Me Before You: A new chapter 3

Since Will knows I don't enjoy parties, and since we are both British, I assumed he would have enough sense to forgo the traditional American surprise baby shower. What I hadn't counted on was that Treen and Georgina were two peas in a pod when it came to idiocy like this and the two of them had united to plan an utterly ridiculous event and, "Surprise!" here I was, standing like a deer in the headlights while every female I'd spoken to since grade school seemed to be standing, gawking, and clapping at me. Luckily for me, I don't speak to many people outside my immediate family, so it was a relatively small party, although I wouldn't have said that at the moment.

Turning my back to the ground, so that I was showing my face to Will alone, a face by the way that I'm sure was beet red, I mouthed, "Seriously?" Will shrugged apologetically and mouthed back, "Not my idea." Then he winked and said, "I've got this. Take a minute, Clark, you need it." Then, he turned his smile from me to the guests and wheeled forward, thankfully, drawing the attention of the mob away from me by turning on the Traynor charm and melting everyone's hearts. It gave me the moment I needed to pull myself together. Nathan walked past me to follow Will; as he passed, he patted me on the shoulder and whispered, "You've got this."

I nodded and, taking a deep breath or two (or five) I managed a weak smile and extended my arms toward Treen and Georgina, both of whom were approaching me with devilish grins on their faces. As Treen pulled me in for a hug I smiled a big fakey fake smile for Georgina's benefit and then hissed into Treen's ear, "I'll get you for this."

Treen smiled back, held me at arm's length and said, loudly enough for everyone to hear, "Oh, it was nothing, darling! You are so welcome!"

I would have responded to this with something not so nice, except that I saw Mum coming toward me with the most ridiculously happy smile on her face, and dad standing behind her with just a big a grin, that I just gave in and went with it, allowing the girls to lead me to an absurd wicker chair set at the center of the room. Apparently I was to be on display. "This is all so wonderfully American," I said, as they seated me. This inspired Treen to launch into a long explanation of Kate Middleton's baby shower, since her lecture was directed at the guests as well as me, it gave me a moment to breathe, and for Will and Nathan to wend their way back to my side. Nathan handed me a pink drink.

"Vodka, I assume?"

He laughed, "Sorry, Lou. The best I can do for the mother-to-be is," he paused, sniffing the drink, "fruit punch?" He looked to Will, whom I realized also had one. Nathan nudged the straw so Will could reach it. Taking a sip, Will sucked in his cheeks into a comical pucker, "Definitely not fruit punch. Lemonade. Very sour lemonade."

Laughing, I took the drink from Nathan and set it down beside me. I lifted my lemonade and took a deep sip as Will maneuvered his chair beside my own and said, "Clark, this is where we leave you."

"What?" I spluttered, spraying Will and Nathan with lemonade. "Where do you think you're going?"

Will and Nathan exchanged a look, "Told you so." Nathan said to Will.

"This is a ladies-only event, Clark. Nathan and I are just your chauffeurs today. We shall return at the end of the festivities to drive you home." Will told me, somewhat apologetically.

"Oh, you must be joking." I said. As I spoke, Treen approached, waving her hands at Nathan and Will as if she was shooing a cat off the counter, "Scoot, you two."

Georgina joined her, "Yes, Will. Go on. Daddy is waiting for you. I hear you're all going for lunch elsewhere."

She emphasized the last word in a way that made Will and me both burst out laughing. Georgina rolled her eyes and beckoned Mr. Traynor over. He was accompanied by Thomas, who was so excited that I think he was actually vibrating; they were both followed by Camilla, who directed them, Will and Nathan none too subtly to the exit. I leaned in for a quick kiss from Will and then watched the guys as they went on their way. Thomas started after them, but stopped before he reached the door and struck a pose, calling out happily as he did, "Goodbye, everyone; I have to go now because I'm a male! Mommy says there are no males allowed to stay at the baby shower!"

This got a big laugh from the crowd, which encouraged him to ham it up all the more. Treen, who was already videotaping the impromptu performance, was nearly beside herself when Thomas added in a little dance and began chanting, "No males allowed! No males allowed!" At that point, even the two teenaged waitresses stopped to watch the show. Thomas was thoroughly enjoying himself and would happily have carried on indefinitely, but for Nathan who swooped in; picking him up from behind and literally carried him out over his shoulder. As he did so, Thomas waved and called out dramatically, "Bye, Mum! Bye, Grandmothers! Bye, Auntie Lou! Bye, ladies!"

All eyes were on Thomas and Nathan, who were both laughing as they headed out; I think I was the only one who saw that Will was about to miss the edge of the ramp that led out of the room. Usually, Nathan would have been on top of that, but he was occupied with Thomas. Usually, the ramp would have been wider and usually it would also have had a railing, but this was just a small restaurant in town and the ramp was makeshift at best. Flashing forward in my pregnancy hormone-filled imagination to a disaster that involved Will rolling up the ramp on only half his wheels so quickly that his chair flipped on him, I jumped from my wicker throne and screamed, "Will!"

Everyone turned toward me, I was already on my feet and across the room, grasping Will's chair in an effort to get him properly aligned. Thomas, who had been startled out of his moment of glory by my scream, looked momentarily as if he might burst into tears. Nathan put him down, ruffled his hair, and came to my assistance, "Right, mate," he said to Will, "Back a little and just a tad right, there we have it. Perfect."

That was it. It was just a few seconds and then things were back to normal and the guys proceeded up the ramp. A blush crept up Will's face, but he managed to make eye contact with me, with a charmingly cocked eyebrow, shaking his head at me as he went out. Thomas, who had recovered quickly from his shock, and tossed off a bright, "ta-ta, girls," to the two stunned looking waitresses as he marched past them on his way out. They watched as Will exited, but I was too immersed in my own drama to really pay them much mind. For a moment, I just stood there stupidly, my face burning as I realized that I'd overreacted and that my scream had most likely been quite embarrassing to Will. I was building up to a full-fledged panic attack over it when Camilla approached and put a gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned to her and she gave me an understanding smile. I exhaled a breath I didn't even realize I had been holding. Camilla and I weren't usually very close, but at the moment I could have hugged her. She was probably the only one in the room – in the world - who understood what it was like to feel as I did; not only to love Will, but also to worry about him constantly and (usually) silently, as I did.

"It's okay, Louisa." she softly said, "He's okay."

I nodded and, silently thanking her, I excused myself to the loo, where I locked myself in a stall, determined to pull myself together quickly. I was on the toilet and concentrating on taking deep breaths when the main door opened and two women entered. They began speaking in hushed tones.

"That was so sad."

"So sad! Imagine if it had tipped over?"

I froze.

"God, imagine? What the hell would we have done then?"

"No idea."

And, after a brief pause, "Seriously though, the saddest part of all of it is that his face is so handsome."

My heart was pounding in my chest.

"Oh God, I know! He's so good looking – what a waste!"

"It's such a waste."

Heart hammering, blood rushing so hard and fast in my ears I could no longer hear them, I slammed open the stall door and stepped out to face the waitresses. Before I could even think of what I might say, the words were coming out of my mouth, "Sad? Sad?! I'll tell you what's sad," I had no idea where I was going with this, but that didn't stop me, "What's really sad, very pathetically sad is you two! What's so terribly sad is that you two are so stupid and small minded that you will never, ever even realize how very stupidly wrong you are!"

It wasn't exactly a brilliant comeback, but it was the best I could think of at the moment. They just stared at me with their mouths agape. I stood, glaring at them, silently daring them to speak again. As I did, Camilla entered the loo, "Louisa, I was just coming to check," she stopped short when she saw my face.

Her concerned expression snapped me out of my rage, "Sorry," I said, seeing the worry in her eyes.

"I was just coming out now, actually. Sorry for the delay; I was talking with these two," and I paused here, realizing that what I was about to do wasn't going to help the situation in any way.

I redirected my thinking and struggled to come up with a civil adjective, "…With these young ladies," I said pointedly, then continued, "I don't think they realized I was in the stall when they came in, but…"

The girls were staring at me, mouths still literally hanging open. Camilla suddenly went pale; I'm sure from realizing what had happened. For some reason, that was the thing that made me realize, right at that instant, what I actually wanted to say. Taking a breath, I steadied my voice and tried to smooth my expression before I continued, "I overhead these two talking and they were just saying how very handsome Will is." I paused and looked at the girls. They exchanged a look, before both nodded and began fairly babbling, "Yes, ma'am. That is what we were saying!"

"Yes. We were saying he is very good looking. Very handsome."

"Really handsome."

And then, after an exchange of looks, "Right then, thank you, ma'am, ma'am."

And finally, as they rushed out, "Excuse us, please; thank you."

Camilla looked at me, skeptically, searching my face for the truth she suspected. I forced myself to betray nothing and focused all of my energy on smiling in the most reassuring way possible as I shrugged with feigned casualness and said, "You must admit, Camilla, your son is quite handsome." She hesitated a moment, then laughed out loud at this. Laughs from Camilla were rare, but what came next was even more surprising. Before I knew it, she was giving me a hug and then, holding me out at arm's length, she said, "Louisa," I raised both eyebrows, not sure what might happen next, she looked me square in the eye and said, "I'm so happy you are part of this family. Thank you."

As I reentered the party, Treen immediately swooped down upon me, grabbing my hand and dragging me toward Georgina and my mum, who were seated on either side of the wicker throne and surrounded by a mountain of wrapped presents. As I took it all in, Treen whined and pulled on my arm, "Where have you been? Come on, Lou; everyone's waiting for you!"

Camilla emerged from the bathroom a moment later and gave me the thumbs up (this really was to be an afternoon of firsts). In that absurd moment, I felt a rush of emotion and realized that I was actually very glad to be part of this family; a family filled with amazing women who loved me enough to plan such an utterly ridiculous event just for me. Laughing out loud at the thought of it all, I surrendered and followed Treen to my wicker throne, where I happily took my seat and prepared to enjoy my baby shower.