Blooming

“You look beautiful,” Darren reassured me.
“I do not. I look like a pink blimp.” I stated blandly.
He rubbed my arms gently.
“The cutest pink blimp I’ve ever seen,” he said, his words coated in sugar.
“He’s right, Sav,” Lucy agreed.
I saw Riley look me up and down before meeting my eyes.
“It’s true,” he said quietly.
I smiled awkwardly as the world slowed down for a minute.
“I hate weddings,” I sighed. “Why did she have to make us wear PINK bridesmaid dresses?”
Darren grinned down at me.
“Because she knows pink is your favorite color.”
About a week before Darren’s graduation, Aunt Karen had exchanged phone numbers with Dr. Carlton at one of my weekly appointments. It didn’t take long before they fell for each other. Aunt Karen would come home late almost every night from being out with him and the nights they couldn’t be together, she was cooing whispers into the phone for hours.
It wasn’t long before he popped the question either. One night, as they were taking a moonlit stroll through the park, he got down on one knee and BAM! They were engaged. Just like that.
My parents tried to make her push the wedding back a year, give them time to really get to know each other, they’d said. But we all knew that there was no talking Karen out of anything once she’d made her mind up about something and this, she had her heart set on. She loved Dr. Carlton, Rick being his first name which I still thought was weird to call him, and wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of her life with him.
Their wedding was set for one month after the number exchange, June 10, at one o’clock sharp.
“Pink is never a good color,” Lucy agreed. I watched Riley walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist.
I felt my heart do a weird flop in my chest.
“You guys both look perfect,” he said, looking at me again with his big blue eyes. God, I wish he would stop doing that.
“Thanks,” I replied barely loud enough for him to hear.
Just then, Karen burst through the doors of the little secluded room we were in, in the church.
Her blonde hair was pinned back, letting some strands hang loosely in curls. Her dress was strapless and stunning, hugging her every curve perfectly and sparkling ever so slightly when she moved. She wore a pair of pearl earrings and a simple diamond necklace. Despite the frantic look upon her face, she still looked more beautiful than ever.
“Everybody ready?” she asked.
“Check,” Darren answered.
She took a deep breath.
“Okay,” she said. “Why don’t you all line up at the entrance.”
As instructed, we all made our way towards the doors.
“Actually, could you help me get my necklace on, Aunt Karen? I’m having some troubles with it.” I said stopping.
“You want me to get it, Sav?” Riley asked.
“No thanks,” I said. “You guys go ahead. I’ll be there in a minute.”
With that, the three of them walked out of the door, Darren offering me a sweet smile and a mouthed ‘I love you.’ I mouthed it back as I watched Riley take Lucy’s hand in his.
Once they were gone, I sighed. It felt so good to breathe again.
“Boy troubles, huh?” Karen said, catching on.
“Yeah, but will they ever really be just ‘boy troubles’ with me? I mean, I feel like I can’t even breathe with any of them in the room.”
Karen waited a minute before placing her hand on my shoulder.
“You’re still you, Savannah.” she answered gently. “This pregnancy hasn’t changed you as much as you think it has.”
I turned to her.
“You’re still you,” she said again. “You still love reading and watching football with your dad on Sundays. You still can’t cook.”
This made me laugh and hers soon joined in with mine before they both faded off into the distance.
She pushed a strand of hair from my face.
“And you’re still indecisive.”
“But I can’t be like that!” I practically shouted. “I can’t! I have a baby coming any day now! I can’t just keep switching between guys.”
“You know what you want, Savannah. Everyone does. Sometimes it just takes a little longer for us to realize what it is we want.”
Just then, the doors opened yet again.
“Everything okay in here?” Darren asked.
I sighed and smiled. Every time I looked at Darren my heart felt as though it was so big and swollen it was literally in my throat. It was the best feeling a person could feel, of this I am sure. It’s the way Dr. Carlton made Karen feel. It was the way Riley made Lucy feel. It was love.
“Everything’s fine,” Karen answered, taking Darren’s place at the door as he came over and sat down on a nearby chair.
“We’ve still got some time. Be lined up and ready to go in a couple minutes.” Karen said before throwing me and smile and making her way through the doors once more.
I looked around the room we’d taken over in the church. It was covered in flowers and frills from head to toe. It looked as though a wedding, itself, had exploded on it.
“So,” Darren said, holding the word out.
“So,” I replied shortly. “How much of that did you hear?”
He sighed.
“Savannah, I don’t want you to feel like you have to choose between Riley and me. I want you to know what you want, the life that you want.”
“Hey,” I said coolly, walking over, sitting on his lap and wrapping my arms around his neck. “Just because my hormones get out of whack every once and while doesn’t mean I’m changing mind about anything.”
He smiled for a moment before putting his lips to mine. Just then, I felt terrible pain in my side. I’d been experiencing this off and on all week but hadn’t said anything to anyone. I was nervous about them and, in a way, I wished I could keep this baby hidden beneath my shirt forever. I knew we would never be ready for a task so big.
“You okay?” Darren asked as I gripped my side.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” I lied.
Each day this week I awoke with the feeling of ‘what if’? What if it happens today? I wasn’t ready. I couldn’t be.
“Are you sure? Savannah, it’s about that time. If you’re not feeling good, we should go to the doctor.” he protested.
“We can’t go to the doctor, he’s already here.” I said. “And I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
Suddenly, as Darren opened his mouth to say more, the door opened again.
“Sorry, if I’m interrupting anything,” Riley said awkwardly. “But we’re starting now,”
“We’re coming,” I answered, immediately getting up.
“But Savannah,” Darren stopped me.
“I’m fine, Darren. Let’s go,” I spoke firmly.
He gave me a wide-eyed, worried look before the four of us lined up at the entrance of the church.
The wedding was being held in the back yard of the most popular church in Riverson. The weather was perfect, the sun shinning brightly overhead and everywhere you looked there were pink flowers lining the isles and archway in which Dr. Carlton and Karen would stay their ‘ I dos’.
First, Lucy and Riley walked out. I watched as the crowd waited anxiously in utter anticipation. Dr. Carlton stood at the other end of the isle with a look I’d never seen startle across his face; fear. But it was the best kind of fear, I could tell. It was the fear of knowing that something great was about to happen to you and praying you wouldn’t mess it up. It was the fear I’d been feeling underneath it all throughout this pregnancy.
“We’re next,”
Just as Darren spoke, I felt the extreme pain in my side again and I knew. The pain had never intensified this greatly before. It was time.
“Savannah, are you sure you’re okay?”
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. There was no hiding this anymore.
“Darren,” I spoke in a hushed, painful voice and gripped my side once more.
“That’s it Sav, we gotta go.”
He took hold of my hand.
“No,” I said quickly.
He gave me a look that can only be described as crazy.
“Are you nuts? This baby is coming now!”
“My water hasn’t broke yet.” He gave me anther confused look. “We can’t take this moment away from them.”
“Sav, we have to go!”
“No.” I stated stubbornly. “There is no way we’re ruining this for them. I can hold off until after the wedding. Don’t tell anyone until it’s over. Then we’ll all go to the hospital.”
“Savannah,” he begged.
“My contractions are far enough apart. It’ll be fine.”
Darren looked down at me, a pleading look in his perfect brown eyes.
“Trust me,” I whispered.
He took a deep breath and nodded after a moment of internal debating. Then, I took his arm and together we walked down the isle towards the man that would deliver our baby within a matter of hours. With every step we pushed past our fear because we knew that our time being scared was up. It was time and we had to be ready.