An Unexpected Bride

by Shadonna Richards

  Truth be told, it was a small wedding ceremony. Micro. But she wanted to do this thing right. After all, it may just be the closest thing to walking down the aisle Emma would ever have.

  She swallowed. A sigh followed.

  Gosh, she’d longed for a happy, normal—whatever normal was—slice of life, love, and happiness. She longed to have what she did not—could not have. A happy home, marriage, a tiny dog, children, a husband who adored her, a family life she cherished.

  Instead, here she was—an unexpected bride.

  An unexpected bride who was partly deceiving the groom-to-be to marry her for real so that her grandfather wouldn't go to his grave depressed thinking that the only heir to his bloodline may very well end up dead, destitute, and alone—with maybe a cat.

  Emma walked around the elaborate boutique. It was so hard not to be absorbed into the whole wedding spirit. She’d really wished Evan were there. Her Gramps, too. And, her mother. Maybe the Evan part wouldn’t be such a good idea, since he shouldn’t see Emma in her bridal gown before the wedding.

  The store was beautiful. The dim lights created an intimate, relaxed, cosy ambiance. There were rows of different colored dresses for the bridal party. A mannequin of the bride and groom were dressed appropriately. A comfortable cream coloured sofa sat off to the side so guests and friends of the bride could make themselves at home.

  Rows of shoes on a rack caused Genie and Emma both to gush over all the choices earlier. And golden colored dressing rooms with gold satin curtains and a large full mirror offered perfect refuge for trying on everything and anything. Emma saw mother-of-the-bride dresses to which made her belly tighten. She longed to have her mother in her life. She wished this were for real. She hoped she and her mother could be closer. But even after the wedding, what would her mother think if she suddenly upped and got an annulment—after Gramps passed. She cringed at the thought and reshifted her focus.

  There were prom gowns and many synthetic bouquets, apparently handcrafted. Emma’s eyes froze when she got a good look at the bouquet held by the female bridal mannequin. It was a bouquet alright.

  And not just any bouquet either.

  It was a beautiful bouquet woven from phalaenopsis orchids trimmed with stephanotis and the whole thing flowed to the ground.

  It was breathtaking.

  She knew it was supposed to be a small ceremony, but she would love to have that arrangement.

  Genie immediately followed her friend’s gaze to the object of her salivation. She eyed the elaborate bouquet carried in the slender plastic fingers of the mannequin bride.

  “Oh. No,” Genie shook her head and emphasized hand gestures signifying when a director yells cut.

  “Oh. Yes,” Emma answered back.

  The seamstress, who was altering Emma’s dress, looked from Emma to Genie and back again. She grinned and continued to put last minute touches on the dress.

  Emma simply fell in love with the floral arrangement. Its beautiful petals and elegant appearance seemed to call to her.

  And much like happiness in her life, she had to have it.

  After the dress fitting, Emma returned the favor and assisted Genie, the only girl in her bridal party, with her bridesmaid dress.

  It was a soft peach-coloured satin dress that flowed to the ankles.

  It was beautiful.

  Emma thought the dress would be perfect for Genie. Besides, much like her gown, those dresses could easily be worn at a fancy dinner party or other formal event. The thing she loved about the boutique dresses was they were versatile.

  Emma was deeply appreciative of Genie going along with this—though part of her pained to think it wasn’t real. There was still that little psychosomatic nudging in the pit of her belly.

  She really wanted it to seem as real as possible. For Gramps’s sake, especially. Still, what was she thinking? she mused. Evan still hadn’t spoken to her since they returned from New York. But that was fine. The show would go on.

  Evan was a man of honor. He would do the right thing.

  Emma had no doubt as to his integrity.

  “Okay, kiddo, now back to you.” Genie undressed out of her gown in the changing room. Her dress seemed to fit her perfectly with little alteration needed.

  “Back to me?”

  “Yep. You know the drill. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do it right. Now…” She paused and put her hand on her chin and crossed her other arm across her chest when she dressed back into her day clothes.

  “Something blue. You can borrow my pearl bracelet my grandmother gave to me.”

  “Aw. Thanks so much, Genie.”

  Emma’s eyes misted over. Not just because of Genie’s warm offer but also because she was reminded of her own grandmother who had passed away. When she told Gramps she was getting married, he asked to see his valuables in the safe. He then immediately gave Emma his late wife’s—Emma’s grandmother’s—beautiful pearl necklace she wore when they got married.

  This touched Emma deeply in the very core of her soul. How could she even begin to think of letting him down? He had told her that he never thought he would live to see the day when he could give it to Emma—with her being single for so long with no prospects in sight. But that was the greatest day of his life, he told her, and it showed.

  The moment where he could pass on one of the finest Wiggins family treasures. Emma told him, of course, that he and Grandma were the Wiggins finest treasure.

  They both had a tear-jerking moment when they reminisced about Grandma and her wonderful old-fashioned loving ways. Emma missed her terribly, just as she knew she would miss Gramps like crazy.

  “So something old…” Genie interrupted her mindful walk down memory lane.

  “Something new!” Emma chimed in.

  “Something borrowed.”

  “And something blue.” Both girls laughed out loud, hugged and squeezed each other like sisters. This was certainly a moment to remember.

  “You know, doll, life is about moments, isn’t it?”

  “Sure got that right. We have to make each moment a special occasion as Gramps would drill in my head every single day.”

  “Yep. Quit worrying about the future or if things will work out. That’s a first class ticket to Ulcer City.”

  Emma giggled. Genie really knew how to make light a situation. Gosh, just think if she had gone on her own to do the bridal fitting.

  Emma turned the key to her apartment and let herself in. It had been a crazy long day at work when she got back to the office after the bridal dress fitting. Still, she felt as if she moved a huge step further with the plan. Even though there was already a glitch to her almost perfect day.

  Still no word from Evan.

  The groom-to-be.

  She spun by the hospital to see her Gramps and help him with his dinner tray, but not because she felt the nurses wouldn’t help him. But in his last days, she really wanted to make sure he was not alone. She was happy to spend time with him. The thought of him being alone terrified her. It kept her awake at nights.

  Then she thought to herself, What if Gramps didn’t have her?

  Who would visit him morning, day, and night? Who would call him around the clock and sit in meetings with doctors and nurses and the social work team regarding his plan of care?

  She tried to gently push the negative what-ifs out of her head. Gramps always told her that what-ifs are one of the greatest ulcer-inducing habits known to man. Especially when people had a bad, obsessive, life-crippling case of it.

  She smiled to herself as she placed her keys on the side table by the entrance of her apartment door. She really was going to miss Gramps’s little philosophies.

  Would she have grandkids one day to be able to share her own life's wisdom with? She hoped her story would travel in that direction. She so wanted a family—a husband and children, at least one, anyway—of her own to love, honour, cherish, and enjoy.

  She instinctively switched on the TV with the remo
te control before pulling off her coat to see if she could catch any interesting news on the twenty-four hour news station. She walked into the kitchen and turned on the kettle to make her usual cup of green tea.

  She was still full after the scrumptious lunch she had with Genie after the bridal dress fitting. Emma laughed at the sight when they were done.

  Their bellies had swelled from all that delicious food they started to thank their lucky stars they hadn’t eaten before the bridal dress fitting. That reminded her she’d better not over-stuff herself before walking down that aisle.

  Because of Emma’s hard work and serious overtime in landing the new account, Evan had already agreed that all those who worked on the case could take an extra long lunch hour or leave early for the afternoon.

  Evan had gone as far as to give a day off in lieu of overtime. But Emma decided to hold off on that for now. Until a long weekend cropped up. She would use her time then to take an extra-long weekend break. It felt like a mini vacation then.

  As she flipped through the different news stations with her satellite channels, Emma sighed.

  Nothing out of the ordinary.

  A star athlete caught in a media-frenzy sex scandal. A politician with a skeleton that accidently stormed out of his closet right after he announced his intention to run for office. A love-child with a secret mistress sort of popped out of nowhere.

  Emma shook her head and sighed.

  She heard the kettle click off. She sprung up from microsuede sofa and back into the kitchen to fix her cup of tea. She loved it steaming hot with a teaspoon of warm honey and, of course, no milk. It was delicious. Once she’d heard the main headlines, scandals, and bad news, she went into the bathroom to run the bath. She was going to soak in the tub with her green tea and a good book to read. Her only company right now.

  As Emma ran the water, she heard the loud knocking on the door. Who could it be? Evan? Her heart leapt. She sprung up on her feet and went to answer the door.

  She squinted through the peep hole but could not in a million years believe her eyes.

  “No. Way!”

  When the door opened wide, Emma’s shock expanded at the vision in front of her.

  14

  “Mom?” Emma’s voice was a pitch higher than usual. She stood there frozen.

  “Well, are you gonna let me in—or are we gonna have our little heart to heart out here in the hallway so the neighbours can listen in?”

  Emma swallowed.

  She had a mixture of emotions stirring inside. Shock was one of them. But once she unfroze herself, she immediately snapped back into normalcy. She clapped her hand to her forehead. “Of course, Mom.” She stepped back apologetically, with an air of embarrassment.

  Stupid.

  Stupid.

  Stupid.

  She just hadn’t expected her mother to be here so soon. But then again, why was she so surprised? Her wedding was this week.

  Ms. Wiggins kept her married name though she had divorced from Emma’s father a long time ago. She figured it would be easier than changing all of her ID—again.

  She’d accomplished a lot, including earning a college degree while married to Emma’s father. She wore a green jacket with a large round hat, red handbag, and leopard skin tights with stiletto heels. Ms. Wiggins certainly was a fun, eclectic type.

  Still, Emma and her mother were as different as lion and lamb. She was more of stranger than anything else, Emma was sad to admit. She longed to call her Mommy. To have that normal mother-daughter thing going on. But still, she had her Gramps and Grandma who made up for it big time. She figured her mother got thrown into the marriage game a little too early for her personal life and it came too sudden. She wasn’t terribly maternal—as some mothers would be. But Emma tried to focus on her individuality and her good points. We’re not all cut out from the same mould, Gramps would stress.

  Ms. Wiggins gawked as if she were in a museum as she took in the sight of her daughter’s apartment. The African artwork on the wall and a large ornament from the Orient caught her eye. There was a mixture of art from different parts of the world. It was her first visit to her daughter’s home in Texas. She was ashamed it took so long.

  Ms. Wiggins clutched tightly to her handbag as if in a tourist resort and didn’t want to let go for fear of being mugged. You would think she was at a stranger’s house and not her offspring’s home.

  “Fiancé having a bath?” she commented, hearing the water running in the bathroom. She stretched her long, slender neck around the corner to see if she could see anything.

  “Huh?” Emma took a moment before she realised what her mother was saying. “Oh. No…” She shook her head and chuckled.

  Oops!

  She was about to let pose: Why would I be living with Evan? But that would just sound so stupid. Almost as inane as saying why would the sky be blue?

  “Um. Well…actually, Mom, he’s not here.”

  “No?” Her mother seemed appalled. Almost stunned.

  “Good heavens, why not? Where is he? Working late at the office?”

  “Well. No. Not exactly.” Emma felt as if she were a witness in a high profile case and she was being interrogated by the star prosecutor—an intimidating experience.

  “What do you mean, not exactly?” Her mother narrowed her eyes. She spun her head around and did a quick scan of the apartment. "Does a man even live here? Where are his things?”

  Ms. Wiggins quickly poked her head into the closet and looked at the shoe rack by the door.

  All women’s shoes.

  She helped herself to a quick tour.

  Not that Emma wasn’t going to offer her a tour, of course. It’s just that she had to get past the whole Ta-da, you-have-an-unexpected-visitor-from-out-of-town-who-will-be-staying-with-you-for-the-next-little-while-and-possibly-make-your-life-a-misery syndrome.

  “Emma?” She narrowed her eyes again. Still clutching to her handbag. Emma really wanted to tell her that she was safe in the her apartment that it was okay to put down the handbag.

  But she dared not, of course.

  “Yes, Mom,” was the best she could do.

  “What is going on?”

  “Well—"

  “Ha! I knew it. Fake. I knew you’d made the whole thing up.” She tilted her head up with a smug grin. “Your dear grandfather kept crying every day about you not getting married, not settling down, not doing anything. Then suddenly. Poof. You have a fiancé. What is it? Money? Inheritance? Was that the deal?”

  “What?” Emma’s ears burned. But that wasn’t the only thing that was fired up. She was heated up to a boiling point inside. She could take no more.

  Her eyes widened in shock. “What are you saying? Why would I make up all that stuff? And no, what money are you talking about? There is nothing. It’s not about money. What’s wrong with you?”

  Emma was on the verge of tears. Then she heard bubbling sounds in the bathroom. She clapped her hand on her forehead.

  “The bath!”

  She sprinted into the bathroom, her mind and emotions still numb with shock. Over her mother. Her fake fiancé. Her tub. She couldn’t even do that without a hitch. She’d almost forgotten she was running a bath.

  She immediately switched off the faucet. Then she turned to her mother, anger flooding her eyes. Balls of heat seemed to be brewing under her skin. Her legs tingled. Her feet felt numb.

  “Mother, why did you come here?”

  Just then, the phone started to ring.

  “Because, your father left me out of the will. I know he must have left something. Now your grandfather is on his way out. You want me to believe that he’s not going to leave you anything? What about that pearl necklace? That was mine and your father stole it from me when we divorced. That thing’s worth more than the Hope diamond.”

  Emma’s jaw fell open.

  “Well, aren’t you gonna answer that? It may just be your fake fiancé.”

  Emma stood up, too shocked to speak. She
walked past her mother to the bedroom and picked up her cordless phone.

  Still the words rang in her mind.

  Pearl necklace?

  Hope Diamond?

  This was all too crazy. Too soon.