Piece of My Heart (Fostering Love 4)

It was useless, but I let myself drift in that place, the dream of them alive and well and celebrating with us. I didn’t let myself dwell on the fact that if they’d lived, I’d be a completely different person. Maybe I wouldn’t have ever even met Alex. Maybe I wouldn’t have distanced myself from the faith I’d grown up in, and I’d already be married to a boy that my parents had introduced me to. I surely would’ve never imagined eloping if my parents had still been with me. If my dad had been alive to walk me down the aisle.

“I know that this hurts,” Alex said, resting his cheek against the top of my head. “But once they get to know me, they’ll love me,” he joked gently. “Everyone does.”

I laughed because I was supposed to, but I didn’t feel it. I was raw, stripped bare, and it felt like I would break at any second. Shatter into a million pieces and float away with the dust motes in the kitchen.

“Have you ever dusted in here?” I asked, sitting up and sliding off his lap as I wiped the makeup from under my eyes.

Alex looked around the room, then shrugged. “Nope.”

The word came so easily that a real laugh popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

Alex smiled wide and stretched out his legs. “Why don’t you call Hailey and tell her the big news?” he asked.

“Good idea,” I said, reaching for my phone. I found her name and pressed SEND as I walked out of the room.

“Hey, stranger,” Hailey answered happily, her cheerful voice an instant balm on my emotions. “It feels like we’ve barely talked since Thanksgiving.”

“I know,” I replied. We’d been preparing for finals and barely had time to visit. “Did you have a good holiday?”

“Puhlease,” she said, dragging out the word. “It was boring. I was here. I want to hear about your big trip! How did it go? Did you have fun?”

“It was good,” I replied, dropping down on the edge of the bed. “Alex’s family is awesome.”

“Well, that’s no surprise. Look at Alex,” she said easily. “He’s one of the nicest guys ever.”

“Yeah, he is,” I said softly, thinking about the way he’d held my hand during the conversation with my aunt and uncle.

“Is everything still good with you guys?”

“Um, that’s what I was calling you about,” I replied. “I have some news.”

“You better not have broken up with the unicorn, Sarai,” she said seriously.

“The opposite, actually.”

“What?” she asked in confusion.

“We got married.”

“What?” she shrieked happily, making me laugh. “No you didn’t!”

“Yeah, we did.” I couldn’t stop the grin that had taken over my face. “We went to Vegas.”

“No you didn’t!” she yelled again.

“Yep. We stopped there on our way home from Oregon, and we’ve spent the week moving me into Alex’s apartment.”

“Holy crap,” she exclaimed. “Where the hell did my best friend go? You know, the fuddy-duddy that never does anything spontaneous?”

“She’s still here,” I replied ruefully. “I’m still as boring as ever.”

“Yeah, but now you have a husband to be boring with,” she squealed. “Congratulations.”

“Thanks,” I said, tears coming to my eyes as she whooped and made celebratory noises. This was exactly the type of reaction that I wished I could’ve gotten from my aunt and uncle. I hadn’t expected them to be happy, but damn, it would’ve been so nice.

“I’m so freaking happy for you,” she said, her voice calmer than before. “This is awesome news.” Before I could reply, she spoke again. “Crap, I gotta go. I just spilled shampoo all over the floor—don’t ask. Call me later and give me all the juicy details?”

“Sure.”

After she’d hung up, I stared at the phone in my hands, wishing I could call my aunt and have a do-over. I wanted her to be excited for me, to squeal and yell and tell me how happy she was that I’d found someone as great as Alex. I wanted to go back in time and introduce them before I dropped the marriage bomb so she could’ve been more accepting.

I rubbed at my sore eyes, trying not to cry.

“What did she say?” Alex asked, poking his head around the doorway.

“When she got done screaming in excitement?” I asked, making him chuckle. “She said congratulations.”

“I’m sorry you didn’t get that from your uncle and aunt,” he said softly.

“I didn’t expect them to break out the champagne,” I replied with a shrug. I would not cry again. I’d known that they were going to be upset with me; now I had to live with it.

“Hey, all this excitement made me hungry,” Alex said. “How about we run down to the restaurant and grab some lunch?”

I nodded because I knew exactly what he was doing. After the disastrous conversation with my aunt and uncle, Alex was doing the only thing he could to cheer me up. He was taking me to see the other half of my family, the ones who loved me by choice and never had a bad word to say about anyone. He was bringing me to Mr. and Mrs. K, who would be happy and full of congratulations when they heard about our marriage.