Irreplaceable
Chapter 34

What was Mia's favorite part of married life? Waking up late in the morning with her husband. Okay, it had happened only once, but it had been amazing. They had made love most of the night, bar Since it was Sunday after Mandy's wedding, she didn't need to go to the café that morning, so they sle It wasn't until after eight that they had made it downstairs to eat breakfast. Since she didn't have clot she made him her favorite. Well, she made him pancakes because he had no waffle iron.

Over breakfast, they planned their move. He would have to go first, because she would have to hire a ready for the task, something she hadn't thought of before. But then before she didn't want to be sep But as soon as they could, they would need to see about replaceing a place to live. Mia thought they sho given in, but in time, Mia knew she would let him win. But until then, she liked the argument.

After breakfast and a long goodbye, Mia walked home to shower and change. It was Sunday, and that She was just tossing some clothes into a suitcase when Rafferty strolled into the apartment, looking s "You're going to be hot in that," Mia commented when she saw him.

"Thanks, beautiful. You're pretty hot yourself." Rafferty pulled her into his arms for a kiss as if it had b "I mean in church. There's no air conditioning." Mia laughed a nervous laugh, pulling out of his arms. "I'll be okay. Nice dress." His eyes roamed her body, from her white sandals to pink sundress, making "Are you ready?" Mia said, though she wasn't.

"Yes, I am." Rafferty took her hand to led her from the apartment. "Are we taking your suitcase?" "No, we can get it later." She wasn't completely packed yet anyway. But in reality, she wanted to tell he Since it was a nice summer morning, they walked the four blocks. As they walked, they talked, and Mia "Don't be nervous, Mia," Rafferty said from beside her as Mandy and Hue drove by them, waving and g "I'm not," she lied to him as she waved at her cousin, not grinning.

eping, making up for lost time. The condom had gone unused, and she had put it back in the drawer at some point, but she couldn't tell you when.

well past six, then she woke him up like she had dreamed of doing every morning when her alarm had gone off at five for her to get to work.

his place, she wore one of his T-shirts and a pair of basketball shorts that seemed to fit okay for eating breakfast. And since she was in such a good mood,

anager and get them settled before she could follow him. She just hoped that wouldn't take long. She was already thinking of a few waitresses who might be from her husband for months to replace an oursider.

an apartment until the house in Landstad sold, but Rafferty's argument was that replaceing an apartment in Grand Forks was different than here. Neither had

eant church. Mandy's wedding or not, it was Sunday, and she was expected to attend.

ray slacks and a white button-up shirt. How he had showered and gotten ready so quickly, she didn't know.

nths instead of minutes since they had last touched.

he was bringing him to church. Just putting it all out in the open in one swoop. Let people talk.

t to stay home completely. And not because she was nervous.

that she was moving in with a man before she actually did it. Even if she was thirty and only moving a block away.

e they were on display. Every car that drove by was another voice talking about her life. But there was no turning back now.

"It'll be done with soon, and then nobody will be talking about it anymore. You know that. You didn't have a secret baby or run off on your wedding, and both of those blew over pretty quickly," Rafferty said of her friends.

"I've been married for months," she pointed out.

"I thought you weren't going to tell anyone about that one."

"I told Mandy yesterday, and I think that she has loose l!ps."

"Maybe it won't be so bad, Mrs. Brooks." He bumped her shoulder with his as they saw Natalie and her husband getting out of their car in the parking lot. All waved at each other.

"We'll just roll with it." Mia tried to sound like it was going to be easy.

Inside the church, she acted like she brought Rafferty there every week. In reality, she had no idea how to act. She didn't have to introduce him to anyone; they all knew him. They both said hellos to those around them as Mia led him into the sanctuary to sit down, getting them away from the crowd by the door. Away from people talking.

She slid into the pew with her parents, who were already there. Her mom's eyebrow went up in question when she saw Rafferty. But she didn't say anything but a nice hello to him, like he always came with her. Was a part of her.

"Morning, Rafferty," her cousin Math said from the pew behind them without the usual tease in his voice. Did he know how nerve-wracking this was? Maybe, since he and Tess hadn't had a smooth time getting together. "Morning, Math, Tess." Rafferty turned to the couple in the pew behind them and smiled his s*xy smile.

Then it was over, and nobody said anything. Nobody whispered or whispered loud enough for Mia to hear. There were looks, but mostly from her family and the book club members who were there. Which was all of them except Ruth, who Mia was mostly still avoiding.

As people started to leave the sanctuary, her mom leaned over Mia and said to Rafferty, "You two must come over for lunch today. I'll whip something up for you."

Before Mia could respond, Mandy interrupted from behind her mom, "Sorry, Aunt Dottie, the book club is having a luncheon for my wedding. I have so much leftover food from the wedding."

"Oh, I hadn't heard. Where at?" Dottie asked, hedging for an invitation to the brunch.

"Actually, at Rafferty's. He has the biggest place." Mandy didn't take the bait as she explained, not even looking at the man whose house she was inviting people to. "But I bet Mia would bring Rafferty out during the week, then you can have something ready when they get there. Not be so rushed."

"That would work out better," her mom agreed, then turned to Mia and Rafferty and said, "Tomorrow night."

"We will be there, Mrs. Lawson." Rafferty grinned at her.

"Don't be so formal. Call me Dottie." Her mom giggled under the intense s*xy grin.

"I will, Dottie. Now, I have to get my house in order since the book club is coming," Rafferty said, but he didn't sound mad.

"We'll drive you two since you walked," Natalie said from the aisle as they waited to shake the pastor's hand.

"That would be great." Rafferty had completely taken over the conversation, but Mia was lost in the entire thing.

Everything was a blur until Rafferty led her to Natalie's SUV, and the people around her stopped talking. Because there were no people around her finally. Breathing deep, she closed her eyes.

"Church, Mia, with your mom there? I guess that's one way to shut her up." Natalie shook her head as the short drive came to an end at Rafferty's house. "Why didn't you just let the town talk for the weekend. Monday they would've already forgotten you were never a couple. Church." "Come on in," Rafferty said to his guests.

"I haven't been in here for ages. Okay, maybe never. But I used to trick-n-treat here, and it always seemed haunted." Natalie was making up for the fact that the other two weren't talking at all.

"It's not," Rafferty finally said, though Natalie didn't seem to believe it.

Before they even made it inside, Math and Tess pulled up behind Natalie's SUV and clambered out with just the baby today. Math's other children must have gone home with his parents since they had been at church.

In the house, Rafferty showed Natalie and Sam around and then also Math and Tess when they came in. Mia went to the kitchen to see what Rafferty had for serving almost a dozen people. No paper plates or plastic silverware and not enough regular silverware as it was. She should've stopped at her place to grab some. She couldn't host a party under these conditions.

As Rafferty led the tour through the kitchen working towards the backyard, both Tess and Natalie stayed behind.

"Your house is beautiful, Mia," Tess said.

"Thank you." Mia loved her house, and loved that it was hers. When they left, she was going to miss it. But it would be worth it to have Rafferty to herself.

"Food is here," Mandy said, but she wasn't carrying any when she walked into the room, just a baby boy in a car seat.

"Is it invisible?" Mia asked as she started to relax with everyone in her house.

"Ha ha," Mandy said as the men came in and dropped off more food than the group was going to be able to eat at this impromptu get together.

Natalie looked at all the containers of food and asked, "What's the plan, Mia?"

Mia sighed and smiled as she put the meat in the stove to heat up, "Rafferty and I are moving to Grand Forks. Together."

It wasn't what they had been asking, but it was what was on her mind. She had no idea how to feed a dozen people, and she had no idea how she was going to leave this town. Right now, leaving was foremost in her mind. "What? No. You can't leave." Natalie looked at her.

Looking up, Mandy stopped taking her son from his car seat. "What about book club?"

"When did you decide this?" Tess pushed her sister-in-law away and took the baby from the car seat herself.

It was then that Hazel walked into the room, asking, "What are we talking about?"

"Mia thinks she's leaving town," Natalie explained to her friend as she gave Mia a side hug.

"You can't leave, Mia. We need to have an emergency book club to talk you out of it." Hazel looked around the room at the others, who were nodding.

"I was going to quit anyway. I can't be around Ruth anymore," Mia admitted as she looked for big bowls to put salads in.

Tess found some first and said, "There's no quitting book club."

"Why not? Ruth can't stand me, and the feeling is mutual." Mia slammed the cabinet door closed.

Hazel jumpedat the noise and said. "You two have always gotten along."

"No, not in months," Mia said, wondering how she hadn't noticed.

"Then I shouldn't have called her and invited her over? Sorry." Opening a bag of chips to far, Tess looked confused as they fell onto the floor.

"I don't really think she'll come anyway." Not after yesterday. They had said the words that had ended their friendship. There was no coming back from that.

"When are you leaving?" Mandy started picking up the chips, her focus on that and not on Mia-which meant she was more upset than she was letting on about Mia moving.

"Rafferty is leaving in a week or so, but I have to replace a manager for the restaurant. Then I will follow. We were hoping to go look at places to live sometime this week." Mia tried to sound excited.

"You're finally getting out of here," Natalie said. "Who's going to do the winter carnival and the auction now?"

"You and Hazel could, Natalie. It's a lot of work, but it can be fun," Mia said to her younger, outgoing friend.

Both women looked at the other, but neither said anything. Mia knew the idea had to sit with them for a while before they decided to do it. Which she was sure they would.

"What you pulled in church today, Mia, holy cow. I think both of our mothers had you married with kids by the time the first hymn was over. And your mom had you having around six," Mandy stated with a giggle.

"She's not impressed that you're having another one?" Mia asked, dodging the marriage question. They hadn't settled on what to do with that yet. "I think it's about time they gave up on that battle. I mean, Mom always has Kipling in the batter's box. She can produce kids long after you Nordskov's are completely dried up."

Mandy laughed at the description of her family. Mia knew her mom looked on her youngest as the one who would bring her numbers up in the final inning. But maybe soon, Mia would add some numbers behind her name. Now with Rafferty in her life. "Mandy, I don't think this salad is a two-dayer," Mia said, looking at one of the five salads that were brought that was a soupy mess. Looking up to see if Mandy had left, she saw Ruth standing in the doorway.

Putting the tin cover back on it, she picked it up and turned her back on everyone, and threw it in the garbage. Like Ruth had done to their friendship that had taken months to build.

"Mia," Ruth said in the silent room.

Turning around and facing her, Mia didn't hold back, not anymore, "Didn't think you would come since Rafferty would be here. Can't be in the same room as him, can you?" Ruth ignored her words and asked, "Can we talk, Mia? In private?"

"Can you take care of this?" she asked the room of women, who all agreed that they could handle it as they looked from one to the other. How they were going to make the big meal happen with what little was in the house, she didn't know. But she was a little relieved she didn't have to worry about it for a few minutes. She just had to worry about being around Ruth.

Leading Ruth upstairs since there were very few rooms with furniture in them, she took her to the one spare room that did have a bed in it. Ruth sat on the bed and rested her arms on her stomach-her now very pregnant stomach. Mia stood with her arms crossed. There was no way she could relax.

"I'm sorry, Mia. You were right. I have been cruel to Rafferty over the last few months. And in turn, I was mean to you. I had given up on him actually doing something about how he said he felt for you. When he first asked me to help him win you over, it was just after we started book club, a long time ago. I wanted to protect you from him, from what the rumors about him were. I had assumed he would break your heart and not look back. I didn't want that for you. I didn't think he would change, not even for you. I admit I never got over that feeling." Ruth didn't look at Mia at all.

"We both had some issues to get over. I think we might have finally done that." She shrugged. They may not be over every issue, but the major ones were behind them, she was sure.

"No thanks to me. I should have just forgiven him when Howard died. We were both treated badly by that man. But instead, I kept punishing him for something he couldn't change. It was more of a habit than anything. Some injustice I clung to even when Rafferty asked me to forgive him." Ruth didn't move, but she did look up at Mia.

"He's all alone, you know. His mom has shut him out completely since Howard died, maybe even before that. Well, not anymore. He'll have me and my family now." Mia paced.

"But you're leaving? Moving with him?" Ruth asked, rubbing her huge stomach.

"Yes, as soon as I replace a manager for the café. I hope I replace someone soon. We've lost a lot of time together. I regret losing that time." She stopped and looked out the window at the plain back yard. She had so many plans for that space, and she wouldn't get to achieve any of them.

"What about book club?" Ruth asked.

Turning back to Ruth, Mia said, "I was done with book club weeks ago, Ruth. It used to be the best part of my week, but now I dread what you will say, what jabs you will poke me with. It seemed your dislike of Rafferty had turned on me."

"I'm sorry. I took it too far. It's just that everyone in book club is happy, and you seemed to be stuck on Rafferty. I wanted you to move on and be happy."

"I'm happy with him. When we're actually together, it's great. He makes me feel pretty and smart, and I love him for it." Mia smiled.

"But you're all those things without him," Ruth told her, getting up from the bed with more difficulty than Mia expected, but she wasn't going to offer to help.

"No, I'm Mia at the café without him. He makes me a better person. He's the one who put my name up for organizing the auction, which led to the Christmas carnival. He thought I would be good at it. He believed in me, even before I thought he cared about me." At the time, she hadn't even known it was him behind it.

"You are. But you will leave all that behind when you leave Landstad."

"Yes, because I want to be with him. We have too much of a past in this town, and people are always talking. I don't want to be talked about." Ruth should be the first to understand because she hated when she was talked about.

"I think you took that away from everyone today. I got a phone call that you were in church holding hands with Rafferty before it was even half over. What were you thinking? Were there no billboards just outside of town available?" Ruth grinned.

Mia just shrugged. "I wanted the town to know that he's mine. Stop the rumors before they even started."

Ruth clapped her hands slowly a few times. "Success. Remember back when we went out for drinks with Tess, when Rafferty and Anderson brought us drinks? Tess said that night we had a thing for the guys. I guess we did."

"I remember being friends that night. I miss being friends. It seems I can't be friends with you and be in love with Rafferty at the same time. The more I fell for him, the worse our relationship became." Mia looked at her hands, lost in the past and how much she had enjoyed that night with her friends so long ago.

"I hate that I have lost you as a friend over this. Yesterday, Rafferty said that I won, but I lost you, and you were my best friend. You were my first choice to take with me when I got married. I pretended you weren't. I should have just told you at the time. But I was still clinging to the past when we were too different, we couldn't get along. I couldn't see how important you were to me." Ruth wiped a tear from her eye.

"Thanks for bringing us along. I have to say it was a huge turning point in our relationship. The turn we really needed to take. I wish I had noticed it earlier. Are you ever going to tell anyone or just get married again?" Mia asked, not for the first time. "I don't know. I wanted to because I didn't want to be the unwed mother like my mom was. But Anderson isn't going anywhere; he's not Howard. I love the gossip and the speculation." Ruth grinned at her admission.

"I hate it. I want the wedding, at church like everyone else. I want to be the one fussed over and have everyone there. See my mom cry, and have Dad give me away. I want it all," she said, realizing it was true. As much as she wanted to tell the world she was married to Rafferty Brooks and had been for almost nine months, she wanted to have the wedding that would announce it to the world. "But you are already married, right? When did you even get married?" Ruth asked in disbelief.

Walking into the room, Rafferty must have heard the question. His expression told her that he had been worried about the two women being alone together. Rafferty went instantly to Mia's side and took her hand in support. "For a day longer than you have, sister." "I don't think so. I would've heard something if that had happened. Mia can't keep a secret to save her life," Ruth argued.

"I don't think you know my wife very well then, Ruth. She kept everyone's secrets as if they were her own. Since you made her promise to not tell anyone about your wedding, she couldn't tell anyone about her own."

Ruth sat down on the bed as the realization dawned on her. "I didn't know. Nobody knew. Where was I when you were getting married? We were together the entire time during that trip."

"Were we even on the same trip? We were never together. You and Anderson were so wrapped up in each other, Rafferty and I didn't even exist. We could have done anything without you knowing," Mia said in disbelief. "And did, it seems," Ruth said just as Mandy came into the room, a little apprehensively.

"Did what?" Looking from Ruth to Rafferty and then to Mia, Mandy asked, "Oh, and we have to share forks unless I can borrow a key to the café for Hue to grab a few more."

"In my coat pocket," she told her cousin, hoping she would leave, so everyone didn't know her business.

"That Mia and Rafferty got married months ago." As if it wasn't something everybody knew, Ruth told her, ignoring the forks talk.

Tess walked into the room to hear the tail end of her explanation. "So we can finally talk about that? Thank god. I'm tired of keeping that secret." With that, Tess grabbed Mia and hugged her tight. "What?" Mia asked, pushing her away in confusion. "How did you know?"

"You streamed Math and I the entire thing. I like to think it was because we were your first choice and not because Mandy wasn't answering her phone like you said. It was so romantic." Tess gushed a little.

"You knew the entire time? Why didn't you say anything?" Rafferty asked, because Mia was speechless.

"Because you told us not to, and had to we kept it secret until you got back and could tell everyone yourselves. But then you didn't. I had to drag it out of you that you were even in Vegas. So we started to think it was a joke. That you were playing us. For months we waited. Math even tried to get Rafferty to admit it at Natalie's wedding, but nothing." Tess said and handed over her phone to Mia.

As Ruth filled them in on her wedding weekend, Rafferty looked over her shoulder as they watched the ten-minute ceremony where they said the drunken words they both were too scared to say when sober. They could've spent the last eight months happy instead of scared that the other didn't feel the same if they had just watched this.

Taking the phone, Rafferty sent the video to Mia, who was in Tess's contacts. Then handed it back to Tess. Now they had proof of that day forever.

"I wish I remember marrying you," Mia said. "It's unfair that I don't remember the happiest moment of my life."

"Let's do it again. A sequel, but sober this time. I know how much you love a sequel." Rafferty spun her in his arms and kissed her, not caring who else was in the room.

Mia lifted an eyebrow in question. "What sort of sequel? And how sober?"

He laughed at her questions. "We get married again, only this time, exactly like you want. Maybe not completely sober."

"I want everything. Church, dress, bridesmaids, whiskey, flower babies, oh, and flowers. I love flowers. Not roses, though, I don't love those. But other ones. Purple ones." She could see it already. Might as well lean into the color pallet of her first wedding, even if she only had a video of it.

"Lavender," he corrected. "My only request is that we get married on the same day as we did before."

Shaking her head, she questioned his idea. "We can't. That day is almost a year ago."

"I mean this year. How else would you want to spend your first anniversary?"

"I can't think of a better way," she admitted, grinning. There was nothing she could imagine would be better. Then she realized something. "And as a bonus, I don't have to tell my mom that I got married without her there. I would hate for her to miss out on seeing her oldest daughter get married."

"Nobody wants that to happen," Mandy said from beside them, reminding Mia they were not alone.

"I have a preacher who would be happy to marry you again," Hazel said from the doorway with that very preacher behind her nodding enthusiasticly.

"I'll help any way I can," Ruth surprised Mia by saying.

"I'll take all the help I can get. Time is short, and the wedding is going to be big." She smiled at her former friend, who might just turn back into a good friend again. Them being a family might not be so farfetched as it had been a few minutes ago. There was hope for them repairing their relationship.

"I'll take care of everything," Ruth said with confidence.

"We all will," Natalie assured her, since she was the one with the most wedding experience in the room.

Looking around the room, she saw all her friends nod. They were all willing to help her, to be there for her just like she had been there for them all. She had managed to replace a great group of friends that accepted her and loved her. Even if she loved the former playboy of Landstad. Maybe because she did.

Leaning back into the man she loved, she whispered for only his ears, "I love you."

"I love you too, since forever. For forever."

She melted into him.

It was exactly what she needed to hear, that he felt the exact same as she did. She couldn't see her life without him in it, being the center of it. That hadn't changed since she was in high school, and it seemed it never would.