Chapter 28
Ava
The OB/GYN got us in the next day for an emergency appointment. The pregnancy was confirmed, and a slew of checkups were scheduled.
Dr. Simmons wanted the med change to happen immediately, so we notified the family that we were getting married that very weekend in four days. We applied for our license, and Vinnie called all over, looking for an officiant who could marry us on short notice.
I already had a white sundress, and I decided that was good enough. Tucker wore khakis and a pale blue shirt with a tie.
Tina stopped for flowers on the way to Austin and handmade a bouquet plus a matching halo of flowers for my hair and a boutonniere for Tucker.
Harry picked up Maya and Gram. Tucker and I rode together with Vinnie in the back seat, snapping everything he could.
We didn’t take the one hundred and six steps because of Gram, but we slowly made our way up the slope on the back side.
We chose a cluster of flat rocks and waited for the officiant to arrive. It was warm for February, a lovely low sixties and bright sunshine. Harry opened a camp chair for Gram while Vinnie took photos of us.
“This is so romantic,” Jennifer said, aiming her phone at herself from an extended arm. “Last minute wedding with my sister!” she said as she took a short video. She made a circle, ending with us in the background.
I shook my head. Everything was a photo op for her.
The overlook was quiet on a February afternoon. Vinnie took pictures of everyone. Gram. Big Harry. My sisters. Dad and Tina. The officiant arrived in a gray suit that almost exactly matched his hair. Vinnie arranged us on the right rocks for the best scenery behind us.
“Let us begin,” the officiant said, opening a black folder.
I didn’t know if we had written our own vows last time. Tucker rarely spoke of the wedding that never was. But this time, we repeated our lines after the officiant.
The breeze ruffled Tucker’s hair. He was happy, his eyes glinting. I did love him. The only thing that had held me back had already happened.
Tomorrow, I would start the new medication and begin weaning the old one. Every day would be like a game of Russian roulette. Would this be the morning my life was wiped again?
I shouldn’t think of this now, not with Tucker in front of me, the sun shining down.
I’d seen this moment dozens of times, photographed it for others. I sensed rather than heard Vinnie’s camera taking frames.
The officiant asked me to repeat after him. My memory was good enough for this.
“I, Ava Roberts, take Tucker Giddings to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, in sickness and health, as long as we both shall live.”
Harry passed me the gold band. But I hesitated.
Tucker noticed and tilted his head. “You okay?”
“Why do you love me, Tucker?” I asked. “For a good chunk of our lives, I may not love you. Why do you keep coming back?” I didn’t know why I was asking now. It was way too late for doubts. But I wanted to know.
He grasped both of my hands, his gold band clenched between our palms. “Ava, I love every part of you. The fiery side that comes out when you know you need to be strong. The frustrated version when you want to know everything yesterday. The kind part who cares about other people. I don’t need you to love me to love you.
My love is unconditionally yours because of who you are. ”
My breath caught. How often did this happen? When did someone love another person like Tucker did me?
I glanced around. Gram was dabbing her eyes. Dad sniffed, his hands clasped tightly in front of his suit jacket. Amanda and Jennifer were a blubbery mess. Even Harry rocked on his heels and cleared his throat.
They believed. This was something big to them.
I reached inside for that voice old Ava always told me to listen to.
I was starting to have faith in it. My memories of Tucker were still young, less than a year old.
But there were so many. His smiles. His patience.
His willingness, actually, his eagerness to help, to solve problems, to be what I needed.
I pulled my hands away from him to shift the ring so that I held it between my fingers. “I believe you,” I said. “I will always do my very best to come back to you.” I looked up at his face, his kind, sweet face haloed in sunlight. “I know you are the one who came to keep me safe.”
I slid the ring onto Tucker’s finger. For a moment, everything went still, as if nature itself was witnessing this long-delayed moment.
Then, the officiant leaned forward with a broad smile. “Other left.”
I laughed and slid the ring off again, transferring it to Tucker’s other hand. “It won’t be the last thing I get wrong,” I said.
“And it won’t be the last thing you both laugh about,” the officiant said. “Today’s mistakes are tomorrow’s great stories.” He smiled at us both. “Tucker, you may kiss your bride.”
As the man stepped aside, Tucker drew me close. I closed my eyes to the bright yellow light, still seeing its golden glow through my lids.
When I felt Tucker’s lips on mine, something clicked into place, like the universe had orchestrated this moment. Do not be afraid, it seemed to say. Everything is going to be all right.
Our small party cheered.
Tucker smiled against my mouth. I couldn’t help but grin back. This had been the easiest moment since the day of the pregnancy test. Tomorrow would get scarier, but as each day passed, and the medicine held, it would get better.
We turned to our friends and family.
“We should have a nice dinner,” Dad said. “Follow us to Uchi.”
I leaned in close to Tucker’s ear. “Isn’t that a sushi place?” I whispered. “I can’t eat sushi with the baby.”
He nodded. “How about we go back to the Oasis?” he suggested. “It will be sunset by the end of the meal. It’s our happy place.”
“Oasis it is!” Dad rubbed his hand together. “I’ll give the first toast to this day finally happening.”
Tucker had just taken my hand to help me off a rock when a woman stormed toward us in a long cotton dress in the same dusty red as her face.
For a moment, I didn’t recognize her. Her hair was cut short. She was overexerted, like she’d run up all one hundred steps.
But then Dad lunged in front of us. Tucker frantically pulled me behind him.
“Ava!” the woman exclaimed.
The strident tone of her voice hit something inside me, and her features connected with the woman who’d followed me that one day, the person in the rose cutting video.
Mother.
“I’ve got this,” Dad said. “I’ll throw that witch off the cliff before I let her get her claws on you again.” He’d been incensed when we finally admitted she’d approached me in our neighborhood shortly after the last seizure.
He stormed right up to her. “Geneva, you’re not welcome here.”
She looked around, her eyes falling on Maya. “You’re still around?” She swirled around to me. “You invited that old bat before you invited your own mother?”
Marcus leaned in close to her. “You are not invited because you can’t be trusted.” His voice was even and level.
Her arms flailed as if she could swat away his accusations. Dad stayed menacingly close. He looked like he really might throw her off the cliff.
“I belong here,” she said. “I have done nothing but keep her safe.”
Dad took another step toward her. They were almost on top of each other. “That’s enough, Geneva. This is Ava’s wedding day. You don’t belong here. I’m ready to call the cops. I renewed the restraining order three months ago when I found out you ambushed her in her own neighborhood.”
“As if I was the one who didn’t do all the research for her, tried endlessly to find a solution.” Mother’s face was sweaty and red.
The officiant hooked his arm around my mother’s. “Come along,” he said. “I’ll help you down the stairs.”
Mother looked at him, then me, then my father, who held out his cell phone, his thumb on the dial pad.
“I only wanted to see you be a bride,” she said. Then she turned and allowed the officiant to escort her away.
Only when Mother had disappeared through the trees, did I feel the force of seeing her thunder through me like I’d been struck by lightning.
She wasn’t going to give up. What if she took the baby?
I looked down at the tattoo on my arm, perfectly visible in the sleeveless dress.
Trust only this handwriting.
Maybe she couldn’t change my scrapbook anymore, but she was still a threat. She felt like she was owed a place in my life.
“I’m pregnant,” I blurted. “Don’t let her take our baby, even if I forget I have one.”
Everyone fell silence. Tucker drew me in close.
“You’re what?” Marcus asked.
“She’s pregnant,” Tucker said. “And tomorrow she has to change her meds to one that is safe for the baby.” His voice cracked on the word. “We’ll need all of your help as we go through this.”
Harry was the first to lunge forward and draw us both into his extra-large embrace. Gram fitted herself against us, then Maya.
Dad seemed dazed for a moment, then he came forward, extending his arms around our little group. Tina, Jennifer, and Amanda piled in.
“It’s my fault she found us,” Jennifer said, her voice cracking. “I posted the video of where we were. It’s the only way she could have known.”
Marcus sighed. “We’ve all got to be on Ava’s team. That means protecting her no matter what.”
Jennifer sniffed. “Okay.”
“We’ve got you,” Big Harry said. “No matter what happens, we will all be here.”
I drew a shuddering breath. This was my family. And soon, there would be one more.
I had to have faith in all of us.