My One and Only(36)

The gown fit well enough, but the neckline was…low. Not just low, not just cle**age, but…well…lots of boob, okay? Lots. I looked slutty. Were I a nursing mother, this dress would be quite convenient. Does that paint the right picture? I gave the bodice a tug northward; it didn’t move. Hello, world, I’d like you to meet the girls. Nothing to be done for it now, unless my father had a little duct tape.

Well. Whatever. No one would be looking at me except for Dennis. And, sure, maybe Nick. Who’d never stopped loving me but also now hated me, due to said love.

And people wondered why I did what I did.

“Oh, my Lord, don’t you look wonderful!” BeverLee crooned as I came out. “It’s about time you showed off your assets!”

“Very pretty!” Willa said, clapping her hands.

“Come over here, darlin’, let me give you a little spritz,” BeverLee said, holding up her can of hair spray like a weapon.

“I’m good, actually, Bev,” I said. “Willa, you look…wow.”

Now, granted, I’d seen my sister in wedding regalia before, but even so, it came as a little bit of a shock. Little Willa, getting married.

“Shoot, I forgot to give the caterer the flowers for the top of the cake,” BeverLee said. “Harper, can you finish your sister’s hair, sweetie? Thanks. Just tease it up a little in the back, ’cause it’s lookin’ flatter than a griddle cake.”

“Will do.” BeverLee flew out of the room, her orange church-lady suit flapping.

“Don’t tease my hair,” Willa said the second the door closed behind her mother.

“I won’t,” I smiled. BeverLee had always had a heavy hand with the Jhirmack, determined that her bouffant would stand up to the winds of Martha’s Vineyard. Back in the day, I’d taken it upon myself to do Willa’s hair every day for school, braiding it, brushing it into a ponytail. Now, I picked up a tiny white flower and pinned it in Willa’s smooth blond hair. Just like old times.

Looking at her reflection in the mirror, I could see that her expression was…somber. “So how are you doing, honey?” I asked. This wasn’t exactly breaking my promise to Nick, I told myself. No infecting going on. Not a crime to ask one’s sister how she felt on her wedding day, though I’m sure Nick could find a way to convict me.

She looked up at me, frowning. “Did you want to back out on your wedding day?”

I took another flower and secured it near Willa’s temple. “Actually, I did,” I said quietly. “I was scared. Everything had happened really fast. I thought we were too young. Looking back, too, it was clear we had…I don’t know. Different ideas about what being married meant.”

“But you loved him, right?”

I swallowed, looked down, grabbed another bobby pin. “Sure. But loving someone doesn’t necessarily mean you can be happily married. And even on our wedding day, I guess I knew that.” I paused, then sat down next to my sister and took her hand. “Willa, it would be completely okay if you called this off, honey.”

The door to the room banged open, and I jumped. Nick. Of course.

“All set downstairs, Willa,” he said cheerfully, then turned to me. “I thought we had an agreement,” he muttered, scowling like Zeus with PMS. Zeus with PMS but wearing a tux, which wasn’t quite fair. Then again, I had the boobage. So there.

“And we did. Which I’ve honored.” I got back up and resumed my hairstyling duties.

“Hi, Nick,” Willa said, smiling up at him.

“So,” he said, kneeling next to her. “You nervous?” he asked. As I had a moment earlier, he took her hand.

She gave a pretty grimace. “Well…yeah. A little.”

“Excuse me, I need a flower,” I said to Nick, nudging him a bit ungently with a knee to the ribs.

“Here.” He slapped a blossom into my hand and didn’t bother moving. “Willa, I think everyone has a few doubts on their wedding day. Your mind runs through the worst-case scenarios. What if we’re making a mistake, what if she doesn’t love me enough, what if I love her too much?”

I snorted and slid another bobby pin into my sister’s hair. Willa, alas, was rapt.

“Do you regret marrying Harper?” she asked.

“I’m standing right here,” I said.

“I know,” she said, smiling up at me. “I just always wondered.”

Nick still didn’t look at me. “No,” he said, and my stunted, cynical heart gave a twist. “But I do regret that she didn’t have the same faith in me that I had in her.”

Heart untwisted quite fast. “Oh, sac up, Nick. That’s a lot of crap. Faith, my ass. Willa, I regret not foreseeing how fast Nick would dump me in the middle—”

“Willa, the thing is,” Nick interrupted, “you have to listen to what’s in your heart. Your heart knows what’s right.”

Willa smiled and gave a tiny nod.

“Or you could listen to your brain, which tends to be more reliable,” I interjected. “Or, here’s an idea, you can simply take a few months to get to know each—”

“If you really don’t think you should marry my brother, Willa, don’t. Call it off. Take some time. But…” here he gave her hand a squeeze, “if you really love him, go ahead. Marry him. Be happy. Take care of each other. Make some beautiful nieces and nephews for me to spoil.” He grinned, and that was it. Willa was sold. Her little smile blossomed into full-fledged glory.