Suddenly a Bride (27 page)

C
aitlyn was halfway through her shift when her phone rang.  She
checked the caller ID and groaned before she turned her phone off and continued her work.  Whatever her mom wanted could wait.  When the dinner crowd left, she grabbed a snack and sat down to eat.
  Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she look
ed at who called while it was off.  With a roll of her eyes, she deleted her call history list and the messages.  Whatever made her mom call her twenty times and flood her inbox could wait.

Sandy came up to her and motioned to the salad and side of fruit on her plate.  “What happened to the three cheeseburgers and mountain of french fries followed by a pint of ice cream or a couple slices of pie?”

Caitlyn slipped the phone back into her pocket
and smiled.  “The craving to eat all the time has passed.  Chris says I’ll probably go through another two cycles before I give birth.”

Eyeing Caitlyn’s
small baby bump, Sandy wiped her forehead and joked, “Good because if you kept eating through the entire pregnancy, we’d have to designate your own zip code.”

“Ha ha.” She sat back and rubbed her abdomen.  “I think I felt the baby move while I was serving the lunch rush earlier today.”

“No kidding?”

“I think.  It happened so fast, I’m not sure.”

Sandy cheered and hugged her.  “I’m so excited for you!”

“I’m excited too.  When Rand
y died, I thought my chances of
being a mother were
over.”

“You’re so lucky a guy fell down from outer space and married you.  Where can I find one?”

“Well, he did come with a friend.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.  His name is Mark.  You know, Lexie’s engagement party is coming up in a couple
of
weeks.  Why don’t I talk to Chris about arranging for you and Mark to go together
?”

Sandy bit her lower lip and sat next to her.  “I don’t know.  I haven’t been on a blind date in ages.”

“Then let’s not set it up as a date.  How about I introduce you to him and we’ll see what happens from there?”

“That could be exciting.”

“We’ll do that!”

“Caitlyn,”
San
dy slowly began, “y
ou know those tickets your mom gave us to watch the concert?”

Caitlyn’s phone rang.  Groaning, she pulled out her phone and saw that it was, once again, her mom.  “I have to deal with this, Sandy.” She left the diner and stood far enough from it so no one would overhear her in case she had to yell at
her mom to stop calling
while she was at work.  Praying for patience, she asked, “What’s up, Mom?”

“It’s about time you picked up,” her mother snapped.

“I’m at work.  I can’t answer the phone just because you call.”

“What I have to ask is
extremely important.”

She rol
led her eyes.  “Oh yeah?  W
hat?”

“Were you married before you got pregnant or did you elope once you found out?”

Caitlyn’s jaw dropped.  “What?”

“Don’t deny it, Caitlyn
.  Your husband told me all about it.” While Caitlyn struggled to reply, her mother continued, “I thought I raised you better than this.  Your father will be so disappointed.  I can’t believe you’ve disgraced the family this way.  Just what are we supposed to tell our relatives and friends?  This is the kind of thing that happens to other people, not us.”

Her face
warm, she said, “I’m thirty-two
, Mom.  I’m allowed to be pregnant.”

“Are you showing?”

“That’s
none of your business!”

“Of course, it is.  I had a dress made especially for you.”

“What dress?”

“The dress for your wedding.”

“For my what?” Realizing she was shrieking, she lowered her voice so the customers leaving the diner would
stop staring at her.  She turned her back to them and hissed, “What wedding?”

“The one I was supposed to surprise you with.”

“No.  There will be no wedding.  Chris and I are already married.”

“I know.  Because of the baby.”

“No, not because of the baby.  We got married before I got pregnant.”

“So then you’re not showing?”

Caitlyn gritted her teeth and counted backwards from ten, hoping it would cool her anger, but it didn’t work.  If anything, she was angrier than before.
  “You know what, Mom?  I’m sick and tired of you butting into my life all the time.  What I do and who I do it with is none of your business.  So stop.  Just stop!”

She gasped.  “May I remind you that you are talking to the woman who gave you life?  If it weren’t for me—”

“I wouldn’t be miserable.  If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be miserable.  I can’t take it anymore.  You’re not going to guilt trip me about this child, and you’re not going to talk Chris into going through with a wedding.”

“He
already agreed to it.”

“What?”

“He was at the rehearsal today.  Who do you think told me about the baby?”

Caitlyn had the urge to throw the phone down and stomp on it until it was smashed into pieces, but she held back because
she didn’t want to buy a new phone.  Digging her nails into the palm of her hand, she hoped to alleviate enough anger so she wouldn’t come off sounding like a lunatic to whoever passed by.  “There will be no wedding,” she said in a har
sh whisper.  “In fact, if you do
n’t stop minding your own business, then you won’t be seeing me, Chris or the baby.  I won’t have you bossing Chris around like you bossed Randy.”

“Well, that’s gratitude for you!  I
did everything to help you out, and this is the thanks I get?”

“You meddled.  You made me and Randy
miserable.  We fought all the time because of you.  I won’t have you taking advantage of Chris like you took advantage of Randy.”

“Take advantage?”

“Yes.  Take advantage.  You’re doing
things behind my back with Chris like you did with Randy
, and it’s pissing me off.”

Her mother let out a bewildered laugh.  “I was only trying to be nice.  I even had him pick out a lovely wedding ring and necklace set for you.”

Caitlyn gasped.  “No.  No, you didn’t!” Knowing her mother’s expensive tastes and the $5000 ring her mother talked Randy into buying made her shudder in dread.

“When you see it, you’ll be glad I went.”

“When I see it, I’ll return
it.  I’m not wearing the ring, the
necklace
,
or
the
wedding dress.  Yes, I’m showing.  No, I don’t care if you have to hide your head under a paper bag in shame.  No, you won’t be dictating my life anymore.  It stops here and it stops now.  Until you can let Chris and I live our own lives, we aren’t talking to you.”

Then she hung up.  She pressed the end call button ten times before she felt confident that her mother was truly off the line.

She stormed into the diner and flung open the kitchen door where a startled Jack almost dropped his spatula as he flipped a burger.

“A warning would be nice,” he muttered.

“My mom is making my life impossible again, Jack.”

“Just throw her out of here.” He rolled his eyes.  “It’s not like she
approves of my cooking.”

“She’s not here.  I just got off the phone with her.  Look, I need to go home.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No, I’m not.  I need to get there before she wiggles her way into Chris’ good graces like she did with Randy.”

This was the only time she wished she hadn’t married two very sweet men who only wanted to make other people happy.  Randy grew up on this world and couldn’t put his foot down with her mother, and Chris was so awed by women, in general, that he was too naïve to understand some of them couldn’t be trusted.

“One would swear you’re not in your thirties, Caitlyn.”

She groaned.  “Whatever, Jack.  I have a family emergency that needs tending to.  Fire me if you want
,
but I’m not letting my mother make my
second
marriage
as
miserable
as
my first
.”

“I won’t fire you
.  You’re quitting soon
anyway.”

After she gave him a quick nod of thanks, she grabbed her purse from under the counter and headed for the exit.  Sandy excused herself from a booth where she’d been taking orders from three people and rushed over to Caitlyn.

“Where are you going?” she asked before Caitlyn could open the door.

Lowering her voice, Caitlyn hissed, “My meddling mother is
trying to manipulate Chris like she manipulated
Randy.  Do you know what those tickets are really for?”

Sandy winced.  “Well, I didn’t at first, but then your mom called a few days ago and told me why she gave them to you.”

“I can’t believe this.” Caitlyn rubbed her forehead and groaned.  “I thought my mom didn’t want to acknowledge my marriage when she gave me those tickets.  I didn’t know it was a ploy to get me to her fancy, smancy wedding.”

“I’m sorry.  I was about to tell you about it.”

She sighed.  “It’s okay, Sandy.  I’m not mad at you.  I just don’t want my mother to sink her claws into Chris.  Once she does, I’m doomed.”

“Yeah.  My brother was a pushover.”

“And I’
m afraid Chris will be the
same way if I don’t put a stop to it.
  I want this marriage to be better than my first.  I loved Randy.  You know that.”

“Yes, I do.”

“But my mom is like a…a…”

“Does the word start with a
‘
b
’
?”

Caitlyn groaned.  “She’s like a lee
ch that sucks the joy out of every
thing.  I don’t know how my dad’s handled being with her all these years.” Glancing at the impatient customers, she sighed.  “I’ll call you later.  Go on back to that table.  I probably cost you a dollar in tips.”

Sandy rolled her eyes.  “Like they would have left more than two bucks anyway.  I don’t know why people assume we’re rich and don’t need the tips to help pay our bills.”

“It’s the outfits.” Caitlyn motioned to their dresses.  “It says we’re the Rockefellers.”

“Thanks for not being mad at me.”

She offered
her friend a smile and headed on out of the diner.

Chapter Twenty-One

C
hris had just drifted off to sleep as he watched TV when the phone rang.  He stirred on the couch and sighed.  Should he answer it or not?  He glanced at the phone and decided he’d let the voice mail pick it up.  Settling back into a comfortable position, he closed his eyes and was about to drift back off
to sleep
when the phone rang again.

Groaning, he sat up a
nd stretched before he got up to
answer it.  “Hello?” He yawned.

“Thank goodness you’re there.”

His eyebrows furrowed.  “Mrs. Rogers?”

“Have you talked to Caitlyn?”

Surprised, he stiffened.  “No.  Is something wrong?  Is she hurt?”

“No, she’s
not hurt.”

Relieved, he exhaled and sat down on a nearby recliner.  “So why are you calling?”

“Caitlyn found out about the wedding we were supp
osed to surprise her with.”

He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he heard her sniffle.  With a shrug, he said, “That might be for the best.”

“Oh, Chris, it’s not.  The surprise is all ruined, and she doesn’t want to renew your wedding vows.”

“Renew my w
edding vows?”

“You did marry my daughter, didn’t you?”