“Okay,” I said, choking back tears of happiness. “Yes.”
. . . . .
Max made a few phone calls and by 10 pm we were on his plane, heading for Napa. We had gone back and forth, tossing around ideas about where to get married, and finally decided on Napa because Max loved it so much that’s where he had taken me on our first trip together.
We stayed in the same bungalow as the first time. The next morning we got our marriage certificate and by noon we were standing in the middle of an orchard with two other people — the officiant and our witness, an old friend of Max’s from his studio days who owned the bungalow we rented.
It was an understated event, just as we wanted, except for the fact that I did end up wearing a white gown — the same one I had worn to the Oscars. Max wore a new suit.
We decided to have the officiant say very little, other than the required questions asking us to declare that we took each other as husband and wife.
The majority of the ceremony was our vows, which were written on the fly. I didn’t know how mine would come across, but I managed to stop fretting over the words. I kept writing and rewriting, but the same things kept coming to mind, so I decided to stick with my original version and hope that it was enough, and that my face might say more than the words with Max looking at me.
When it came time for the vows, I went first: “Max, my love…You inspire me every day. When I came to California, I had big dreams but I had no idea that you would be my dream come true. Just last year I would have never known I would meet you, and now I can’t imagine my life without you. I love you more than I’ll ever be able to show, but I look forward to many decades trying.”
Max’s vow to me was: “I’m standing here today because of a spontaneous decision we made just last night, but marrying you was just a matter of time. Since I first saw you last year, I had no doubt you were going to be not just my wife, but my life. Until I take my last breath on this planet, I promise with everything I’m worth as a man that you will be my number one priority for the rest of time. I will drop anything and everything for you.” He kept his eyes trained on mine, but he reached down and touched my belly. “And for our children. I love my life again because of you. I love our life. I love you. This is the one and only truth that matters…You. Me. Forever, Liv.”
I could no longer make out his face through the blur of the tears that pooled in my eyes. I knew he loved me — he told me all the time, and showed me in so many ways — but having him make that beautiful pledge to me was everything I could have wanted to hear because I knew Max was the type of man that would live up to his words.
SIXTEEN
Max’s agent, Lyle, called one afternoon when I was shopping in Beverly Hills.
“How’s little Max doing?” he asked.
“We’re not going to find out the gender, but he or she is doing just fine. Thanks for asking. How are things with you? Signed that kid from the boy band yet?”
“Don’t get me started,” he said. “His music agent has him thinking he can do it all himself.”
“Oh, big mistake. They’re going to need your magic.”
“No shit. The thing that pisses me off is that they’ll give it a go and this music agent will fall flat on his face, and they’ll probably end up signing with someone else just so they don’t have to come crawling back to me.”
“That sucks.”
“And the thing is, I don’t even care. I won’t rub it in their faces. At least not directly. Anyway, are you in the office?”
“No,” I said, flipping through some shirts on a rack. “I’m looking for clothes that fit a pregnant woman, but are comfortable and also don’t scream ‘I’m pregnant!’ to the world.”
Lyle didn’t miss a beat. “Well, can’t help you there. Sorry.”
“I know. What’s up?”
“How’s ‘Disputed’ coming along?”
That’s what we’d started calling the movie. “Disputed” instead of the full title, “A Disputed Life.”
“On schedule and rolling right along,” I said. “Budget’s a little tight, though. Are you calling to pitch in?”
He laughed. “Nice try.”
“I’m kidding anyway.”
“Listen, I need to know if this thing’s gonna be done in time for Sundance.”
“Absolutely,” I said, even though I had no idea if that was true.
“Great. So we’re in.”
“We are? What about the submission process?”
“Leave that to me,” Lyle said.
“Oh, no.”
“Oh, yes. I’m cashing in a favor. A big one. ‘Disputed’ is in Sundance. Done deal. How’s that for agent magic?”
. . . . .
Max and I were out by the pool later that evening, watching a sunset that was so gorgeous it almost looked like it was fake, like so many of the ones in movies that I was now able to immediately identify as being CGI instead of real.
“Did he tell you what the favor was?” Max asked.
“No, just that it was a big one.”
“I’ll say. Well, we’re on schedule and, yeah, it’ll be ready.”
I was happy to hear him say that, after promising Lyle earlier that the scheduling would be no problem and that ‘Disputed’ would be ready by Sundance, even thought I only had a slight degree of confidence that it would be. But I also knew Max would have made it work, somehow.
We were sitting on one lounge chair. I was lying between his legs, with my back against his chest, using his shoulder as a head-rest.
Max held a drink in one hand. His other arm hugged my left side, and he had his palm flat on my tummy, which was now showing more and more each day. At least it looked that way to me. In any case, I was no longer freaking out about it, and actually felt more confident. Especially with Max, of course, who had lifted the hem of my shirt so his hand was against the skin on my belly, giving warmth both literally and figuratively.
“Now that we’ve got the good news out of the way,” I said, “I think we need to talk about something serious.”
“I’m not ready yet.”
“For what? You don’t know what I was going to say.”
“Yes, I do, Liv. And I don’t want to talk to my mother yet. Not about the baby, not about anything.”
I shifted around in the chair so I was facing him. He looked surprised in return.