Keeping Secrets in Seattle - By Brooke Moss Page 0,41
been together now?” Kate sounded bored.
Shawn sighed contentedly. “Four and a half years. We’re waiting until he gets his doctorate to get married.”
“Isn’t he, like, thirty now? For heaven’s sake, get out and make some money,” Alicia chimed in.
“Well, he really loves anthropology.” Shawn’s voice was metered. “And money isn’t a big deal to Ivan. We just want to travel, and—”
“Oh, please. Tell him to get a real job so you don’t have to work anymore, and then I’ll consider him a real man.”
I bit the insides of my cheeks. That last comment sounded like Alicia.
“Anyway.” Shawn’s voice was pointedly irritated now. “When we get married, we are going to go to Bulgaria, where his family lives. We are going to fly my family there and have a traditional Bulgarian ceremony, complete with breaking of the bread and everything.”
“Ooh, a destination wedding,” Rose squealed. “Ask me to be one of your bridesmaids.”
“Where the hell is Bulgaria, anyway?” Kate demanded.
I pulled on the dress and turned from side to side, looking at my reflection in the mirror. It was the tea-length gown from the picture she’d shown me, but with a satin rosette on the waist to match the color of the bridesmaid dresses. It was lovely and fit my curves to a “t”, despite the fact that it was heartbreakingly understated.
“What it really needs,” I muttered to myself as I smoothed down the skirt, “are my red knee-high Dr. Martens. That would make this outfit.”
“Hey, Violet? How’s that dress fitting?” Alicia called over the chatter of the bridesmaids.
I emerged from the dressing room and stood in front of the group. “It fits just fine.”
Juanita approached me despite my glare and began tugging and pulling on the fabric. “Eet fitz juzt like eet iz.”
Alicia’s mouth dropped. “I can’t believe it. That’s straight off the rack.”
I suppressed my grin. Take that, skinny bitch.
“You mean she doesn’t need alterations?” Kate looked at me as if I’d rolled in dung.
Juanita shook her head. “No.”
Shawn caught my eye and gave me a discreet “thumbs up” sign, but Rose just flared her nostrils. “Look at her boobs. It’s not fair.”
My eyes wandered back to where Alicia was sitting on the couch and caught her icy glare. As soon as I realized I was looking at her, her demeanor snapped back into her old, sweet-as-pie persona. “You’re a lucky girl.” She beamed. “You won’t have to do any more fittings.”
“Great.” I backed out of the room. “I’ll just go change, then.”
“You do that,” she said stiffly.
“Hey, wait, Violet,” Shawn called after me.
I stopped. “Yeah?”
“What kind of wedding would you want?”
I looked around. Could it be that Shawn was being nice to me? “Actually, my dream wedding is kind of cool. I’m not going to make it ugly and wear purple or anything.”
Marissa cast me a dirty look.
“Just kidding.” I took a deep breath, imagining the wedding I’d dreamt of having since I was a little girl. “Actually, I want to have my wedding in October. Around Halloween. We’ll have a tent in my mother’s backyard that is draped with orange, black, and purple fabric. There will be pumpkins everywhere, and tiny smoking cauldrons on all the tables. I’ll wear a big black ball gown and a headpiece with orange flowers. My bridal party will be dressed as witches and vampires, and the guests will all dress in their favorite costumes…as long as they aren’t gory.”
Alicia’s eyes widened. “Oh, right. Because that would be tacky.”
“Right.” My cheeks heated, and I shuffled toward the dressing rooms.
“I’ve never hear of anything so hideous in my life,” Marissa snickered as soon as I rounded the corner.
“Who would go to a Halloween wedding?” Kate cackled. “Hello, gauche.”
“Why did you ask her that, Shawn?” Rose asked.
“I just wanted to make her feel like she was part of the group.” Shawn sounded embarrassed.
“Well, she’s not.”
“Did you see her in that dress? Good gracious.”
The other girls all tittered obediently.
“Shhh, you guys, she can hear you,” Shawn’s soft voice warned them. “She looked better than the rest of us did.”
My eyes welled up with grateful tears as I tore myself out of the dress. It had taken me many years to come to terms with the fact that I would never be a skinny woman. I worked out a few days a week to ensure that my stomach stayed flat and my behind didn’t get astronomical, but other than that, I’d come to enjoy my body for what it was.