A Beautiful Day for a Wedding

Terri

Terri Porter had missed so much and had so many regrets as she stood in awe of her daughter. Gina standing there in her white dress, she looked like an angel freshly arrived from the Gates of Heaven. Of course with the look of anger on her face Gina was clearly channeling an angel of vengeance as she stared down her mother. Terri had wanted to apologize as soon as Gina's friend left the suite, but she knew her words would fall on deaf ears if she tried to speak before Jaime's arrival. So they stood there in awkward silence...waiting.

After a few minutes Jaime came through the door. Terri smiled as she looked at her son, her firstborn, but he glared at her before making his way over to his sister.

"Hi, Jaime," Terri tried to greet her son.

"Mom," Jaime flatly replies with barely an acknowledgment. As he goes to stand by his sister Jaime informs her in a hushed tone, "Ricky's outside if you need him."

"I told Emmy-," Gina starts before Jaime stops her.

"EJ told us."

Gina groans and then says, "remind me I have to kill EJ later."

Jaime gives a sly grin and a light chuckle as he says, "you got it."

The siblings turn to face their mother and Terri feels a lump form in her throat. It's been so long since she's seen either of her babies and here they are together, in front of her, and neither one can even stand to look at her without a glint of malice in their eyes.

"It's so good to see both of you," Terri tells her children a crack forming in her voice as she says so, and tears starting to well in her eyes.

"Let's not waste anymore time," Gina says unmoved, "you said you needed five minutes. Well go ahead, your time's already started."

Terri felt her heart beat faster. This was it, her one chance to salvage any relationship she had with her children, and she wasn't going to waste it.

Terri clears her throat and says, "Well, I think I need to start with an apology. No, several apologies. I wasn't a good mom...to either of you. I thought...I don't know, that I was giving your both what you needed to make you both the best versions of yourselves. I thought I was helping you and I didn't realize how much I was actually hurting you. I'm so, so sorry Gina. I'm sorry Jaime."

"If you're expecting forgiveness from me," Gina states flatly, "you can forget it."

"Gina I know you're still angry at me-," Terri starts but Gina is quick to cut her off.

"You don't know anything about how I feel," Gina angrily replies, "I'm angry that you're here at this moment, but I haven't been angry at you for a long time. In fact the only thing I feel for you anymore, is indifference."

Terri felt the words plunge into her chest like a frozen dagger. In her worst dreams Gina only hated her, but at least she felt something. For her own daughter to feel nothing for her anymore...

The tears started flowing down Terri's face as she pleads, "Baby...please. I'm so sorry."

"You said that already," Gina says with ice in her voice, "you have three minutes left if you want to use them." Terri knew this wasn't going to be easy, but she had to try.

"I was wrong," Terri confesses. Gina who had started to turn around stopped and slowly turned back to face her mother as Terri continued, "I was wrong about just about everything. If I could take back everything I said, everything I did, I would. I would do it in a heartbeat. I know you have no reason to believe me, but I wish I could go back and change things. These last few years, I experienced a little of the loneliness you must have gone through growing up, and it was awful. And to go through that when you were at such a vital stage in life...you were right, I could've done more for you, been there more, I should have. I'm so sorry, at how I hurt you. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you more."