FAST-FORWARD TO DECEMBER
"I never should have agreed to this," I grumbled as I looked at myself in the full-length mirror that hung off the back of the bathroom door in the bedroom.
"Isn't that what you said on our first date?" Perry joked as he shrugged into his suit jacket. "And you look beautiful, baby." He walked over and wrapped his arms around my giant belly, his hands resting on my bump.
"I look like a whale in a white silk dress," I pouted.
I saw him roll his eyes in the mirror. "You do not. You look like my beautiful, glowing wife-to-be." He kissed my neck. "Now, come on, Gracie-Face, we're gonna be late to our own wedding."
ONE YEAR LATER
It was coming up on our first wedding anniversary, which also happened to be our son Noah's birthday. I had gone into labor almost immediately after we had said our vows. But today wasn't a happy day. Today was a day of closure and sadness.
We (the whole family) were in Kent on a bitterly cold winter's day, laying my mum to rest. After decades of drug and alcohol abuse, she had succumbed to heart failure.
"Mum, can we go now, please?" Nathan came walking over. Perry had taken the other three kids to the car while I waited for Nathan to say his last goodbyes to his birth mother at her fresh grave. We hadn't even put up a headstone yet. That would take a few months. For close to a year, he'd been calling Perry and me, Mum and Dad, but that didn't mean this didn't hurt him.
I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. "Yeah, love, we can go. Let's go and find where your dad parked the car."
As we slowly walked towards the car park, I couldn't help but wonder why my mother had never gotten her chance at happiness while fate had been kinder to Nathan and me. I was thankful for Perry and my children, but I couldn't help but be bitter on my mum's behalf. It sucked to learn the cold hard truth. Fate didn't let everyone's story end in happily ever after.
FINIS
Author's Note: This story ended earlier than expected because once I introduced Grace and Nathan's mom, I kind of triggered myself and made it nearly impossible for me to write without going to some very dark places in my head. I'm sorry to anyone who was expecting a more complete story.
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