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“He’s probably afraid Marco will change his mind.” I said it as a joke, but my mother’s perfectly threaded eyebrow lifted as confirmation. “Really?”
“What don’t you understand, Allegra?” Her softly spoken words still delivered the impact of a baseball bat to my gut. “I’ve cautioned you about your behavior. Do you think your husband would approve of the way you slip out of the house in the middle of the night? I swear, Marco better be your first. I don’t care what else you’ve done, but you better whimper like a virgin the first time with your mafia husband.”
“Mom, I’m a virgin. I want to marry Marco, but not in this fucking dress.” I stomped off the platform. “I’m not going to be his princess,draped in diamonds.” I tossed her words back at her as I strode toward the dressing rooms.
“The dress is spectacular,” my mother said to the seamstress as I walked away. “We’ll need a few more crystals added to the veil. She needs to sparkle.”
I groaned as I threw open the dressing room door. “She’s killing me.”
Sitting in her bra and panties, Deidre coughed and waved her hand in front of her face.
“Are you getting high?” I screeched, slamming the door closed and twisting the lock. She was baked.
“Shh.” She took another quick puff, then jumped to her feet. “Here,” she said, handing me the joint.
“I don’t want it.” I pinched the joint between my fingers.
She spun me around, tugged on the stays, and unzipped the dress. “Just hold it for me.”
“You’re not smoking it either.” I glanced around for something to stub it out on.
She snatched it from my fingers and took another hit before I could take it away from her.
“I can’t believe you’re in here getting high while I’m out there suffering with mom.” I snitched it back from her, stared at it for two beats of my heart, and then my mother’s grating voice came through the doors.
“Hurry up, girls. We’re going shopping downtown. Allegra, you need a wedding night wardrobe.”
I put the joint to my lips and inhaled.
Deidre laughed as she untangled me from the billowing layers of fabric and tulle. She kneeled at my feet.
“Did you get this from Orlando and Emilio?” I took another long pull.
“Yes, and I have another one for you.” She plucked a second joint from her bra. “It should get us through the afternoon.”
I stepped out of the dress and sat on the bench. She took the lit joint and sat next to me.
“I’m contributing to your delinquency,” I said.
“I brought the weed.” She took a puff. “That means I’m contributing to yours. Don’t forget, I’m the one who covers for you so you can sneak out to see your boyfriend.”
“Knox was never my boyfriend.”
She snorted with her laugh. “So, what would you call him?”
“It’s never been like that with us. I’m not passionate about him. I just can’t imagine my life without him. I know I’ll never have to wonder if he’ll be there for me. He’d never lie to me, not about anything.” He’d kill for me…even my future husband. And he’d die for me. Just as he’d once made a promise to live for me.
“I hope he’s smart enough to stay away from you now.” She handed me back the joint. “Think about what Marco would do if he found him with you.”
“I know.”
She leaned against me. “What am I going to do without you? I can’t live with them without you,” she said, referring to our family. “How am I going to live with her?” Her hand waved toward the door where our mother waited on the other side.
I kissed her forehead. “Don’t ever change,” I said to her. “I love you, Dee.”
“I love you, too.” She lifted her glassy gaze to mine. “And I think your husband’s brother is super hot.”
I laughed. “I agree. Maybe I shouldn’t, considering we’re smoking his weed, but I trust you with him.”
