Earl came bursting in, his mother, Sharon James, and Beth Fox right behind him.
The second Beth was through the door, she dropped to her knees in front of me.
"Joss, whatever went wrong, it's all my fault."
"I shouldn't have taken Auntie's envelope. I shouldn't have called her Mom."
"Hit me, scream at me, whatever you want. Just please, stop being angry with Earl."
I looked at her putting on this whole show, and all I felt was how ridiculous it was.
"Beth, what exactly are you performing here?"
"You really think I don't know what you've been up to?"
From the moment we started planning the wedding, she'd used the excuse of "helping me keep an eye on things" to spend more and more time around Earl.
Picking the wedding dress, she insisted on trying it on for me, then asked Earl whether she looked good in it.
The menu tasting, she made a point of sitting beside Earl, the two of them laughing over everything.
I'd thought she was just being enthusiastic.
Now it was obvious. She'd been working behind my back the whole time.
Seeing Beth on her knees, Earl rushed to bend down and pull her up, tucking her against him.
"Jocelyn, Beth has gone this far, and you still want more? Do you have to drag this out and make it this ugly? Do you have a shred of empathy in you?"
Sharon jumped in right behind him, jabbing a finger in my face.
"Exactly! Look how sensible Beth is. Not like you, not an ounce of generosity in you."
"Let me tell you, if you don't go through with this wedding today, from now on you're a used-up piece of trash nobody wants!"
That made me let out a small snort.
"Used-up trash?"
"Ma'am, the last century ended a long time ago. You still walking around with that kind of thinking?"
"I never signed a marriage license with your son. I'm a single woman with a clean record, and calling this off is just cutting my losses in time."
"Your son, on the other hand, carrying on with the maid of honor at his own wedding, now that's an animal who can't keep it in his pants."
Sharon's face went a mottled purple, the finger she was pointing at me trembling.
"You... you ill-bred little thing!"
"Fine! You won't do it? Plenty of people will!"
She walked over to Beth and grabbed her hand.
"There are dozens of tables of food already out there, paid for. Not going through with it would be a waste!"
"This banquet today, we're changing it right now to Earl and Beth's!"
"I liked Beth better from the start anyway! And besides, Beth is already carrying our Swanson family's child!"
My mother sucked in a sharp breath and gripped my arm without thinking.
I turned to look at Beth. She had her head down, both hands folded over her flat stomach, but she couldn't stop that smug little smile at the corner of her mouth.
Five years, my closest friend. Three years, my fiancé.
While I'd been running myself ragged over this wedding, the two of them had already gone and made a baby.
My stomach turned over, a wave I couldn't hold down.
Seeing the whole thing was out in the open now, Earl let out a sigh.
"Joss, since my mom's already said it, I won't keep it from you either."
"Beth and I, that one time was just an accident. Everyone had too much to drink and lost control."
"But you have to believe me, the person I really love is you. It's you I've been sincere with."
He took a step forward, something almost charitable in his eyes.
"Joss, we've got three years between us at least. I don't want to make this any uglier than it has to be."
"So I'm giving you one last chance today. Go change your clothes, go back out there, and finish the rest of the ceremony."
"As for Beth... she's your best friend too. You can't really watch her baby grow up with no name and no standing, can you?"
"Once the baby's born, we'll just put it under your name. It can call you its real mother."
