When her eyes meet mine, it’s as if she’s seeing me for the first time in years, and I realize she really is in there. I immediately pull her in for a hug, and she holds me incredibly close.
“Oh, my sweet boy.”
I squeeze my eyes shut at the sound of her voice, and I feel her kiss my shoulder softly. When I pull away, I smile down at her and wipe her tears.
“Hi, Mom.”
She smiles up at me and pulls me in again. I don’t know how long we stand there but when we pull away I notice Sage wiping her tears and she isn’t discreet about it although I know she tries to be.
I pull her hand before kissing her cheek, and I make sure to keep her close. My mom looks between the two of us, and when I see the tears building in her eyes, I have to look away. I focus on Sage instead, and when she smiles at my mom, it does something to my heart.
“Capri filled me in just a bit before you got here.” My mom takes Sage’s hand and smiles so big at her ring.
I figured when she’s lucid, she’d remember everything, but Capri explained to us the last time this happened that she might still be confused when piecing together the past and the blurriness of the last few years.
“When’s the wedding?”
“This December.” Sage goes on excitedly.
She was stuck between a summer or winter wedding, but after seeing a wedding photo shoot in the snow, she was sold on the idea, so now I get to freeze my ass in a few months on our wedding day, but I’ll do it with a smile on my face.
I watch them get lost in a conversation and I’m so glad my mom was able to meet Sage, really meet her.
“The wedding sounds like it’s going to be beautiful. How’s everything… else.” She looks between the two of us. “No babies?”
Sage’s eyes slightly widen and I let out a soft laugh when she turns to me for help.
“No, Mom. No babies,unfortunately.” I point my last word at Sage as I wrap an arm around her waist and rub her belly. Sheseems to shrink as we both look at her accusingly, but I pull her closer before kissing her temple. “You know I'm kidding, beloved,” I whisper in her ear before turning to my mom.
“She wants to wait a little while. She’s exactly where she wants to be in her career so we’re going to let her have her time to shine before I make her take a break to have my kids.”
Sage smiles from ear to ear, as she does every time I say anything along the lines ofher having my kids. I understand why she wants to wait, and she promised me we’ll have a kid in four yearstops, but I’m not holding her to it. It’ll happen when it happens.
When my mom looks over at me, a sad look crosses her face, and she tries to put on a brave face, but I see right through her. “Promise me you guys will record the wedding. Not just the traditional wedding video but everything else. I don’t want to miss anything from my baby's big day.”
I promise her I will and silently hope for a miracle that she’s lucid on our wedding day, too, but the chances of that are slim to none.
“What if…” Sage takes my hand. “We get married today?”
“What?” I look between her eyes, but she only smiles up at me.
“We all want her a part of the wedding and–” She turns to my mom. “–you’re lucid right now. We don’t know how long this miracle will last or if we’ll get another one so we can get married right now.”
My mom looks between the two of us before shaking her head. “I can’t ask you to do that–”
“You didn’t ask.” Sage smiles at her, but I take her hand before turning her to me.
“Sage, you put so much work into the wedding. Are you really willing to sacrifice it for…”
“You?” She nods. “Of course I am.”How the hell did I become worthy of this woman?
“Are you–”
“I’m sure! We can still have the big wedding in December. I’ll still get to wear my big dress and take all of the pictures, it’ll be a four-month late after-party for today.”
I pull her in for a hug and nuzzle my face in her neck. “Thank you, Dory.”
“This works perfectly.”
