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He put his hand over mine and squeezed it. “Marley. You have always been enough. And you always will be.”
I drifted into darkness, my heart full and my love keeping me warm.
Epilogue
“You’re lucky there’s champagne here,” Lana griped.
“You’re lucky you can drink it,” I panted from where I sat on the couch with her.
“Why are you guys being such poor sports about this?” Paulette asked from inside the dressing room. “You should be overjoyed that I’m getting taken off the market properly. Then you won’t have to hear me whine about my dating life anymore.”
“I’m not being a poor sport,” Rosie said from beside Lana and me. “But if I were to guess, I’d say it’s probably because Lana is always a poor sport, and Marley is due with twins any second now.”
“That’s true. I am always a poor sport,” Lana said.
“Bingo, bango,” I said, rubbing the swell of my belly. “Plus, it’s a little early for us to be doing wedding dresses and bridesmaids stuff. You’re not getting married for a year and a half. And I’m definitely not going to be pregnant when I have to wear the dress.”
“You could be,” Paulette said in a playful singsong.
“I’d rather go through gene therapy again,” I said.
“That bad, huh?” Rosie asked.
“Yes,” I said emphatically.
It’d been a rough day so far. Honestly, the whole damned pregnancy had been a hot mess. Morning sickness all throughout the first and second trimesters. The swelling, the aching, the Braxton Hicks contractions. The simultaneous desire to want sex while being too uncomfortable to even try it.
“I have to pee,” I said, feeling like a beach ball as I hefted myself up off the sofa they’d told us to sit on while we waited for Paulette to try on her dresses.
“Wait! Marley, not yet!! I’m almost done getting into this dress,” Paulette said.
“Ugh,” I said. “Okay, but don’t take too long. If I sit back down, I’m not going to get back up, and then everyone’s going to get covered in pregnant lady pee.”
I said that just as one of the employees brought us a charcuterie tray. The look she gave me was nothing short of horrified.
I gave her an apologetic smile, hoping it could convey that I was joking. She hurried off so fast, I couldn’t tell if I had been clear enough.
The curtain opened, and Paulette emerged in a beautiful dress made of lace and chiffon. The tea-length dress had a full, princess-tier skirt and a high neckline that Paulette’s tanned skin shone through.
I tried not to feel jealous, looking at the multitude of clips tightening the dress so it fit her better. Cole had been showering me with compliments about my body, but I was learning a lot about my relationship with the way it used to look. I was having a miserable time feeling pretty, or even presentable at times.
I rubbed a hand over my belly again and forced myself to smile as Paulette turned this way and that way. “Well, girls?” she said, looking at each of us in turn. “Should I say yes to the…” Paulette’s eyes widened as she finally looked at me. “Oh, god. Marley, if you really had to pee that bad, you should have just gone and done it,” she groaned.
I didn’t know what she was talking about at first. And then I looked down at myself just as warm wetness bloomed over my pale-pink maternity pants.
I looked at Lana, then Rosie, then Paulette. I realized I was with three childless women, and my water had just broken.
“That’s….not pee, is it?” Lana asked me.
“It’s not pee,” I confirmed, feeling woozy.
“Oh my god. Oh my god. OH MY GOD, WE HAVE TO GO!” Paulette screamed, practically shoving one of the employees out of the way as she grabbed her things and started heading for the door. “I’ll get the car!”
“Ma’am!” the worker called. “Ma’am, you need to take the dress off!”
“LIKE HELL I DO! MY FRIEND IS HAVING A BABY!”
“Uh,” Rosie said awkwardly.
