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Chapter 17
"This is so cool," Anne thought as she sat in the pew of Peachtree Community Church, in Atlanta. She looked at the five guys standing at the front of the church. Brian, Kevin, A.J., Howie, and Nick all looked wonderful in thier black tuxes, Harold, Brian's brother, was standing as best man. Brian looked happier than Anne had ever seen him, and Leighanne looked so beautiful, like a fairy princess, in her Vera Wang dress. Her three karat, diamond ring sparkled in the light, her and Brian's smiles were the only things that out shone it. It was a beautiful ceremony. Everything was perfect, after the wedding Anne returned to New York, she had so much to do.
"Well this one is a definite no," Emily said coming out of the dressing room. While the dress fit her, it did not flatter her figure.
"Uh huh, okay so who else?" Anne asked, turning back to her memo notebook. Emily placed this dress on the ever growing pile of rejected wedding gowns.
"Who do you have so far?"
"Mickey, you, his mom and dad, your sister and her husband, his grandpa, your grandma, Alex, and his girlfriend, Travis, and his wife, which one is the best man again?"
"Alex."
"Damn, I always get them mixed up." Alex and Travis were Mickey's best friends, they had all grown up together in Brooklyn, they were practically brothers, and did everything together, including getting into a small amount of trouble with the law in their youth. "Anyway, then there's Howie and me, and Rev. Potter. Okay this is bad, I've only got fifteen people and five of them are in the wedding. Who am I forgetting? Are you sure you don't want to invite any more of your family?"
"No. Hell no. Rachel and Grandma are the only ones I still speak to. You're forgetting about the rest of the band."
"Duh. I feel like an idiot now. Well that adds on four people, and four guests," Anne wrote down the names, Will, Adam, Tony and Lucy, and the words 'and guest' next to their name. "Twenty-three."
"This one is nice," Emily said showing off the latest possibility. The white sleeveless empire waist gown looked very attractive on Emily, and the white pearl beading on the bodice shimmered a little in the light.
"Ooh, I like that one a lot. That should go in the keeper pile. How much is it?"
Emily looked at the price tag. "More than I want to pay."
"How much?"
"Four."
"Four hundred dollars? The sick thing is that's one of the cheapest ones we've found."
"Tell me about it. Wasn't the whole plan for this wedding supposed to be 'fast, simple, cheap?"
"That was the idea. I'm just amazed that you two might actually be able to pull off throwing a wedding in New York City for under three grand."
"I'd rather only do less than that."
"Hey, three thousand is really good for anything in this city, that's like a month's rent for me."
"Thanks for helping us out with all of this, it's been a big help."
"Whatever, I know you're just using me, or rather my publicist to get your group into Tavern On The Green."
"Damn, who told?" Both women started laughing. Emily, Anne, and Flora Shumaker, Mickey's mother, all were working on planning the wedding, each had been delegated several tasks, one of Anne's was where to have the reception after the service.
The wedding was on a Sunday, September the 10th, to be more specific, and Anne, or rather Rose's publicist, Becky, using Rose's name in hopes tables might be more readily available put in a reservation for a late lunch for that day. She had put in an arbitrary number of twenty, and they still had time to finalize the number.
"Twenty-three is doable, and it won't cost you a fortune at the restaurant. Is there anybody else that you want to invite?"
"Nope, that's everybody I care about," Emily said, as she zipped up another dress. "Uh Annie, I think I've got it, I just found my wedding dress," she was very excited.
"Well let's see." Emily came out of the dressing room and twirled around, grinning.
"That's it, that's the dress," Anne said looking at the long flowing white satin, sleeveless dress with a slightly flared skirt, and a short v-back. "How much?"
"I don't care, whatever it is, I'll pay it," Emily said as she danced around in front of the mirror.
"Well I need to know so we can put it down to figure out how much this whole shebang is going to cost."
Emily pulled the price tag out and looked at it. "$295, schweet!"
"Kick ass. Okay, dress, check. Well that's one last thing we have to worry about," Anne said. Emily changed, put the dress back on the hanger, and then put it on her Visa card. Everything was falling into place. They had the dresses. Rachel had picked out a beautiful but simple dusted rose-colored dress. The two guys were going to wear black suits, which helped cut cost, and keep the ceremony a little more informal. The flowers had been ordered, white roses for the bouquet and the boutonniere, and several different shades of pink roses and carnations for the centerpieces at each of the tables at the reception, the little corner florist shop Mickey's uncles owned took care of it, Uncle Anthony, and Uncle Albert, or Uncle Tony and Uncle Al as they were called, said it was going to be part of their "wedding present for their favorite nephew," Mickey also happened to be their only nephew.
"Now all we need are the invitations," Anne said, going over one of her many lists.
"Don't look at me, that's Mama's department." Flora Shumaker was one-half Italian, and one-half Irish, while she was growing up, everyone always called her full-blooded Italian mother "Mama," whether they were related to her or not. When she had children of her own, she inherited that title, and wore it proudly. She knew calligraphy, and made the invitations herself, they turned out beautifully.
For this wedding the phrase "Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue," took on a whole new meaning. Everyone in the large Shumaker extended family was willing to help out with something, or lend something, or fix something, it perhaps was due to the fact that none of them had ever grown up with much money. Mickey really had been one of the few to get ahead in life.
Anne rapped on Emily's bedroom door loudly, "Hunter, come on you've got five minutes or we're leaving without you. And make sure you're wearing something fun."
"All right, all right, I'll be out in a second," she continued to get dressed, and was a little nervous about Anne's choice of the word 'fun.'
"Finally," Emily's sister, Rachel said, when Emily finally emerged from her bedroom. She immediately noticed each woman was dressed more revealingly that she had seen them in a while. Anne was wearing what looked like a snake skin halter top, and a long black skirt with slits up both legs to the upper thigh, and knee length black vinyl boots with fishnet stockings. Rachel was wearing a backless red shirt with a short red skirt with a slit up the side, and platform heels that easily added an extra four inches of height. Emily went back into her room to put on something a little less conservative, she chose a lace up red satin top and a short black skirt, and the highest black heels she could find.
"Come on, we're going to be late, they won't wait around forever," Anne said.
"Where are we going?" Emily asked.
Rachel and Anne both looked at each other and said in unison, "Strip club."
"Oh no," Emily replied, a little doubtful.
"Oh yes," Anne stated.
Emily gave Anne 'the look.' "Hell YEAH!" they both said and slapped hands.
"Let's go," Emily said. They took a cab to the club called, Divine Nights.
"These are some of the hottest guys around," Anne said. "I just hope I don't run out of money too soon," she added, pulling a roll of $5's, $10's, and $20's out of her purse.
Emily laughed. "So what does Howie think of you going to a strip club?"
"I don't know," Anne replied. "When I see him tomorrow, I'll ask him. I have it on pretty good authority that he's been to a club or two during his lifetime, so he can't hold it against me. I must have known half a dozen guys who went to, The Vu, for their eighteenth birthday."
"You only knew six?" Rachel asked, surprised. "I knew at least twice that."
"Besides," Anne continued. "One of my girls is getting married tomorrow, and what kind of friend would I be if I wasn't there to partake in the festivities, and be the responsible one. The other two women laughed, Emily had quickly noticed that she was out with Rose tonight. During the final leg of the tour the factioning of her friend into Anne and Rose was still noticeable, but not as prevalent as in the one preceding it, Anne was more like the old Anne, although Rose was still as outgoing as ever. It should have been obvious before, while Anne would joke about, and suggest going to a strip club, Rose would go out and actually do it. Rose had a major weakness for handsome men, especially handsome latin men, well, so did Anne, now that she thought about it, but not as much as Rose. Emily hoped Anne would indeed be 'the responsible one,' and not regret any of her actions under the influence of good-looking men.
The show got under way and the three women cheered along with the rest of the all female audience. Anne went up to the bar to order another round of drinks for the three of them, on her way back to the table she spotted one of the club's managers and stopped to talk to him.
"So is there any way I could get three of you more attractive musclemen to stop by our table?" Anne asked, pointing out the table where Emily and Rachel were enjoying the show, the man nodded, she handed the man $30. "And if it's not too much trouble could I get a latin guy?" The man nodded again, she slipped him an extra $5. She went back to the table and soon after a very nicely built waiter brought them their drinks. The seemed to know exactly who each drink went to, he put the Corona down in front of Rachel, handed Anne her screwdriver, and set the Long Island Iced Tea on Emily's cocktail napkin. After everyone had about their third sip of their drink, the entertainment arrived.
"Now this is more like it," Anne said as the three fine-looking men neared the table. "Here you go, Em, part of my present. Here's to one last night of freedom." The three women clinked glasses.
Each of the three men moved in. Each picking one of the three women, although it was pretty clear that the women were actually picked the men. With one look the man in the center moved toward Emily. The muscular cowboy with his black and silver cowboy hat covering his sandy blond hair, but not his shiny green eyes, they were fixed on her. His red bandana somehow managed to fit around his thick muscular neck, his black chaps, over his dark blue jeans, swished as he walked, his boots clicked on the wood floor every time he took a step.
"Ma'am," he said as he tipped his hat, he had a thick low drawl that seemed to be genuine. "So what is a pretty young thing like you doing in a place like this? My friends call me Wayne, but you can call me yours." Emily cracked up at the line, which broke the ice. Later she ended up sitting on his lap, with her arms around his neck, playing with his bandana, and wearing his cowboy hat. He was telling her 'cowboy stories,' and she was laughing.
Anne locked eyes with the very sexy and very muscular latin man. He was wearing black leather pants and was bare to the waist, a silver crucifix decorated his massive chest, the light-colored metal contrasted with his dark skin. His name tag, Miguel, was attached to his belt. He stood next to Anne, he was much taller than she was, even if she had been standing up, she would have been about a foot shorter than he was. Miguel traced down Anne's right arm with the long fingers of his right hand, sending chills down her spine, he slowly knelt down as his fingers moved lower on her arm, when he was down on one knee, he took her hand in his and kissed it. "Senorita." He was more the strong silent type, they continued to flirt for a while, Anne got quite hot and bothered.
Rachel was last, her guy had more muscles in his chest than she had in her whole body. He looked like he had just wandered off the set of Baywatch, he was even carrying a red rescue buoy. His name, Cody, was embroidered on his long red swim trunks. His lifeguard whistle swung back and forth over his tanned chest like a pendulum of a clock. She took glance at him, and after giving him a 'come hither' look he was at her side. "Excuse me, you look like you need to get wet." Rachel almost died of laughter after hearing her favorite Saturday Night Live quote.
"The beach is that way, dude," she said.
"Oh, you mean over there?" he playfully asked, pointing with flexed biceps. She sat on his lap, and ran her fingers through this thick blond hair, and twirled the cord of his whistle around her fingers.
After their personal show was over, they enjoyed watching two more dancers on the stage, and then decided to leave, they were all mildly inebriated by this point. "Now what?" Anne asked, she was sulking a little. "I wish I could have just wrapped that guy up and taken him home. But I think Howie might get a little jealous."
"Why? He's got a sexy body. He'd make a very nice stripper himself," Rachel said.
Emily broke in. "I bet, is there any way we could get Backstreet guys do the dance from The Full Monty?"
The other two burst out laughing. "You know, I'd pay good money to see that," Anne said.
Rachel added, "So would I."
Finally, whether people were ready or not, the big day arrived. The small church, by New York City standards, was deserted. The only people there were Emily, Rachel, Anne and Mrs. Shumaker, they were getting ready to go. Emily was stressed out and nervous, she could not get her hair to cooperate, and was starting to freak out.
"Em, relax, breathe, it will be fine," Anne said, trying to calm her friend down. "We'll get it fixed up perfectly in a sec, isn't that right, Mama Flora."
"That's right, now don't you worry Emily, I told you my Mama worked as a hairdresser for twenty-eight years, and she taught me everything, there's nothing I can't do." Within fifteen minutes Mrs. Shumaker had Emily's curly hair in an attractive up do. She also fixed Rachel and Anne's hair each in the same amount of time. They got Emily into her dress easily, and with the extra height her white strappy platform pumps provided she would not strain her neck looking up at Mickey for the entire service, Emily was about 5'6", not short, but certainly shorter than Mickey.
"Emily, before you go rushing out the door, there's something I want you to have," Mrs. Shumaker said. She took a necklace out of an old, worn, velvet jewelry box. "It was my grandmother's," she said as she placed the cameo choker around her neck, each side of the pink stone was connected to the clasp by eight strings of tiny pearls, none of them could have been more than a eighth of an inch in diameter.
"It's beautiful, but I can't accept this, it's too much really."
"Please, she would have wanted someone like you to have it, you remind me so much of her, when she was your age she looked a lot like you. Please, take it."
"Thank you. I will take good care of it."
Finally, it was time to go. The first three pews were occupied by Mickey and Emily's close friends and family. Rev. Potter was standing in the front of the church, wearing a white robe, beside him were Mickey and Alex, they both looked very handsome in their black suits, Rachel walked up the aisle slowly, moments later Emily followed her. It was a short ceremony, simple and to the point, after the "I do's" the second's seemed to tick by like hours before Rev. Potter said "You may kiss the bride." At that point Anne really began to tear up, she had been fighting it the entire time, she was in the last row for a reason, fewer people would see her if she started to cry, she touched the corner of her eye with her purple sleeve. Howie, who knew what was coming, handed her a handkerchief out of the pocket of his navy blue suit coat.
"Thank you," Anne said, as she dabbed her eyes. When the service was over, everyone went to Tavern On The Green, for lunch, after that the real party began. Mr. and Mrs. Shumaker had everyone, and the rest Shumaker family that could be found in the five boroughs, and in addition to her family, over to their house in Brooklyn, there must have been seventy people there. Mama Shumaker was in her element, there was enough food there, between her and her two sisters, to feed everyone who lived on the block, for a week.
Grandpa Leo Shumaker, the boisterous elderly patriarch of the family, and the lone surviving grandparent to the children of Mickey's generation, took over the floor. While the family had initially been German in origin, in the recent generations there had been a major influx of Italian blood into the family. Grandpa Leo himself had married a beautiful Italian woman named Gina, and Mama Gina had raised her family of three boys, Anthony, Albert, and David, with the values of an Italian family. Also when Mickey's father, David, married Flora Loren, it brought another surge of Italian values and cooking to the table, Mickey and Cathy had essentially been raised Italian. Grandpa Leo held an unopened champagne bottle and an empty glass in his hand, and Mickey's mother, and two aunts, Adriana, and Kathleen, passed out glasses of the bubbling liquid. "Ahem." Everyone looked at Grandpa Leo, he was a commanding presence, a circle of people seemed to open up around him. "That's better. Now, it's my turn." There were a few groans coming from some of the younger members of the Shumaker clan, partly because they had heard the speech Grandpa Leo was about to give, countless times before, and also the fact that they were not allowed any champagne, again. "Hey, hey, hey! This will only take a minute, quit you're complaining, besides you'd be sad if I died and couldn't give my speech at your wedding, so shut up," he glared at the complainers, cleared his throat and continued. "Now, every time somebody is born in this family, I buy them a bottle of champagne, I bought this little bottle here the day Mickey was born. Four girls then I finally get a grandson, thank God." Grandpa Leo's three surviving granddaughters all let out words of protest. "I was kidding, girls, really. Anyway, as you all know I keep the bottles down in my 'wine cellar' until the day that kid gets married, and then it's their turn to crack open the bottle and share it. Michael Anthony Corlione Shumaker, here you go, a 1973 bottle of Mercier rose champagne."
Mickey opened the bottle, the cork bounced off the ceiling, he poured some of it into Emily's, his, and most importantly Grandpa Leo's glass.
"To Mickey and Emily, may they be healthy, wealthy, and most important, happy. Cheers," Grandpa Leo toasted. Everyone drank from their glasses.
"Corlione?" Emily asked quietly.
"It's a joke. It's not really my name. Mama and Papa saw The Godfather when she was expecting Cathy and me. Grandpa Leo always joked, I was named because of the movie."Mickey's face fell a little when he mentioned his sister, but he quickly smiled again.
Everyone in the Shumaker and Loren families loved Emily. It was sad, but true, this new family was the antithesis of her old one. This large loving family adored her, while her own family barely spoke, and rarely to her, not that Emily objected. Ever since she had been introduced to the Shumaker parents they took her under their wings, and became almost like second parents to her, and were thrilled when they learned she was going to be their daughter-in-law, she knew they must miss their own daughter very much. As far as everyone there was concerned, Emily was a wonderful addition to the family, she was young, smart, beautiful, partially Italian, and Catholic, much to the delight of the Loren's. David and Flora each had been raised Catholic, and both so traumatized by their early Catholic schooling they had decided not to subject their children to it.
Emily was being mobbed by people from the Loren side of the family, and Mickey saw Howie over at the punch bowl refilling his glass. He had not talked to him all day, and decided to say hello. They went into another part of the room so they could talk easier, they each took a seat at one of the bar stools next to the kitchen counter.
"Mickey, it really was a nice service, and Emily looked beautiful."
"Didn't she though? I'm just glad it's over, there's too much to do with all of it, of course Mama, Emily and Rosie did all the work. You know, I just don't understand you, Dorough," Mickey said. "You clearly love Rosie, but you don't do anything about it."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Howie asked.
"I mean you two should take the next step or call it off. Quit all this lovey-dovey, 'I-love-her-but-it's-not-that-serious,' crap. You once told me you'd do anything for her, and you saw yourself ending up with her, well, are you in or out? Make the call. I did."
"Well, Mickey," Howie said, a little annoyed at Mickey's bluntness. "Since you seem to be so interested in our relationship all of a sudden, I'll tell you I've been thinking about it. Actually, I've been thinking about it a lot lately."
"Dorough, have you been thinking about it, or have you been thinking about it?"
"Thinking about it."
"Kick ass, carpe diem, man," Mickey said and patted Howie on the shoulder as he got up to leave. He needed to talk to Emily, who was speaking to Anne at the moment, about when they wanted to leave, they had a four-hour drive ahead of them and had a stop to make before they began their drive to Boston.
"What were you and Howie talking about for so long?" Emily asked when Mickey joined them.
"Boston," Mickey lied. Anne left to see what Howie was up to, he had vanished after his conversation with Mickey. "I'll tell you later," Mickey whispered when Anne was out of earshot. Anne found him in the den. He was looking at the pictures on the wall.
"It's amazing how much Mickey and Cathy looked alike. I mean in some of these real early ones I can't tell who is who," Howie said, examining the old framed photographs. Although Mickey and Cathy were fraternal twins, they did look very similar, they both had inherited a great deal of height, their father's light hair, and their mother's olive skin and dark hazel eyes. Even in the frozen images their personalities came through, behind her beauty, insecurity could be seen in Cathy's eyes, in Mickey's eyes it could be read that he was truly scared of nothing, except for the snake Cathy held up for him to touch in a picture of the two from when they were four-years-old. "He's right. I do see a lot of her in you." Anne was a little uneasy after this comment, and looked away from Howie and the photograph he was looking at, her eyes fixed momentarily on the floor, the window, the bottom hem of her purple skirt. She did not want to even look at the woman she had almost emulated. Howie noticed her uneasiness. "But Annie, you are your own person, you took control of your own destiny. You won." Anne felt better, Howie hugged her tightly, they went to rejoin the rest of the guests. Emily and Mickey left the house at about 5:30, and most of the people were still there.
"Now Mickey, are you sure you have everything?" Mama Flora asked, nervously.
"Yes, Mama."
"Do you have your reservations?"
"Yes, Mama."
"Did you put gas in the car this morning?"
"Yes, Mama."
"Did you pack a coat?"
"Yes, Mama."
"Did you..."
Mickey cut her off. "We're leaving, Mama, bye, I love you, I'll see you in a few days."
"But..." she stammered trying to think of something else to ask, she was sure her son would forget something.
"Thank you Mama Flora, everything was beautiful," Emily said, and kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, on the cheek. She stopped in front of Anne.
"Well, this is it, huh?" Anne asked, she gave Emily a hug goodbye. "Have fun."
"I will," Emily replied. She walked toward the car. "And save a copy of the announcement in the Times for me, I want to send it to my parents.
"I will," Anne called after her.
They waved goodbye as the car pulled out of the driveway, they stopped off at a small Catholic cemetery a few miles away from the house, this is where all the Shumaker's, and also the Loren grandparents were buried. They went to the section where his family was buried. He stood in front of a large stone, it had been there for a decade, he also looked sadly at the one next to it. Emily stood silently next to him, she held four white roses from her bouquet in her hand. "Grandma Gina, Cathy, and Grandma Kate and Grandpa Enzo, I know you can hear me too, I've got someone I want you to meet. This is Emily, we got married today, I love her a whole lot, now Grandma Gina, you always said for me to find a girl that makes me happy, well, this is her," he was starting to get emotional, Emily squeezed his hand. "Cathy, God I wish you were here to see all of this, Grandpa Leo let me open one of the wine bottles he bought the day we were born. I knew he wished you still were here to open it someday, he was so mad when you left us, he smashed it." He wiped away the tears in his eyes. He kissed the fingers on his hand and pressed them to the two markers, Emily put a flower on each one. They walked over three rows to where his other two grandparents were buried. He knelt down in front of his grandmother's grave, she had been the last to be laid to rest there, five months ago, after he had met Emily. "Didn't I tell you she was beautiful?" he whispered. When he got to his feet, he addressed his grandfather's stone. "So Grandpa Enzo, how did I do? You always said I'd marry and Italian girl, well, you called it." Tears filled his eyes again. He had been closest to Grandpa Enzo than any of his other grandparents. "Arrivederci." He kissed the stones as he had the others, Emily placed her last two flowers on the matching grey marble headstones. They left the cemetery in silence. Much later, when they were getting close to Boston, Emily asked Mickey what exactly he was going say when he said he was going to tell her later, it was later.
"You're kidding?" she said.
"No, he seemed perfectly serious. I think he's going to go through with it soon."
"Damn, and I might not be there to hear about it. You of course realize you'll have to start calling her Rosie Dorough from now on."
"I can't wait."
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