What Happens After The Happiest Day of Your Life

She picked up the glass, twirling the crystal stem in her fingers, holding the paper-thin bowl up to the light. They were the perfect glasses--Baccarat, not Waterford, as everyone knew Waterford was too fussy. All those facets, she thought bitterly.I don't want to drink out of the Chrysler building. 

She remembered the day they picked them out--well, the day she did, anyway, whirling around Neiman's with the glowing red gun. He resisted initially, insisting that they were too expensive. 

"Babe, I don't want my grandmother forking over $300 for a single water glass," he said. "Can't we get these instead?"

He'd pointed to a display of Lenox glasses. Goddamn LENOX. She rolled her eyes at the memory. As if I'd be caught dead entertaining with a $36 glass. She won him over by insisting that the glasses were an investment. 

"An investment in a lifetime of memories," she cooed. 

Stupid. I'm so stupid. 

She turned the Baccarat upside down again, watching the light bounce off the rounded stem. She put it back on the table and twisted her hands for a moment before letting them fall into her lap. They rustled in the folds of her tulle slip, and she realized with horror that she was still wearing her wedding dress.

Her hands smoothed the fabric as she glanced down at herself admiringly. 

Well, no one can say I didn't look fabulous. 

She almost snorted. Of course she looked fabulous--she was wearing a seven-thousand dollar dress. She'd loved it immediately--made of the softest silk, it was strapless and perfectly fitted to the waist before cascading into a million tiny little ruffles so fine they looked like delicate feathers. Monique Lhuillier herself probably hired twenty thousand Filipino children to hand-stitch each individual fold in the fabric. 

That, too, had been an argument -- this time, with her father. Her parents were generous to a fault, but even they were less than thrilled with the cost of the dress. They'd asked her to stay under three thousand dollars -- a perfectly reasonable sum, she now realized -- but she'd wheedled and begged, insisting on its critical role in the most important day of her life. It was her father who finally caved, and when he'd written the check, she was oddly triumphant. She'd known he wouldn't refuse her. 

She sat back in her chair and picked up the glass again. The day had been perfect, she realized. Precisely what she'd always wanted. The flowers -- cascading orchids in the deepest velvet purple -- were of a dream. The cost of those, too, had been staggering, fueled by their purported rarity. 

She buried her head in her hands. All those details, she thought. The centerpieces. The dupioni silk custom chair covers blended of the subtlest of colors -- a light cream and the softest pearl. 

She lifted her head and looked at her engagement ring. Nine months later, and it still took her breath away. She twisted it around, remembering that just yesterday it had stood alone. Yesterday, when things were completely different than they were today. Yesterday, when she was happy and warm with the anticipation of her wedding day. 

Yesterday, before she realized this was all a horrible mistake. 

Comments

[Jett]

I! AM SO DELIGHTED! by this piece.

I don't know if you consciously planned the thing where it took nine months for a realization to be birthed, but it was a brilliant little turn.

[Adam P. Knave]

Such a great build up and setting and... mmm this was tasty!

[TwoBusy]

The glass is a wonderful metaphor: gorgeous, sculpted, crystalline & perfect by any aesthetic measure... and ultimately hollow; an empty vessel.

And I LOVE Jett's observation. I totally missed that, of course, but what a great touch.

[samantha jo campen]

Oh JONNA! This is AMAZING! I loved it, every single word!

[Cheryl]

I was right there with Jett. Ingenius. Loved every word of this.

[Agirlandaboy]

Ooh. YES.

[jonniker]

Aww, thanks guys! I love all of you. Seriously.

[ms picket to you]

and then she went to picket's house. and drank beer.

i love this in so many freaking ways it bothers me.

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Oh my goodness!! I have to agree with an earlier post...Annie makes me want a little girl to add to my 2 boys, and I want one that dresses in tu-tus and cat eye glasses too! She's so dang adorable!! I LOVE your Annie pics!

[Mr Lady]

Okay, so here's the thing. You are amazing. Really. This is amazing. I don't even think they make a word for how much I love this freaking story. The detail, the OHSNAP, the whole thing. The 9 months thing. The big fat question mark you left hanging. All of it.

DAG, YO.

[Carmen]

Wow. That is beautiful.

[Kevin (Always Home and Uncool)]

It's all the little lines -- the Chrysler building, the hand-stitching, (yes) the nine months -- then POW! This I love.

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