The Happy Bride
Steve was envious of his former traveling partner, who was now married and had a baby. The company made allowances. In other words, no more fifteen-hour flights for him. Meanwhile, Steve was flying back to DC from Dubai. He had to admit he rather enjoyed Dubai when he wasn’t working. On the other hand, a week’s worth of travel hardly let him adjust to the local time. And coming into Dulles was always a pain. For some reason he and his passport were flagged. Too many stamps, visas, out-of-the-way places? At least the company car was waiting for him, when he left the airport with his carry-on.
He texted Eden upon landing, but so far no return text. That was unusual. Not that he expected a hot meal. The airline always overfed in business class. He hoped she was okay. This wedding business was driving her mad, and he just wished it would all be over. Both sets of parents were acting like babies. All he and Eden did was apologize to one another for them. Then there was the food situation. Vegan, gluten free, kosher? Too hard a mountain to climb. The art gallery, her preferred venue, was giving her trouble, so he suggested an outdoor wedding, maybe at the zoo, which he thought would be appropriate. Was this all worth it? Well, maybe to a woman. He could care less. Who looked at an album filled with wedding photos anyway? Maybe their grandchildren?
The car pulled up to his apartment, he thanked the driver and got out with a smile on his face. Eden, at last. Honey, I’m home! Except it was eleven in the morning, and sadly she’d probably be at work. Lunch? Did he have the energy?
Using his fob, he opened the outside door to the apartment complex and then the door to his apartment, calling out hopefully, “Eden?” Except it wasn’t Eden who stepped out of his bedroom, the immaculate one with no mess scattered around. Surprised, he looked around. This was his apartment. Wasn’t it?
The woman moved forward to greet him. She was taller than Eden, slender, short, well-coifed brown hair, streaked gently with blond. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Riley.”
Shocked, Steve questioned, “Riley? Eden’s—uh—“
“Sister, yes. Eden should be here any minute now.”
“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” Steve said as graciously as possible under the circumstances. Like he wanted a shower and a change of clothes. But he assumed he’d now be relegated to Eden’s bathroom. At least it would smell nice with all her various soaps and moisturizers.
“I hope it will be nice. When you hear what’s happening,” Riley said.
Okay. The doubt in her voice made it sound ominous.
Fortunately, at that moment, Eden came back to the apartment with a bundle of flowers in a burlap bag, looking slightly bedraggled, the flowers. Eden looked—like she was ready for a photo shoot. Hair done, make-up model ready. “Hi,” she said rather matter-of-factly. “I know you’ll want to shower and change. Put on your best suit. We’re getting married at one.”
“What!”
Dropping the flowers onto the floor, Eden put her hands on her hips in one of her many aggressive postures. “Steve, I’m not putting up with this incoming flack from anyone anymore. I have my wedding dress, I have my maid of honor, we already have all the legalities down. I’ve coordinated with Shaul, your Buddhist buddy. He’s arranged everything with a Reform rabbi he knows. So let’s get cracking.”
“Is that your bouquet?” Riley asked. Calmly. She picked the flowers up off the floor. “Your makeup looks lovely. Your hair too.”
Both were true, Steve thought. But what the hell was going on? Back from Dubai, jet-lagged, was this a hallucination? And yet, if so, why was Riley here. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
Arms crossed tightly across her chest now, she said, “While you were gone, I got a call from your mother, from your sister-in-law Yael, from my suddenly randy mother, each making ridiculous demands as if our wedding was a negotiation. I have had it! I told you I wanted a happy wedding and this is going to be it.”
“But my brothers—“
“Weren’t you dithering over which one would be your best man, worried that your choice would leave them both offended?”
“And Frank—“ Steve wondered.
“If she invites Frank and not my mother, there’ll be hell to pay,” Riley explained. “But we’re sisters, and that counts for a lot. So I’m here for her.” She paused. “You can always say no and go back to Plan A.”
“Hell, no.” Steve said. “Get me to the church on time, and let’s stop all this nonsense.”
“So shower and change, while Riley and I get ourselves sorted.”
When Steve came out in what he considered his best suit and expensive silk tie—a gift from a French client—he called to Eden that he was ready. It was already 12:15 and lunchtime traffic could be hell.
The door to her bedroom opened and out came the most beautiful bride Steve had ever seen. There was Eden in a wedding dress with a lace top, an A-line that dropped into a flared skirt that ended just below her knees. Modest, yet revealing, while Riley was wearing a pale green silk number. Steve wanted to rush right over and embrace Eden, but she held him back. “What are you doing wearing that tie?” she questioned.
“It’s French. It’s silk.” It was his best tie. Didn’t she realize that!
Eden turned to her sister. “Riley?” And Riley came forward and handed Steve his infinity tie.
“You can’t be serious.” Steve laughed.
“I most certainly am,” Eden said brightly. “It’s what brought us together.”
Steve quickly went back into the bedroom and changed ties, then thought—rings? “Eden,” he called. “Rings?”
“I have mine. I’ll pick yours out later. Hurry up. Get your boutonniere. The car is here.”
Steve was amazed. This crazy, disorganized woman he was suddenly marrying had thought of everything, including her bouquet and Riley’s corsage. The ride to the synagogue was short, only to Temple Micah, where Shaul, a member, was waiting for them. “And I thought you were a Buddhist,” Eden teased.
“Don’t worry. I’ll find a nice Jewish Buddhist to marry?” Shaul replied with a wink. “Come on, the rabbi is waiting, and he charges overtime for delays.”
The rabbi was indeed waiting. As was another friend of Steve’s, Manny, who would be taking photos, and there was Eden’s friend Peter from the Renwick, who played the cello. Steve rushed up the aisle to stand under the huppah with Shaul by his side. Then Peter began playing an adagio by Bach while Riley slowly walked up the aisle trying to look her best for the photographer, although the dress was an old one she had worn ten years ago when a college friend got married and she was a bridesmaid. Oh, well, it would do.
Steve watched while Eden followed her sister, the happiest smile on her face, matched by his own. When she settled underneath the huppah, the rabbi said, “Steve, Eden, do you have your own vows before we recite the Hebrew ones?”
Yikes! Steve thought. But then, in business he always had to be quick on his feet. So he would use that ability now. “My vow is to hope that life with Eden is always as exciting as this day of surprises has been.”
Almost giggling, Eden replied, “My vow is to love you forever beyond infinity.”
“Well, that too,” Steve quickly added.
The rabbi didn’t look exactly thrilled with the vowing, but the Hebrew words with English translations were short, accompanying by slipping the ring on Eden’s finger. Then Shaul placed a napkin-wrapped glass on the floor between them, while Manny positioned himself to take his photo.
Steve was a bit apprehensive about the glass. Would he be able to break it in one stomp—without injuring his foot? “Nu?” the rabbi finally said. So Steve stomped, the glass was broken, Jerusalem was remembered, and he and Eden were married. Except for the symbolic wine and cake. For that Eden had arranged a private dining room for a late lunch, from which the rabbi excused himself, a meal they wouldn’t have to pay for. But it was a fun lunch because Shaul was very funny and Peter talked to his cello as if it were his girlfriend, and Manny kept snapping away.
Then real life intervened. They had to get Riley back to the apartment so she could change, grab her bags and take the car to the airport. She hugged them both and said, “I think this was the best wedding I’ve ever been to.”
They couldn’t have agreed more. But how to tell the parents, et al. “I don’t want to make that call,” Steve confessed.
“Oh, we’re not making the call,” Eden assured him. “Manny is even now sending me a few of the wedding photos. Some I shall put up on my Facebook page, others I shall instagram to everyone. The word will get around, and at some point we’ll hear from the disaffected. But for now, it’s just you and me.” She smiled. “You can’t imagine how happy I am.”
“Oh, yes, I can because, wow, I never thought a woman like you would ever love me.”
“What’s not to love?” Moving closer, Eden slowly removed his infinity tie. In the back of her mind, she pictured the next crisis, the in-laws arguing over what Eden and Steve should name their first child. But now was all for love, two made one. She was ecstatic.