What He's Been Missing

Mr. Dupree and Ian hurried behind her, looking less like anxious greeters and more like well-practiced buffers.

“Gwennie is about to show her ass,” Uncle Cat said under his breath. “Sure as the sky is blue.”

“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you two,” Mrs. Dupree said, loudly enough so we could hear in the front of the atrium. “It’s not every day that two kids get married when their parents don’t know each other—haven’t met. Not where I’m from.”

Krista ushered the parents to the front row.

Mr. and Mrs. Bloom were more beautiful than I remembered. I saw them at one of Ian’s lectures at the public library when Scarlet and Ian first started dating. They looked like each other’s patients—perfectly sculpted everything from head to toe. Mrs. Bloom’s cream-colored skin looked like she sat in a vat of olive oil all day. She was dainty. Looked like she was always wearing St. John. It was hard to imagine that someone so lovely could survive medical school and work with a scalpel everyday but easy to imagine she was Scarlet’s mother. She looked just twenty-four hours older than Scarlet, but everything perfect in her face had been given to her daughter. The only thing she hadn’t bequeathed was her color. That came from Scarlet’s father. He was a muscular miracle in sepia. The kind of fine-ass older man that made girls more than half his age look at him and say, “He could get it . . . today.”

This beauty meant nothing to Mrs. Dupree. It only gave her more reason to act upon her suspicions about Scarlet’s parents and why she hadn’t met them. For this, their punishment was incessant over-talking and grandsta

nding as Mrs. Dupree let them know that this was her town, her wedding, and her show. Even if they wanted to say something, they couldn’t. Her tone said, “Pay attention before you get bitten.”

Krista led the wedding party to the back of the atrium and got us in order, leaving Ian and his parents and Mrs. Bloom in the front. I was the last bridesmaid to walk down the aisle, with Scarlet’s cousin. The matron of honor was behind me and then there was Scarlet.

“Now remember, bridesmaids and groomsmen, I don’t want you to do a two-step tomorrow. You’re walking to ‘Ave Maria,’ so just go slow and at your own pace,” Krista said to us. “Let everyone get a look at you, take pictures, smile. Be natural.”

“Don’t be nervous, Star,” Mr. Bloom said to Scarlet. Ian had told me that her parents wanted to name her Starlet, but there was a typo on her birth certificate and when they saw it, they liked Scarlet more.

I turned around and Mr. Bloom was gently massaging Scarlet’s hand linked over his arm. She looked pale. Had the fearful look most brides had on their actual wedding day.

The line started moving forward after Krista cued the music.

Ian was already standing up front.

Mr. and Mrs. Dupree were seated in the front row in front of him.

Mrs. Bloom was seated in the second seat in the front row on the other side.

This order was so etched into my brain, it was like brushing my teeth.

“Ave Maria” continued to play and the line moved farther along. Jennifer and two of the triplets in front of me turned around playfully to wave good-bye to Scarlet before they left.

“Es mala suerte,” Mrs. Bloom said, getting up from her seat right when I was about to step over the threshold. “Ella no puede pasar por el pasillo.”

“What?” Mrs. Dupree shot up from the other side of the aisle.

“Mama!” Ian warned.

“What, she doesn’t speak English?” Mrs. Dupree said. “No wonder she’s so quiet.”

“Of course she speaks English, Gwennie,” Mr. Dupree said. “You just talk too damn much.”

“It’s bad luck,” Mrs. Bloom said, translating her words, though her English was just as melodic and romantic as her Spanish. “She can’t walk down the aisle. It’s bad luck.”

My first thoughts went to me. I assumed she was talking about me, since I was next. Oh my God! Did she know what I was thinking about? Did she know about my feelings for Ian?

“Star,” Mrs. Bloom said. “Estrella, siéntese!”

“What is she saying? This is just plain rude!” Mrs. Dupree fired off. “You know those women at my nail salon, they always speak in another language so they can—”

“Ain’t nobody talking about you, Gwennie. Shut up,” Mr. Dupree ordered.

“She wants me to sit down,” Scarlet said. “It’s bad luck for me to walk down the aisle before my wedding day.”

“Of course,” Krista said. “We’re going to have your cousin, the matron of honor, walk down for you. I just wanted you in the back so you can see how the room will look when you walk in.”

“Oh no, that’s bad luck, too,” Mrs. Dupree said.