June 16, 2009
Evalynne's House
6:30 p.m.


Ash and I had already picked out invitations. They were just simple ones, white with a silver outlining, the time, date, place, dress code all written in that same silver color, and EC+AM=4ever engraved at the top in silver. We would send these out tomorrow.

We had just sat down for dinner and it was time for us to tell my parents about us getting married. I just didn't know how to say it right. I was so nervous, so anxious, so worried. I just wanted to get it over with, but I couldn't even get myself to start.

My hands were shaking at my sides and I opened my mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Ash looked over at me, noticed how nervous I was, and began to tell them.

"Mr. and Mrs. Carter, there's something Evalynne and I would like to tell you." he said politely.

They both looked up at us. "What is it?" Mom asked.

Ash looked over at me and continued when I didn't say anything, "I would first just like to say that I love your daughter very much. And I'll always be there for her, no matter what. And yesterday, I asked her to marry me. And she said yes." He lifted up his hand, showing them his wedding band as proof.

Mom and Dad's eyes went wide, both of them speechless. "You proposed?" Dad finally asked in shock. Ash nodded.

"And you said yes?" Mom cried, looking at me. I swallowed hard and held up my own wedding ring.

"I love him, Mom." I said. "And it was my fault for our break up, not his. I broke up with him because I felt bad about him and his mom. He had nothing to do with it. And he only dated Julianne because he thought that I wanted him to move on."

Tears came to Mom's eyes. "Wow, you two are really in love, aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes, we are." I replied. I handed her the invitation I was holding under the table. "The wedding's July twentieth, two weeks after my birthday."

She scanned the invitation, Dad peering at it too. "You two are really serious about this. You've planned it out and everything." Dad said.

"Yeah, we actually scheduled to meet with the local priest today." Ash said.

"It's cute how you put EC+AM=4ever at the top like that." Mom commented.

"Actually, Ash carved that into a tree at the park. That's where we're getting married at." I informed her.

Dad bit his lip and stared off into space, his face completely free of any emotion.

"Oh honey, this is all so romantic!" Mom oozed. "You have to let me help you plan it!"

"Mom, it's just going to be a small wedding. There's only going to be twenty people coming. It's not going to be all fancy. We're going to have like, a forty-five minute reception at the park, probably go out to dinner, and go home."

"Have you already decided how you're going to pay for this?" Dad asked.

"No, not yet. We were kind of hoping that you guys could help pay for it, but we could always get jobs to help pay it off. We still have to finish paying off the rest of Ash's ring." I told them. "It was three hundred and fifty dollars, and we paid one hundred and fifty of it so far. The jeweler who sold it to us, said that we could pay for it in increments."

"Well that's very responsible of you two. Of course we'll help pay for it!" Mom said.

"Awesome, thanks so much!" I cried.

"Yeah, we are so grateful that you both are being so helpful. Thank you very much." Ash told them sincerely.

"Anything for our daughter and son-in-law." Mom replied.

"And I already looked it up, it only takes twenty four hours to get the marriage license here in New York." Ash said.

"Cool, that's not very long at all." I added.

"So when are we going to go pick out your dress?" Mom asked me.

"I don't know." I confessed. "How about this Saturday?"

"That's too long away from now!" she complained.

"Mom, it's Monday. That's only five days away from now." I reminded her.

"I know! And five days is too long of a wait!" she said. I smirked at her. She sighed, "Fine, we can go on Saturday."

I laughed and shook my head. "You're so impatient." I chided.

"I'm just so excited! I love weddings and I love shopping. So I really love shopping for wedding dresses!"

"I know you do, Mom." I said.

After dinner, I walked upstairs with Ash and we both walked into my room. I plopped down on my bed and sighed with relief, "Wow, they took everything so well."

"I know, it's great." he added.

"Yeah, but don't you think that maybe we should go tell your mom now?" I asked.

He bit his lip and looked out my window, over at his old house. "I don't know."

"Come on, it's not going to be that bad." I assured him.

He groaned, "Fine, let's just get this over with."

So we both stood up and walked downstairs, "Where are you two going?" Mom asked us as we passed by her.

"To tell my mom about our marriage." Ash said flatly.

Mom winced, "Good luck,"

I rolled my eyes, "It's not going to be that bad!"

Mom looked at me like I was crazy, "If you say so," she murmured.

Then Ash and I walked outside and over to the front porch of his mom's house. We rang the doorbell and she answered with an annoyed look on her face. "What do you want?" she demanded.

Ash handed her an invitation. She read it over, her face expressionless. Then she looked back up at us.

"Will you come?" Ash asked. "It would mean a lot to me. And to Evalynne too." I nodded my head in agreement.

She handed him the invitation back. "I have much better things to do than watch you make a mess of your life." she remarked spitefully.

The pain on Ash's face was hard to look at. I'd never seen him so hurt. Out of everything his mom had ever said or done, this had been the cruelest. She just seemed so disgusted with him, so careless, like she truly didn't love him anymore.

"Ash loves you very much. I don't know if you can see it, but I can. And you really hurt him when you say things like that." I said. "If you love him as much as you say you do, then why don't you start acting like it? You should support him even if you don't agree with what he's doing. You should still be there for him."

She sneered, "Why would I support the fact that he's going to marry you and destroy the remainder of his life?"

"Because that's what mothers do." I snapped back.

She looked taken aback, "Don't do this, Ash." she mumbled. "Don't make the same mistake I did. You know why I don't want you doing this. Please don't do this to yourself."

For a moment it looked as if Ash were actually considering what she'd said, but that expression left his face as quick as it had came.

"I don't get it. I really don't." I said. "You should at least come. You should at least stick by his side. We love each other."

"That's the problem!" she exploded. "That's what I was afraid of!"

"You were afraid that Ash would fall in love with me?" I asked, baffled.

She looked at Ash and nodded, "But it's too late now. There's no going back. I just wanted you to be happy." Then tears started streaming down her face.

"I am happy, Mom." he said softly.

"For now you are," she replied.

"I'm marrying her so that I'll know that she'll always be mine, that we'll always love each other. Even when we're not together." he said.

A look of pain, dejection, and sadness came across her face. "Just don't blame me when things don't go as well as you expect. I care about you, Ash. And I don't want you to get hurt, but if you don't listen to me, that's exactly what's going to happen."

He swallowed hard and nodded, "I know that this is what I want, Mom."

She stared at him for a moment with tears in her eyes, "Ok, if it's really what you want then you have my permission to marry her. Not my approval, just my permission." she said.

"Thanks, Mom," he replied. Then we turned and walked back to my house. And I felt like there was more to it than his mom not liking me or being jealous that he found true love and she didn't. I felt like there was something I didn't know about that was causing Ash's mom to be the way she was. Maybe it had something to do with what he was about to tell me earlier today.

"It's kind of weird how your mom just gave us her permission to marry each other after she was so angry that we were dating." I said.

"Yeah, but I think now she realizes how much we love each other." Ash replied.

"It's still weird how she said it was ok. Almost like there was some reason that she said yes. A reason that I don't know about." I looked over at him, expecting him to tell me what that reason was. But he stayed silent. So I just came out and said it. "Ash, is there something you're not telling me?"

He bit his lip and looked back at me. Then he sighed, "Yes, there is."

"What is it?" I asked, judging by the look in his eyes that it wasn't good.

"Evalynne, two days after we marry, July twenty-second I have to go somewhere far away." he said.

"Like where?" I asked.

"Iraq."

My eyebrows knit together, "Why do you have to go there?"

"Because on July twenty-second, I leave to go to war. I'm in the army."