Chapter 75 The Mission
Byron felt partly responsible for breaking the news. Maybe Pam was right about not telling Mike since it seemed like the news of the pregnancy did make him more nervous. On the other hand, maybe if she had told him sooner, it wouldn’t have caused so much excitement right before they were about to say their vows.
He wasn’t sure if the bride was already at the church, so he called Emily. It turned out they were all still at Pam’s house getting ready, so he said he would meet them over there.
“Have you decided to become a bridesmaid instead?” Emily teased.
“Yeah, something like that. I always thought I’d make a good bridesmaid.”
He couldn’t let her know that he spilled the beans. Somehow, he would have to get Pam alone without anyone knowing what was going on.
The house was bustling with people, and Pam’s mother greeted Byron as he entered.
“Come in! The ladies are right upstairs,” she said.
As Byron climbed the stairs, he heard women’s voices and a lot of giggling. One of the voices he was very familiar with of course was Emily’s.
“I never thought I would want to have kids,” she was saying.
Byron froze right outside the door. He didn’t want to eavesdrop, but he couldn’t resist. Just as he thought, Emily was not as restrained in what she told her girlfriends as she was with him. Maybe she was afraid of hurting his feelings or of giving away too much information.
“How could you not want kids?” another woman said, “They’re so adorable.”
“It’s a lot of work to raise kids,” Emily objected. “I sometimes think it’s not worth the hassle, but when Byron brought it up the other day, I thought it would be awesome to have a kid with him. We could make it work.”
Byron quickly walked away from the room and down the stairs again. This would not be a good time to go in and try to pretend he hadn’t been listening.
Luckily, no one saw him leave the house and get back into his car. Once he was safely inside, his breathing calmed a little, but he still couldn’t help feeling emotional. Tears of happiness welled up in his eyes. He had no idea Emily felt that way. He was pretty sure she was telling the truth about wanting to have kids with him. This wouldn’t be something she would say lightly.
It took him quite a while to calm down while he drove around in random directions, but he didn’t want to see Emily until he had his feeling under control; otherwise he would have to confess he overheard her, and it might put more pressure on her. Clearly, she wasn’t yet comfortable talking to him about future plans.
Byron realized he had been disappointed not to be able to propose even though he tried to tell himself there was no rush. But now that he knew how Emily felt about him, he was much happier to wait. If she could picture them having kids, she could probably picture them getting married one day. This gave him hope, and he was happy to wait until a better time to bring up the subject of marriage.
The only thing that bothered him was that he completely forgot to relay Mike’s message.
His phone rang. “Are you still planning to come by?” Emily asked. “Because we’re heading to the church in ten minutes.”
“No,” he said, trying to contain his emotions on hearing her voice, “I’ll meet you there.”
“Is everything okay?” she asked.
“Uh... yeah. Mike had some pre-wedding jitters. I’ll tell you about it later.”
Byron suddenly realized he was almost at the outskirts of town, and he had to hurry if he was going to make it to the church before the bridal party.
After a hectic driver, he arrived just in time to see Pam and the bridesmaids stepping out of their vehicle.
“Pam!” he called as he approached them, “I have to see you for a moment.”
Emily was already there, dressed in a one-shoulder peach gown that showed off her hourglass figure. He gave her a very rushed kiss in greeting, leaving her a little perplexed.
“What’s up?” Pam said. It would be hard to get her away from everyone now that she was surrounded by bridesmaids.
Byron had no choice but to whisper in her ear. “Mike knows about the pregnancy. He asked me to tell you he couldn’t be happier. Good luck out there!”
Pam smiled and squeezed his hand. “Thank you,” she said.
Byron was so relieved that he had fulfilled his mission and thrilled about what he had overheard Emily say that he spent most of the ceremony in a daze. At last, he watched Pam and Mike exchanging their vows, both beaming with happiness.
“What have you been up to?” Emily whispered as they all walked out of the church together.
“Let’s just say I’m not good at keeping secrets,” Byron admitted.
