“But…” He pulls a jangling keyring out of his pocket as he marches across the old dressing room to the padlocked wardrobe. “If you want another option…” He turns to smirk at me as he slips a key into the lock. “This might work, too. I’ve been keeping your mom’s dress for you since the day you came to live with me.”
The breath knocks out of me, a gasping, choking sensation wrapping around my throat and closing off my words. Half of me wants to sob as my heart wrenches. The other half also wants to cry, out of pure joy and love for this man.
“Are you…” Tears well in my eyes. “You’re serious?”
Vito smiles at me. “Of course! Now, it could be dated as hell. I mean we’re talking the 90s here. Not sure if poofy sleeves and bedazzling is your thing.”
I choke out a laugh as I sniff back tears.
“And I haven’t actually taken it out in years,” Vito says as he unlocks the wardrobe. “But, I have a feeling she’d want you to wear—”
He jumps as I crash into him from behind, hugging him fiercely.
“Thank you,” I blurt into him. “I love you, and thank you.”
His arm wraps around me, patting my back. “Love you too, Bumblebee. Okie-dokie, let’s check this thing out.”
With a flourish, he flings open the double doors of the wardrobe. Instantly, both of our faces fall.
“Son of a bitch!” Vito chokes.
I blanch as stare into the dank, disgusting interior of the wardrobe, my heart sinking. The whole inside is black with mold, as are the four garment bags hanging on a rusty pole and a fifth slumped like a corpse on the floor. A dank, sour smell wafts out, making us cover our noses and step back quickly.
“Fuck!” Dad hisses, peering at the wardrobe.
I look too, and we notice it at the same time: the whole back of the wardrobe is rotted away. Behind it is a big gaping hole in the drywall of the room, with a wet, moldy pipe jutting out.
“Goddamn water leak!” Vito groans. He glances at me. Then he puts on a brave face and marches over to the wardrobe.
“No, Dad—”
“Hang on.”
He yanks out one of the garment bags and carries it over to a table against the wall. He goes to open it, but the rusty zipper crumbles to dust as he does. When the bag finally opens, my heart drops when I see the moldy mess inside.
“Shit, kiddo…” Vito turns to me, stricken. “I’m so sorry…”
I use all my willpower not to cry. I know this meant as much to Vito as it did to me, and I’m not going to let him think this is breaking my heart. Even though it is.
“No, Dad,” I smile, taking his hand and pulling him back as I shake my head. “It’s fine. Really.”
“I just…” He sighs. “I know you’d have looked gorgeous in it, that’s all.” He glares at the mess in the garment bag. “Now what.”
“Well,” I shrug. “There’s always the fifteen grand one.”
He snorts. “Do you like it?”
I don’t love it. I wish with everything I have that I could wear my mother’s own wedding dress instead. But it is what it is.
“I do, yeah,” I smile, squeezing his hand.
Dad smacks the table. “Then that’s settled. I’ll send someone over now to scoop it up.”
I throw my arms around him and hug him fiercely. Then I feel his arms tighten a little more, like he doesn’t ever want to let go.
“I’m sorry for all of this, Bumblebee,” he says softly.
I shake my head, still hugging him. “I did this, Dad.”
“Yeah, but I promised you a long time ago—”
“Dad.”
I pull back, smiling quietly into his eyes as I shake my head. “It’s okay.”
And it’s not just “okay” because I’m going to put on a brave face and deal with this.
…It might just be because the idea of marrying Kratos doesn’t sound so terrible anymore.
Not terrible at all, actually.
We skip the usual bonus festivities of a wedding. There’s no rehearsal dinner. No out-of-towners shindig. And as much as Milena yells, there’s no bachelorette party, either.
And without those little steps along the way, it’s a sudden thing when it hits me one night: I’m getting married the very next day.
In lieu of the bachelorette party—which I’m not sure my head or my nerves would have been in the right place for anyway—the night before the wedding, Milena, Naomi, and Tempest come over to my apartment to have dinner with me on my last night in the place.
