CHAPTER ONE: NOSTALGIA

SIX YEARS LATER….

The day had finally arrived. The not so awaited day. Katherine sighed as she stared outside her room window unseeingly. Time went by so quickly sometimes that she had difficulty to keep up the pace especially with the fickle nature of what her life had been.

Sprawled on the floor surrounded by a heap of invitation cards, it finally dawned on her that she was going to get married in two months. Her big day. Yayy, she thought inwardly with forced and ironical enthusiasm. She was going to be Mrs. Bigfoot, how cool was that? But she chided herself for being such a fool. Edward Bigfoot her fiancé was a nice person even if he was difficult to bear with sometimes. And she knew better now than to nurture that silly notion of having to be in love to be married. Marriages were mostly a compromise; nothing like they showed in movies or novels.

Forever love was a hoax. There was never a happy ending. And who better than her to know that sorry truth of life?

As if on cue, she caught sight of one invitation card flashing the name on the envelope. The name that once had meant everything to her. Aidan Flint Waldorf. The love of her life. Her best friend. Or ex-best friend more likely. How can someone she had not talked to for the last six years still be her best friend? She didn’t think so. Six years was a long time to forget someone and no longer be close. And besides, their relationship was so messed up anyway that she did not believe it would ever “unmess” up.

One good thing about the past was that at some point in time it left one with no other choice than to move on. She no longer missed him that much now as he was no longer within distance of her heart and as the adage so rightfully said “out of sight, out of mind”.

Next to the invitation card laid two other similar cards with two different names. Ryce Vin Connor and Jennifer Avery Calhoun. Her other two best friends. For the first two years, it had been only the three of them; Jen had joined the university only for the last year. But she had joined their group almost immediately. And they had spent many wonderful moments together and had been so close that there had been no secrets among them. Except one.

Hell, she did not want to go there. It was all water under the bridge now and she had already moved on in life. Digging up the past would bring nothing fruitful to her life. She had better keep her wits around her if she wanted her sanity intact until the marriage.

There was no escape this time; she had stalled the wedding ceremony long enough. Her mother and sisters were already so excited that they had taken over every preparation leaving her to only look after the guest list.

Which made sense since it was her wedding. She wanted to decide who to invite and not. And she had wanted her three best friends for the wedding. Even if she had not talked to them for the last six years.

Ever since she had left university, she had had no news of either of them and they had not seemed fit to contact her also. Her phone numbers mobile and landline had been the same but she had never got any information about them. Not on any social networking websites as well. Neither had bothered to contact her even to ask about her welfare. It wasn’t as if she cared; she had also not contacted any of them either. It was for the best anyway; she had not wanted to face them after the graduation party fiasco.

“Kate!” shouted a voice from the door of her room. “Will you please…” her mother stopped midway of her sentence and put a hand on her mouth to stop the shriek.

“Mom, don’t panic,” she said quickly knowing her mother only too well. Judith Thornton was a control freak when it came to cleaning and hated to see anything in disorder. “I’m going to pick them up as soon as I finish writing the names,” she assured her in a calm voice.

“Okay,” her mother said removing her hand but still looking at the pile of cards in disgust as she treaded through them carefully so as not to walk over any.

“Did you want something?” Kate asked purposefully ignoring her because she knew she would not stop until everything was back to its place.

“Ahh yes! Will you please convince your sister Jade not to buy that horrible purple dress please? There’s no way I’m going to allow her in the church wearing that sorry excuse of a dress. And that too at my own daughter’s wedding.”

Katherine sighed as her mother sat on her bed supervising her work. She was not going to get any work done now. Jade was her sister, well one of her sisters. She was the eldest among the four daughters; there was Caitlin after her and finally the twins Jade and June.

“Mom, let her buy the dress if she likes it so much. Why do you keep pestering her anyway? She is no longer a small…”

She stopped when her mother picked up the invitation of Aidan and watched apprehensively as she read the name. Hell, she hoped that was not going to be a problem too. Her family of course knew nothing about her feelings for Aidan and she wanted to keep it that way. But she wanted no objections on calling them over hoping that they had not changed their addresses.

Still, she was feeling nervous as her mother peeked at her in question. “You’re inviting your university friends?” she asked surprised.

Kate nodded. “I am. I have not seen them for the past six years and it would be nice…”

“Exactly, honey. Why would you want to invite those strangers?” she asked picking up the other two invitations.

Thankfully, they were interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing at the door and as she looked up she saw her father standing. Her father her hero.

“Am I disturbing you, girls?”

“Of course not, dad,” Kate was quick to put in before her mother broached the subject again. “You’re never a bother. Come join us.”

Smiling, her father sat next to her mother on the bed and caught the three cards in the latter’s hand. “Now what is this?” And his smile got broader. “You’re inviting your university friends?” he repeated and she felt the topic coming up again.

“Yess,” she replied impatiently not wanting to give any explanation why she wanted them over. Hell, she herself did not know why she wanted them to attend her marriage. And besides, she was sure they would not make it anyway.

“Are you now?” her father asked her sounding as skeptical as her mother a few minutes ago. She could hardly blame them. No one from her family knew about the “split”; all they knew was that after university, neither of her best friends had bothered to contact her again and she had not bothered giving any explanations. Her parents had just assumed that they had been hypocrites and she had been too ashamed of herself to elaborate.

Sighing she remembered how she had been the one responsible for the break up. It had all been her fault. And maybe that was why she was feeling so nostalgic about the past. Her university friends were still skeletons in her closet and she wanted to have some sort of closure over the past to be able to move on with her new life. Mentally shaking her head, she tried to push away the wayward thoughts and focused on what her parents were saying.

“Well, it’s okay,” her father replied. “I understand that you want to meet them after so long and the moment is right as well.”

“What do you mean, Alex?” her mother intervened. “They had never bothered to call or anything. Do you remember how we invited them over for one of the holidays and they liked it so much here. I think that they should at least have the courtesy to…”

“I understand,” Alex said in turn trying to pacify his wife. “But it’s Kate’s wedding. You have to let her choose.”

“Yah, mom. Let them come over. I miss them you know,” Kate said having made her decision that she wanted them to attend her wedding after all.

“Oh, sweets,” her mother cooed at her confession. “You never talked about it before. I never knew that affected you so much.”

Which was of course what she had set to prove all along. That it had not affected her and she had succeeded so much that even her family had not picked up anything. Not her mother and neither her sisters. Not until now.

“I know and they are not so bad anyway. We have just fallen apart which is not that unusual. I mean friends do get apart when they have other priorities in life.”

“I agree with you honey,” her father said squeezing her hand in his in a comforting gesture. “I’m glad you don’t feel any grudge towards them. Why don’t you invite them over before one month before the wedding so that you have some time to make up for lost time?”

As soon as her father suggested the idea, she felt that it was the right thing that she should do. She wanted to spend some time with them even if she knew nothing was going to be the same again among them. Friendship was as precarious as peace she had discovered over the years. Once broken, it was very difficult to get it back together. But she had nothing left to lose now, had she? Defeated, she had already accepted that Aidan was not made for her. She was moving on with her life and she wanted them with her on the most important day of her life.

“Really, dad?” she asked feeling excited at the prospect. “I would love that,” she admitted feeling thrilled for the first time ever since she had agreed for that marriage.

“Of course honey. Anything to bring back your dazzling smile,” her father said hugging her before leaving her to her task.

Smiling her mother reminded her not to forget to convince Jade not to buy that horrible dress for the wedding and Kate giggled feeling better at the thought of having her friends over soon for moral support. Her parents were the best one could have. That was why she had not refused her mother when the latter had asked her to get married.

Her groom to be was the son of her mother’s best friend Abigail Bigfoot. And she had known him since forever. For her mother Edward Bigfoot was the ideal son-in-law. And she never tired of pestering her for getting married to him whenever she visited them for dinner. Her biggest problem was that she was very close to her family and visited them frequently. Eventually she had understood that she had no choice; she could still remember the incessant arguments between her mother and herself.

 “Mom! I don’t love him,” she had shouted over and over again wishing her mother would listen to her.

“I don’t understand what’s wrong with Edward. He’s such a nice boy, you know,” her mother had insisted like she had always done.

“I know! He’s a nice boy. But do I have to marry every nice boy that comes along?”

Judith had sighed impatiently. “Honey, you are twenty-eight years old. You have to realize that you’re not getting younger. Why don’t you take the example of Caitlin, your younger sister? She’s already a mother of two.”

Right! And that had been the mantra of Thornton family since the past two years. And she was sooo fed up with her mother’s insistence.

“Mom, which century are you living in, really? Why do you bother about what others think about you? Or me for that matter? I’m an independent woman and I will live my life on my own terms,” she had retorted in a rather loud voice and had felt instantly guilty at the expression on her mother’s face.

“Okay,” she had replied back in a small voice. “But for the record, I was not bothering about what others think of you. I’m already so proud of you honey. It’s just that I don’t want you to end up alone for the rest of your life.”

Kate had felt even guiltier at her comment and mortified she had tried apologizing to her mother.

“Mom, I know! I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“Then what is wrong about a date? At least find out whether you like him or not before rejecting him in such an outright manner,” her mother had still not given up hope.

Finally giving in to the pressure, she had agreed to date him only once and that had been her fatal mistake. Edward was a nice guy and once she had started dating him, it had been so difficult to refuse his relentless romantic pursuit. And she had found herself so lost in a labyrinth that it had been difficult to move out.

Not that Edward was a problem as a person but she knew she would never love him. But since she was going to get married to him, she would have to live with that sorry fact. And she was mentally prepared for it.

And she was also looking forward to the one month with her friends trying to forget the fact that her life would never be worth living after that. With time, she had come to the terms of her fate and that was why she had accepted to marry Edward.

And besides, it might be the only opportunity for her to get Aidan and Jen back together again. As the very thought, she felt a pang in her heart but determined she decided it was the right thing to do. They had broken up because of her and she would try her best to bring them back together. It was only fair after everything that had happened.

Thankfully, she no longer felt anything for Aidan now and there was no point in her drooling over the relationship she could have. It was never meant to; it was as simple as that. But Aidan and Jen were made for each other and she should bring them together even if it killed her.

It was not necessary for everyone to have the same fate as hers. Especially her two best friends Aidan and Jen. They had been wonderful people and did not deserve to be unhappy or merely living a compromise like her. They deserved the best and she would never be able to forgive herself for having separated the two of them. Especially since they had been so much in love back then.

With a new resolution, she took out another pack of fresh cards and started to think about what to write. Words failed her as she no longer knew if they were the same persons she had known all those years ago. Hell, they might even refuse her invitation as she knew Jennifer still bore her a grudge.

Not the Kate blamed her. Had she been in her place, she would never have forgiven a friend like that too. Her thoughts were interrupted by the abrupt entrance of two little bundles in her room and she stopped them with a hand before they made a fiasco out of her invitation cards. Thankfully, the twins stopped in their track eyes wide with wonder.

“Bruce! Beth! Come right here!” shouted a female voice trying to sound stern but Caitlin Thornton was nothing but sweet.

“Can you believe them?” her sister and best friend asked her in a tone that made her smile in spite of her morose mood.

“Momie, we want to hug Aunt Kate,” Bruce whined and his mother sighed.

“Sure you do,” Kate quickly intervened and stood up from her mess and joined them at the door careful not to walk on the cards. Hugging them both tightly, she gave them two sloppy kisses each; she loved them more than life itself.

“Now run to your grandmother. I think she has some cookies for you,” Caitlin said and watched with relief as they both ran away noisily from the room excited at the prospect.

“How’s my favourite sister?” Caitlin asked hugging Kate and she they both sat down on the bed. Caitlin was closest to her as she was of the same age range as her. Well, she was four years her senior but it did make them more or less same age as compared to the newly turned twenty twin sisters Jade and June.

“Oh, I’m fine! Busy as you can see,” Kate smiled throwing her hand around in a concluding gesture.

Caitlin nodded and peeped in the new invitations she was sending to her best friends as her father had asked her. “Mom told me you are inviting Aidan over.”

And just like that Kate had a feeling that Caitlin knew about her feelings for Aidan but they had never spoken about it. Trying for a casual shrug, she pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and replied instead.

“Yeah. Ryce and Jen too.”

Caitlin sighed and Kate knew it was because of her reluctance to talk about it but probed. “You never told me what happened.”

“Caitlin,” she said impatiently. She had had enough of everyone asking her about that whole damn thing over and over. It was in the past and they would not talk about it. Ever. All four of them were mature adults now and they could handle anything that came their way. “It’s all in the past and I’d rather leave it there. I’m starting a new life in two months and I would like them around even if we are still bitter. But I guess we’ve surmounted this phase and they would be happy for me.”

Caitlin nodded and looked convinced except that Kate started having doubts now. They might not even acknowledge her invitation and she would feel bad about it.

“I hope you are right, sis,” Caitlin said and changed the subject. “Let’s pick up the cards before the two devils come barging in again.

On that note, they became both busy cleaning the mess and had barely finished when Bruce came in the room again with chocolate all over his face.

“Oh God!” shouted Caitlin at the sight. “What have I done to deserve a dirty little kid like that?” and Kate watched as her sister pounced on the five years old boy who giggled with glee.

Shrieking with mocked horror, Bruce tried to struggle out of his mother’s embrace but his mother picked him up and winked at Kate.

“I’m going to get back my clean son,” she said conspiratorially and Bruce chuckled again.

Kate watched Caitlin leave the room with an envious pang in her heart. Caitlin was a good mother; the best and Kate wished she was a bit more like her. Maybe with time, she could learn to be the perfect wife and perfect mother too. She so wished that she would succeed in accepting what life had reserved for her.

But not before she brought Aidan and Jen together. It would be her redemption which would finally allow her some kind of closure over her past. Over Aidan. And she would finally be able to begin her new life. Getting Aidan and Jen together would be her new mission in life now.