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The fire was toasty warm as the four friends lazed about in front of it, exhausted after the long day. An early rehearsal dinner had led to their bachelorette party of sorts while the men had gone off to have their own last celebration before tomorrow’s wedding.
Emma sat on the floor and leaned against the sofa while Maggie sprawled above her on the seat cushions. Tracy had draped herself crosswise in a comfy side chair while Connie lay on a plush area rug in front of the chair and smoothed her hands down across the long loose Mets nightshirt she wore.
A week earlier, Connie’s belly had suddenly popped out a little like one of those old-fashioned stove top popcorn makers. It wasn’t a big bump yet, but in her current position it was decidedly noticeable. Not so obvious in the gown luckily, not that people seemed to pay much mind to that kind of thing lately. She’d seen nine-month pregnant brides waddle down the aisle with nary a raised eyebrow.
“I feel so weird,” Connie said and ran her hands across the small mound, but there was a dreamy, slightly puzzled look on her face that was evidenced by her next words. “I never quite pictured myself like this.”
“Neither did we, but it looks good on you. You’re . . . glowing,” Tracy said and leaned down to rub a hand across Connie’s belly.
Connie sat up on her elbows and peered at herself. “Glowing, huh? Must be the firelight.”
Maggie rolled onto her side and examined her friend. “Nope, it’s not the firelight. I’ve never seen you happier.”
Emma had to agree, but it wasn’t just happiness she saw. There was serenity there. Peacefulness. Something she’d never seen in all the years she’d known Connie and her friend had been chasing a partnership in a big New York City law firm.
Connie narrowed her gaze thoughtfully, considering the statement, and with a shrug said, “I am happy. Amazingly so. I wouldn’t have thought it, but I feel like . . . I feel like I’m finally where I was meant to be. Jon. The baby. Sea Kiss. My new job. Normally I’d be freaking out about all that, but now . . .”
She didn’t need to finish because they all understood. Maggie maybe moreso since in the months after renewing her vows with Owen she too had seemed to find peace in her life.
“I totally get it,” Maggie said, confirming what Emma had thought. “Things got off to a rough start with Owen and me, but lately everything is so good. It’s nice to have someone who understands me and supports me.”
“And it doesn’t hurt that the Pierce brothers are both gorgeous men,” Tracy said teasingly, trying to lighten the mood that was becoming too maudlin.
“It’s tough, believe me. Sometimes I roll over in bed and see him . . . I feel sorry for this poor little one and what she has to endure,” Connie said with a laugh and a pass of her hand over her belly.
“You think it’s a girl?” Maggie asked, an almost wistful tone in her voice.
With another shrug, Connie said, “Yeah. I can’t think of her as anything else so you better hurry up and give her a playmate, Mags.”
Maggie chuckled and rolled her eyes. “Again, we’re trying. All the time. It’s like we never stop.”
Tracy waved her hands fanatically. “Please, ladies. The next thing you know you’ll both be soccer moms and I’ll be the scrappy, wise cracking, old maiden aunt visiting for the holidays.”
“You and me both,” Emma added, shaking her head.
Connie huffed out a laugh and reached for the glass of sparkling apple juice she was having instead of the wine the rest of them had been drinking. “There’s nothing maiden aunt about either of you too, puleez,” she said and sipped her drink. Still holding the glass, she gestured with it toward Tracy. “You just made a mistake.”
Tracy jumped in with, “A big one.”
“So what? No one is entitled to a mistake?” Maggie said. “I sure have made more than a few in my life.”
“And you,” Connie continued, shifting her attention to Emma. “You’ve got Prince Charming right in front of you.”
“I’m not some fairy tale princess who needs to be saved, Con,” Emma shot back. “I’m a grown ass woman who can save herself.”
“You go, girl,” Maggie and Tracy both shouted out playfully and raised their glasses of wine in a toast.
Connie chuckled and lifted her glass. “That’s right. You go, girl. Right to Carlo if you have a lick of sense.”
“OMG, Con. Some things change, but you obviously don’t. I still love you though,” she said and nudged her friend with her stockinged foot.
“And I love you, Em, and Mags and Trace. You’re my best friends forever!” Connie picked up her glass again and they all toasted for what most have been the hundredth time that night since Emma was starting to feel a buzz. A very pleasant buzz that wasn’t only from the wine. Especially as Maggie shifted closer to the edge of the couch, reached down, and hugged her.
Emma returned the hug with a one-armed embrace and relaxed back against the sofa, content to just sit and sip as her friends chatted about all that had to get done in the morning to be ready for the wedding. Hair, make-up, dressing, and so many other everyday things, but her brain was adding all the things she had to make sure were ready since she was the wedding planner. Luckily she trusted that Carlo, despite his groomsman duty, would likewise keep things in mind so that as promised, they would give Connie and Jonathan the most epic wedding ever.
***
THE TWO PIERCE BROTHERS were in rare form, Carlo thought, as he watched them hoist up yet another glass of the aged bourbon Andy had brought for their bachelor party in Andy’s new Sea Kiss home. It was a big Victorian that had once been an inn and was located just off Main Street in Sea Kiss and across from the boardwalk and beach on Ocean Avenue. Andy’s wife had been nice enough to vacate the house until later that night and the men were sleeping there so the ladies could prep in private at the Sinclair home for the wedding.
“To Maggie and Connie, our lovely wives,” Jonathan and Owen shouted out in slightly disjointed harmony.
“Not your wife just yet, Jon,” Carlo reminded.
Jonathan grinned in response and said, “It’s ‘cause I can’t wait. I love her, dude. Really really love her.”
Owen slapped his brother on the back so hard Carlo winced, but Jonathan didn’t flinch. Maybe because the bourbon had done a good job of numbing him.
“It’s because she made you wait so damn long,” Owen said and snorted a laugh.
“Says the man who fell in love with his wife at six,” Jonathan parried.
Owen laughed good naturedly and nodded. “I always knew a good thing when I saw it and may I say, I agree with your choice and yours, Carlo.”
Caralho, Carlo thought.
Jonathan plopped onto the sofa beside him and draped an arm around Carlo’s shoulder. “No pressure, dude. But just remember that if you hurt Emma you’ll have to answer to me and since I really like you that would be gnarly, dude.”
Carlo shook his head. “I won’t hurt Emma. I lo . . . I care for Emma.”
“You love Emma,” Owen said, slight disbelief in his tone, and sat down on his other side while Andy took a seat opposite them. “He loves the Ice Queen. That is gnarly,” Owen added, mimicking Jonathan’s favorite surfer expression.
Carlo chuckled. “That’s what my brother Paolo calls her and yes, it is gnarly,” he confessed.
Jonathan nudged him. “Hot guy like you is going to melt that ice.”
“Yeah,” Owen said and elbowed him as well from the other side, causing some of his bourbon to slosh from his glass onto Carlo’s jeans.
“You guys think I’m hot, huh? I have to warn you I’m not into threesomes,” Carlo said, hoping to shock his friends out of the discussion.
“What?” Jonathan said at the same time Owen shot him a puzzled look and a “Huh?”
“What he’s saying is lay off him and Emma not to mention that it’s time to hit the sack. Alone of course, unless you are into threesomes. Except for me of course since Sarah should be home soon,” Andy said and to drive the point home, peered at his wristwatch.
“Tell me you’re not pissed, dude,” Jonathan said, finally realizing he might have stepped over a line with his comments about Emma.
“We mean well. You’re our friend. Emma too,” Owen said, his tone serious despite the alcohol-induced haziness of his gaze.
Carlo nodded and shot a look from brother to brother. “I know you mean well, but it’s complicated. I’m asking that you leave it alone, okay?”
To make sure they understood, he rose, faced them, and held his hands up in pleading. “Leave it alone or you’ll make things worse. Trust me.”
Jonathan saluted and Owen nodded solemnly.
“Great and like Andy said, it’s time to get some sleep. I need to be up early to meet with my crew and then get back here to make sure you all don’t look like shit. Like you do now. We don’t want the ladies to get one look at you and run away,” Carlo joked, loosening up in light of the two brothers’ slightly drunk and hangdog expressions.
“Sure thing, dude,” Jonathan said.
“Maggie will kill me if I mess up tomorrow,” Owen added and hiccoughed.
“Great. Glad to hear so get going,” Carlo said and met Andy’s amused gaze as the two brothers stumbled up the stairs to the bedrooms.
“I have to confess I’ve never seen Jon quite like this,” Andy said with a chuckle.
“Me, either, but that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” Carlo said, smiling.
“Yes, it is. He’s been way more happy and creative since he’s been with Connie and that, my friend, is a thing to behold,” Andy said and gave him a bro hug.
“The right woman can do that to a man.” An image of Emma popped into Carlo’s brain, causing his smile to broaden.
“Keep that in mind tomorrow, Carlo,” Andy said with a nudge.
Carlo rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Not you, too, Andy.”
With a shrug, the man walked away, but as he did so, he said, “I may be an old married dude, but I’m not blind, you know.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, but didn’t follow the other man up the stairs, needing some time to himself.
He sat on the couch and picked up his barely touched glass of bourbon. Took a sip and leaned his head back against the top of the sofa as he thought about all that he had to accomplish tomorrow as well as how to survive what was going to be an emotional day for everyone. Especially him and Emma. He had no delusions about that. Walking down the aisle with her was going to be tough for both of them. And contrary to what the guys were urging, he had to stay cool and let Emma set the tone for the day.
No matter how much he hoped that the change that had happened lately would continue, he wasn’t going to push because like thin ice on the top of a lake, breaking through the surface could be dangerous.
