Chapter 86: Happy Easter

Easter was a fun day. My parents and my brother’s family descended for the day. I had gotten a call from Richie earlier that morning, and needed to talk to my brother in private. I pulled him aside into a spare room to have a chat.

“John, I need to tell you something.”

“Oh, really?” he smirked, pulling foam peanuts out of his pocket and dropping them on the floor.

“What the hell?” I asked, trying hard not to laugh. It worked, because he looked all confused.

“Oh, nothing,” he said, picking up the little foam bits. “What is it?”

“You know how you’re playing at the wedding?”

“Yeah…” his eyebrows furrowed and he frowned at me. “You aren’t taking it back, are you?”

“NO! Of course not,” I said. “I was wondering, though, if you would mind playing with someone.”

He shrugged. “It’s your day, you can do whatever you want, as long as I get to play,” he smiled. “Who is it?” I didn’t say anything for a minute, and Jon’s eyes narrowed. “I asked you a question, sis. Who is it?”

I smiled. “Richie.”

“Richie? Who the hell is – ” he cut himself off. “No fucking way.” The color drained from his face, and the poor baby looked like he was going to collapse.

I just nodded. The color came back into his face slowly, and I relaxed. “Is that okay? He said if you don’t want to, that’s fine. It’s just that he’s David’s friend, and he offered, and I thought you would be okay with it, but if you’re not, I can call him and tell him and…” John put his hand over my mouth.

“Shut it,” he said. “You mean to tell me that Richie fucking Sambora wants to play with me at your wedding. No lie?”

I shook my head.

“HOLY SHIT!” he shouted, and had everyone coming down the hall to see what was going on. When he told them, Sue paled.

I looked at her. “What?” I said. “Oh, c’mon, you had to know they were coming,” I said. “Tico is standing up for David, and the guys are coming to show their support…What?”

“Tico is David’s best man?” She was paler than usual.

“Yeah…” I had no idea where she was going with this. “His kids are coming, of course, and will be part of the day, but he wants his friend to stand up for him. What’s the problem?”

“You know that your wedding pictures are going to be all over the ‘net…”

“No, they won’t. Our photographer is Ang here,” I said, pointing to her. “You haven’t seen any of Jon’s wedding pictures, have you? Other than the one of him and Sam that BJM released?”

Sue shook her head. “I keep forgetting that you’re part of all this now,” she said sheepishly.

I just laughed. “Me too, sister. Me too. Anyway, it won’t be a problem. And you’re part of it, too. You gonna be okay with that? You don’t have to stand up for me if this makes you uncomfortable.”

“Shut up!” she said. “I’m not backing out of this, uh-uh. Just, I keep forgetting, that’s all. Once the initial shock wore off, David’s always been just David.”

I smiled. “And the other guys are the same way. Oh,” I said, looking at my family. “Don’t be surprised if Jon calls me ‘Jeeves’ the whole time.” They knew about the Chicago trip and the bet, and thought it was hilarious that I had to wait on someone, but didn’t quite believe me when I told them who. Sue got all the details, and saw the pictures, but the rest of them didn’t.

“No, he won’t,” my mother said in her ‘end-of-discussion’ voice. Oh yeah, this was going to be fun.

I shooed everyone out of the room and told them to go do something else. The men went out to the game room. I smiled sadly. Tomorrow, someone was coming to dismantle everything and take it to the Jersey house. David’s table stayed with April’s house during the divorce, and he’d never gotten around to getting a new one. Now he didn’t have to. He was also inheriting an air hockey table, foosball, and dart boards.

We girls went into the kitchen and while I basted the turkey, we made salad and just talked. It was so nice and sad at the same time. I excused myself and went to stand out on the deck, looking over my yard. The trees were still dead, the barbecue pit was cold and dark, and the lawn hadn’t started to green up yet, but I was going to miss all this.

I heard the patio door slide open and close behind me, and quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, and I covered it with mine. “Mom, why is it so hard to leave? I mean, I am insanely happy to be getting married and having these babies, and living with David is going to be wonderful, when he’s actually home. So why is this so hard?”

My mother pulled me into a tight hug. “All your life, you have been independent. You have done what you wanted, gone where you wanted, and been who you wanted, but you did it here, close to family, where it was safe. Now, you have people dependent on you,” she said, touching my abdomen, “and you are dependent on someone else, and it’s scaring you.” I started to protest, but Mom was having none of it. “It does no good to argue; you are completely dependent on David. Not for material things, but you let him into your heart, Hath,” she said, and my eyes went wide. She’d never called me that before. Not once in thirty-seven-and-a-half years.

“Yes, Hath,” she said. “You let him in, and now you can’t live without him. Even your father can see that. You are finally moving on with your life, as it should be, and you are terrified. I can see it in your face. But you have a wonderful man who loves you, you have great friends who will support you and we are not all that far away.” Mom wiped a tear from her eyes. “And from what David said, you have lots of room in your new house, so we can visit whenever we want.”

“I am a little scared,” I admitted.

“The word I used was ‘terrified’,” Mom corrected, making me laugh. “It’ll all work out fine,” Mom said. “You will go and get married and make a home with David, and raise my grandbabies, and live your life. And as long as you need me, I will be here or there to help and support you.”

I sniffled and wiped my eyes. “You called me ‘Hath’.”

Mom just smiled. “’Jenilee’ is my little girl. You’re moving on with your life now. You’ve chosen your husband, your career, and your home. I guess you can choose your name.” I smiled through my tears and hugged my mother.

“I love you, Mom,” I said, snuffling.

“I love you too, baby girl. Now, let’s get back in there before you freeze to death.”

We went back inside, and Ang looked at me. “You ok, there?” I nodded. “Good, I’m going to go beat the pants off your dad in pool then.”

“Good luck with that,” I said. “He’s hustled more money shooting stick than you make in a year.”