Hitched

Bria

Teresa pulled Bria

“What if it’s in bad condition?”

“I wrapped it good. Honestly. I should have had you try it on before you went to those crazy designers.”

“Ma, Debbie had her dress made by Alfred and Charisse. It looked beautiful.”

“Didn’t she split up with him within six months?”

“So?”

“They’re bad luck. I’m telling you. Bad luck.”

“If I wear your dress and it needs to be altered, then we’ll have to take it to them. Who else would do it so fast?”

“It’s all right. We’ll ignore the bad luck then. But it’s good you’re going to wear a family dress. Believe me, you can’t go wrong. If people don’t think it looks gorgeous, you can blame me.”

They thanked the saleswomen for their efforts, drove out to Long Island, pulled into the garage, and entered the house through the back door. Bria

“Aahhh,” he groaned. “I pulled a muscle in my leg sliding into home plate.”

Teresa rolled her eyes. “You’re fifty-five years old. You’ve got no business sliding around anywhere.”

“You better be in good shape to walk me down the aisle next week,” Bria

“Don’t worry, baby,” he said as he reached in the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Gatorade. “No more games until after the wedding. I thought I could play next Saturday morning and still make it to the church on time, but your mother forbade me.”

“In no uncertain terms.”

He took a chug from the bottle. “Did you get your money back?”

Bria

“Daddy’s little girl.”

Bria

“Let’s get a tape and play it at the rehearsal di

“I know. I know.”

“What was his name?”

“Bill.”

“That’s right. Bill the Pill.”

“Good riddance to him,” Teresa said. “You see, Bria

“He still hasn’t called me back. I left him a message hours ago.”

“He thought you were going to be busy all day. Maybe he went to see a movie to calm his nerves. All I can say is thank God he finally got a new job. You both work until you have a baby. Then see what’s up. Whatever.”

“He was only out of work for a few months.”

“It still can make a man go bonkers. Especially when he’s engaged to be married. Let’s go upstairs and check out the dress.”

On the second floor of their modest-sized house, Bria

“Be careful,” Teresa ordered.

“I am, I am.”

“I’m right behind you.”

Bria

“Daaadyyy!” she screamed. “We need another lightbulb.”

“Howie!” Teresa screamed, relaying her daughter’s message. “We need another lightbulb.”

A short time later, guided by another dim bulb, they rummaged through the attic looking for the cherished family dress.

“I don’t believe this,” Bria

“I did. But this family has collected a lot of junk over the years. We’ve got to clean this place out. Oh look, here are some of your school pictures…”

“Ma! We can’t take time for that now. Where’s the dress? I swear if I get my hands on whoever it was who ruined my gown I will kill them. Kill them!”

“Calm down dear. Now let me see. Oh look! It’s behind this pole.” Teresa pulled aside a carton of junk and reached for the faded white box with a window top that partially revealed the front of the beaded white wedding dress. “Here it is! All packaged nicely from that dry cleaner that went out of business. They did such a good job with wedding dresses. It’s such a shame the owner was so nasty and customers stopped going. Who needs to be insulted when you’re paying good money?”

Bria

Teresa could tell that Bria

Like a child on Christmas morning, Bria

An army of black ants had sprung to life and were frantically ru

For the second time that day, Bria

“Howie!” Teresa bellowed. “Get up here! We’ve got to get this dress out into the back yard! And grab a can of Raid!”

15

“I start to feel good when I get near the ocean,” Marco declared. “There’s something about the salt water. Remember summer after senior year of high school? We made the rounds looking for chicks on every beach from Long Island to South Jersey.”

Francis looked glum as they continued down the Garden State Parkway. “We had to keep moving. You promised so many girls you’d call them, we could never go back to the same place twice.”

Marco waved his hand at his passenger. “We had fun.” He rolled down the window partway and flipped on the radio. “I’m glad the weather is clearing up. I feel like singing.”

“We’d better have that tail light fixed,” Francis reminded Marco as he checked his cell phone. He was hoping that maybe Joyce would call to say hello. No reason she should. Particularly since he blew her off on another Saturday night.

“Don’t worry,” Marco said as a deejay’s voice came over the ti

“You’re back with Ke

“Oh, my God,” Francis muttered.