Part 23 (1/2)
When she bites her bottom lip I think she might protest. But instead she says, ”If you want me pregnant so badly what are you waiting for?”
Epilogue.
Brooke Six Months Later ”I feel like a whale,” I moan as I look at my very pregnant belly in the mirror.
Leo insisted on picking out my wedding dress. He says it's identical to the one that he always imagined me wearing, short and very tight. If I wasn't six months along it might actually be s.e.xy, but right now I feel like a stuffed sausage in it.
”You look great,” Harper a.s.sures me.
I frown. ”It's easy for you to say. You're wearing a cla.s.sic gown, not one from the Fredricks of Hollywood collection.”
”You look beautiful,” she a.s.sures me. ”You're glowing.”
”I'm scared,” I admit. When I turn to face Harper I'm blinking back tears.
”I just don't know if I'll be a good wife. And I'm definitely not sure if I'll be a good mother. It's not like I had the greatest role models for parenting.”
She puts her hands on my shoulders. ”It'll be a learning experience just like everything else in life. You probably won't be perfect, but nothing in life is. I know Leo wors.h.i.+ps you and I know the two of you will do the best you can loving each other and loving the baby. That's all anyone can expect.”
”You're right,” I tell her. ”But you're always right. About everything.”
She rolls her eyes. ”Let's not get carried away.”
”You look beautiful, by the way. Like a princess in a fairytale.”
”Enough with the mutual admiration society,” Raven says as she strolls into the guest house. Harper and I are using it as a temporary dressing area so the guys don't see us before we exchange vows.
”You two are almost making me sick,” she adds with her typical Raven cynicism. ”And who picked out this bridesmaid's dress?” She stands in front of the mirror with us. ”It's hideous. Way too frilly. Not to mention it's puke green.”
Raven kind of looks like a cake topper that someone vomited on. Never in a million years would either Harper or I admit that we both made a point to pick out the ugliest bridesmaid's dress we could possibly find for her to wear. Just because we thought it would be funny.
Needless to say we're not disappointed.
”I want you both to know that the only reason I agreed to be your bridesmaid is because I love Rayne and Leo like my brothers.”
”We know,” Harper replies, trying her best to keep a straight face.
”And because Xander is the best man.”
”Of course,” I tell her.
”I don't want either of you to think it's because I actually like either one of you. We're not going to suddenly be besties or anything. I'm not going to want to go on your stupid shopping trips or attend your ridiculous ladies lunches.”
”We know,” Harper agrees before she eyes me.
I give Harper an almost imperceptible nod in return. Then I say off-handedly, ”I don't know if you heard, Raven. Harper and I were invited to a tea party at the art museum next weekend. I know it's not really your kind of thing, but we have an extra ticket, if you've got nothing else to do...”
She makes a point of rolling her eyes at me. ”A tea party at a museum is like the last place on Earth I'd ever want to go.” Then she sneers, before she asks, ”What time is it at?”
”Three o'clock next Sat.u.r.day,” Harper says. ”The guys are playing in a celebrity golf tournament that day.”
I laugh. ”Rayne and Xander will actually be playing. Leo will probably just be swinging the clubs and hoping he can hit the ball enough times that he doesn't embarra.s.s himself.”
”I'll see if there's anything else on my calendar that day,” Raven says. ”Like watching paint dry.”
”We'll leave the extra ticket for you just in case,” Harper says and winks at me.
”I really need to get the two of you outside for the ceremony. Before Rayne and Leo come to their senses and decide not to marry you.”
”This is it.” I turn to face my best friend. ”Can you believe we're both getting married?”
”And we're both having babies,” she says.
My eyes go wide. ”I'm sorry. What was that?”
She laughs. ”I said we're both having babies.”
”You're pregnant?” I stammer still in shock.
She nods. ”We just found out.”
”Aren't you just full of surprises?”
When she looks like the cat that ate the canary I know something else is up. ”Spill.”
”There's another surprise...”
”What is it?”
”A good one. I promise. You'll just have to wait until we get outside to find out.”
I glare at her. ”I was just calmed down until you started springing all this news on me. Now I'm scared s.h.i.+tless again.”
Raven grabs us both by the elbows. ”I've got to get you two breeders outside. Now.”
”Like you and Xander aren't going to have kids,” I fire back.
She laughs. ”Not anytime soon. I can a.s.sure you of that.”
Harper and I give each other a meaningful glance. Knowing how compet.i.tive the members of Always Rayne are it won't take long for a little Raven or Xander to join the ranks.
As the three of us head out to the garden where the guests have all been seated for the ceremony I think about how much has changed and how much we've all grown since that Always Rayne concert in San Diego when Harper and I first met the guys.
It seems like a lifetime ago.