Sloane
"Are you sure I look okay?"
I blink rapidly, willing away the tears that clouded my vision as I stare at my best friend's beautiful daughter, "You look amazing, Sami," i clear my throat and look away, dabbing a tissue under my eye.
"Sloane! Stop! You promised," Sami whines, blinking as her eyes fill with tears, "If you cry, I cry," she sniffs, snagging the tissue out of Cami's outstretched hand and patting the inner corners of her eyes.
Today is an emotional day for everyone.
It's hard to believe that it's been 25 years since Samara was born, she looks so much like Cami did at that age. So elegant and timeless.
And here she is standing before me, a beautiful bride, wearing the same satin dress Cami wore when she married Dom 30 years ago.
Everything has come full circle.
I wave my hand at Sami, "Okay, okay. I'm fine, sorry. I'm fine!" The three of us share a laugh, all three on the brink of completely losing it. "I'm gonna go check on the guys, okay?"
"Oh! Give this to Miller for me?" Sami walks over and hands me a folded piece of paper she retrieved from her bodice. "Please?"
I smile softly, my nose burning as i hold back more tears, "Of course."
"Get out before I lose all of my mascara!" She laughs, Cami shooing me and my overemotional ass out of the bridal suite.
I hold the train of my rose gold gown, walking quickly from her room and down the hall, knocking lightly before pushing the door open. "Everyone decent?"
"Oh, Pip! Come look!"
I smile and shake my head, Chris has been keeping his promise. There hasn't been a day since we tied the knot that he hasn't called my Pip. Here we both are, pushing 55 and he's still calling me by my childhood nickname.
Everyone was used to it at this point, Samara even called me Pip until she learned how to say my name.
I push through the door, swallowing back the lump of emotion that grew in my throat.
My boys.
Chris is straightening Miller's tie with a proud grin on his face. Dom is helping our youngest son, Theo, knot his tie, while his son Kingston chats on the phone by the bay window.
They're all so grown up and so handsome.
Miller looks so much like Chris and yet so much like me at the same time while Theo and our daughter definitely takes after me. Delilah's basically my twin.
"How's the groom?" I whisper, clearing my throat to try and mask the emotion clogging it.
He grins, looking over at me, "I'm so good, Ma. God– I just– I'm so excited to marry her."
Chris claps his hand on Miller's shoulder, "I'm proud of you, son," his voice wavers with emotion.
Miller grins in return, "Thanks, dad."
My little boy. So grown up and marrying the love of his life. It's funny how things work out. Lisa and my mom were inseparable, which lead to Chris and I eventually falling in love.
Cami and I were joined at the hip and now we were getting ready to watch my son and her daughter tie the knot.
Full. Circle.
"Here," i clear my throat again and walk over to where my son and husband stood, passing the note to Miller, "Sami wanted you to have this."
He takes the note, twisting his lips to hide his grin.
"Why don't we give you the room?" I offer, jerking my chin towards the door and gesturing for everyone to head out.
Miller leans down, kissing my cheek, "Thank you, Ma. For everything."
I hum in response, knowing that if i spoke i would combust into a mess of tears, which makes him laugh.
"Can't talk?"
I shake my head, Chris laughing and wrapping his arm around my waist to pull me away.
"Holler if you need us," Dom calls out, all of us shuffling from the room quickly to give him some alone time before we head to the altar.
I pat my eyes with the crumpled tissue in my hand as we walk out of the room. "Anyone seen Deli?"
"Bathroom, last I talked to her. That was..." Theo pulls out his phone to check the time, "20 minutes ago, though. So I don't know."
She's acting really weird today. I've been trying to get her alone to ask her about it, but today's events are making it hard to focus on anyone besides Samara and Miller.
I turn to head toward the bathroom in the lobby of the hotel, then whip around on my heels and point my index finger at my son when i register the smell wafting off of him, "Theodore Robert. Lay off the whiskey. You're only 20."
He grins sheepishly, Dom and Chris both flushing.
Obviously, they aren't putting a stop to it.
I roll my eyes and head toward the lobby again, calling out, "Give your keys to your father," over my shoulder.
There are only 30 or so minutes until it's time to walk down the aisle, if I'm going to talk to Deli, nows the time to do it.
Pushing open the bathroom door, I sigh when I hear the unmistakeable sound of someone puking in one of the stalls. "Del? You okay?"
"Mom?" She groans, "Yeah, I'm okay. Just– I don't know, stage fright or something," she rambled off quickly.
Being a horrible liar is also one of the traits that my daughter had picked up from me. It paid off when she was a child and a rebellious teenager, but now it just made me worry. Her voice is off, and slightly panicky.
I walk over, rapping my knuckles against the stall door, "You sure?"
Delilah sighs as she shuffles around inside the stall, the lock unlatching before she pushes the door open slightly, "I'm okay. I just– I need a few minutes."
"Oh, Honey," i pull the door open, stepping into the stall and unraveling some tissue paper to clean the mascara running down her cheeks. I crouch down to her level and dab at her eyes. "What's going on?"
I had my suspicions this morning, but she would tell me when she was ready. I'm going to try my hardest not to push her.
She swallows hard, her eyes filling with tears. I watch as her mouth opens and closes a few times, the words never making it past her lips.
I smile sweetly, cupping her cheek in my hand as I wipe some more tears. "How far along?"
Her face twists up as she bursts into tears, sobbing into her hands.
Oh, my sweet Delilah. I'm not sure how i feel about having my suspicions confirmed but i do know one thing. Whatever she decides to do, i will be right by her side the entire time.
"How did you know?" She asks after a minute or two of breaking down in my arms.
I lift my shoulders in a shrug, "I just know these things. I know my kids," i kiss her temple, "Do you know how far along?"
She sniffs, wiping her nose with a piece of tissue paper. "10 weeks. The morning sickness started last week."
I can't help but smile because that's exactly how it was for me when I was pregnant with her. "Del, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to... But... Is– Is Levi the father?"
Chris is currently the head coach for the Boston Red Sox, which is great! He loves it, it makes him happy. It worked out that Deli wanted to go into Sports Marketing because Chris was able to get her an internship with the Sox Association and everything is going well.
Well, everyone but Chris seems to think so.
Del started spending a lot of time at the field and that led to her spending a lot of time with the shortstop, Levi Patterson.
They started dating sometime last year and everyone was thrilled. Everyone except for Chris.
But Levi is a good guy and he treats my daughter like the queen that she is. Im happy she found someone to take care of her like Chris takes care of me.
"Yeah, mom. He's really excited," she sniffs again, smiling softly.
"And you?" I ask softly, squeezing her shoulders.
"I'm so excited. I know I'm young and I know we're not married and we haven't been together all that long, but I'm in love with him, Mom. He's to me what dad is to you and I've never felt like this about anyone. He's already putting a college fund together for the baby and he's clearing out a room for the nursery," she pauses, looking up at me, "He asked me to move in with him."
"Delilah James. One: you know for a fact that your father and I were together for like 3 months when we decided to get married. Two: we had Miller before we were married. And three: if you're happy, I'm happy," i smile, allowing a few tears to fall down my cheeks. "You're 22 and living on your own, I'm not here to judge you or berate you for anything you do, honey. I'm here to love and support you through it. Okay?"
She bursts into tears, hugging my waist from where she sat on the bathroom floor beside me, crying into my shoulder. "Thank you," she sobs.
The two of us sat in silence for a moment, my hand rubbing her arm softly. "You gonna tell your dad?"
Deli laughs, wiping her eyes again, "Jesus. You know, Sami told me I could tell him and Dom today so they couldn't get mad."
She told Sami already. That made me smile.
I chuckle lightly, shaking my head. "That might not be a bad idea."
"I think he'll be happy for me."
"Of course, he will be, Del. He might wanna strangle Levi for a little bit, but what dad wasn't? Grandpa wanted to wring Chris's neck when I told him I was pregnant with Miller."
The two of us laugh for a second before i take a deep breath, "Okay, maid of honor. We gotta get moving. And you need to fix that," i laugh again, gesturing to her face and the ruined makeup. "Sami loves you, but I don't think she wanted a raccoon standing next to her on her big day."
Delilah rolls her eyes, slapping my shoulder gently before standing and reaching down to help me up. "Thanks, Ma. For everything."
God, these damn kids are on a mission to ruin me today.
Once Delilah was back in the bridal suite and fixing her makeup, i find Chris who's currently giving Miller a pep talk.
He hugs our son, clapping his back a couple of times before walking over to me.
"Hey, Pip." He presses a kiss to the top of my head, slinging an arm around my shoulder.
"Hey, baby."
My heart is filled with so much love and happiness, Miller and Samara getting married, Delilah and Levi expecting.
Everything is changing so much and i can't fucking wait.
Chris kisses the top of my head again, sighing deeply. "It's all come full circle."
I smile softly, shaking my head as Theo took a not-so-subtle swig out of Dom's flask, choking and saying loudly, "Tequila?! Who puts tequila in a flask?!"
"We really have," i laugh.