The cashier began ringing up Anna’s groceries—ingredients for enchiladas, which had been Lelani’s request. “Looks like your family is in for a treat tonight,” the woman said as she tucked the sour cream into Anna’s reusable shopping bag.
“Actually, it’s my roommates,” Anna corrected.
“Lucky roommates.” The woman waited as Anna handed her the cash. “But then I suppose roommates are a lot like family too.”
Anna nodded, but she was thinking that her “family” of roommates would be dispersing in June, all going their separate ways.
“Have a nice evening,” the woman said automatically as Anna gathered up her bags and thanked her. It was starting to drizzle as Anna hurried to her car. Suddenly, her mood seemed to be synchronized with the weather. She hadn’t really given a whole lot of thought to what she would do after that second weekend in June. Kendall had said they could remain in the house until the end of that month and possibly even after that, unless her grandmother allowed her to sell the house, which was what Kendall was hoping to do.
“It would help me to get rid of my debt and give Killiki and me a fresh start,” she’d told them last week.
As Anna drove home, she knew it was time to come up with a plan. Already her mother had dropped some hints that Anna might want to move back home. “To save money,” her mother had said. Money for what? Anna had wondered. But she hadn’t gone there, and she intended to do all she could to avoid moving back home. Because if being an unwed Latina at twenty-six was bad, it was far worse to be still living at home. If Anna was going to be able to afford an apartment on her own, she was going to have to start pinching pennies. And she would need to pinch them hard.
As Anna turned onto Bloomberg Place, though, she wondered if she was being shortsighted. After all, she and Edmond were compatible. She’d never had a guy who treated her so well, who seemed to love her so much. And yet … she seemed to be always pushing him away, as if she needed to keep him at arm’s length. Why was that?
She parked her car, gathered her things, and hurried into the house. As she was unloading her groceries and starting to prep for dinner, she began to imagine that she was fixing dinner for Edmond, and that they were newlyweds just settling into their first home. Instead of Kendall’s pots and pans and dishes, Anna would be using her own things. She would be opening her own refrigerator, she would—
“Hey, Anna,” said Kendall as she burst into the kitchen. “I’ve been thinking about your enchiladas all afternoon. Need any help?”
Anna was caught off guard, partly from the interruption of her daydream and partly because she still wasn’t used to this side of Kendall—and, frankly, she wondered how long it would last. “Sure,” she said. “Why don’t you start grating cheese?”
While Kendall grated cheese, she prattled on about wedding plans and how Killiki was willing to live part-time in Maui and part-time in Oregon. “Just today he told me that if we could sell this house, we might be able to afford a condo. He was looking online, and there are some good deals right now.”
“Wow.” Anna nodded. “A home in Maui and a home in Oregon. This is sounding really good, Kendall.”
She grinned and nodded. “I know. I’m starting to feel like a princess.” She laughed. “I don’t want to be the spoiled princess though. I am working on that.”
“Oh, a little spoiling is probably okay.” Anna smiled as she stirred the enchilada sauce. “I kind of like it when Edmond spoils me.”
“How’s it going with you and Edmond?” Kendall asked with sincere interest. “I haven’t seen him around here for a while. You guys are still together, right?”
“Of course.” Anna nodded vigorously. “In fact, he said something today.” She sort of giggled now and wondered if it was even worth saying out loud.
“What?” Kendall asked eagerly.
“Oh, we were just talking about all this wedding planning stuff—and it’s funny because Edmond keeps making these suggestions, which are sweet but totally won’t work. Anyway, as I was leaving he said that all this wedding planning might be good practice.” Anna waited for Kendall’s reaction.
Kendall’s eyes grew wide and she smiled knowingly. “He’s thinking about proposing, Anna.”
“Oh, I don’t know.”
“He is!” Kendall slapped Anna on the back. “And he’s a great guy. You’d say yes, wouldn’t you?”
Anna considered this, then slowly nodded. “Yeah, maybe I would.”
“Oh, Anna, that’s so—”
“But I would insist on a long engagement,” Anna said. “So don’t worry about a triple wedding in June.”
“When would you want to get married?”
Anna thought about this. “I’ve always liked the idea of a winter wedding. But not this coming winter. That would be too soon.”
“So you mean a really long engagement.”
“Some couples wait two or more years.”
“I couldn’t do that.” Kendall looked down at her midsection. “And not because I’m pregnant either. But when I know the guy I love and want to spend the rest of my life with, I don’t see any reason to wait.”
Anna felt the need to bite her tongue now. After all, it hadn’t been all that long ago—six months—that Kendall was certain she was in love with Matthew Harmon.
“It’s smelling good in here,” said Megan as she came in through the garage entrance.
“Hey, how’d the interview go?” asked Anna.
Megan smiled hopefully. “It seemed like it went fairly well.”
“Did you tell them that I was an alumna?” asked Kendall.
Megan laughed. “Actually, the subject never came up.”
Kendall looked disappointed. “Well, maybe they’ll hire you and I can come visit you and check out my old school. That would be fun.”
“So when will you know?” asked Anna.
“They have more applicants, but the teacher I’d be taking over for is due to have her baby in just a couple of weeks, so there’s a little bit of a rush.” Megan snitched a piece of sliced chicken breast that Anna had just browned. “Need any help?”
“I think we’ve got it under control. But maybe you could tell Lelani that it’ll be ready in about five minutes.”
Before long, dinner was on the table, and the four of them were enjoying Anna’s chicken enchiladas and a green salad, talking about weddings. Then Kendall said she had an announcement to make.
“I don’t want to scare you guys,” she began seriously, “but I have some not-so-pleasant news.”
They all waited.
“My mother has decided to come and help me plan my wedding.”
Megan actually laughed. “What’s so horrible about that?”
“Are you kidding? My mother could have her own reality show—it would be Mother-of-the-Bridezilla.” Then she launched into stories of how her mother’s interference and obsessive need to control had seriously messed up her sisters’ weddings. “And my sister Kim actually cancelled the whole thing.”
“She cancelled her wedding because of your mom?” asked Megan.
Kendall nodded. “Oh, she eventually got married—and to the same guy—but they went to Las Vegas and didn’t tell anyone until after the fact. My mom was more than a little ticked about that. But they’ve been speaking for a few years now.”
“Maybe your mom has mellowed with age,” suggested Lelani. “How long has it been since the last wedding disaster?”
“More than ten years. But when I heard the tone in Mom’s voice today, I felt like history was about to repeat itself.”
“But if your mom is planning the wedding, won’t that mean that your parents are footing the bill too?” asked Lelani as she spooned some mashed peas into Emma’s wide-open mouth.
Kendall brightened now. “Yeah,
you’re right.”
“And you were worrying that you couldn’t afford much,” Megan pointed out.
“That’s true. I was even thinking about just having it here at the house. And serving cake, not dinner, for the reception. But maybe I can pull out all the stops now.”
“If you’re willing to bite the bullet when it comes to your mom,” said Anna as she reached for another enchilada.
Kendall seemed to be thinking about this. As much as Anna hated to admit it, she could relate to the mother dilemma. The fact was, if Anna were getting married, her mother would be much more of a headache than she was being with Gil and Lelani now. She would insist on inviting every single relative, even the ones still in Mexico, and she’d probably invite most of the restaurant customers as well. She would have strong opinions about dresses and who should be bridesmaids (probably all of Anna’s cousins), and Anna probably wouldn’t get much of a say in anything. If Anna were getting married, her mother’s involvement might be enough to drive Anna and Edmond to Las Vegas to get hitched. Not that Edmond had asked her. Not yet, anyway.
Four
Lelani Porter
“I’ve been thinking,” Gil said on the phone later that evening. “Maybe we should consider moving the wedding to Maui.”
“But we can’t—”
“Hear me out, Lelani.”
She rearranged Emma, who was almost asleep, to a more comfortable position in the crook of her arm, then leaned back on her bed, adjusted the phone, and prepared herself to listen. “Okay.”
“Well, relations with your family are … sort of strained.”
“At best.”
“I mean your dad’s been great, don’t get me wrong. I have the utmost respect for him.”
“I know, Gil, and he feels the same about you.”
“But what if moving the wedding to Maui somehow, well, somehow helped your relationship with your mom?”
Lelani sighed and pushed a dark lock of hair away from Emma’s forehead. “I’m not sure that’s possible.”
“But what if it was? What if this gesture … what if—”
“Give me a minute.” Lelani set down the phone as she slowly sat up with Emma, now soundly sleeping. She eased her down into the crib, tucking the bunny quilt snuggly around her, then returned to the phone.
“It’s really sweet of you to think of this,” she said quietly to Gil. “But I’m just not sure it would make any difference.”
“But what if it did?”
Lelani sat back down on her bed. “I guess that would be pretty amazing, slightly miraculous even.”
“So, you’ll think about it, then?”
“I’ll think about it, but we don’t really have much time to figure this out, Gil. I mean, if we want to have a June wedding here in town. Megan’s really working hard to help me figure out the details. And Anna’s ready to rock and roll on the invitations.”
“But consider this,” he said in an enticing tone, “not only would you have your dream wedding—on a Maui beach at sunset—you would also avoid having a huge wedding, which is what’s threatening to happen if my mother gets her way.”
“Yes, but I would also miss having our friends with us, and you know they can’t afford airfare to Maui again. And we can’t afford to cover it for them. Plus, there’s Kendall’s wedding now.”
“You sound frustrated.”
“I guess I am a little. Not at you, Gil. But just everything. I suppose if I could have my way, I’d say, ‘Let’s just run down to city hall.’ Do they do that anymore? And then after we were married, we could send everyone an after-the-event sort of announcement.”
He laughed. “Hey, that works for me.”
“But it would hurt your mother’s feelings.”
“Yeah.”
“You’re being so thoughtful of my mom, Gil. And she doesn’t even deserve it. So I should consider your mother equally.”
“It’s too bad that relatives think they have the right to participate in something as personal and important as a wedding.”
“I know exactly what you mean, but maybe that’s how it should be.” Lelani held her left hand up, admiring the solitaire diamond in its simple-yet-elegant setting. Gil had presented it to her shortly after they returned from Maui, and she hadn’t taken it off since. “I mean, we’re making a big commitment, Gil. Shouldn’t we want our loved ones to witness our vows so they’ll understand how seriously we’re taking it?”
“No one has to see me say my vows. Trust me, Lelani, I’m taking this seriously.”
She smiled and closed her eyes. “I do trust you. Implicitly.”
“So you’ll think about Maui then? I have enough in savings to cover it—no debt incurred. And I was thinking it would be cool to honeymoon there anyway.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but now I’ve spoiled the surprise.”
“Okay.” She sat up. “I will think about it.”
“Thanks.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “For being so thoughtful about my family, I mean. I love you, Gil.”
“I love you too. Good night and sweet dreams.”
“You too.” She smiled to remember her tormented dreams from before—before Gil had helped her to get her daughter back. Only once since they’d been home had she awakened suddenly, worried for her little girl, wanting her, feeling like a failure. But then she saw the Winnie the Pooh nightlight bravely glowing, and the shape of Emma’s crib so close that Lelani could reach out and touch it. And then she slept peacefully—more peacefully than she had slept in several years.
She knew she had Gil in part to thank for that. And she knew that she would give his suggestion for a Maui wedding serious consideration. What if it somehow helped to heal something between her and her mother? Wouldn’t that alone be worth a lot?
Emma was soundly asleep, and Lelani slipped out to make a cup of herbal tea and do some studying. Not that she was very concerned about her classes, but she wanted to make sure she pulled A’s in both of them. Her transcript from Hawaii was in great shape, but it had been more than a year since she was enrolled.
Maybe she was making a mountain out of a molehill, but she wanted to be certain that nothing kept her from finishing med school. Not only for her own sake, and for her daughter’s, but she wanted to make her dad proud. Maybe even her mother too. And perhaps she wanted to do it for Gil as well, although Lelani knew that he would love her whether she remained a salesgirl at Nordstrom or became head of pediatrics at the best Portland hospital. Perhaps most importantly, Lelani wanted to do this for herself. It was a journey she’d started long ago and intended to finish.
“Hey, I thought I was the only night owl tonight,” Megan said quietly when Lelani emerged from the kitchen with her tea.
“I didn’t even see you.”
“I was lurking in the sun room.”
Lelani sat down at the dining room table where her books were waiting.
“But I won’t bother you if you need to study.”
Lelani waved her hand. “No, it’s okay. Actually, I’d like to talk to you about something.”
Megan sat down. “Sure, is something wrong?”
“Not exactly.” Lelani spilled Gil’s suggestion about a wedding in Maui. “He thinks it might heal something between my mom and me.”
Megan frowned. “What do you think?”
“That it would take a major miracle.”
Megan nodded. “I’d have to agree.”
“But I love that Gil is thinking about me and my family. It’s so sweet.”
“Especially considering the grief he’ll get from his own family if you relocate the wedding to Maui.”
“But his parents could easily afford to come.”
“Yes, but not all th
e relatives that Mrs. Mendez is set on inviting.” Megan rolled her eyes. “The guest list is about to hit two hundred.”
“Seriously?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Oh.”
“Not that I want to tell you what to do. But I hope you’ll get it figured out soon. We really need to make decisions. Anna is eager to get those invitations going.”
Lelani ran her fingers through her hair and sighed.
“What do you want?” Megan asked.
“What do you mean exactly?”
“For your wedding. What do you really want? I mean hopefully you’ll only have one wedding in your lifetime. What do you want it to be? Where do you want it to be? What would make you happiest?”
Lelani just smiled. “It would make me happiest to simply say ‘I do’ to Gil and then get on with our life. The truth is, when I had Emma I gave up on the old dreams of a perfect wedding. I honestly didn’t think I’d ever get married.”
“That was then.” Megan’s brow creased. “And I heard you saying you’d always dreamed of a beach wedding at sunset. In Maui.”
“Of course, but that was then.”
“Yes, yes, I understand. But if you could wave your magic wand, what would you do?”
Lelani considered this.
“I mean, aside from making everyone happy, which is what I’m guessing you would do. But you can’t go that road. What would you, Lelani Porter, want in your wedding?”
“Gil.”
Megan rolled her eyes. “You’re killing me here.”
“I’m serious. All I want is to get married to Gil. I don’t need all the bells and whistles.”
“So, you’re saying a simple wedding?”
Lelani couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s what I’ve been saying since day one.”
Megan nodded. “Yes, I do recall that.”
“But everyone seems intent to keep me from it.”
“Maybe that’s just the nature of weddings.”
“But a wedding is only one day.” Lelani held up one finger. “One single day. And then you’re married for the rest of your life. Why so much fuss for one little day?”
Three Weddings and a Bar Mitzvah Page 4
