At the bottom of the box was another piece of lace, but it was carefully wrapped in tissue paper.
“Oh my goodness.” I lifted it.
Bianca’s eyes got sparkling with pride and with tears. “Your veil. Handmade. It’s on loan. It belonged to our grandmother. She was married in it. So was your mother and mine. It was made by our great Nonna Trulio. If I have another child and it’s a girl, she’ll wear it. If Joey’s future wife isn’t a raging bitch, she will, too. If you and Tommy have girls, they should wear it, too.”
I passed the box to Sarah and threw my arms around Bianca.
“This is why you talked me out of a veil!” I pointed at Luc and accused. There wasn’t a dry eye in the place. Except Lisa’s. Her face was fixed with a smile.
The veil was simple and sheer with a thick ribbon of lace around the edges. It was absolutely gorgeous. I had to stop ugly-crying. I was a mess.
“Tradition with my friends would have us all at a male strip club getting shitfaced and watching men strut in their G-strings,” Sarah piped up, “Like we did when Tessie got married.” She waved her hand in Tess’s direction, making Tess’s lips twitch in amusement, but then quickly her twitch faded.
James. Poor Tessa.
“But, a) w
e’ve got a pregnant woman, a nursing woman, and grieving women, and b) the bridegroom would lose his ever-lovin’ mind if we tried to tell him we were showing his fiancée naked men the night before the wedding. We’re lucky we’ve even got wine.”
At that moment, I saw a man walk by the patio doors. The rain was slowing down, at least. He was one of the three guards that were here. Tommy wanted us to be incognito, but three bodyguards wasn’t exactly low key. Then again, the house was remote, no neighbors at all, so anyone poking around would not be a neighbor; it would be someone with potentially bad intentions.
“I pumped the last few days. Pain in the ass, but so worth it,” Luciana declared. “Ed can handle fighting to give Nicky a bottle if he wakes up, right? Ed’ll be back in a few hours and hopefully my kids sleep all night because I plan for some drunk sex.”
Lisa and Tessa were both silent, Tessa sipping her wine.
Luc sighed. “I love this house. I hope Tommy buys it and we can all make use of it. If he doesn’t, maybe I will. Pop’s money I got in my inheritance could bring us some joy in this family at least.” Her voice went funny.
Shit. Luc was losing her positivity, too.
“A small gift from me,” Sarah said as she passed me a small box, changing the direction of the conversation just in time. I opened it and there was a lovely garter belt with a shot of blue ribbon through it.
“Your something blue. I didn’t make it. I bought it.” She shrugged. “Lift it and see what’s underneath.”
I did. Underneath was a glow-in-the-dark blue condom.
I busted up laughing.
“Something else blue, Chiquita. But warning, I poked a hole in it so if you use it, you will get preggers on your wedding night.”
“Thank you,” I said and gave her a hug. “It’s beautiful. The garter. And the condom.” I laughed harder.
“And one more,” Tessa said. “Something else borrowed, but not old. Guess the veil is the old.” She passed me a box with diamond earrings inside.
I had my old, blue, borrowed, and the dress was new. I was all set to get married.
“Thank you very much.” I gave her a hug. “Thank you, all of you. For being here. For helping me. You guys are awesome.”
Tessa smiled and then stretched. “I’m gonna crash.”
“It’s Tia’s last night as a single woman, Tess. Come on.” That was Bianca. “I brought this card game that’s supposed to be a hoot. And we have all this wine and food.”
“You guys go ahead. I’m tired. I’ll get up early with all the kids and all you guys can sleep in a bit.” Tess leaned over and kissed my cheek. “Sorry, Tia. I just… I can’t make myself stay up any longer. I’ll be good for tomorrow. So happy to welcome you into the family legally. I just can’t party tonight. I don’t wanna be bad company, so goodnight.”
“Goodnight.” I gave her a sad smile.
“Don’t be sad for me. I’ll be good. I have all of you guys.” She gave me a watery smile and wandered off.
“I’m gonna head to bed, too. I’ll get up early and help with the kids as well.” Lisa waved and left the room quickly.