Fed up

God.” Adrianna emerged from the bathroom with a major scowl planted on her face. She wore a clingy yellow top, a white knee-length skirt, and sandals with three-inch heels. I loved it that Ade hadn’t spent her pregnancy shrouded in oversized outfits. Her clothes hugged her beautiful curves and celebrated her pregnancy. In my opinion, Kitty had no reason to criticize Ade.
    “Hello, Chloe.” Kitty’s smile was forced. “Adrianna, I just think that you could find something less... revealing than that outfit. You are a bride, after all. You could be less obvious.”
    “Less obvious? You mean I’m supposed to make it less obvious that I got knocked up before I was married?” Adri-anna sounded incredulous. “You think I can hide my pregnancy? You think I’d want to? Say it, Mom. Just say it! You want to pretend I’m not pregnant. You want me to play the part of some virginal bride, right? Well, tough.”
    “Adrianna Zane! How dare you!” Kitty had turned an alarming shade of red. Her lips were tightly pursed.
    “How dare I what? How dare I say what you’re chinking? You hate that I’m pregnant. You hate Owen, and you probably hate me.” Despite her raised voice, Adrianna Looked remarkably calm for someone who was duking it out with her mother. “I cannot deal with you right now. I can’t change how you feel and how you treat me, but I don’t have to put up with it.”
    Kitty stood frozen, aghast at her daughter’s brutal frankness.
    “Chloe, I’m packed and ready to go. Mother, you can let yourself out. I’ll see you tomorrow if you can drag yourself to the wedding. But I want you to leave right afterward. I don’t want you around after the wedding, and I don’t want you around when I give birth. Come on, let’s go.”
    I picked up Adrianna’s bags, she carried her wedding dress, and we bolted. We said nothing until we were seated in the van.
    Ade managed to buckle her seat belt and then took a look around the plant-packed van. “This is not exactly the glamorous limo ride I was expecting, but thanks for getting me.”
    “No problem. I thought a limo might be too pretentious and clichéd. A van packed with greenery hit me as celebratory without being excessive or trite.”
    “Good thinking.”
    I did a forty-point turn to get us out of the tight parking space. “You okay?”
    “Yup. I’m quite okay. Actually, I’m fantastic.” Ade smiled broadly. “I’m ready to get married, Chloe. I’m really ready. Kitty can suck it!” she cheered.
    “That’s my girl!” I yelled happily. “Kitty can suck it!”
     

 
    “LOOK at the tent!” Adrianna’s eyes lit up with happiness as I pulled the van to the front walkway. “It’s just beautiful, isn’t it, Chloe?”
    “It’s gorgeous. The ceremony is going to be amazing. Let’s go put our things in the guest bedroom, and then we’ll look around.”
    When my father opened the front door for us, he was humming Wagner’s “Bridal Chorus.”
    “Oh, here we go.” I rolled my eyes.
    “I love it. Keep up the music, Jack.” Adrianna hugged my dad.
    “Can you believe this weather?” he exclaimed. “I’m going to sit out on the deck tonight and do some meditation. Did Chloe tell you I’ve become addicted to yoga?”
    “Dad, not now!” I said, exasperated.
    Mom entered the living room. “Did you get everything we need? Oh, hello, Adrianna. Isn’t this fantastic? Chloe, where are the plants? Did the nursery have what we need? Jack, start unloading the plants from the van. Bring them all into the tent.”
    While my father obediently headed for the van, I calmed my mother down by informing her that I had enough foliage to fill four tents. Ade stifled a yawn. I took the wedding gown from her arms and asked, “Do you want to lie down for a bit while we unload the plants?”
    “I think I should. I feel like I’m ready to burst.”
    Mom put her arm on Ade’s and fired off ten or twelve questions one right after the other, including: “What has your doctor said? Does she think you’re getting close to delivering? Are you having Braxton Hicks?” My mother, I suspected, had consumed one espresso too many today.
    “Um, actually, I skipped my appointment this week and rescheduled it for next week. Owen and I aren’t going anywhere for a honeymoon, so he’ll be around to go with me.” Ade saw my mother’s alarmed face. “Honestly, Bethany, 1 feel fine. I really do. I’m just tired, that’s all.”
    “If you say so. Make