Wedding Bells

Chapter 10

We were truly married. Connected by a piece of paper that would forever seal us together.

People were dancing around us, greeting everyone they haven't seen in years, others were stopping to take pictures with Carter and I. Savoring the moment. I tried my best to remember every single detail. The look on Carter's face as we said I do. The tears of joy rolling down my mother's face as she whispers her congratulations. Clara falling madly in love with her very own prince charming.

Glancing at my hand, my eyes dancing over the ring placed on my finger. The sparkle drew me in, but the love behind it warmed my heart.

We ate dinner with our guests, shared our wedding cake for the very first time. I threw the bouquet over my shoulders as the girls fiddle and bash into each other to catch it. We laughed, we danced some more, and we truly enjoyed every little detail of the wedding.

“Congrats man,” David smiles, grabbing Carter's hand as he pulls him in for a ‘bro hug’ Clara and I chuckle to one another allowing the music to move through our bodies. At this point i've had a few drinks and was feeling like I was on a cloud. My feet tingling from my heels, the dress hugging all of my curves as Carter places his hand on all of them.

“Thank you,” Carter whispers, the alcohol lingering on his breath, smelling of jameson and ginger ale.

“Lets go get some more drinks,” I felt a little whinier than I had meant to, but Carter must have thought it was cute, leaning forward to tap my nose lightly with his finger.

“What do you want?” Carter asks, pulling the group towards the drink table.

“A martini please,”

Carter turns to the bartender, placing our orders. Quickly enough our drinks were sat on the table in front of us. Reaching for them we all cheers, clicking the glasses together.

“To us,” we all cheered. Living our best life possible.

Nothing could be more perfect than this.

~*~

At the hotel later that night Carter slowly unzips my dress, his hot breath lingering on my neck. He whispers in my ear, hands cold against my skin, but I crave them more and more.

“You are the most beautiful bride,” He whispers pulling me into a hug. I smile, the warm feeling emitting from my stomach once again. How could I have gotten so lucky to have such an amazing man like Carter.

He brushed my hair away from my eyes, grabbing my neck from behind gently pulling me further into him. I turned so our faces were touching, enjoying being this close to him.

“You’ve seen a lot of them in your day, are you sure I’m the prettiest,” I snicked, trying my best to tease him. It was too hard in this distracting moment. He shook his head pulling away from me for a moment before walking to the other side of the bed.

Carter wasn’t wearing his shirt, his chest well defined as the lights from the partially open window shine across his creamy skin.

“I never saw a single one, I was always too busy staring at you,” This was a comment from the bridal shop. He’d helped countless brides a day when he was around and loved it. But  I guess things were always this way. Carter and I had been inseparable since the day we met and that was for the better in the long run.

Carter lunged forward, not willing to wait anymore. His were gently against mine as he crashes his whole body on top of me, pushing me back on the bed. The wedding dress tangled between us as he continues to taste my chapstick.

“I’ve been waiting for this for so long,” He whispers, brushing a trail of kisses down my neck.

“Me too,”

~*~

The next morning Carter and I awoke to a startling phone call.

Jumping out of bed to answer the phone when it just wouldn’t stop ringing. What I would hear on the other line would terrify me for the rest of the day...week...I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take our family to get over this.

I turned to look at the sleeping husband of mine cuddled up in the sheets of the bed. He looked so precious, so calm, so happy. I was going to have to ruin that. So I tossle his shoulder and tell him the news. His eyes have never been so wide in our entire lives.

Carter shot out of bed. Getting dressed and immediately rushed out of the room towards the lobby. Leaving me here alone to contemplate.

My heart pounds in my chest as I pace back and forth in that hotel room. Thinking of everything that could be wrong. I knew I should have made her go in sooner. I just knew something was wrong. I quickly packed my things loading a few items into the bag, turning to pace a couple more times before returning to my luggage.

We were supposed to leave on our honeymoon this afternoon. We couldn't do that now. My heart collapsed in my chest as I look at my phone screen one more time.

My mother was rushed to the hospital last night after the wedding had ended. Her heart rate spiked, leaving her out of breath then eventually she passed out. Clara rushed her in leaving a text on my phone to inform me.

But this morning I got the call.

They found a lump…

Gently housing itself in my mother's right breast were two to three marble sized bumps. They weren't sure if they were cancerous yet, but the chances weren't good that they weren't.

It explained everything. The fatigue...the cough...her appetite change, everything.

I had cried this morning. Waking Carter as I sobbed into the blanket, hiding my tears the best I could. He knew though. He wrapped his arms around me pulling me close to him to comfort my sorrow filled soul.

We had to get to the hospital soon. My mother would be there a few days for testing. Carter was in the lobby paying for the room and getting our car pulled to the front of the building. I didn't feel presentable and after last night I hadn't gotten much sleep.

I felt like a zombie moving only on emotion. A primal need to distract myself from the bad.

Carter burst through the door to the room. His hair a mess, his shirt wrinkled. I had told him he could change before we left, but he shook his head and placed his suit shirt back on.

The small white nightgown hung on my body, and I needed to change but my body was trembling. Filled with so much anxiety I wasn't sure how to respond to it.

Carter grabbed a pair of sweats out of my half packed bag, tossing them towards me before finishing the rest of the packing. I grabbed one of the messed up tee shirts from the top of the pile before changing my clothes. Carter zipped the bag up doing a final walkthrough the room to make sure we hadn’t missed anything. I shook my head realizing things were not going according to plan. Carter and I were supposed to leave early this afternoon, get on a flight to Ireland and enjoy our honeymoon in another country.

But now we would enjoy it from a hospital bed.

~*~

“Sir please step on the gas!” I snarled turning to look out the window. Carter and I were given the gift of having a chauffeur for our wedding night, and he was supposed to be there early in the morning to drive us anywhere we needed, even the airport the next afternoon. If only my aunt would have known what would happen before she booked us the vehicle.

Carter’s hand was placed on my leg. He quietly leaned forward and apologized to the driver on my behalf. This frustrated me more but I figured better not to say anything about it. I didn’t care what would happen. Just whatever would get us to the hospital the fastest.

The building were growing larger as we got more towards the heart of the city, rushing in go nowhere traffic. Why did we do this to ourselves. Carter and I should have turned down the gift. We would have been to the hospital by now if we had.

Another useless annoyed grunt escapes my lips. Another sigh, and another minute added to the time I wasn’t with my mom. I wished I was driving, though I didn’t like to.

“Everything will be okay,” Carter whispers to me now, attempting to calm me down. It wouldn’t work though.

“Don’t” I growl towards him, advising him to stand his ground and leave me the hell alone. I wouldn’t be better until I was with my mother.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the two of us in her home the morning before the wedding. She made breakfast, treated me like a queen, all while housing one of the worlds more horrifying diseases. Something that I wouldn’t be able to take away from her. The pain she must be feeling right now. She needed me thought and I knew that. She would need all of us, Carter, and Clara, and myself.

When my father passed away we had become her family.

The people who were supposed to protect her from stuff like this.

We had failed her. We allowed her to feel this pain all by herself for God knows how long. The sickness growing inside her getting stronger day by day. We would never be able to live this down.

The driver made a sharp left, turning down a side road I personally wasn't the most familiar with. I watch as Carter leads the way, pointing at another side road to take. The driver listened flooring it down the road. My brain went back to the thoughts of last night. In this very same car Carter and I were kissing, loving each other as much as we knew how.

Neither of us knew what was going on anywhere else in the world. All that mattered was us. But now in the same car, I felt like my world was ending.

What felt like days later the driver pulled up to the front of the hospital building. I burst out the back door, not waiting for Carter or worrying about my luggage. My legs burned as I ran in those awful sweats and the ripped band shirt that I would wear to bed.

Nothing could stop me now.

I crashed through the doors, running straight for the lady behind the desk.

“Im looking for Evelyn Rose, she is my mother and was placed here last night,” my fingers tap sporadically on the counter, as as I shift my weight back and forth between my feet. The lady seemed to take forever, every movement of hers as long as the standard yoga breath...to long.

I wanted to scream, but it seemed like finally she had an answer for me.

“Im sorry sweetheart but it says here Evelyn doesn't have any kids, and she is unmarried.” My heart dropped. How dumb could this place be. She was never fertile, never able to have children of her own. If the nurse couldn't figure that out from her file than what could she figure out.

“God damn lady, im her step daughter, she married my father back in 83, just let me in to see her please…” The tears were building up in my eyes again as I looked at the lady begging her to listen. She didn’t though.

“I’m sorry there is nothing I can do, step children aren’t considered real family and in this case Evelyn doesn’t have any that is here right now. So please take a seat we will be out for you when visiting hours start.” The turned back to her computer as if she hadn’t just destroyed my whole world.

“Please you have to let me in to see her…” I wasn’t sure what else I could say, or what I could do. The whole world had been flipped upside down on me almost immediately. I was supposed to be so happy today, but yet everything seemed to hurt me more and more.

“I can’t do anything about it, I’m so very sorry.” But I could tell she wasn’t. She obviously dealt with stuff like this on a daily basis. There was nothing any more heartbreaking about my story than the next person in line begging to see their family...that apparently wasn’t really their family.

My heart was aching with the desire to see my mother. To see her laying in that bed, to hold her hand and let her know that I was there for her. I would do anything for her. I wished I could trade places with her right this moment. I’d rather found out I had lumps on my wedding day then allow for her to go through this.

I turned to take a seat on one of the uncomfortable waiting room chairs. Only to see Clara and David sound asleep. I wonder how long they have been here? Waiting for the nurses to allow them in to see her. Visiting hours were a joke.

I took the seat besides Clara, snuggling my head on her shoulder as I finally allow myself to cry.

She jostled slight before stirring to realize I was there. Her arms flew around me like a lightning bolt. Comforting me the best way she knew how with all that was going on.

“They wont let me in to see her,” I cried out, trying to push my pain onto Clara. She shook her head, before parting her lips just slightly, as if she had something to say.  

“They will I promise! She is just in surgery right now to get them removed and only family is allowed in the room at a time like this,” Her words hurt me just as much as the nurse had.

What did she mean about family only, we were her family. The three of us and we were all stuck in the waiting room. The hospital had no clue what family really was. You don’t have to be related to be family. You don’t to share the same blood to know that a specific person is the greatest thing to ever happen to you.

I was never able to meet my mother, the birth one that took care of me. The one that I was supposed to love without a doubt. Who I got my looks from. But I never did, she died just a year or so after I was born and after that it was my dad and I until Evelyn came into our lives. Things were never the same after that. We needed her. She needed us and forever more it was the three of us.

Then my dad died.

Here I was sitting in the hospital once more, being told that I couldn't see the woman that had saved my dads life, made him cherish every breath he got after my mother died.

She was alone in a hospital room, with strangers stabbing knives and needles into her beautiful skin.

“What did I miss?” Carter questions, running in through the doors towards us. His voice echoes through my heart and I lost it again.

He grabs me pulling me up out of the seat as he holds me close to his chest. His breath dancing along my neck and mere hours ago this would have drove me crazy. It would have put me in the mood to have fun with him, but now it was comforting.

“Is everything alright with her?” Carter was softer now, his movements gentle as he brushes my hair. I sputter a few times, heaving as I continue to cry into his shoulder.

“She is in surgery right now,” Clara stands from her seat to respond. Patting my back as David finally stirs to wake. “They just need a little more time before they will let anyone in the room to see her,” Clara shrugged.

“How bad was it?” I could feel Carter tense up around me again, as if he was nervous about her answer. Possibly he knew I shouldn't be there to hear what happened. That I should walk away and wait for the visiting hours in my own corner. Where I could be as fragile as I need to be.

“We aren’t really sure what happened, she collapsed at around ten pm, just a little after you guys left. We tried waking her up but it seemed like she was just so sound asleep. So we called for the ambulance and they came and picked her up and hauled her here. We have been here every since. I texted Erin as soon as it happened, but I figured I’d allow you guys to have your night before calling to bother.” Clara was cautious about the way she spoke. Almost like she knew I was going to be pissed she didn’t call immediately. I turned to say something to her, to attack her for what she had done.

But another wave of tears washed over me and I decided it just wasn’t the best thing to do. I didn’t want to say something I knew I wouldn’t be able to take back.

“So when can we see her then?” Carter was doing his best. Attempting to calm everyone down while still getting all the information. I truly was so lucky to have him.

“They said we can see her a little bit after she gets out of surgery,”

“When will that be?” Carter mutters.

“In a couple of hours,” David finally stood from his chair to answer.