“I’m sure everything is okay, Mom. Don’t worry about it,” Rory smiled reassuringly.
Andrea stared at her daughter worriedly.
“Relax, Mom.” Rory gently squeezed her mother’s shoulders. “Everything’s fine.”
“Okay, honey,” Andrea replied, albeit hesitantly. “I’m gonna go see if mom’s all right. Let me know if the in-laws…will be staying,” Andrea continued, making air quotes over the word in-laws.
As soon as her mother was out of sight, Rory’s face fell. Her skin felt like a million tiny pins were prickling her, and her chest felt tight. She was sure that whatever his parents had made the planned trip to Oak Harbor for, it wasn’t to apologize to her and tell her that they would support their marriage— that would be a stretch. If anything, she was sure they were probably trying to convince James that he was making the biggest mistake of his life seeking to be attached to her while insulting everything about her mother’s hometown.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Rory tried to fix her face before turning, but she failed.
“What’s wrong?” Trey asked, leaning his head to stare down at her worriedly.
“James’ parents are here.”
“Ah,” Trey nodded in understanding. “Does your mom know that they’re against the wedding?”
“To a point,” Rory replied, putting her thumb and index finger together before opening a little space between them. She sighed, her shoulders sagging dejectedly.
“Come on, let’s go get some of your uncle’s famously grilled steak,” Trey said, offering her his arm.
After a few seconds of just looking at him, she hooked her arm with his and allowed him to pull her toward the grill where Uncle Luke stood, flipping steak and burger meat while talking and laughing with his son Charles.
“Sounds like you guys are having a whale of a time over here,” Rory commented as they came up to her uncle’s side.
“I was just telling this one here some stories about your grandpa back when we were kids. Oh, the trouble we used to get into,” Luke looked over at her smilingly.
“I wanna hear,” Rory chirped, needing something to take her mind off what was taking place inside the house.
“Your grandfather was a troublemaker through and through, and he always got me to go along with his hair-brained schemes— I never had a choice because he was so goofy at convincing me.” Luke chuckled and plated the sizzling slabs of steak for her and Trey. They took a seat on the concrete bench a few feet away from the grill, waiting for him to continue with the story.
“I remember the time the two of us went fishing after our father warned us not to go out that day, but Sam convinced me that it was the best time to do it, and since pops was gonna be out of town, he would be none the wiser. We finally made it to the fishing hole, and guess who was there?”
Rory leaned forward, getting into the story. “Who?” she asked, eager to find out.
Trey laughed at her enthusiasm.
“Rory…”
Rory looked over her shoulder to see James and his parents staring back at her. Her heart rate that she had lessened considerably shot through the roof, and the look on Lenora’s face confirmed that all was indeed not well.
She shot to her legs, wishing she had something to hold on to as her legs felt like they wanted to give way.
“Hi, Richard, Lenora. It’s so nice to see you.” She forced a smile onto her lips as she greeted them with her hand outstretched.
“Hello, Rory,” Richard replied, giving her hand a firm shake.
Rory turned to Lenora.
“Aurora,” she said simply by way of acknowledgment.
An awkward silence ensued as Rory slowly dropped her hand to her side. James gave her an apologetic look.
“Hi, you must be my beautiful niece’s fiancé’s parents,” Luke walked away from the grill to greet them with a warm smile to lighten the tense atmosphere.
“Um, Uncle Luke, everyone, this is Lenora and Richard,” Rory managed to croak out.
