2.
What surprised me was that the next day, my mother actually called me first.
I drew in a deep breath and pressed answer.
On the other end of the line came a tone I had never heard from her before, something close to gentle.
"Arlie, honey, yesterday was Mom's fault. I thought about it all night, and I realized I wasn't being fair to you."
My heart clenched hard.
Twenty-some years, and this was the first time she had ever apologized to me on her own.
That heart I had buried with my own hands somehow, at the worst possible moment, gave one faint, unwelcome beat.
"Say what you will, you're still my only daughter. How could I not be at your wedding?"
The guilt in her voice was so real that I almost believed her.
And in the split second my guard slipped, she changed course.
"It's just that I really can't get away from Barbara Fox's side either, so we came up with a wonderful idea. Barbara will hold her wedding together with yours."
"As long as the two of you share one wedding, then I won't be stuck. I'll get to be at both my daughters' weddings."
Something buzzed in my skull, and the last string in me named "family" snapped clean through.
I gripped the phone until my knuckles went white, my throat dry.
"So she wants to spend nothing and freeload off the luxury wedding I put my whole heart into planning?"
The moment I said it, every trace of gentleness on the other end vanished, turning shrill and vicious in an instant.
"Arlene! How can you talk about your sister like that! Freeload? What an ugly thing to say!"
"Barbara didn't clash dates with you on purpose! She had no choice either!"
"Besides, what's wrong with it? Two sisters married off together, double the joy, best of both worlds!"
A laugh scraped out of me, hollow all the way through.
"Not on purpose? She figured it out exactly. As long as she had you wrapped around her finger, I'd have to give in."
"Well, let me tell you, she figured wrong. My wedding won't be inviting a single one of you!"
With that, I gave her no chance to say another word and hung up the phone.
Over the next few days, Elwin and I threw ourselves fully into the final wedding preparations.
Watching him run around doing everything for me, for the first time I felt it for real: I was loved, I was worth cherishing.
The day of the wedding, the sun was perfect.
In a spotless white gown, my arm through Elwin's, I walked down a red carpet strewn with flowers.
The applause and blessings of guests and friends surged toward me like a tide, closing warmly around me.
Only, when my eyes swept past the front row, past the seat that should have belonged to the bride's parents, my heart still gave that unavoidable stab of pain.
It sat empty, like the childhood that had left me full of holes long ago.
I drew in a deep breath, pushed that small ache back down, and told myself it was all in the past.
But just before the ceremony was about to begin, a huge commotion suddenly broke out beyond the doors of the hall.
"What gives you the right to keep me out!"
"I'm the bride's mother! I'm the family of the bride!"
"Arlene! Arlene, come out here now!"
Guests turned one after another, and murmurs rose all around.
My whole body went rigid, the color draining from my face in an instant.
Elwin gave my hand a squeeze and murmured low, "Go handle it, don't be afraid. I'm right here."
The security guard held his ground, doing his job. "Ma'am, you don't have an invitation. You can't go in."
"My daughter's getting married, I'm here for the wedding, and I need an invitation? Get out of my way!"
I drew in a deep breath and walked quickly over, only to see my mother standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips and fury all over her face.
And behind her, following along, was Barbara, dressed in an equally lavish wedding gown.
