"Well… I just figured that morning sickness would be a bad thing to get around your family. They do seem to be under the impression that you and I are together, so…"
"Yeah, no one knows your story. Shannon's not so lucky," he added.
From the pew across the aisle Julie heard, "Aw, there she is!"
She and Aaron both turned instinctively to watch Aaron's mom lean in and gush over
Anna, warmly greeting Matt and Emma. After a couple seconds of observing the scene, Julie could see Aaron look away out of the corner of her eye. He had a look of irritation on his face as he turned to face the front of the room.
"How is my favorite little grandbaby?" Denise cooed.
"Wow," Julie whispered. "I've never seen your mom so…"
"Nice?" he offered, nodding a little. "Babies tend to bring out that side of people."
One more thing she had robbed her child of, she thought with annoyance at herself. Even though she was carrying the woman's second grandchild, she wouldn't even know, and if she did know she certainly wouldn't be gushing over it like she was Anna.
Because Anna had been created the right way. Two married people having one beautiful child—on the surface, they had a nearly perfect life.
It just went to show you couldn't judge anything by how it appeared.
She did wonder, however, why it was that no one seemed to have a problem with the fact that Shannon and Matt had slept together. It seemed like Aaron was the one that had been cast out when he should have been the one embraced.
But as Denise and Josh scooted in the pew with Matt, Emma and Anna, that did not appear to be the case. To his credit, Josh did acknowledge Aaron, offering an almost sheepish smile at him as he sat with the rest of the family while he was visiting, never even coming over to say hi to Aaron. Then, when it got close to time to walk Rebecca down the aisle, he went back with the rest of the wedding party, murmuring to his wife that he would be back.
Eventually, it was time for everyone to quiet down and the wedding march started. The color for the wedding was a really pretty shade of lavender, so when the maid of honor and bridesmaids walked down the aisle, they were wearing pretty strapless lavender organza ball gowns. Of course Shannon looked the most radiant as she walked down the aisle holding her bouquet of flowers. As she passed Aaron's pew, she looked over at him, her eyes sad and imploring.
How did she manage to look so damn pretty when she was obviously so awful?
It was a mystery to Julie, and not one that made her very happy. She may have made some mistakes in her time, but she would never do something like that to Aaron, and she knew she wasn't as beautiful as Emma or Shannon. They both looked like they had stepped out of the pages of a magazine and into the world.
As soon as Poppy Seed was born, she decided, she was getting a make-over, a new hairstyle, and she was joining a gym.
The wedding itself was pretty boring, pretty standard. They all sat through it (although Julie totally forgot to take pictures) and then when it was over they all walked outside to throw birdseed at the bride and groom as they climbed into the limo. It was finally over then, and it was time to head to the reception.
"What do you say we play hooky on the reception?" Aaron said with a smile.
Smiling back, she said, "Oh, we made it this far."
"Yeah, but you can't serve alcohol in a church. We have five hours of open bar ahead of us tonight, and anything could happen."
"It'll be okay. What's the worst that could happen, you might get a little touchy-feely when we dance? I think it'll be all right."
Shaking his head, he said, "No, that's not the worst thing that could happen."
But he didn't push the issue, and they made their way back to the car and went back to the hotel. First they went up to their room to get the gift, then it was already time to head down to the dreaded reception.
Upon their arrival, they found the table for the gifts and got rid of the package. Then they went to find the table with seats reserved for them. Both table settings were marked "Aaron," probably because no one knew the name of the girl he was bringing. Julie did wonder why his family didn't seem to think it was strange that no one knew Aaron had a "girlfriend," but the more she observed them she realized they really paid very little attention to Aaron. As she watched, she got the impression that Matt was the favorite, and Rebecca was probably next in line.
Poor Aaron—who had done nothing wrong, who was as loveable as ever, who deserved for his family to be on his side—seemed to be the black sheep of the family, cast out in favor of his siblings.
She was beginning to get too protective over him, she realized. That might not bode well for her.
Much to Julie's unpleasant surprise, as soon as she and Aaron found their seats and sat down, Julie heard a pair of heels on the floor as a voice she didn't immediately recognize said, "Aaron."
Looking up, Julie expected to see Shannon making another one of her idiotic attempts to get Aaron's attention.
Instead, she looked up into the beautiful face of Emma Turner.