Yesterday, before the wedding rehearsal, I kept telling myself that I needed to put my own personal issues aside and be there for Anna. This was her weekend. I loved my sister and I was truly happy for her. I told myself that I would enjoy this weekend and have a positive attitude come hell or high water.
“I will,” I said out loud again. I nodded firmly to myself before getting out of my car and heading into the Edgewater Hotel for the reception.
I took the elevator up to meet Kelli, Anna’s wedding coordinator, in the main reception hall. I couldn’t get over how beautiful it was. The crescent-shaped ballroom had glass along most of the west wall and looked out onto the bay. The chandeliers hanging from the ceiling reflected the sunlight and the room appeared to float over the water. Fortunately, the weather held today and to everyone’s relief, it didn’t rain. With partly cloudy skies, there would be a colorful sunset for the guests. I said a little silent prayer of thanks for this good fortune.
If there was ever someone that looked like their profession, Kelli was it. She looked and behaved exactly like I imagined a wedding coordinator would. She was petite, blonde, and completely in control; nothing was going to get past this lady. I checked with her to find out when the happy couple was expected to arrive. Since they were still taking solo wedding pictures at the park, they would be about thirty minutes delayed.
My mother caught up with me at the bar. “Julia, honey, what did you think of the ceremony?” She linked her arm into mine; she wasn’t going to let me escape this time. She tried cornering me at the ceremony, but I had used my maid of honor duties as an excuse, making it clear that it wasn’t the right time for my mom to grill me about Ryan.
“It went perfectly, didn’t it?” I said.
“I couldn’t stop crying. It was so beautiful!” she gushed. Her eyes started to water again remembering the events of the last hour.
I smiled back at her wistfully, letting her have her moment. After all, she was the mother of the bride.
After lightly dabbing her eyes with tissue, she turned to me and grabbed my chin with her hand. Her expression had transitioned from sentimental to concerned gravity. “So, are you okay, sweetie?” I could see her worry wrinkle between her eyes. I got the same thing when I was thinking too hard. “I haven’t had much of a chance to talk to you with all the craziness of the wedding this past week. You look a little tired.”
“Yes, I’m fine, Mom. I’ve just been really busy lately with the new job.” I heard Ella Fitzgerald singing Dancing Cheek to Cheek in the background. If I were ever to get married someday, that would be my wedding song. It always reminded me of old Hollywood.
“Does it have anything to do with the gentleman you’ve been seeing recently? Would your mood have anything to do with him?” she asked, arching an eyebrow.
I breathed out in exasperation. Last night at the rehearsal dinner, I sat through the usual questions from my relatives as to when I was going to find a nice young man and walk down the aisle and make my parents proud. Now that Anna was married, my parents only had me to worry them. They talked about it like it was my parents problem, not mine, and speculated why I was still single. In defense, my mom said that I had broken up with Andrew several months ago because he had cheated on me. By this explanation, I was absolved of any wrongdoing, and therefore, they shouldn’t lose hope; I was perfectly capable of finding another, better man.
Of course, that’s when Anna piped in and said that I wasn’t single. She brought up Ryan and explained how we had met and how wonderful both she and Ethan thought he was. I knew she was only offering up this information to my parents and the other guests at the table to distract them from the conversation of my single status. However, that only led to more questions about my newly non-single status.
I had given Anna a warning look, which she ignored, of course. Predictably, my mother was surprised and I also noticed her subtle expression of hurt. I looked at her guiltily. My mom, Anna, and I always prided ourselves in having an open and strong relationship. My love life was becoming multiple chapters and I hadn’t yet shared any of it with my mom.
So, of course, Mom was full of questions. I stayed quiet, but this went unnoticed because Anna chimed in with most of the superficial answers. Yes, he was handsome, he was some big wig at MS, and they had been dating for several weeks. My mother looked excited for me and I could tell she was relieved that I seemed to be moving on from Andrew. She wanted to know when I would feel comfortable bringing him home to meet her and my dad. That’s when I decided to finally speak up.