Chapter 6
N elly couldn’t stop thinking about Dani’s wedding and all the plans that were being made. It was exciting, and it was fun, mostly because everybody wanted it to be a special day for Dani. However, Dani was starting to look a little frazzled the closer and closer she got to the date.
When she collapsed into a seat in Nelly’s office one day several weeks later, Dani announced, “I’m taking time out from wedding plans.” She looked at the door behind her. “If anybody comes to that door with a question, shoot them.”
At that, Nelly burst out laughing. “Wow. I wondered when the stress would hit you.”
“It hit me a while ago,” she admitted. “Who knew that planning a wedding would be so stressful?”
“Oh, I think a lot of people knew, but were hoping that they could make it a little bit less stressful for you.”
“And they are,” she grumbled. “So many people are involved in this. It just sometimes feels as if it’s too much.”
“I think that’s a normal way to feel,” Nelly replied, with a smile, “but you’re doing great.”
Dani rolled her eyes at that. “Sounds like more cheerleader stuff to me.”
“Hey, do you need cheerleading stuff? Because you know I got that down pat pretty well.”
Dani chuckled. “By the way, how are things between you and Zander?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “What do you know about me and Zander?”
“Are you kidding, in this place?” she scoffed. “I know probably as much as you do.” And then she burst out laughing. “No, I don’t mean that obviously, but you do understand that you can’t keep any secrets here, right?”
“Nope, we sure can’t. That’s why I’m glad you decided to do the wedding thing for everybody because everybody wants to be a part of it, and they all want to make it special for you.”
At that, Dani’s expression softened. “It’s appreciated, and I realize that I’m not part of an island here,” she shared. “It’s just so amazing that everybody wants to be involved. It’s also just so mind-blowing that so much of this is happening right now. I’ve waited a long time.”
“You have, indeed.” Nelly smiled. “There’s so much more out there for you, and I’m so thrilled.”
“So many of us are involved in all these preparations,” Dani noted, “that sometimes I forget that you haven’t been here all that long.”
“No, not that long,” Nelly replied, “but, hey, I am more than happy to do my part in all this.”
Dani chuckled. “Nobody should have to do their part in any of it. It’s supposed to be on a volunteer basis, after work hours.” And then she gave an eye roll at that. “No way to make that happen though.”
“Nope, not at all,” Nelly agreed. “So take it with grace and realize everybody is just thrilled to be a part of it at all.”
She nodded. “And that’s important too,” she murmured. “Everybody is so good-hearted here, and they’re doing everything they can for me.… Still, I just want it over with.”
“Not happening,” Nelly declared cheerfully. “There’s a reason for the whole wedding production thing.”
“Yeah, so everybody else feels good.” Dani hopped up to her feet and added, “Okay, I’ve hidden long enough. Now I’m back at it.” And, with that, she bustled back out again.
Nelly sat for a long time, smiling over Dani’s antics.
It had to be stressful to deal with so many different personalities and with so many needs of a large wedding.
Meanwhile, everybody was still trying to do their best to make Hathaway House run perfectly because anything less was letting Dani down.
And nobody was willing to do that. Something about that woman not only had everybody wanting to do the best for her, but also wanting to do the best they can do. Period.
Dani was a special person, who had managed to create so much loyalty.
And Nelly was an equal part of that. She was just as happy to be loyal and to work hard at this place as anybody else, and she hoped that it would be pretty obvious, at least soon enough.
For Dani, it was just a case of getting her through all this and keeping her sanity.
Then she would have her first extended holiday in a very long time, as she and Aaron headed off on a honeymoon.
Nelly hadn’t even asked what their plans were for the honeymoon, she’d heard whispers about Bali so figured that maybe Dani didn’t even know.
All Nelly knew was that it was pretty obvious that whatever was going on was special.
And, for that, Nelly was overjoyed for Dani’s part.
Now if only they could get through all the rest of what needed to happen as well, because Nelly would like to see the wedding go off without a hitch.
Then, hey, as soon as Dani was married, they would see others getting married too.
Zander was right. It did start you thinking about what else you wanted in life and what you would do to get it and at what point in time it was important enough to really chase after it.
She didn’t want to sit and spend her days waiting for life to happen, not if she could do something to make it happen herself.
But she wasn’t even sure what she was ready for anymore.
Just so much in her world had her stopping to think, What was happening?
What would be happening, and what was the right thing to happen?
And yet still, she didn’t have a relationship that was tested and ready to go the distance.
She did have somebody who she thought might be interested in taking that test run, though.
Yet he certainly wasn’t at that point yet.
However, if ever anybody needed to learn that something was out there for him, it was Zander.
That guy had a lot going for him. He just didn’t believe it—or didn’t believe in himself.
But he was getting there. Every day he was getting a little bit better, and she was delighted to be part of the journey.
To see him now, to see him even compared to where he’d been when he had first arrived, was to see progress, massive progress, and, for that, she was absolutely ecstatic.
He was a good guy. One of those good ones about whom your mom would have said, Hang on to him .
As Nelly considered that, she nodded slowly.
She really did need to hang on to him. She just didn’t know if he was ready for somebody to be interested in him.
He never mentioned anything about it, just made slight comments about other people getting married.
She wasn’t even sure how he felt about marriage.
She pondered that for the next couple days.
Finally one day he asked her, “So what’s occupying your mind so much these days?”
She smiled at him. “Dani’s wedding.”
“Okay, that makes sense. What about it?” He lifted his coffee cup for a sip, peering over the rim at her.
“Just wondering how I felt about marriage,” she stated simply.
He looked at her in surprise. “And here I figured you were the kind to turn around and get married and have your perfect 2.5 kids.”
“There’s no such thing as the perfect 2.5 kids,” she declared, chuckling. “I gather the stats say that the average family has two point something kids,” she admitted. “I never quite figured out how that was supposed to ever work out in reality, but not everybody is cut out for marriage.”
“You are,” he stated.
She looked over at him, one eyebrow raised.
“Not so sure about that. I’ve never gotten that far, and I guess I always assumed that I would get married at one point in time, but it’s not happened yet.
I wasn’t thinking that I had to rush into it or was even worrying about missing it.
Yet now, watching the excitement with Dani’s wedding—and the chaos—it makes you think.
How do I feel about it? How,… how does any of it fit into my life? ”
“Did you get any answers?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, I really didn’t. I’m still thinking about it all. What about you?” she asked.
“Before… I always figured I would get married—somewhere along the line when I was ready to settle down. The accident pushed that aside,” he shared simply.
“Why?”
“When you get badly hurt, and you see everybody with supportive families around you, it becomes something that you desperately want so that you’re not alone. At which point you realize that now that you don’t have a family already, your chances of ever getting one are pretty slim.”
“I don’t know that that’s true,” she pointed out. “What I’ve seen and heard about the relationships that have started at Hathaway tells me that’s wrong.”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure that it’s not true either,” he countered.
“Yet I get it. I see Xavier. I see Dani. I see Shane and his partner, plus Robin from downstairs, even Stan. Everybody seems to be paired up. I don’t know how many of them came about because of this place, and that’s not really the issue.
It’s just it makes you think about it. It also makes you wonder if thinking about it does any good.
Sometimes I fear it can lead to more depression. ”
She nodded. “I guess I hadn’t considered that either. It’s like some never-ending negative talk, and that is destructive.”
“That’s because Hathaway House is geared to healing the whole body, but people like you, you’re not dealing with major health issues.
Whereas I could end up being hospitalized again.
That’s hardly a life for anybody to look forward to who was hooked up with me.
Even if I did end up with children—which I always thought I would have—it’s hardly a life for the woman and the children in my life. ”
“Ah, so you’re focusing on the negative.”
He glared at her. “Hardly,” he snapped.
She winced. “Look. I didn’t mean it as a criticism.” But it was obvious that their conversation had slid south. “Let’s just change the subject,” she suggested.
He looked over at her and shrugged. “Sure, whatever.”