Producing A Love Affair

XL. The Wedding Gift

"Jesus, Stevie---are you okay?" Lori panicked at the sight of her sister vomiting. She held her hair back for her, but she was concerned that she would be too sick to attend her own wedding.

She had just woken up and she and Lori were holding brief conversation with one another over coffee on Stevie's bed in the guest bedroom, when Stevie started to feel a kick of nerves, but she ultimately had to get up and get to the bathroom.

"I'm fine," she waved her hand, letting off a subtle cough. She flushed the toilet and got up to wash her hands, brush her teeth and wash her face.

She had to get ready anyway, so she wasn't worried about starting early.

"I had a turning stomach all day yesterday and I've felt like I was gonna puke and I did, so we're thankful," she explained. "I'm not worried about it during the ceremony now."

"How long have you been feeling like that?" she asked.

"A while, but I'm nervous about the wedding. Y'know? It's major and a lot is going on. Since Lindsey left I've been a little on edge but as we got closer and closer to the day..." she chilled.

"There is no reason for you to be nervous, Stevie. Plus, you really don't look great," she shook her head. "Not to mention, when you're nervous, you never actually puke like you say you're gonna."

Stevie kind of shrugged.

"Not to rile you up, but you don't think you're pregnant, do you?" she asked.

"No!" she shook her head. "Absolutely not, I am not pregnant---I can't be," she added.

"Well, think about it," she mentioned. "It's not like it's impossible."

"I'm not saying it is, but this is my wedding day---I cannot think about that right now," she tapped her nails on the counter nervously.

"Till, you're ready to, I'd say cut back on the booze then, just in case," Lori walked out of the bathroom and left her sister alone.

Looking up at herself in the mirror, she examined herself a little. "No... No," she shook her head, believing that she wasn't. She then headed back over to the guest bedroom since she was staying at Lori's.

As per her niece's orders, she would get ready at her brother's house for the wedding. Lindsey was at their house and his brothers and mother would be over to help him get ready, while Barbara would be over at her son's to help Stevie get ready. And the night before, Stevie prepared herself and soaked in a long bath and washed her hair and prepared everything so she would have some sort of order when she got ready.

"I say take a test---I have some under the sink," Lori told her, sporadically as she hung the giant black bag, holding the dress on the door. "I also say drink some Alka-Seltzer to ease your stomach."

"I'll drink the Alka-Seltzer because my stomach is annoyed, not because I think I'm pregnant, okay?"

"Well, I'll get it---I don't know what the big deal is, anyway---it is your soon to be husband's," she shrugged making her way out.

Stevie rolled her eyes as she started applying face cream to her skin.

When Lori returned she brought the drink and some plain toast for her as well. "You should try to eat something anyway," she mentioned. "You haven't eaten since yesterday---I watched you, you didn't eat lunch and you picked at your dinner when we were all together. If you're not pregnant, it's probably because you have nothing in your stomach."

She took the toast, abiding the fact that she hadn't eaten because she was full of adrenaline.

So much was going on that she couldn't eat.