"In-laws, Anthony, I'm so sorry, today's all our fault, we really are sorry!"
"Let's just head to the venue and get the ceremony going!"
Mom and Dad kept glancing past Tyler and April, looking for Karen and finding no sign of her. Dad's brow furrowed as he asked,
"Where's Karen?"
Tyler pulled out a cigarette, angling to draw my father off toward the balcony.
But my father planted himself in front of me and didn't budge.
"Where is Karen?"
Seeing there was no way around it, Tyler gave a sheepish laugh.
"In-laws, Karen really can't get away right now. How about we just go to the venue, start the reception, keep the guests settled, and sort things out from there?"
My father crushed the cigarette in his fist.
"So she's made up her mind. She's not coming back to marry my son, is that it?"
"In-laws, that's not what we meant! Didn't we make it back within the half hour?"
"Anthony, honey, explain it to your parents. This is how Karen always treats Marvin, and you've always supported that, haven't you?"
April grabbed hold of me and shot me a look.
"What did you just say? She regularly neglects Anthony for some man who's nothing to her?"
My father's voice rose, disbelief written all over his face.
Meeting my parents' eyes, so full of pain for me, my nose stung hard.
My head filled with every time Karen had dropped me for Marvin.
When Marvin fought with his fiancée because their wedding photos came out ugly, she handed over the bridal photo package I'd booked so they could reshoot.
When the two of them came down with the flu, she boxed up the meals I'd worked hard to cook and carried them all over to them.
When he couldn't get tickets to his favorite singer's concert, she gave away the tickets I'd stayed up night after night to snag, straight to the two of them.
Every time, she'd say a childhood friend was no different from a real brother, and ask me to be understanding.
I had complaints I couldn't voice, because Marvin's girlfriend never seemed to mind any of it.
Karen didn't want me getting jealous over nothing, so I learned to treat Marvin like her brother, the way she did.
But she shouldn't have taken the new car I gave her and handed it off to Marvin as a wedding car in a pinch, then coaxed my father with the lie that she'd be right back.
April sensed the mood had turned. She pasted on a smile, took my hand, and tried to slip an emerald jade Buddha over my head.
"Anthony, this is a little something from your father and me, don't hold it against Karen, all right? We drove like maniacs the whole way just to make it back. Let's go to the venue first, and once Karen gets here we'll do a simple version of the ceremony. What do you say?"
I stepped aside and refused the jade Buddha, the one meant for the toast, the moment I'd call her Mom.
"Ma'am, I don't blame her. You've had a long, hard trip back and forth. Go on home and rest..."
At that, April broke into a grin so wide she couldn't rein it in.
"Anthony, I always knew you were a sensible boy who knew how to handle things. We're about to be one family. Time to start calling me Mom!"
Ignoring what I actually wanted, she insisted on forcing the jade Buddha over my head.
My mother caught the cold edge under my words and yanked her away.
"One family with who? Her mother is standing right here! Don't go claiming relatives that aren't yours!"
April lost her grip. The jade Buddha hit the floor with a clatter and split in two.
She stared at the broken pieces, her eyes reddening with grief.
"Anthony, what is your mother trying to say?"
"You can be angry that Karen didn't come back, but you don't take it out on a family heirloom like this jade Buddha, do you?"
My mother rolled her eyes and said it flat out.
"How much is it. We'll pay for it, and once we do, our two families are done with each other!"
April froze for a second, then pulled out her phone and called Karen on the spot.
"Sweetheart, that wonderful husband of yours has quite the temper! You'd better coax him yourself, because your mother can't handle one bit of this!"
Karen quickly asked what had happened.
April cut off the front and the back of the story and just said my mother had smashed the jade Buddha and wanted to sever ties with the Simmons family for good.
"Karen, he hasn't even married you yet and he's already letting his own mother look down on me. What happens once you're actually married?"
Tyler hurried to hold her back before she could say anything worse.
Karen's voice went cold at once.
"Mom, put Anthony on the phone!"
