How To Silence A Crowd

Complete silence fell over the church when the ceremony was stopped, everyone seemed to turn in unison to stare at the woman standing at the front of the church. "Devon I can't let you do this," Shirley repeated.

"Mom?" Devon stared at his mom on disbelief, I guess of all the people he thought would try to stop his wedding, his mom wasn't one of them. "I have to do this mom," he turned back to Annette.

I was sitting only a couple rows away from the front of the church so I could barely make out what Annette said but it sounded like, "I think you should hear your mother out Devon." I didn't understand why she would say that especially when she was carrying his father's baby but as I watched her shift uncomfortably from one foot to the other, I started to wonder if I wasn't wrong when I thought there was something off.

Shirley made her way up to Devon. "I'm sorry," she said to the minister. "But I need to talk to my son right now," and she pulled him away from Annette, back through the door he came out off at the beginning of the ceremony.

When they disappeared behind closed doors with Devon's father, I turned my attention towards Reed who was still standing at the alter looking a little dazed and confused. It took a moment but he finally looked out over the crowd and our eyes locked, I motioned for him to come over.

"What's going on?" I asked him when he sat down next to me and took Alexis up.

"I know just as much as you do darling," he told me. We didn't say much else, he sat there with one arm around me and Alexis in his lap; I took a picture of them, they looked so good together.

The door to the little room swung open, everyone turned to see a red faced Devon. He ignored everyone as his gaze landed on Annette. "Come here," he demanded.

And she did, it was the first time I've seen her do anything he told her without there being some kind of argument. With her head down, Annette made her way over to Devon and they disappeared into the room.

While we waited to see if someone would come out and let us know what was going on, Reed turned to me. "You know we are here and the minister is here..."

Before I had time to say anything Lucinda leaned over to look at Reed. "Don't you even think about it! Amber deserves so much more than a bad break in your best friend's wedding!"

"Mom! I was just kidding! Amber knows that," he glanced at me. "Don't you?"

I nodded, "Of course I know that." But the way I was feeling at that moment? I probably would've said 'sure, let's do it!'

Ten more minutes passed before the door opened again, this time Devon came stalking out of the room and without a word to anyone, he walked down the aisle and out of the church.

"I got to go," Reed jumped up, handing Alexis to me. "I love you," he gave me a kiss and then took off after Devon.

Shirley came out of the back room with Wayne, he had his arm around her and she was a mess, tears were streaming down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," Wayne spoke to the waiting crowd. "There won't be a wedding today."

I watched them walk off towards the pews and gather their stuff before heading down the aisle too.

At first everyone just sat there dumbfounded, then they all started talking and finally some started to file out.

And still there was no sign of Annette. But I did see her father leave.

"Amber?" Lucinda called out to me as I headed the opposite way of everyone else. "Aren't you coming?"

I shook my head and told her I had something I needed to do and then I made my way towards the room.

I heard crying the closer I got to the door. "Annette?" Pushing the door open, I stepped into the room with Alexis on my hip. "Annette are you ok?"

"Go away!" She yelled at me. "I don't need your pity!"

"I'm not here to pity you," I told her while I closed the door behind me. "I wanted to see if you were ok." She asked me why and I told her I didn't really know.

"I should've known it wouldn't last," she told me with a laugh. "I didn't even think it would work for as long as it did."

"What do you mean?" I asked her.

She stared at me as if she was trying to figure out if she would say anything. "I guess it doesn't matter, you'll find out soon enough; Devon will tell you and you will hate me just as much as he does right now."

"I'm sure Devon doesn't hate you Annette."

"Ha!' She scoffed, "He didn't like me too much before this, he's not going to suddenly like me now!" I didn't say anything, I really couldn't speak for Devon. "I just can't believe I was this close," she held up her hand with her thumb and pointer finger almost touching. "I almost -"

The door opened with a bang. "Amber, come on!" I turned to stare at Reed who looked ready to throttle someone. And behind him was Devon, he wasn't even looking in the direction of the room.

I said 'good-bye' to Annette and I joined the guys in the empty church. "What's going on?" I asked Reed.

"We are going home," he told me. "Devon is coming with us."

The car ride back to Reed's was very tense, Devon was fuming in the back seat along side Alexis who was 'talking' to him. "I'm not in the mood," he snapped at her when she tried to give him her doll to hold on too. Alexis looked up at him, her little eyes were wide as her bottom lip trembled, Devon groaned as she started to bawl. "I just don't have any luck with women!"

I turned around to see to Alexis. "Don't cry Alexis, uncle Devon is just having a bad day but he still loves you." She looked up at Devon as if to see if he still did but I don't think she found what she was looking for because she turned back and cried harder as she called out to Reed.

Reed tried to calm her down while he drove but it didn't work. The second we pulled up to the house, Devon reached over and took Alexis from her seat, holding her as he spoke softly to her, calming her down.

Once inside the house, Devon took Alexis over to her toys and he stayed there playing with her while Reed pulled me towards the stairs leading to our room. "We'll be back in a minute," he called out.

"Oh my God!" Reed exclaimed when we were in the privacy of his room.

"What?" I watched him pace and tug his hands through his hair. "What's going on?"

Coming to a stop in front of me, Reed grabbed my arms and led me over to the bed. "I think you need to sit down for this one," he told me. "Hell I need to sit down too."

I asked him what Devon told him and he started to tell me.

I still can't believe it...and it's been a couple days. Not even in my wildest dreams would I have ever thought what he told me was even possible.