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Natalie stared at Aunt Louisa. Why did her aunt feel the need to get wasted at every family gathering? Why did she need to make up such bullshit?
For God’s sake, it was Rebecca’s wedding!
“I’m serious,” Aunt Louisa said, looking around the room. “They want everyone to think they have a great marriage, but they’re fucking miserable, and I’m sick of watching my sister live like this. She told me a few weeks ago that they’re finally going to divorce, because she started shacking up with this hoity-toity Toronto businessman who has a cottage near Mosquito Bay. And, Mom”—she turned to Grandma—“you’ll be happy to hear he’s white.”
Natalie gripped the table with one hand.
She now suspected her aunt wasn’t making anything up.
Aunt Louisa liked to say outrageous things. Then a few seconds later, she would slap the table, laugh that horrible laugh of hers, and say, “Got you there, didn’t I?” Even though everyone had known the whole time that she was making shit up.
This time was different.
Plus, she was Mom’s confidante. They’d always been close.
Natalie felt silly for thinking, not long ago, that her family might actually get through the wedding without any disasters. She should have known that would never happen.
Aunt Louisa continued. “They would have split up sooner, but—”
“Stop it, Louisa,” Mom hissed from the next table over, but she didn’t say it was a lie.
Aunt Louisa kept talking. “They didn’t want to do it right before your wedding, Rebecca.” She burped. “Congratulations, by the way. I’m all for marriage. And divorce. I’ve done both three times.” She held up her empty glass. “Cheers!”
The room was quiet. Everyone was probably too shocked to speak.
How could this be happening? How could Mom and Dad be miserable together?
Natalie had never thought her parents’ relationship was a fairytale love story, but she’d believed in their marriage. She felt like her understanding of love was crumbling.
At her own sister’s wedding. Only hours after Rebecca had tied the knot.
Poor Rebecca.
Natalie’s gaze shifted to her sister, who slowly lowered herself to her seat, one hand to her mouth, the other gripping Elliot’s arm.
Natalie wanted to gather Rebecca in her arms, like she’d done when her sister was little, and tell her everything would be okay. There were no trolls in the closet, that was just her imagination, she was safe and sound.
At the same time, Natalie wanted to be next to Connor and feel his comforting hand on hers. Something solid to hold on to when it felt like there was nothing solid in this world. She glanced at him, and he gave her a closed-lip smile.
“I told you.” Grandma tapped Mom on the shoulder with her cane. “I told you it was a stupid idea to marry that silly boy, just because he reminded you of Bruce Lee. And I was right! It didn’t work out.”
Ngin Ngin shot to her feet and marched over to Grandma as best she could. “My son is a great man. Why are you listening to these lies? No divorce.”
“I didn’t tell any lies,” Aunt Louisa said.
“You fool.” Ngin Ngin turned to Dad. “Tell everyone. It’s not true.”
Dad whispered something in her ear, and her eyes widened.
“This is your fault.” She raised her cane above her head and lunged toward Grandma, who hobbled out of her chair.
Before Ngin Ngin could do any damage, Seth pulled her back, and Uncle Carey pushed Grandma back into her seat.
Damn. It was a near thing that there hadn’t been a physical fight between two nonagenarians. Only in the Chin-Williams family could this sort of thing happen.
“My mother might be a racist turd of a human being,” Aunt Louisa said, “but this divorce isn’t her fault. Just didn’t work out, okay? None of my marriages did, either.”
“Okay, okay,” Iris said, speaking into the microphone. “That’s enough. Welcome to our loving family, Elliot! We’re really not so bad, but if you need any drugs to get you through the evening, find me and I’ll hook you up.”
A number of wedding guests chuckled, desperate for laughter. Aunt Carolyn, however, looked more horrified by her daughter’s mention of drugs than she had by anything else.
“Anyway,” Iris continued. “Howard and Judy, would you still like to say something?”
Oh, dear God. Mom and Dad were supposed to speak.
This would certainly be delightful.
Mom made her way up to the front and took the microphone from Iris. She looked pointedly at Dad, but he remained in his seat, arms crossed over his chest.
“We’re so proud of you, Rebecca,” she said, a slight tremor in her voice. “You always did well in school, and then you went on to become an engineer...”
Mom continued talking, telling stories about Rebecca as a kid, about meeting Elliot for the first time at Thanksgiving.
“And this is when I was going to say...” She laughed awkwardly. “This is when I was going to say that I know what makes a strong marriage because I’ve been in one for thirty-nine years, and I want Rebecca to know the happiness that I have. But now you know that’s all a crock of shit. So, Rebecca, don’t be like us, okay? Be like...Carey and Melanie? Seth and Simon?” She laughed again. “But what do I know? They could be faking it, too. So, other than the don’t-go-to-bed-angry advice I gave you last night, I also want to tell you that if it doesn’t work out, it’s okay. Don’t hold on to something just because you’re stubborn and you want to prove people wrong. I wish you and Elliot every happiness, but if it’s not meant to be, don’t spend decades trying to keep up appearances, just to have it all come out at your daughter’s wedding. We were going to separate last year, but then Howard convinced me to wait until our mothers died, and really, how much longer could that be?”
“Aiyah!” Ngin Ngin said. “I’m healthy as an ox. Will live many more years. Ten great-grandchildren. Rebecca, you start working on that tonight.”
Natalie wanted to sink into the floor. She looked out at the friends and family Rebecca had thanked, not long ago, for coming, and she wished they would all vanish.
Except Connor. He could stay. She didn’t want to be all alone, but she wanted someone who wasn’t related to her.
Mom wasn’t done yet. “And then I decided I couldn’t wait any longer. I was planning to move out this spring, but you announced you were engaged, and I didn’t want to do that to you right before your wedding. I guess we succeeded, since you didn’t find out until afterward!”
Oh, God. What a horror show.
“Judy,” Elliot said quietly, “how about I walk you back to your seat, and my mother can say a few words.”
When Sherry came up to the front of the room, she looked at everyone in stunned silence for a moment before pulling out a folded piece of paper from her purse. She spoke fondly of Elliot, and how much she wished his father—who had died of a heart attack a few years ago— could be here, and then she thanked Rebecca’s family for planning the wedding. She made no reference to what had just transpired, instead sticking to her script.
It was good Rebecca had a normal mother in-law. She would probably need it.
“Okay!” Iris said, artificially upbeat. “I think we’ve given them lots of time to cut the cake. We’ll have tea and coffee and wedding cake, and then we’ll start the dancing!”
* * *
Rebecca and Elliot had their first dance as a married couple. Next, Rebecca danced with Dad while Elliot danced with his mother. Natalie tried to focus on them and forget everything else, but it was impossible.
When the song finished, Iris invited all the guests onto the dance floor. Natalie didn’t plan to dance, but she immediately jumped up and made her way toward Connor, thankful she’d had the forethought to bring a date who was here just for her and wasn’t wrapped up in the rest of the drama.
However, before she could reach Connor, she was interrupted by her father.
“May I have a dance with my other daughter?” he asked.
“Uh, sure,” she said.
Dad took her hand. “Will I ever get to do this at your wedding? I hope you haven’t given up on finding love.”
She couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of his words. “You just had your divorce announced at Rebecca’s wedding, and you’re telling me not to give up on love?”
He shrugged.
Natalie didn’t say anything for a while. The lights in the room had been dimmed, and camera flashes went off here and there.
“I only heard Mom’s point of view,” she said at last. “What about yours? Were you unhappy, too, or not until she started cheating on you?”
“We’d both been unhappy for a while.” He sighed. “It’s complicated. Don’t hold the fact that she found someone else against her. We had agreed it would be okay if...” He shook his head.
Oh, God. Did Mom and Dad have an open marriage?
“Let’s not talk about this,” he said. “It’s supposed to be a happy day.”
“Too late,” she muttered, but she didn’t ask any more questions.
As soon as the song ended, she found Connor.
“What do you need?” he murmured, squeezing her hand. “Another drink? A dance? A trip to Bali?”
“If only. A little fresh air will have to do.”
She dragged him outside and around to the back of the community center, where she leaned against the brick wall and sighed.
“My parents are getting divorced,” she said. “My parents are getting divorced.” It still didn’t seem real, like it was a bad dream and she would wake up any minute.
But she knew it wasn’t a dream.
Connor braced his arms against the wall on either side of her, like he was protecting her from the world. “I’m sorry.”
“It shouldn’t bother me so much. I’m grown up; I’m not a child whose life will be upended.”
“Of course you’re upset. It’s okay to let yourself feel that.”
“You should be a therapist.”
“I’m not going back to school to get another degree.”
“I bet you have a great bedside manner. Are you thinking of me as a patient right now?”
“No, I’m here as your friend.” He brushed his thumb over her cheek. “Whatever you need.”
Whatever you need. For some reason, that sent a shiver through her.
“My father asked if he would ever get to dance with me at my wedding,” she said. “I can’t imagine what would happen if I got married. Maybe an alien invasion? A zombie attack?”
“Natalie!” It was Rebecca.
Connor stepped back from Natalie, and she immediately missed his body heat.
Rebecca was followed by Iris, Seth, and Simon. They all looked at each other, and then Iris started laughing manically. Everyone else soon joined in.
Once Natalie started laughing, she couldn’t seem to stop. She felt rather unhinged.
“Nobody will ever forget your wedding, Rebecca,” Iris said between laughs.
“No, they won’t.”
Iris pulled out her bag of weed. “This sounds pretty good now, doesn’t it?”
“Put that away,” Rebecca said. “I don’t want to smell like pot, and I don’t want to be high on my wedding night.”
“Come find me after the reception, Iris,” Simon said. “I’ll smoke up with you, and I might be able to convince Seth to join us.”
“Did you see my mother’s face when I mentioned drugs?” Iris started laughing again. In fact, she was laughing so hard, she was practically crying. Then she enveloped Rebecca in a hug, and they tottered on their heels. When Iris stumbled, Natalie grabbed her shoulders. The three of them slid to the concrete in a laughing mess while Connor, Seth, and Simon looked on.
Rebecca stood up, but Iris and Natalie stayed on the ground, their legs stretched out in front of them.
“It’s a bridesmaid dress,” Iris said. “I probably won’t wear it again, so who cares.”
Rebecca fingered the sleeve of her red cheongsam. “I’m not sure I’ll wear this again, but I want it to look nice in the closet.”
“When you look at it,” Natalie said, “you’ll remember Ngin Ngin threatening to hit Grandma with a cane.”
“True. Maybe I should just burn everything.” Rebecca looked down at her hand and twisted her wedding band. “Did you have any idea they were getting divorced?”
Natalie shook her head. “I never thought they had the world’s perfect marriage, but I thought... They were Mom and Dad. They would always be together.”
Connor leaned over and put a hand on her shoulder, and she spread her fingers over his.
“When I was here at Christmas,” Seth said, “I noticed Mom had some clothes in the dresser in my old bedroom, and I wondered if she’d been sleeping in there.”
Natalie felt so naïve. When it came to her parents, she’d always focused on the fact that they were an interracial couple who’d encountered so much disapproval and yet had gotten married despite it and stayed married. She’d tried not to think much of things like the Baffin Island mist fight, telling herself that all couples fought.
Which was true. But did most couples have week-long fights about paint colors?
And then there was what had happened after Rebecca was born. Mom had struggled, and Dad hadn’t been there for her.
When, exactly, had they realized they’d made a mistake? Did one of them realize it long before the other?
Natalie looked at Connor, as though he might have the answers, though of course he didn’t.
“Isn’t marriage a wonderful institution?” Iris asked. “Aren’t you happy to be a part of it, Rebecca?”
“Better get started on those ten children,” Natalie said.
They all laughed some more, because it was better than anything else.
Before they returned to the reception, Natalie pulled Rebecca aside and asked if she was okay, if there was anything she needed from her big sister, and Rebecca shook her head with a bittersweet smile.
* * *
At eleven o’clock, Rebecca decided she wanted to return to the bed and breakfast and...
Frankly, Natalie didn’t want to think about what her sister would do with Elliot.
Before Rebecca headed out, she had to toss the bouquet. All the single women gathered on the dance floor, even Aunt Louisa, who had three divorces under her belt.
Natalie didn’t want to catch the bouquet—it was nothing more than a silly tradition—but she knew someone would drag her up if she didn’t go willingly. She stood near the back, figuring Rebecca wouldn’t throw it all that far, and didn’t bother raising her hands.
Rebecca threw the bouquet—with the white flowers that Ngin Ngin had said were bad luck—and to Natalie’s surprise, the flowers hurtled to the back of the room, toward Kelsey, who reached for them.
But then all of a sudden, the flowers were heading toward Natalie, as though they’d magically changed directions in the air. She had to put her hands in front of her face so she wouldn’t get hit in the head, and somehow, she caught the bouquet.
How wonderful.
All night, she’d felt like she had a gigantic neon sign that said, “She’s running out of time!” sticking out of her fancy updo, and now the bouquet couldn’t help but obey.
She looked at the flowers and wrinkled her nose. Yeah, after tonight, getting married was just what she needed. Not that she believed in any of these stupid superstitions anyway.
Natalie stood near her sister as Rebecca and Elliot said goodbye to everyone. Most people pretended the Divorce Incident hadn’t happened. They said it was a lovely wedding, Rebecca looked beautiful; surely, they would have a happy life together.
But not everyone.
“Sorry about that,” Aunt Louisa said, swaying as her son and daughter tried to support her. “Though you were gonna find out eventually, weren’t you?” She slapped Rebecca’s shoulder.
“Congratulations,” Grandma said, “on making a better choice than your mother.”
“Fuck ya!” Uncle Dennis said, and Natalie had no idea what he was talking about. He probably didn’t know, either.
“Remember,” Ngin Ngin said, her hand on Rebecca’s shoulder. “Ten great-grandchildren. Maybe you start with triplets?”
Connor came up to Natalie after the newlyweds had left, and despite everything that had happened, she smiled when she saw him.
“Do you want to head out?” he asked.
She nodded, then remembered where her stuff was. “Oh, God. I’m supposed to stay at my parents’ house.”
No way in hell was she doing that tonight. Her parents would have a big fight that would last for hours, and then they would go to bed angry in separate bedrooms.
“Can I stay with you?” she asked Connor.