Passion's Instinct

Seventy Eight

Hayden

One morning I woke up, my skin warm from the sunlight on it. I rolled over in bed, wrapping my arm around Natalie and hugging her close to me, burying my chin in the crook of her neck.

We laid there for a minute, until Natalie pulled away from me and shot up like lightning. "Oh my goodness, Hayden!"

"What?" I asked groggily, sitting up and rubbing my eyes.

"Kaylen's wedding! We're supposed to be at your parents' in forty five minutes!"

At that, my eyes widened and I climbed out of bed, grabbing my suit from the closet as Natalie ran out of the room to get the kids up.

I knew already it was going to be a hectic morning.

Natalie ran back in the room five minutes later holding a groggy August, who was yawning and had his thumb in his mouth, his eyes closed.

"Come on, Auggie, wake up. You have to get dressed to be Aunt Kaylen's ring bearer. Sawyer and Temple are already up."

"No, Mommy!" he cried, lifting his head and shaking it. "I don't want to!"

"I thought you wanted to do it for Uncle Ryan and Aunt Kaylen. Right?"

August just whined and threw his head back, kicking his legs.

"This morning is not the morning to throw a fit, August. Come on. Let Mommy help you get dressed," Natalie said.

I myself ran to the full length mirror behind the door and adjusted my blazer, buttoning it and sliding my belt through the loops of my pants.

I grabbed my hair gel and attempted to style my hair, doing the best I could in a very limited amount of time. Whatever. I would fix it in the car if I needed to. Or at my parents'.

"Hayden," Natalie said, and I looked over at her, my eyebrows raised. She pointed to Sawyer who was standing in the door, dressed but hair messy. Temple was behind him, her curls everywhere. "You're on hair stylist duty."

Sawyer walked over to me and I used my hair gel on him, spiking his hair up into a mohawk. "Natalie, take a look at this little stud," I said once I was done.

She smiled and shook her head. "It'll have to do," she sighed.

"Why? What's wrong with it?"

"It doesn't look very appropriate for a wedding, but..."

"I think it looks fine. Alright, Temple, your turn."

"I don't want that hair that Sawyer has, Dada. Can you just make mine normal?" Temple asked, looking up at me with her big brown eyes; two carbon copies of Natalie's.

"Sure," I replied, pulling her over to me and spraying detangler in her hair.

"Don't spray that on my dress, Daddy!" she said, giggling.

"Don't worry, I won't," I said, smiling. She smoothed her skirt out, and I kissed the back of her head. "You look beautiful, Princess Temple."

"Thank you, Daddy," she said graciously.

I smiled again and slid a headband on her head, then turned her around and adjusted it to look the best it could.

"August Everett Christensen!" Natalie called, running out of the room. "Get back here and let me fix your tie!"

I let out a breath, shaking my head. It was chaotic, but I just hoped we would be able to get if the house on time.

*********************************

The wedding vows for Kaylen and Ryan weren't very long, but it felt like forever as I stood in the sand next to an old high school friend of my sister's, Rosalie.

She was curious. Always had been. Very, very curious.

"What happened to your foot?" She whispered to me, looking down at my left foot.

I rolled my eyes so she couldn't see, growing angry and tired of her nosy questions.

"I had to get a prosthetic."

"Why?"

"Because," I said. I didn't think it was respectful to talk during the vows, even though they couldn't hear us. I shut my mouth and watched Kaylen and Ryan, looking into each other's eyes longingly, reminding me of Natalie and I at our wedding ten years ago.

That brought back memories.

I remembered her beautiful face as she walked down the aisle towards me, arm-in-arm with her father. Kissing her, feeling her tears on me, my hands around her waist, feeling the beaded embellishments on her dress beneath my hands.

"Did you get your leg cut off?"

Brought back to the world I was really in at the moment, I was starting to really get fed up with Rosalie.

"Look, what's your point?" I whispered back, clasping my hands tighter in front of me to keep from strangling her.

"I just want to know. What's your point?"

I clenched my jaw tight, as everyone cheered for Kaylen and Ryan as they kissed, then walked back down the aisle.

"Wow, you're hot. Especially when you do that."

I was sure there were flames in my eyes as I broke away from our line of groomsmen and bridesmaids, finding Natalie.

"Brings back the memories from our wedding, right?" I said, jaw still clenched tight. I hugged her close to me, looking down at her. "You look especially beautiful today, by the way."

"Aww, thank you, Hayden. And you're right, all this does remind me of our wedding." She smiled, her eyes glittering as if reminiscing the old memories.

I kissed the side of her head as we all gathered to go back to my parents' house for the reception, and tried not to think of Rosalie as everyone celebrated together. I would do everything I could to avoid her, at all costs.