."
"Don't you concern yourself with that," Link said as he turned on to Vivien's street. "Right now I think we ought to focus on getting your mother in a state where she'd want to come see our wedding."
Zelda's insides squirmed at the word, but she didn't bring it up. "Do you really think that's possible? After I chewed her out earlier?"
"If you don't do it, I'll talk to her myself."
"Ha! Be my guest."
They reached Vivien's house, and as Zelda leaned towards the back of the car to pick up her left-over boxes, Link got out and walked around the car to open her door for her. For the briefest of moments she felt her mother's femi-nazi side telling her to say she was capable of opening a door on her own, but it was instantly smothered by a more rational thought: of course Link knew she could an open a door. He was just helping her out. Zelda awkwardly climbed out of the car and said, "Thank you, Link."
"Chivalry ain't dead," Link said by way of response, shrugging with a smile.
They were immediately apprehended by a horde of hungry kids when the entered the house, and soon found themselves no longer encumbered by the surprising number of take-out boxes. Megan had been among the children to skip up to them, but before darting away, she had hugged Link and Zelda simultaneously, utterly squealing with delight. I am doing the right thing, Zelda thought, blinking some tears out of her eyes as she watched Megan dash off.
"Hey, sis, mind if I borrow the bro-to-be for a minute?" Jack asked, coming up and half-grabbing Link by the shoulder. "Don't worry!" he laughed upon seeing Zelda's suspicious expression. "We just want to talk to him, and this'd be a good opportunity for you to go chat with the girls—they're waiting for you in the kitchen."
"Who all wants to talk with me?" Link asked as Zelda unwillingly left him and Jack steered him towards the garage.
"Just the boys, pal, I want to make sure you've met everyone," Jack replied, not able to understand why Link seemed so apprehensive. "And by everyone, I mean Zelda's brother Will." It took Link a minute to get what Jack meant by this, and then remembered that Zelda and Jack had had different fathers. Once in the cold, musky garage, he found himself shaking hands with a tall man who wore glasses. "Link, meet Will. Will, meet Link. I've just been telling Will about the possibility of your working for his paper."
"We'll have to do a formal interview sometime, and I'll need to see some of your past work," Will told him. "But if you know how to type on a computer, chances are we'll just end up hiring you anyway—we're desperate for someone ever since Hildy jilted me and quit to 'settle down.' Certainly not the Cleverly way. From what Jack's been telling me, you're an all right guy, Vaughn. We just have one small request before you go and marry our little sister." He glanced at Jack and said, "Well, his little sister, anyway. Technically Zel's older than me, but you know how it is."
"No, he doesn't," Jack said gruffly, picking up an old sack of flour and setting it on a chair. "He's an only child." He pulled out a sharpie and drew a demented face on the flour sack, consisting of crossed eyes and a tongue sticking out. "Okay, Link," Jack said, stepping back and tossing the marker into a nearby trash bin. "Pretend this sack of flour is Marth Malloy."
Link pulled back one fist, then fired it into the center of the sack. His knuckles easily tore through the thick paper lining and flour spilled everywhere as the steel stool toppled and fell over. Jack grinned and patted Link on the back. "That's a boy. Glad to know we're on the same page."
Zelda, meanwhile, was not on quite the same page as her sisters. "What's this?" she inquired as Vivien handed her a small slip of paper with a list of hastily written down items on it.
"Those are all the good hotels that are within a ten mile radius," Vivien answered.
"Hotels?" Zelda asked, sounding hurt. "Do you want me to leave?"
"I told you she wouldn't get this," Malon snorted, flicking the side of Viv's head.
"We—okay, I—thought you and Link ought to, you know, have a bit of time to yourselves," Vivien said breathlessly. "Away from all the loud and crazy chaos going on here, I mean. That way, you two can… get… better acquainted…?"
"Geez, Viv," Zelda chuckled, handing back the list. "That's very nice of you and all, but it won't be necessary."
"But your room is right next to the one with the kids in it!" Vivien cried. "And Link's room is by Will and his wife's! What if you two make a lot of noise and it keeps them awake?"
"And I told you that Viv wouldn't get this," Terra said, shooting a smirk at Malon, who was trying not to laugh.
"Vivien, that's not what I meant," Zelda explained. "I don't have plans to do… that with Link until later."
"Later?" Vivien gasped, her eyebrows raising so high that they were in danger of disappearing into her hair. "What—you mean… until after you're married?"
"I think that Link will be fine with that idea," Zelda replied calmly. "And it seems okay to me, too. Besides, we aren't waiting that long, this is going to happen fast. The last time I got married, I did things backwards, I… want to do it the old-fashioned this way. Link strikes me as the old-fashioned type."
"Good for you, honey," Terra said, drawing Zelda into a hug.
"You're afraid, aren't you?" Vivien queried, narrowing her eyes.
"Of what?" Zelda laughed. "Getting pregnant, or having sex? Vivien, I'm clearly no virgin, and although I sort of have been up in a nunnery for the last six years, that doesn't mean I've forgotten everything. And if I had, it'd still be hard for me to be in the dark about this: in case you forgot, I work in a law firm at LA, where all anyone seems able to talk about is their sex lives. If I hadn't picked up on something by now, I'm definitely not as clever as I thought!"
Author's Note: Sorry this update took so long!! I hope this chapter was okay- coming up we have bridal showers and awkward wedding nights! Huzzah!
Oh, and if you want to make me deliriously happy, click on the hyper-link on my profile that routes you to fictionpress.