Ellie has just turned forty when her husband of fourteen years announces that he's met someone new.
This sends Ellie into a deep depression that only her friends can help her out of. They invite her on a girls' trip to the Caribbean. The goal of th...
My bridesmaids found the perfect dresses. They wanted to honor my wishes, but I just wanted them to be comfortable and happy. I didn't even care if they were the same color. They wanted to match and so they found dresses that suited them all and in the same shade of green. "Like Henry's eyes", I commented and received a fair amount of teasing from them. Gemma laughed heartily, smiling at me for my loving comment about her brother. She saw me and what I felt for Henry quite clearly.
"I love that you love my brother", she said and held my arm when we left the shop to go and have lunch. I squeezed her arm.
"I love him very much", I said and smiled at her.
"I see that. And my goodness he loves you. I've known him all his life and this is so different from how he's been with any other woman. He adores you. You've hit a nerve with him", she chuckled.
"It's the same for me. I was married before, but I never felt, what I feel with Henry. He sees me for who I am, and loves me for it. He never tries to change me". I smiled at her and she nodded.
***
During lunch we talked about my bachelorette party. Gayle was maid-of-honor and she would be arranging the event. So far she had planned a long nap and possibly some food. We all found that amusing. In my condition we couldn't go wild, there would be no drinking for me, and I was just generally too tired to go out clubbing or dancing. She would arrange something nice and quiet, where we would be pampered and fed. I appreciated that and made a little toast to thank her for her thoughtful planning.
"What about Henry?" Ana asked. "Is he being flown off to Vegas for his bachelor party? Strippers, gambling and booze?"
I whinced at the idea of him going away, but I actually didn't know what he would be doing. I couldn't imagine Jeff arranging something wild for him, but in all fairness I wouldn't know and it wasn't really my place to say anything. Selfishly, I wished he would stay in LA and that there wouldn't be anything extreme going on, resulting in him getting hurt. I also wasn't 100% keen on him being grinded on by a stripper, but Henry really didn't seem like the type who would enjoy that either.
Glenne cleared her throat and said: "Henry has asked Jeff to arrange something locally and he doesn't want to get drunk or see any strippers". She smiled at me. "He's a good guy, he told Jeff that there would be no objectifying women for his stag do. " She put on an English accent for the last part. Everyone laughed and she smiled at me. I was relieved and it was obvious that she read my face.
"Thank you", I mouthed.
"You're welcome", she mouthed back.
***
Henry was working on his album and very close to finishing it. It would be released around the time of our wedding, so there was a lot for him to get done. He had settled on a title for the album: "Henry's Heart".
When we came back from dress shopping, he was looking at potential album covers with Jeff and Lloyd. He smiled when I came in, and opened his arm for me to join them. Lloyd was an amazing photographer and he had taken some breathtaking photos of Henry. They were all different, no two looked alike. They had written the title in various fonts and they were trying to put something together that Henry felt was right.
I complimented Lloyd for his pictures. They were beautiful. They would all look great, no matter what Henry picked. Lloyd was a shy guy, but he appreciated the praise.
"What do you think, love?" Henry asked, kissing me on the top of my head.
I looked through the pictures on the computer and spotted one, where he was laughing at something off camera. He was looking so happy and lovely. His eyes were cheeky and sparkling, just like I loved them. He had stubble and his wonderful curls were wild. His dimples were visible; no one could resist them. I smiled at the picture and pointed at it on the screen.
"That one is lovely. Maybe you could add that font?", I pointed to a font for the title. "And then put Henry Stiles at the bottom in a different font?" Lloyd moved everything around quickly and presented my idea.
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Henry nodded, Jeff did too. "That looks pretty good actually", Henry said and smiled at me. "I like that".
"You look really happy, man. Fits the general theme of the album so well", Jeff said. Henry nodded. I hadn't heard all the songs from the album yet, but I was looking forward to hearing them. Henry said they all came from his heart, so there were ballads and upbeat, funky songs, with different themes. I knew my song was on the album, and that meant the world to me.
A new album would mean promotion and potentially touring. I was four months pregnant, and I was already very nervous that I couldn't go with him, and he couldn't be here with me. I knew that at some point, he and I had to have the talk about how we would make sure, he was there for the birth of his daughter. But there was still plenty of time and Henry was very aware of being present. He wanted to be an active part of everything; the pregnancy and the birth. He was adamant he wouldn't miss out on anything. "She will never experience that her daddy isn't present in her life", he said. He would talk and sing to my stomach, making promises to his unborn child, promises I never doubted he'd keep. He loved us very much, that was one thing I was sure of.
