Unplanned Love (Savage Love) (5 page)

     Soon Bryce and Kevin were the only ones left at the table. Bryson and Lucille had left to nap in the shade, Sally and Samantha had left together and Daffyd hadn’t returned.

     “So how do you like the Island?” Bryce asked.

     “It’s pretty nice. Beats staying in Milwaukee for spring break,” he said casually.

     “What’s your major?” Bryce inquired.

     “Business. You’re in law?” Kevin tried to recall what Seanna had told him.

     “
Third year,” he acknowledged. “How about you, how much time left?”

     “Thankfully, this is my last year. I
’m more than ready to get to work and pay off some student loans,” Kevin answered.

     “Do you have anything lined up?” asked Bryce.

     “I have a few possibilities. I’m working on something right now that looks pretty promising,” Kevin said with a smug grin. Looking up he saw Daffyd coming their way. “Hey, could you tell Sea that I’m a little tired. I think I’ll sit this one out. You guys go have fun. I’ll catch up with you later.”

     “Sure thing,” said Bryce, trying not to be irritated over the use of his nickname for Seanna.

     “Look who’s the rotten egg!” said Alyssa grinning up at Bryce while she put her flippers on.

      “Where’s Kevin?” asked Seanna when Bryce finally joined them with his snorkel gear.

     “He asked me to tell you that he would catch up with us later. Said he was pretty tired,” answered Bryce.

     “Yeah, I slept on the plane, he didn’t. I really wanted him to go, maybe I’ll wait for him…” Seanna tried not to be disappointed.

     “Oh, come on, I’ve been waiting patiently for days,” begged Bryce.

     “Patiently?” said Alyssa with a snort making Seanna laugh.

     “Ok, we can always go again later,” Seanna
tried to hide her disappointment.

     In the meantime Kevin got moved into his cabana. He was relieved to see that it was not in the family cluster. He could only handle so much togetherness with his own family, let alone someone else’s.
Ten days, old boy, ten days,
he reassured himself as he unpacked.
The brother seems harmless enough and he ended up bringing a friend after all, make the best of it.
Before he napped he made a few calls while he had the chance.

     By the time they were done exploring the underwater wonderland the two girls were wiped. Showered and snacked they were both laying on one of the double beds getting to know each other. Neither one had on a lick of makeup and they were lounging in shorts and tank tops. Seanna’s curly hair was having a hey-day in the moist warm weather. Pulling it on top of her head in a loose bun seemed like the smartest thing to do. Alyssa’s was short and fine enough that it was already dried and looked like she had spent hours fixing it. Had anyone looked in on them, they would have thought they were seeing much younger girls!

    
“Your Mom’s great. She’s so laid back compared to my Mom,” commented Alyssa as she stared at the ceiling fan.

     “Oh, she knows how to be uptight, believe me! She’s just really happy right now. Just a year ago,
everything was a big mess…” Seanna said. “The whole wedding is a miracle.”

     “Yeah, Bryce told me about some of the stuff that has happened. I had a hard time believing it. It sounded more like a soap opera than someone’s real life,” laughed Alyssa.

     “Well, it felt like a soap opera!” Seanna said shaking her head. “But I wouldn’t trade it for nothing. My Mom’s never been happier and now I have three grandparents, a brother-slash-cousin, an aunt, and uncle and will soon have a step-dad! Before my dad passed away, it was just the three of us, no grandparents, uncles, aunts or cousins. So my family has grown exponentially.”

     “You never met your parent’s parents?” Alyssa asked.

     “Not my mom’s and only my dad’s mother. There were all kinds of junk in my parent’s lives. Actually my dad wasn’t my biological dad. His parents disowned him when he decided he was gay. After he gave his life to the Lord and renounced that lifestyle, he met my mom, who was a nineteen year old single mom, who’d family had disowned her as well. So I guess the soap opera started before I was born,” she said with a grin. “My dad was great! But needless to say, things were a little weird for my mom. We never found out about his past until after he died. He tried to be a good husband to my mom…but their relationship wasn’t anything like her’s and Daffyd’s.”

     “So despite all the drama, you were happy?” asked Alyssa.

     “Yep,” said Seanna.

     “I guess I’ve had my share of drama, but most of it was my own making…” said Alyssa closing her eyes.

     “Well, I guess we’re all guilty of that at times,” offered Seanna. “What was it like growing up for you?”

     “I guess I had a pretty good life. My Dad had a great job and Mom didn’t have to work. So she was always there for us…sometimes maybe too much. I guess they love each other. Mom tends to expect a little too much out of all of us. I think sometimes it’s because she plain gets bored,” she said.

     “Are you close with your Mom?” asked Seanna.

     “Not really, my little sister is. They are more alike. Things kind of got worse when I got into high school. I joined the swim team and mom was hoping that I would be on the cheer squad like she was in high school…” Alyssa shared.

     “That’s why you swim like a fish!” joked Seanna.

     “I took first at State two years in a row. I even got a scholarship to college. I guess my parents were pretty proud of that, even if it wasn’t exactly the way they wanted me to excel, they were happy that I had gotten recognition for my swimming.”

     “So where are you going to school?” Seanna inquired.

     “…I’m not,” she said quietly.

     “What happened?” asked Seanna gently.

     “My last quarter of senior year
, I met this really great guy where I volunteered at the food pantry. He was already graduated, but working for a year before he went to school. Jeff was funny and everybody just loved him. It wasn’t long before we started dating. My parents weren’t too thrilled about it. Jeff’s parents were just middle class and I guess they had their doubts that he would ever go to college. Anyway, we ended up getting pretty serious pretty fast. About two months before graduation…I found out I was pregnant. Jeff was great about it all. He offered to continue working and forget about college so that he could support us. But my parents freaked. They said that I had ruined my life and my chances for college. Soon they had me convinced that I was ruining Jeff’s future as well…” Alyssa had tears in her eyes and Seanna just gave her a minute.

     “I tried to talk to Jeff about it, but he just got mad at my parents. He was determined that we could make it all work. I guess I was just scared.
As time went on I knew I’d be showing soon and I had to decide what I was going to do…one day I just lost it. I was scared and tired of fighting with my parents and with Jeff…so I made an appointment to get an abortion. Mom took me and tried to make me feel better about it all. A couple of days later when I told Jeff, he was furious. That was the last time I ever talked to him. He never answered my calls or the letter I sent him to apologize. By the time graduation rolled around I was in depression and my grades had dropped. I lost my scholarship because my GPA wasn’t high enough.”

    
“The next year was pretty much hell…the abortion was supposed to secure a promising future for me, but instead I lost Jeff, my scholarship and the baby. If I hadn’t met Lucille, I’m not sure what I would have done. After overdosing on the drugs they had given me for depression my parents were at a loss as to what to do with me. At a meeting for people who had been affected by abortion I met her. Two weeks later I was living with them. And long story short, now I am trying to allow God to heal me.”

     “So you’ve given your heart over to God?” asked Seanna.

     “Yeah, about a week into living with Lucille and Bryson. They were so loving and accepting, I guess that’s what I needed. The softer my heart got, the more I wanted to have what they had. The hardest part was forgiving myself…” Alyssa said.

     “That’s what my mom says too. She was only seventeen and still in high school when she had me. She lost her whole family over it. Her parents were super religious and were mortified that she had had sex with a boy from our Church,” Seanna shared.

     “At least she kept you…” said Alyssa.

     “But God doesn’t want you to beat yourself up about it,” said Seanna firmly.

     “I know…” Alyssa answered.

     “So did you talk to Bryce about any of this?” Seanna asked.

     “No! I didn’t want to be trapped on an Island with someone who couldn’t stand the sight of me,” she exclaimed.

     “Bryce isn’t like that at all
. He’s actually the first person I ever told that I thought my dad was gay. He’s a good listener and he doesn’t judge. That’s why I am excited that we get to keep him now that Mom and Daffyd are making it official!” Seanna said smiling.

     “If you want to tell him, that’s fine by me, but I don’t think I could handle it. What about
Kevin, is he a good listener?” asked Alyssa.

     “Well
…
no
, he isn’t really! But he is cute and lots of fun!” joked Seanna, trying to make light of it.

     “Is he
the one
?” Alyssa asked with her eyebrows up.

    
“Too soon to tell. He’s the first person I’ve ever really dated…so I guess time will tell,” she finally answered.

     “Personally I think you have to go through some
crap
to really know what a person is like,” said Alyssa seriously.

     “I think you may be right. Mom and Daffyd have had their share and I guess that’s why we are all so close. We’ve been to hell and back and come out stronger and closer for having made it through,” Seanna replied.

     “Lucille always tells me, ‘you may be going through hell, but just don’t stop and put up a tent’!” laughed Alyssa.

     “That’s a good one
. I’ll have to remember that.” Seanna chuckled.

     “Hey, shouldn’t you be hanging out with the hot guy you came in with?” Alyssa commented.

     “Yeah…I guess somebody has to do it…” Alyssa pushed Seanna off the bed with her feet and Seanna laughingly scooted into her flip flops and headed out the door. “See you at dinner!”

     After Seanna left, Alyssa decided to take a walk. She found Lucille, Sally and Samantha on the pier under the gazebo. The three older women were talking animatedly and she hated to interrupt. Deciding to just walk past the pier and continue around the island she was caught off guard when Samantha called her over.

     “Care to join us
for some iced tea?” asked Samantha.

     “I don’t want to interrupt,” replied Alyssa.

     “We were just going over some of the wedding plans,” answered Lucille. “Did you kids have a good time this morning out in the water?”

     “We had so much fun that we wore ourselves out!” she laughed.

     “How did Kevin like snorkeling?” Samantha inquired.

     “He ended up not going. He told Bryce that he was too tired and would go next time,” she said. Lucille and Samantha exchanged a look that Alyssa happened to catch. “So, tomorrow there is another batch coming in?”

     “Both Pastor’s and their wives, and the nurse that helped with Daffyd last Christmas with her husband,” said Samantha.

     “Both Pastors?” asked Alyssa.

     “Well, I have a pastor in Wisconsin, and then we all have a pastor in Montana as well,” explained Samantha.

     “She just wanted a double blessing on her wedding,” teased Grandma Sally.

     “Can you blame me? After all the stuff we’ve been through!”

     “
The wedding is going to be lovely. We are getting married right out here on the pier. Tomorrow we’ll start setting up. There will be Japanese lanterns hanging around the gazebo, and some strung along the wooden planks along the pier. Even with two pastors the ceremony will be short and sweet but we are still going to have some chairs set up for anyone who might not want to stand,” said Samantha.

     “She means for all of us old folks,” laughed Lucille.

     “Seanna showed me her dress. It’s beautiful. She reminds me of a fairy tale princess. I can’t wait to see yours,” said Alyssa.

     “You know, in all this planning, I haven’t heard you mention a photographer,” said Sally.

     “Daffyd is weird about having his picture taken…” Samantha left off, not sure of how much information she should share with Alyssa.

     “But it’s your wedding day!” Alyssa exclaimed.

     “We’ll have someone snap some pictures. Bryce said you have been taking a ton since Daffyd purchased you that camera. Daffyd won’t mind some pictures taken by one of us,” Lucille quickly replied.