Danielle Steel - the Wedding (2000)

And the morning after she'd bought her wedding dress, Allegra was sitting in her office, describing it to Alice.

It sounds fabulous, Alice confirmed, and the intercom instantly interrupted. Alice picked it up first, frowned, and then handed the phone to Allegra. There was a long silence as she listened, and then jotted down some hasty notes, and hung up the phone. And when she did, her eyes were blazing.

She flipped through some papers and said not a word, and then dialed an overseas number. It was Alan's hotel in Geneva. She asked for his room, and it answered after four rings, and just as she thought, Carmen answered.

Just what exactly do you think you're doing over there? Allegra blazed. You damn fool, you're giving up your whole movie career to be with him. And they're not going to forget it.

I couldn't help it, she whined. I missed him too much. She didn't dare tell Allegra she had come because she was ovulating, and she wanted to get pregnant.

They said you disappeared yesterday, and they can shoot around you today and tomorrow. But you're costing them a fortune. Starting today, they're docking you for it. After tomorrow, they're going to kick you off the picture. In other words, get your ass back here by tomorrow, or I'll kill you before they do.

I don't want to come back, she whined again, and Allegra was intentionally hard on her.

If you don't, then you'd better retire, because after tomorrow, that's what it will amount to. You'll be out of the business, Carmen Connors. And then she thought better of arguing with her and asked for Alan. Get her ass back here, will you? she told him in no uncertain terms, and he could hear that she meant it.

It's not my fault, Al, I swear. I never knew she was coming over. She just showed up. It was great, but I knew you'd be mad as hell. I'll put her back on a plane tomorrow morning. I'll be back in a month anyway, he reminded both of them. Just take care of her for me in the meantime.

That's no small job, you know. Allegra was really getting tired of her. She was a spoiled brat, and she whined constantly about how much she missed Alan. Maybe she's right. Maybe from now on, you two should only work together.

We'll talk about it when I come home.

Just send her back tomorrow without fail, or there'll be hell to pay. They're fining her fifty thousand dollars for today, and the same again tomorrow, and she deserves it. He whistled and wagged a scolding finger at Carmen.

I'll get her back to you right away.

See that you do it. She hung up and called the producers of Carmen's movie. She apologized profusely for her, said she'd been ill, emotionally overwrought, and needed to see her husband. It wouldn't happen again, and she would gladly pay the fine. And she would be back to work the day after tomorrow. They agreed to forget it had ever happened, as long as she paid the fine and returned to work as promised.

It certainly got her day off to a roaring start. She hardly slept all that night, and the next day she was waiting for Carmen at the airport. She read her the riot act almost the moment she came through customs, and Carmen was apologetic and just kept saying that she had needed to be with Alan. Because of her they were even going to shoot golden time on the Fourth of July, just to catch up on what they'd missed. She wasn't going to get a day off, and Allegra was so mad at her she didn't even think of inviting her to the Steinbergs' Fourth of July picnic.

She made sure that Carmen was on the set by four A.M. the next day, and she hung around till about nine just to make sure she was behaving. Then she went home to Malibu and climbed into bed with Jeff, and slept till noon, and then they went to her parents' place for the picnic.

The whole family was there, even Scott. He had invited a girl, and Jeff was there, of course. And Sam had invited Jimmy Mazzoleri. He was part of the furniture now, as Simon said good-naturedly. He was at the house all the time. Two of the neighbors had come, and a handful of Scott's friends, but none of Sam's this year. It was a small group, but it was a day they all loved, and they were having a great time, despite the mess in the backyard and the lack of a garden.

The people who hadn't seen Sam recently were shocked at what they saw. She was fully eight months' pregnant, and she looked it. Allegra thought that the saddest thing of all was that no one even mentioned it. It was the most visible thing in the backyard other than the swimming pool, and the least talked about. The subject was completely taboo, and Allegra wondered if that made it harder for Sam. Instead of being the happiest moment in her life, it was the saddest.

Blaire was still going to Lamaze with her, and Allegra had gone once or twice, but most of the time she couldn't make it. And Jimmy had even practiced it a few times with her. It fascinated him to sit and watch the baby moving. It seemed to dash from side to side, moving her stomach like a cartoon with some enormous being in it, like an elephant hiding under a blanket.

How are you feeling? Allegra asked as she sat down next to her on a deck chair.

I'm okay. Sam shrugged. Jimmy was on his way back to her with one of her father's hot dogs. Sometimes it gets kind of hard to move around now.

It won't be too much longer, Allegra said, trying to be encouraging, but Sam's eyes filled with tears as she said it, and Allegra wasn't completely sure why, and then Sam told her she'd made a decision.

I picked the Whitmans in Santa Barbara. Suzanne told them yesterday. They're kind of weird after all they've been through, but I think they're nice, and they really want the baby. Nobody could want it more than they did. Suzanne says they were really happy. She just said it was real important that I not change my mind, especially once they get the baby, during the legal waiting period. Because that happened to them twice before and she doesn't think they could take it.

That's not your responsibility though, Allegra pointed out, and Sam agreed.

But it still wouldn't be fair to jack them around again. Two girls took their babies back from them before, and Katherine took years to recover from it. Then she took a gulp of air, as though trying to get used to it. Suddenly she wanted to get it over with. The delivery, the legal work, the agony of giving it up, that one hideous moment when she would hand it over to them forever. She could never get past that. She could never figure out what her life would be like from then on. It was all she could think of. They're really adamant about being at the birth, Sam said, looking uncomfortable again.

Do what's right for you, Sam, her sister said firmly as their father wandered over to see them.

What are you two looking so serious about? he asked, looking down at them with pleasure. There were plenty of serious subjects in the family these days. Sam, of course, and the wedding, which was joyful but fraught with decisions and chaos, and the fact that Blaire's ratings had just dropped again, this time very badly. She was deeply upset about it, though she had scarcely discussed it with Simon. They didn't talk about much these days, but he hadn't wanted to press Blaire about it, for obvious reasons.

We were just saying that your hot dogs are better than ever this year. Allegra smiled up at him, and then stood up and kissed him. And when she did, Sam almost went flying into the pool, as the deck chair shot up at one end like a seesaw when Allegra got out of it. Her solitary but impressive weight had landed her on the ground and she was laughing. Even Allegra laughed at her, and a few minutes later Jimmy came back again, with another of Simon's hot dogs for Samantha.

You need this for ballast, he said with a grin, having just seen what had happened. You'd better be careful, or your sister will catapult you over the wall into the neighbor's garden. They both laughed, and he sat next to her, where Allegra had been, and they chatted and laughed. And then later, when they were alone again, when the others were playing Ping-Pong and horseshoes, she told him about her decision to go with the Whitmans. They had talked about the adoption before, but now she had made a commitment. She could still change her mind, of course, but Suzanne would discourage her from doing that, if possible. And she had up to six months after the baby was born to change her mind later.