Page 37 of Truth or More Truth
My smile grows bigger. “I’d like that.”
We don’t share a ride with Wendy and Randall on the way back to the hotel after the rehearsal dinner. Diego also needed a ride back to the hotel, and Leslie’s mom insisted he take her car, so we wouldn’t all be crammed into Melissa’s tiny Prelude. Randall and Wendy rode with him to navigate, and I’m driving Melissa’s car yet again.
“You had fun tonight?” I ask Melissa after several minutes of companionable silence on the road.
“I did. It was good to see Leslie’s family again, as well as Ash and Randall’s mom and sisters. I’ve seen them all a lot throughout the prep for both weddings, but now I’m wondering when—or if—I’ll see some of them again after tomorrow.”
Hmm. It doesn’t sound like she thinks she’ll have contact with Shannon after the wedding. I like that idea far too much.
“Of course,” she continues, “I’ll probably see Shannon when he comes to visit Leslie and Ash. He comes to Chicago a lot more often than any of the rest of their family does.”
I press my lips together and decide not to respond to her statement. Instead I say, “I bet Leslie’s parents and aunt will visit a lot more often once she and Ash have kids.”
Melissa whips her head toward me. “Do you know something?”
My forehead wrinkles in confusion. “Know what?”
“You said that as if you know there’s a baby on the way.”
Now my eyebrows raise. “I know no such thing. Do you?”
“No. I wonder about Wendy, though. I noticed she didn’t drink any wine tonight, and that girl loves her wine.”
“Could be a sign. You going to ask her about it?”
“I don’t know,” Melissa admits. “She wanted to start trying right away after the wedding, since she’s in her thirties and they want a big family. But I’m afraid to ask in case they’re trying and she’s not pregnant yet. I don’t want to upset her if that’s the case.”
“It hasn’t even been two months since they got married, though,” I say.
She sighs. “True. But still.”
“I get it. I don’t want to ask Randall, either. Something tells me he might be even more upset than Wendy if she’s not pregnant yet.”
Melissa laughs lightly. “I think you’re right. It’s cute how excited he is about wanting to be a dad.”
“Do you want kids someday?” I ask before realizing I’m walking into a minefield with that question.
“Yeah. At least two. I’m an only child, and I’ve always wished I had siblings, especially now that my parents are getting older. My parents couldn’t have more kids, so I don’t blame them, but sometimes my childhood was lonely.”
“I can understand that.”
“Do you want kids?” she asks.
I take a few seconds to consider my answer. Do I tell her thetruth? Or do I give her my typical evasive answer to this question? I mentally slap myself as I choose the easy route. “I’d like a couple.”
It’s the truth, though not the entire truth. I’m not ready to tell her I already have a daughter—one who’s almost as close to Melissa’s age as Melissa is to mine. I don’t tell many people about Kelli, due to my high-profile job. I don’t want the press to mess with her. But I trust Melissa now, right? She’s a friend, and if the Hamilton men and their women trust her, I should, too.
I open my mouth to share my rarely told secret when she hijacks my attempt.
“I don’t look forward to being the parent of a teenager, though,” she says. “I adore Ash and Randall’s sisters, but I can’t imagine trying to keep them in line, and they’re good girls.” She laughs. “And thinking back on what I was like as a teenager?” In my peripheral vision, I see her nose wrinkle. “No, thank you. That sounds like no fun at all.”
My heart drops, and I rethink my plan to tell her about Kelli.
She continues, “I don’t know how I didn’t send my mother to an early grave, especially in my junior high years.” She sighs. “I was not a nice person. Just ask Ash.”
My eyebrows shoot up and my head whips toward her. “What did you do to Ash?”
“You don’t know that story?”
