Just a Memory

Uninvited Intentions

19

"Oh my God, she's so cute!" Hallee squealed from my living room. Since Camille's birth, old friends of ours had stopped by to give their congratulations. Some of them, like Kyle and Hallee, had decided to stay longer so that they could play with her.

Reece bounced Camille around on her lap. She smiled a toothless grin. Hallee practically cried. "Can I keep your daughter?" Hallee asked. After seeing Reece's friend the past few days, I wasn't sure if she was kidding.

My fiancée laughed. "C'mon, you flew out here to help me with my wedding, not kidnap my daughter," Reece said. 

"How's this for the toast?" Kyle said, grabbing my attention. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm Kyle Bishop, Brett's best man'," he said.

I nodded. "And?"

"That's all I have so far," he said. I rolled my eyes. "Seriously Kyle? You've been here for three days."

"And I've been working on it," he said. "I am Camille's godfather, am I not?"

I sighed. Reece and I had appointed Kyle as Camille's godfather, although I was seriously reconsidering it. "Yes, you are," I said begrudgingly. I held Camille.

"I have to feed little C.J. soon," Reece said to me, as she placed Camille in my lap. Reece and I had started nicknaming Camille 'C.J.'. It had started as a bad habit. I kept addressing her as 'Jamie', and Reece was addressing her as 'Camille'. In order to avoid later confusion -and give our child an excessively long first name- we just kept her first two initials. 

"Or Brett could feed her," Kyle said, scribbling on his legal pad. I stared at him. "How the hell am I supposed to do that? I don't have boobs."

Reece shot me a glare. Kyle laughed. 

Hallee and Reece flipped through magazines for another hour until Kyle stood up. "Okay, I've got it."

"Ladies and gentlemen, I am Kyle Bishop, Brett's best man," he started. "In many ways, Brett and Reece are the perfect couple. A perfect relationship, outlasting many of mine throughout high school and college. I have had the pleasure of knowing the both of them since we were in diapers, and now Brett and Reece have diapers of their own to change. But one thing has never changed between the two of them, and that is the love they share. The two of them have seen hardship none of us have experienced, and they have made it through stronger still. Sure, Brett and Reece have had their share of struggles, like the infamous debate of whether or not to name their daughter after the Avengers-"

"How does he know about that?" Reece asked me. I shrugged, although I was the one that had told him. 

"-but they can see through their differences, which is what we all would like to find in love. Many of us take our whole lives to find the ideal person to spend our lives with -myself included- so I applaud Brett and Reece for discovering it so young. They are the two people who mean the world to me. And if I never find someone to call my own, I know that I'll always have the two of them."

He raised a water bottle. "To Brett and Reece," he said. Reece wiped a tear from her eye. "May God always know that I kissed Reece first," he finished, sitting down.

Reece smacked him. I gave him a look. "Dude, way to ruin the moment right there," I said. Reece gave a small laugh. "I actually cried at that."

"And you stopped crying once Kyle ruined his own toast," I said. I grabbed his legal pad and pen and scratched out the last line. "That was a shit thing you did there," I said.

"It's true," he said, laughing and taking a sip from his beer. Reece took a sip from the same bottle. "Oh, I forgot what alcohol tasted like," she said. 

"I could get you your own bottle," I told her. She shook her head. "Aw, are you jealous?" she said, running her hand through my hair. I shook my head. "No," I said. I didn't even believe myself.

She kissed me. "Honey, I'm marrying you," she said. "Stop freaking out. We're family."

I shrugged. Family who had a sexual past, I guess, which is by far the weirdest type. 

C.J. gave a small cry. Reece held her close to her chest. Hallee stared thoughtfully. "Shouldn't you put her down for a nap? She looks exhausted."

"No," I said, drawling out the 'o'. Reece shook her head vigorously. "Never again."

As new parents, Reece and I had gone through every book, seen every doctor and tried every technique. When C.J. would begin to get tired, we made the mistake of putting her down for a nap. Then when we finally went to sleep, C.J. kept us up all night with her crying. Reece missed a job interview and I went all day with my clothes inside out. 

"Just to clarify, keep the toast as is?" Kyle broke in. 

I followed Reece into C.J.'s bedroom. "Not unless you want me to kill you," I called to him.

"You don't think he's really going to say that at our wedding, do you?" I asked Reece. She lie C.J. down on the changing table. "He's not going to," she assured me, while changing C.J's diaper. The baby squealed. "Shh, honey," Reece cooed to her.

I joined our guests. "You got rid of the last line, right?" I said, swatting the back of Kyle's head. He shoved me into the kitchen table. "No need to harass me," he said.

I pushed him back, and we toppled over the couch. Hallee scowled at us. "You guys are exactly the same as you were in high school."

"Does that surprise you, sweetheart?" Kyle asked as I shoved his face into the ground. Reece came out holding my now clean daughter. "For God's sake," she said, handing C.J. to Hallee.

She pulled me off of Kyle. "You guys are such children," she scolded. I kissed her sideways face, "But you still love us. What does that say about you?"

"That I have three kids," she said, laughing. She pulled me off the floor. Kyle handed her a beer. She opened it violently. "You're not going to drink in front of C.J. are you?" Hallee asked.

Reece shrugged. "I'm not giving her any, and I'm not pregnant anymore, so what's the harm?" she said, taking a long sip. I snatched the bottle away from her. She was becoming more and more casual about what she did in front of C.J., and I did not want my daughter to drink and swear when she learned how to walk.

"Hey!" she protested. 

"You're setting a bad example," I said. Reece covered C.J.'s eyes gently. "Problem solved," she announced. I would've laughed, but I was angry with her.

I was very protective over C.J., and sometimes it seemed like Reece didn't care about any of it. I knew she did, because she was a mom, but I wanted us to be on the same page.

Hallee checked her watch. "I think I better get back to my hotel," she said, standing. She pointed at Reece as she opened the door. "Shopping, tomorrow."

Reece nodded. "Yes. Bye Hallee."

"I better get going too," Kyle said. Reece pouted. "Why?"

Kyle smiled. "I need a date to your wedding, don't I?"

"Are you still dating Adrianna?" Reece asked. I stared in awe at her. Women have minds made for gossip. I still couldn't keep up with Kyle's college girlfriends.

"No, I'm dating Kenzie Coleson. I think she was in your Design class," Kyle said, taking his jacket and heading for the door. Reece gave him a look. "I didn't take a design class."

"Shit," he said. "Oh, wait, Kenzie was Charlie's girlfriend," he said to me. 

Reece's eyes lit up. She snapped her fingers. "Oh yah, Charlie-whatshisface. He was on your lacrosse team; the goalie."

I nodded my head. "Just don't knock her up, Kyle," I said, patting his back. He smiled. "Why not? You knocked Reece up twice and you two are getting married."