About that Night

Chapter 7

Today’s the day. It’s Talon’s wedding, and I wake up at 6 am and take on the job of waking and dressing Rosalia.

 “Rosa, get up.” 

I open the blinds.

 “It’s 6 am!” 

She whines. 

“Rosa, don’t forget, you’re the flower girl.”

 Rosalia immediately jumps up from her bed. “Oh my gosh! I get to wear a dress!”

 I smile but then wonder where her dress is. 

“Rosa, where did your dad put your dress?”

 “Aunt Nessie’s bringing it.”

 When will the earth stop planning against me? Why Nessie? Can’t it be anyone else? 

I sigh. “Finish up in the bathroom, and I’ll do your makeup and hair.”

 “Really?! Makeup?!” Rosalia says, with foaming toothpaste in her mouth.

 “Yes, you’re the flower girl, and flower girls need to have makeup.”

 That was a lie. Flower girls don’t necessarily wear makeup, but I thought Rosa would want to. I mean, it’s what every twelve-year-old girl wants. 

I shower and take out my dress. Talon gave me a new one since my size changed. Ocean blue Sherri Hill bridesmaid dress. 

It’s beautiful.

 Rosalia comes into my room screaming for me to hurry and do her makeup.

 “Ok, ok, I’m coming.” Rosalia sits in a highchair.

 I make sure Grayson’s daughter looks like a professional makeup artist did this. I mean, Rosalia is beautiful, and both her parents are hot, so adding makeup to her looks makes her gorgeous. 

I give her a mirror. “I look so… Beautiful! I’m like Princess Jasmine from Aladdin!” Rosalia smiles sheepishly. “Sorry if you think I’m too old for Disney princesses, but I admire them, especially Belle and Jasmine.”

 I shake my head. “I understand why. You have the beauty and the brains of both princesses.” Rosa smiles and hugs me.

 Then someone knocks on the door. 

Shit, Nessie’s here. 

I open the door, and Nessie’s eyes go wide.

 “What the hell are you doing here?” 

I scoff. “You might want to save your b***h moment for later. Rosalia’s in the kitchen.” 

Nessie rolls her eyes and walks into the kitchen. 

“Hi, Rosie! I brought your dress.” 

Nessie hugs Rosalia.

 “Hi, Aunt Nessie!” 

Nessie observes Rosa’s face. 

“Who did your makeup?” Rosa smiles. 

“My mom!”

 Nessie’s eyes bulge. “Kiki was here?!” 

Rosalia furrows her brows. “No, not Kiki, Winston, Winston’s my mom.” 

I clear my throat nervously as Nessie sneers. 

“Winston didn’t give birth to you! Kiki gave birth to you!” 

Nessie crosses her arms.

 “I know that, but Winston acts like my mom, and Kiki doesn’t. I have the right to call whoever I want, my mom.” 

Nessie scoffs and looks at me. “You’re so lucky you’re under Grayson’s protection.” 

She throws the dress at me and leaves, slamming the door.

 “I didn’t mean to make her mad.” Rosa frowns. 

“It’s ok, Rosa, let me help you put on your dress and do your hair.” 

I spent the entire hour making Rosa happy, even waking up her lazy dog to help. After I’m done, we watch tv for a while, and I drive to the hotel where the wedding is taking place.

 “I think your dad’s here. You should go find him.” 

Rosa nods. “I’ll tell him you said hi.”

 I smile as she runs into the hotel to find Grayson. 

I walk into the bride’s dressing room; I think that’s what you call it. 

“Aw, Talon, Nessira, Kiki.”  

Talon’s wedding dress was big and had ocean blue fading in at the bottom. 

“You look beautiful too.” Talon says, hugging me.

 “This pregnancy glow really suits you. Maybe I should get pregnant too.” Nessira jokes, but I don’t think Zaro would find it funny. 

“Very funny.” Kiki smiles. Nessie’s there too, but she doesn’t say a word.

 “Is Benjamin and Oliver here too?” 

Talon nods. “And mom, she wants to speak to you.”

 I sigh, of course.

 “Ok, I’ll go find her.” 

It doesn’t take long to find mom, especially because she’s talking to Grayson.

 “Eomma?” Grayson and my mom look at me. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh honey, I was talking to this man about your baby, asking him if he knew anything about who the father was.” 

I look at Grayson.  “Really? What did he say?” 

“Dangsin-eun gihon namjaleul imsinhaessseubnida!” (You are pregnant with a married man.) I gasp.

 Grayson told her?!

 “Mom, I can explain-,” 

She shushes me. “Grayson already told me what happened.” 

Mom glares at Grayson, making him shrink. “You better take care of my daughter and grandson, or else I’ll kill you.”

 Grayson smiles nervously. “Yea, ok.” Grayson says softly. 

She looks at me with disappointment. 

“I’m going to go check on your sister.” Mom doesn’t do anything and walks away, leaving Grayson and me. 

“Grayson-,” 

“Did Rosa ask you to be her mother?” 

I sigh and nod. “Yes, she did.” 

“What did you say?”

 “I said, yes.” Grayson groans, and I sit next to him. “Grayson, why does everything Kiki say about you so perfect, but you, you make Kiki sound like the devil?” 

Grayson shakes his head. “It’s nothing-,”

 “It can’t be nothing!” I cut him off. Grayson looks at me with confusion. “Look, when I came to the office, I knocked on the door, but you didn’t answer, but I heard everything Kiki said about you. What’s going on?” 

Grayson runs his hand through his hair. “Kiki-,”

 “Hey, the wedding’s about to start.” Kiki says, smiling. 

She kisses Grayson and pulls me up. “Rosalia just went. It’s the bridesmaid’s and groom’s turn. 

I walked down the aisle with one of Ken’s friends, and I didn’t bother to ask him for his name. I walk over to the bridesmaid’s side. Kiki was whispering sweet things to Grayson the whole time, and I tried to ignore it, but I kept looking at them. I wanted to sit down. My feet hurt, and I wore heels. 

Damn pastor, hurry up. 

Finally, the pastor said," You may kiss the bride", and everyone clapped. The girls went back to change into different clothes for the reception. 

All I could think about was chocolate and melted marshmallows on every food at the reception, and Grayson knows it.

 “I got you some mochi!” Benjamin hands me a plate of strawberry mochi, a Korean ice cream that used to be my favorite. I didn’t want to be rude, so I took a bite and instantly regretted it.

 Now I needed to throw up. I run outside because I couldn’t find the goddamn bathrooms, and I puked to my heart’s content.

 “Oh great, thanks for telling me you don’t like mochi.” I say to my stomach. Well, my son, that’s in there. I hear someone laugh behind me. 

“Grayson.” I say bitterly. 

“Winston,” He mimics me. “They wanted to see if you were ok.”

 “I’m fine. I just want chocolate.” I whine.

 Grayson reaches into his pocket and takes out a Hershey bar and some kisses.

 “Here, you weren’t eating, so I knew you’d rather eat chocolate.” 

“You know me-well, our son so well.” I take the chocolate.

 Before my pregnancy, I hadn’t eaten marshmallows and chocolate since I was a kid, but I guess my little bun loves them. 

“I’ll see you inside.” Grayson kisses my cheek and walks back inside.

 After eating my chocolate, I didn’t feel like going back and dancing. Maybe I might have my wedding in a hotel, so I could retire to a room.

I book a room and fall asleep.

I was asleep for a long time because I heard a knock on my door, and it was 4 am.

 I open my door.

 “Grayson?” I say tiredly.

 “Winnie.” He walks in. 

“How did you-?”

 “I scared the receptionist into telling me which room you were in.” 

I raise an eyebrow. “You mean seduced?”

 Grayson scoffs. “I couldn’t sleep, so I went to the store and brought a big book of boy names.” 

Grayson hands me a large book. 

“You want to pick out names?” I smile.

 Grayson nods and sits on the bed, kicking his shoes off. I follow him and open up the book.

After hours of searching, we came up with a full name.

 “Micah Alcott Dae-Jung Taylor.” I say, smiling. 

“It’s a diverse name. I like it.” Grayson grins. 

“You like it, but can you say, Dae-Jung?” 

Grayson smiles sheepishly. “Let’s leave that alone for now.”

 I chuckle and snuggle against Grayson. “I’ll teach you.” I whisper, falling asleep.

 “I look forward to it.”