“Well,” Lauren finally said once we’d all finished laughing, “it’s probably better than the F-word, huh?”
Just then, Kate came back in the room carrying a silver tray with our drinks on it. “Who’s ready to start looking at dresses?
Three hours and twenty-seven dresses later, I found it. The dress. Lex and Lauren were right—I put it on and I just knew. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to walk down the aisle in. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to say vows to my fiancé in. I knew it was the dress I was supposed to dance with my husband in, and I knew it was the dress that would be tossed on the floor at the end of the night when I made love to that husband for the first time, officially.
Who knew drinking champagne and playing human Barbie all day could be so exhausting? When Mom and I got home, I was ready to collapse, but when you have two little girls excited to show you their tattoos, you have to play along.
“Mom! Mom! Look!” they both squealed, rolling their sleeves up as they ran to the front door.
“Oh my goodness, look at you two.” I took turns inspecting each of their arms, which were completely covered in Hello Kitty and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle tattoos. “You guys got tattoos? Did they hurt?”
Piper covered her mouth with her tiny hands and giggled as Lucy corrected me, “No, Mom. They’re not real!”
“Oh! Thank goodness.” I wrapped my arms around both of them and pulled them against me. “I’m guessing you had fun with Brody and Viper today?”
“You mean Uncle V?” Piper pulled back and looked up at me.
“Uncle V?”
“Yeah, that’s what he said to call him.” Lucy shrugged, skipping off to the kitchen with Piper tailing behind her.
“Uncle V got really into babysitting today, in case you couldn’t tell,” Brody joked as he came around the corner.
“Obviously.” I met Brody halfway and melted into his open arms. I felt so tiny and safe and comfortable as I lay my head against his chest, I thought I could fall asleep right there, standing up. “Is he still here? I want to thank him.”
“Nah, he left a while ago. Got a text from an… available female and off he went.”
I rolled my eyes against Brody’s chest and mumbled, “Available female, huh? Interesting word choice. I’ll just text him later. Sounds like you guys had fun though. I’m glad.”
“I don’t know how much fun Fred had.” His laugh vibrated through me.
“Oh no, what happened?” I was too tired to lift my head and look at him.
“Well, he lost a bet. A big one. And Viper made him pay up.”
“A bet about what? What did he have to do?” I groaned.
Brody rubbed my back and gave me one last quick squeeze before he released me. “He’s in the kitchen. Go take a look.”
As we walked toward the kitchen, I could hear my mom and the girls laughing. I turned and frowned up at Brody, who just looked down at the ground, trying to hide his grin. Nothing could prepare me for what I was about to see.
“What’s going on? What’s this big bet thing?” Fred’s back was to me when I got to the kitchen, but as he turned slowly, I saw just what everyone was laughing at. Right there, smack dab in the middle of Fred’s forehead, was a Hello Kitty tattoo. “Uh… what… why?” I put my hand over my mouth, trying to hold it together, but it took about six seconds before I was laughing just as hard as the girls.
“I lost a bet.” He frowned.
Brody walked up behind me and wrapped his arms around my shoulders, the perfect height for me to rest my chin and heavy head on. “We were talking about the nickname Twinkies, and that led to talking about the food Twinkies, and that led to Fred betting Viper he couldn’t take down an entire box of Twinkies in two minutes. Viper doesn’t turn down a bet—ever—so he ran to the gas station and bought a box. The rest, as they say, is history.”
I shook my head back and forth in disbelief. “How long do you have to keep that on?”
“Just two days.” Fred sighed. “But he’s coming back tomorrow to take me to lunch. He’s really rubbing it in.”
I tapped Brody’s arms so he’d let go. I needed some water. The girls were retelling the story to my mom in great detail as I grabbed a bottle from the fridge. “Wow. You guys are crazy.” I laughed.
“Is this the mail?” Mom picked up the pile off the counter.
“Yeah, and Kacie, that huge pile over there is yours.” Fred pointed.
“Really?” I was surprised. “I never get mail.”
The stack of envelopes for me had to be two inches high. Once I started sifting through the stuff, I realized most of it was brochures from banquet halls and photographers, ring makers, and so on. One after the other, most of them with my name spelled wrong. “How did they even get my address?” I asked to no one in particular.
“I’m so sorry,” Brody apologized as he watched me flip through the envelopes.
“Hey, stop it. This isn’t your fault.” I kissed his cheek as I continued flipping.
“Yeah, but I was afraid this would happen. As soon as word got out that we were engaged, I worried people would start hounding you. I should have warned you.”
“I can handle some lame brochures. No biggie.”
“Look, that one spelled your name right,” he cheered, “and it doesn’t look like a solicitation.”
He was talking but I couldn’t hear his words past the blood rushing through my ears. That one did spell my name right. It would be pretty ridiculous if it were spelled wrong.
That one was from my dad.
Kacie was frozen like a statue, staring at the envelope in her hands. I lowered myself, trying to get a better view of her eyes. “Babe?”
She blinked but didn’t respond.
“Kacie?” I asked again, my heart racing as I looked at the envelope.
“Honey, what is it?” Her mom took a couple steps toward us as Fred and the girls turned too.
When Kacie still didn’t answer, I slid the envelope out of her hands and took a closer look. “It’s from Don Jensen?” I read the name out loud and looked up at Sophia. As I said the words, it hit me. Don was Kacie’s dad’s name. We hardly ever talked about him, but I remembered her mentioning it a couple times.
Sophia moved in slow motion. Her hands crept up to her mouth as her eyes widened, staring at her daughter. Fred walked over and put his arm around Sophia’s shoulders, pulling her from her moment of shock. She cleared her throat. “Are you gonna open it?”
Kacie’s eyes moved from her mom’s to mine. “I don’t know. Should I?”
“I can’t answer that for you, baby.” I shrugged.
Reaching for the envelope, she took a big breath and ripped it open. I didn’t want to rush her in case she didn’t feel like reading it out loud, but from what I could see through the thin piece of paper, it wasn’t a very long note. Sophia walked over to the fridge, opened the door, and started moving containers around, clearly trying not to stare at Kacie’s reaction to the letter from her dickhead father, who’d walked out on them fifteen years ago. I’d obviously never met the man and shouldn’t be calling him names, but just knowing that he’d left his wife and daughter was enough of a reason for me. Shit, at this point I’d have a hard time walking away from Lucy and Piper, and they weren’t even biologically mine. Speaking of them…