Page 33 of The Wedding

Adele Thompson? Why did that name sound so familiar?

Monique rose from her seat and was at the end of the table in time to officially greet Ms. Thompson. “Thank you so much for being able to join us. I know how busy you are.”

“Oh, it’s my pleasure. When Monique Warner invites you to her house, you go!” That got more than a few titters in the room. Yetunlike the other women, who were there to stay in the Warners’ good standing, Adele Thompson appeared genuinely happy to be there. Her delight permeated the room like a healthy dose of nitrous oxide. Soon everyone was giggling and in a rush to accept a gentle handshake from this woman Jamie didn’t know.

When Adele reached her, she said, “So, we meet again, Jamie.”

Monique visibly stiffened, eyes wide.What is that about?

“Why, yes… although I don’t believe we’ve been formally introduced before.”

“It’s always a pleasure.”

Adele winked at Jamie before taking a seat at the other end of the table. She was soon inundated with trite conversations from the guests leaning in toward her. Even Monique didn’t have to lead the party anymore. She almost looked glad of it.

Jamie survived the garden party only because most of the other women ignored her. Even though she sat right next to Monique, women talked over her head, across her chest, and even right through her. Jamie was invisible. She was a nobody. Most days, that didn’t bother her. Sometimes, she wished they would extend a kind word to her. Today? She was irked. Yet all she could do was grin and bear it for the sake of her friend.

Monique implored Jamie to stay behind at the end of the party. “Let’s have a chat. Just let me pay my respects to the other guests first.” So Jamie remained behind, watching the other women slowly make their way by Monique, kiss her cheek, touch her hand, comment on her growing stomach, and tell her that the recent changes she made to the East Wing of Warner Manor were exquisite. She smiled through all of this, gracious, kind, and more than happy to refer the designer she worked with.

Adele was the last to leave aside from Jamie. She leaned in and whispered something into the shorter woman’s ear before showing herself out. Monique’s lips were taut for a good few seconds before she smoothed outher dress over her protruding stomach.

A good five minutes had passed before Monique had time for Jamie again.

“Care for a walk through the gardens? I need the exercise.”

The Warners’ gardens were nothing like Etta’s. Jamie’s girlfriend had a large, expansive, and colorful garden full of rainbow-toned flowers. Monique’s new garden that she oversaw was mostly made up of greenery. Beautiful greenery, to be sure, but between the ferns, bushes, and evergreen trees smartly cut and trimmed to curve with the bricks lining the walkways, it felt like walking through a storybook.I prefer Etta’s garden. Jamie liked colors.

“I think you had a good party,” she said, breaking the silence. They walked, Monique setting a leisurely pace while Jamie struggled to shorten her strides. “I mean… nobody said anything nasty…”

“I wish that’s all that mattered in this world. I sort of miss a time when ‘nobody said anything nasty’ was the barometer for a good party.”

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be. This is the life I signed up for.” She spared Jamie a wan smile. “Perhaps one day you will as well.”

“Yeah… about that…” Jamie wasn’t going to say anything about the “scare” to anyone. Not even her own mother, whom she spoke to on the phone the day before. Being around Monique, however, who was always the most sensible woman Jamie knew, it was hard to keep any secrets. “Things have been wild these past few weeks.”

She slowly opened up about the supposed cancer, Etta’s problems with work, and ultimately finding out that there was no cancer at all. Jamie confessed that she still felt so stupid about her own body.

“There’s no need for that.” Monique sat on a bench along the path. Jamie joined her, happy to sit down again. “I don’t know how many times in my life I’ve thought I had this or that. Even pregnant! Beforethis, I mean. Intentionally.”

“Really?”

“Indeed. When you’ve had dominants like the ones I’ve been with, it’s something you always wonder. Even when I was with Etta… well, forgive me for bringing it up, but our mutual ex-whatever loved ‘surprising’ me in the bedroom. I’ll leave it at that.”

“Yeah…”

Monique put a hand on Jamie’s arm. “I’m sorry. It must be hard to deal with.”

“I’m mostly over it now, I think.” Jamie tried to shrug lackadaisically, but it was harder than she thought it could be. Especially when she opened up about what kind of cancer she had been convinced she had and how it made her think about the future. “It’s not like I ever felt a burning need to have kids, but thinking I could never do it myself… I dunno. The news completely went against what I felt instinctively. I felt betrayed.”

“I can imagine, and with Etta’s distractions at the moment… although I hear that may be coming to an end soon.”

“That so? She hasn’t told me much.” Jamie snorted. “I don’t know if she thinks I’m too stupid to understand, or…”

“No!” Monique shook her head. “I’m sure she doesn’t think that. Etta has a hard time opening up, as you know. She only tells me things because after so long I know how to smack her ass until she talks. Pardon the expression, of course.”

“Of course.”