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“Please, call me Wendy. Colt said you had surgery. How are you feeling?”
“I’m actually not feeling too bad today, thank you for asking.” I’d never heard Ember sound so polite.
“Are you feeling well enough to join us for lunch? I’d love to have a chance to talk to you.”
“I’m afraid I wouldn’t be very good company. Besides, I’m not really dressed for lunch.” Ember’s voice sounded apologetic and nervous.
“I couldn’t care less what you’re wearing. Throw on a robe and come join us. Colt set a place for you at the table in case you wanted to.”
“He did?”
“Yes, he did, so let’s not disappoint my son. Let me help you get out of bed. Is there a robe around here? Ah, over there, I see it on the chair.”
I listened to the rustling that I assumed was Ember getting out of bed and then turned to head back to the dining room.
Stewart was looking over the photos that hung on the wall in my living room. “Where was this one taken?” he asked as I joined him. The picture was of me and my mom right after I graduated from medical school. We had taken a trip to celebrate.
“Aruba. She loves it down there, well, actually we both do.”
Stewart turned to say something, but we both heard my mother and Ember enter the room, “Look who I found. Ember, this is my fiancé, Stewart Milligan. Stewart, this is Ember Greene.”
“Hello, Ember, it’s nice to meet you. Colt said you had surgery. I hope you are healing well.”
Ember turned wide eyes to me, and I gave her a calming smile. “Thank you, it’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Why don’t we eat?” I suggested as everyone stood in the living room staring at one another.
My mother had her arm wrapped protectively around Ember, and I watched in awe as she helped her get settled at the table. Stewart and I shared a look. That alone was strange, but whatever.
I winked at Ember as I sat beside her. Stewart and my mother were seated opposite us at the glass table.
“So, Mom, you wanted to have lunch. What topic of conversation did you want us to delve into today?”
“Actually, Stewart wanted to ask you a question.” My mother placed her hand on Stewart’s forearm.
Stewart cleared his throat and set his fork down before he even took a bite of the pasta and shrimp. “Yes, well we told you we were getting married in a few weeks, and I wanted to ask if you would stand up at the wedding as my best man.”
I began to choke on the food I was trying to swallow, and Ember smacked my back twice. “Thank you,” I glanced at Ember as I wiped my mouth. I turned back to Stewart, “You want me to be your best man? I don’t even know you.”
“Colt, we want to keep this a small ceremony, and I thought it would be wonderful if you would not only give me away but stand up with Stewart and be his best man.”
“Doesn’t he have his own friends?” I asked bluntly.
My mother glared at me, “Of course he has friends. I thought it would be really nice if you did it, though. I want to keep it all in the family.”
I stared at my mother for a long moment then turned my attention to Stewart, “Are you serious?”
“Why don’t you think about it for a little while? I know you don’t know me, and I’m sure you don’t approve of our getting married, but maybe you will once you get to know me a little better. I want you to see that I’m not out to get anything from her. I love her, and I want her to be my wife.”
My mother looked at Ember, “Do you think it’s strange that we are getting married?”
Ember stopped chewing and peered at me nervously while she tried to swallow what was in her mouth. “I’m sorry, but I really can’t comment on that. I don’t know either of you enough to say what is right and what is not.”
“But do you think that it’s wrong for a woman to marry a man who is twenty years younger?” My mother leaned her elbows on the table and waited to hear Ember’s answer.
“Um, well, men do it all the time. I mean, you see men who marry women twenty, thirty years younger than they are, so it shouldn’t be an issue if women do it, too.”
With those words, Ember won over my mother, hook, line, and sinker. I almost groaned out loud.
