Ties That Bind

Chapter 26. Simple Gesture

After the ceremony, the party of people moved to the hotel everybody was staying at since they were able to use one of the large patio areas and have it decorated for the couple; it was a big reason why the men and family stayed there anyway---but Lindsey helped by paying for the extra extravagance.

Seated in a chair that faced the platform Lindsey and the rest of the band were on, Stevie was curled as much as possible, staying under her shawl as if it were some sort of protection. She watched as people danced, her parents mingled with Lori's family and then of course, she got lost in Lindsey's world of music---his acoustic skills being one of her favorites since he played some of the hardest sounding songs with just his fingertips.

A smile formed across her lips when she heard his voice enter the microphone, his attention on her, but at the moment, it was just as easy to cancel out any sort of noise or interruption due to her swarming thoughts; telling him.

Pretty soon she felt arms wrapping around her shoulders and she looked up just to see her mother.

"Hi," she smiled, kissing her mother's cheek. "What are you and daddy up to?"

"Just drinking, talking... You were a good excuse to get away from people 'cause you like to seclude yourself," the woman kissed her head. "Are you having fun?" she had to smirk only because it seemed that her child had been glued to the seat since they got to the hotel.

"I am... I'm just a little tired, that's all---" she picked up her full glass of red wine just to pretend to sip.

She had picked it up every so often only because she really did not want to consume alcohol at all, but she also didn't want to look "not herself" by not drinking. For the passed two hours, she had been sipping from the glass, but still it was full.

"But how 'bout Chris... He gets to drink legally on his wedding day," she laughed as she watched him take a shot of some sort of beverage from afar.

"My son," Barbara rolled her eyes with a smile. "No, but I'm worried about you," she nudged her in the arm as she pulled up a chair and lit a cigarette. "What's up, TeeDee?"

"Nothing much," she pursed her lips with a slight shrug---repositioning her shawl over her shoulders. "Just watching him play," she looked up at him and made eye contact, so she winked before he could.

He smirked in the midst of his guitar playing and he focused elsewhere.

"He plays beautifully," her mother patted her knee.

"He does," she grinned once more, but she looked over at the band again and she noticed Mick looked really high or really drunk though she couldn't tell from her view point.

"Well, honey---I'm really glad you're still with him. He's very gentle and such a gentleman when he is around us," she stated, enthralled by the amount of character within his young self.

"Yeah," she giggled deeply. "I'm bummed he'll be leaving soon. Next week, actually..."

"Tour?" the older woman questioned.

"Mhmm. He's gonna be gone for a while, but I think I can occupy myself," she implied of school though, her mind was wrapped around being pregnant because that didn't seem to leave her mind at all.

Since she had found out she was carrying a child, it was as if all she could feel were flutters in her stomach; the life growing inside of her was prominent and she felt that even if she'd have never found out, she would have felt that and known on her own. But finding out the way she did, it was more of a desperation type thing, so though she knew it, she just couldn't believe it.