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“Yeah,” I replied. I was a bit surprised by my response because I was expecting that it would take a little while for me to admit this, but time, I realized now more than ever, was so brief that there was no point in denying what I knew and felt all because of the fear that it could change.
“Right now, at this moment... I really like her,” I told my mom. “I know that it might be too soon, but I think for once, I'd like to explore where this could lead between us even after this week's festivities are over.”
She nodded quietly; however, she didn't seem very excited.
“You sure?” she asked, and this made me amused.
“Yeah. Why?”
“I mean, she's only known you a few days, and you know I've heard rumors.”
I smiled again.
“That was our agreement. She's not acting out of the ordinary. Our intention was never to date.”
“Ah,” she said, “Is that how you kids do it these days?”
“Somewhat," I replied, and she nodded. We remained silent afterward, and finally, we arrived at the hospital in Manhattan. The helicopter landed on the roof, and soon enough, she was being brought down and transported into the hospital. She was here now, so no matter what happened, there would be people to immediately attend to her, so I calmed down a little bit.
She grew completely silent as she was admitted, and then her tests were conducted. It was just as Doctor Harold had mentioned in the Hamptons, and it scared the hell out of me.
“Variceal bleeding,” he said. “She was at risk for it, but luckily she came in time so there is no rupturing.”
Shutting my eyes, I released a deep breath, and he came over to squeeze my shoulder. Over the past several months, we have had one too many of these meetings.
“We’re going to go with Sclerotherapy now and beta-blockers. Hopefully, and afterward, she won't have to spend too much time here and can leave in a couple of hours. “
“A couple of hours?” I asked and breathed easy.
“My sister's wedding is tomorrow. I truly won't be able to explain things if my mom can’t make it.”
“Don't worry, Mr. Moran. I’ll try my best,” he said, and I nodded in gratitude. I leaned back then and watched as they started work on her and couldn’t help but check in with Evelyn.
“How’s Aurora?” I texted. “How are things with the guests?”
I knew that rather than asking Evelyn, who was just the photographer, I was supposed to be instead asking Victoria, who was fully in charge as the wedding planner, but not hearing correct details or just generally being barraged for whatever reason stopped me. Whatever Evelyn had to say would be good enough, so I waited with anticipation until she responded.
Chapter Forty-Four
Evelyn
I had truly thought all these days that Aurora had been upset. However, watching her now in comparison to earlier, the difference was very clear to me that she had been holding back. Without her mother and brother being present, and her being very upset about this, she had basically turned into her brother—doing the barest minimum and holding a scowl when anyone took too long and got too enthusiastic over anything.
It was like watching him, so I couldn’t complain, plus I could see that Victoria, as a result, was having the worst possible time along with the photographer that, surprise, surprise, was too much of a force for her to control. He had been expecting a blushing, over-the-moon bride; instead, he got a grumpy, done-with-all-this-shit bride, and he was not amused.
The guests, though, seemed to have taken the day as their own party and were participating heartily in the tournament, going to the shoot when asked and basically enjoying it as well. All except Aurora's dad. He tried to hide it with his sweet nature. He tried to be as friendly as possible, but multiple times, eventually, he was nowhere to be found. Even more this convinced me that whatever was wrong with their mother was not something new. It was an illness they had already been aware of and were clearly managing and had told Aurora nothing about.
It began to dawn on me then that this actually might be the underlying reason behind Aurora not getting the wedding she wants and, instead, her mom getting the wedding she wanted for Aurora. It made absolute sense to me. And so, eventually, especially when, by the look of things, it felt as though the salsa club dancing event planned for later that evening would not be happening, I called Drake and hoped that he would respond.
“Hey,” he greeted, still sounding forlorn and exhausted to the bone.
My heart instantly softened as well as my tone.
“How’s it going?”
“Okay,” he replied. “We should be back later tonight or tomorrow morning. Thankfully the wedding's later tomorrow.”
“Yeah, thankfully,” I said.
