Everything

XXXVI

Welcome to London. Buckle your seatbelts - it's a long one!

*

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong now?"

Spencer and I sat in the back of a black Mercedes that had been waiting for us on the curb when we touched down at Gatwick. It was a chauffeur, with a Cockney accent that starkly reminded me where I was, who immediately took my luggage, placing it into the trunk of the car.

We were now on the hour-long drive towards Brosgrove, the leafy town on the outskirts of London where Spencer had grown up. When I had visited previously, it had always reminded me of a regency romance or a Mills and Boone novel, with its wide, winding roads, plentiful foliage and the red double decker buses that curved around its edges. This was English life. And what a stark difference it was from the Queens brownstone where I'd spent my childhood.

The six and a half hour flight from JFK to Gatwick on Spencer's private company plane had been filled with tension, mostly on my part, given that I knew impending doom was fast approaching in the form of two Haywoods. I was fearful of their welcome, or indeed lack of it, when I arrived on their doorstep. How was I meant to greet them? Surprise, I'm marrying your son!? The question had rolled around and around in my head, and I could barely watch the movie on the plane, let alone engage my fiancé in fluid conversation.

I sighed, pulling down my dusty pink dress, and fixing the engagement ring which still hung around my neck on the Cartier chain, "Are you sure I look okay? I don't need to change into anything else before we get there? Because I have jeans in my carry-on that I could get out just in case I—"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Spencer cautioned, holding my hand, "Slow down there, Adri. Is this what you're panicking about?"

I couldn't meet his eyes.

"Adriana?"

"What if your parents hate me, Spence?"

Spencer frowned, "What?"

"Your parents." I repeated, "What if they hate me? I mean I'm the girl who's just been their son's best friend for years, and now here I am rocking up on their doorstep, saying oops, my mistake, silly me, I've actually changed my mind and want to marry him now. What if they think badly of me? What if they think, that, oh, I don't know, that I'm a gold-digger or something?"

Now that I'd finally confessed how I felt about this whole situation to Spencer instead of sitting on my anger and my fear, letting it bubble up inside of me, until I felt like I was going to burst, I felt so much better for it. He would understand how I was feeling. He'd be empathetic and kind and considerate as he always was.

Spencer burst out laughing.

Or not.

"Spencer!" I fumed, shifting my dress again. Oh, for goodness sake, why wouldn't this neckline stay up!!

Spencer schooled his expression, "Hey, I'm sorry, baby, I'm sorry. It's just that...well, Adriana, that's preposterous."

"I'm just scared of meeting your mom that's all."

Spencer sighed, "Adriana, you've met Mum before..."

"No, no," I shook my head, "It's different this time. All the other times I've met her, she's never been my future mother-in-law. What if she hates me for trying to take away her baby boy?"

Spencer rolled his eyes, and pulled me into his chest. I fiddled with the collar of his shirt as he rested his chin on the top of my head, "Everything is going to be just fine, I promise. My parents are going to love you, just as much as I do, and just as much as they always have done. Now, why the hell didn't you tell me that was the reason you were all deer in the headlights about this, in the first place, hm?"