"I don't want to go home," Casey pouted. They only had two more days in Hawaii, and then it was back to New York.
Olivia could live here forever. "I know, Babe." This place was a paradise. "We should come back."
"This could be our vacation spot," Alex suggested. "A nice respite from the cold, we could come for two weeks every winter."
Casey looked at her. "You are trying to spoil me to death … keep trying."
They went snorkeling with an underwater camera that afternoon. Olivia got the perfect picture of a turtle swimming by Casey. It turned as if it were looking over Casey's shoulder.
The reefs were amazing. They saw fish of all colors.
Alex had been afraid there would be sharks, but they did not see any, well at least not any large ones.
She did, however, end up with a seahorse that was intent on following her around.
After they got out of the water, her lovers teased her.
"Where's your boyfriend?"
"When's the wedding?"
"If we get a tank, you can bring him home with us."
Alex rolled her eyes. "Let's go you jerks!"
After they returned to New York, Casey got their photographs printed and put them in her scrapbook. She had been collecting photographs of her whole life. Before she went to college, her mother had given her a copy of all of her childhood photographs: trips to Dorney Park, her father teaching her how to ride a bike.
Casey saw them when she was adding her new photographs. Her relationship with her mother was complicated. She loved her mom, but Mrs. Novak had defined her life based on what her husband wanted. She had been under her husband's thumb for so long, her individuality had become almost nonexistent.
Casey wanted to reach out to her mom, now that she had a chance to start over, but she feared things might be too far gone, that she would only be too late.
At the end of the month, Olivia went to her appointment with a fertility expert. The doctor gave her a clean bill of health but "your eggs aren't getting any younger." If she wanted to conceive, the doctor suggested that she start trying sooner rather than later, and at the very least freeze her best eggs now if she wants to have a child a bit later.
Their options were in vitro and IUI. Olivia was concerned about multiple births, which would be more likely with in vitro, although IUI would likely need more treatments.
After a brief discussion between the three women, they decided that Olivia would start IUI treatments in April, which would be in two weeks.
"I hope our baby looks just like you," Alex told Olivia as they left the doctor's office.
"Me too," Casey told her.
"Well … I am ridiculously good looking," she said tongue in cheek.
"And so modest," Alex added.
May
Warren and Vivian had a lovely wedding.
It was a little too cold for an outdoor wedding, which had been the original idea. Instead, they rented a lovely banquet hall that had an indoor greenhouse. They had a lot of flowers, plants, aquatic plants and even these cute little bento trees.
Vivian did not have a very large family. She had one sister who was already married and had one child and her two parents. However, Vivian's father had a lot of business associates and he did not want to insult anyone by not inviting them to his daughter's wedding.
Warren had 30 guests, almost half of them family, the rest college friends and business associates. Vivian's side of the family had 70 guests, many of them Vivian only knew marginally.
"Warren has two tables of guests. Vivian has two tables of guests. Her father has four."
Olivia snorted.
An old lady behind them shushed them.
Casey rolled her eyes. "What is she going to do give us detention? The ceremony hasn't even started yet.
Little Maggie Harriman was the flower girl. She looked adorable in her lilac dress.
Vivian's nephew was the ring boy.
The wedding party was small. Warren's roommate from Princeton was his best man and a fellow player on the Tiger's hockey team was the other groomsman. Vivian's maid of honor was her sister the second bridesmaid, a friend from college.
Vivian had on this glorious Vera Wang dress, strapless and backless with a ruffled bottom.
Warren's smile couldn't have been bigger when she reached him at the altar.
Vivian's mother cried as they exchanged their vows.
Casey never understood why people cried at weddings. They were such a happy time.
Alex was starting to tear, but it was because she missed her mom. She would have loved this ceremony.
After the ceremony, they had a cocktail hour. The family took pictures while the guests got the first dibs on the drinks.
"First, the happy couple."
The photographer took their picture in the indoor garden, then a picture of the Price family, and then one of Vivian with her sister.
Right after that, they took a picture of the Cabots, one of Alex and her brother, and then, Warren with his groomsmen.
Casey was hungry. "Is it dinner time?"
Olivia laughed while Alex ruffled her hair. "Why don't we get some appetizers and a cocktail?"
The trio walked out together.
The Cabots didn't think anything of the trio. They were a quite liberal family. The Price, family, however found it rather shocking.
"Why are those three women together?" Vivian's grandmother questioned.
"They're a couple," Vivian delicately explained to them.
"A couple of what?"
"A couple … couple."
"But there are three of them."
How do I explain this to my grandmother without giving her a heart attack? "They are a trio?"
Her grandmother turned to her with an open mouth. "You mean all three of them in one bed?"
"Yes."
Somehow this inspired the grandmother to confess. "When I was young, us girls would often practice on each other before we went out on our dates. Usually just one at a time but sometimes …"
Now Vivian was about to have a heart attack.
They had skirt steak sliders and cod croquettes for hors d'oeuvres. Casey and Olivia filled their plates while Alex got the happy hour cocktail, the French 75.
She came back with two flutes and water for Olivia.
Casey downed her flute just to say, "There was gin in there!" She thought it was just champagne.
"You might want to pace yourself Casey."
That was very prudent advice. The one aspect of the wedding that Warren had control over was the alcohol and he not only got a full bar, but he also had a drink for every course including dessert and on top of that a champagne toast.
Olivia was not drinking as she was trying to get pregnant. Alex and Casey on the other hand accepted everything offered to them.
After a raucous night of drinking, dancing, and sharing embarrassing stories about the happy couple, Olivia had to guide a shitfaced Alex and a similar shit faced Casey to bed.
When Olivia took her jacket, Alex started hooting and hollering.
Casey yelled "take it off!"
Olivia rolled her eyes. "You two are so wasted."
Alex waggled her brow and looked at Casey.
Shall we?
Oh yeah!
The two pounced on Olivia and that was that.