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HOPE
“What’s going on?” I whisper in Kristy’s ear.
We arrived at Rose and Zander’s house a few minutes ago. I was restless throughout the drive, my stomach in knots worried about everyone’s reaction over what happened in the mall. But there’s a new surprise waiting for us.
Kristy bites her lip, and a gleam of mischief shines in her eye as she motions toward Zane. For the first time, I notice a girl in a lavender dress standing behind him and doing a very good job at hiding from everyone.
“What the hell did you say?” Zander bellows, jabbing his finger in Zane’s chest.
I cringe, truly feeling for Zane.
“Will someone tell us what the fuck is going on?” My husband’s eyebrows furrow as he glances between Zane and the girl before standing between his brothers.
Zander turns around and paces restlessly.
“This is-s Vienna,” Zane finally says, stepping slightly to the side. I get a good look at Vienna, who looks like she’s in her early twenties and wants to be as far away from this grand living room as she can get. “Um, sh-she is my…wife.”
Holy shit!
Zander swings back to face his brothers and throws his hands up in the air.
“What the fuck do you two think? Our Friday night dinners are not some wedding-announcement stage.”
I bite back my smile and Kristy snorts beside me but she soon recovers when Zander throws a pointed look at her.
“Did I ever say I have any objection to either of you getting married? Or did I ever say that I want to be the only married man in the family?” Before his brothers can reply, he shakes his head side to side. “Then why the hell is everyone marrying in secret? We didn’t attend Hope and Zach’s wedding. And now you?”
I swallow the lump of guilt but thankfully Zane’s words take some of the sting away. “We w-will have a pr-roper celebration next w-week. We jus-st got th-the license today.”
Zander’s tight shoulders relax a little. And before anyone can say anything more, Alex, Charlie, and Ray storm into the living room. All their attention zooms in on their new aunt Vienna and they start asking her questions about her life, her parents, and Zane.
Guess we aren’t the only curious ones.
“Zach, get the kids away from the poor girl,” I whisper when I notice Vienna clutching her bag with trembling hands.
“Who wants to beat me in Monopoly, or am I still the invincible prince of this house?” my husband bellows, thumping his chest like a caveman. Even though he truly sounds full of himself, he manages to get the kids away from Vienna.
Sophia is the first one to congratulate the new couple. It almost feels like déjà vu, and I get a sense of being on the other side of such a reception.
Things start to calm and I notice Vienna sticking close to Sophia in the kitchen. I’m sitting on the couch, looking at my husband still playing Monopoly with the boys when Zander approaches me.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?”
I nod and follow him out of the house to the gardens. Every time I come here, I can’t believe this is something Zander built by himself for Rose. We sit in the white iron chairs surrounding the blooming rose bushes.
“It’s so beautiful.”
Zander smiles, some of the anxiety from earlier wanes off his face. “Two years ago, if you would have told me I would someday make a garden full of roses and live in a house surrounded by them, I would have laughed in your face.”
I look at him carefully, listening to where he is going.
“Our mother was named Rose,” he clarifies, and my chest constricts.
Their drug-addict mother.
“I hated that word to the extent that I couldn’t say my wife’s name for several months when we were dating. I hate that woman every passing day for what she did to me and my brothers. But being with Rose has given me a reason to be grateful in life, to look into the future beyond the pain of the past. That’s what loves does to you, isn’t it? It fills the painful gaps in the heart with new dreams.”
I never imagined Zander to be so poetic but I do believe in his words.
