Chapter 19 Hold the champagne
A week after the surprise pipe burst, Leah was meeting Shira and Maya for girl’s day in the city. She made a reservation to check out a bridal dress boutique and for a bottomless brunch next door so they could drink unlimited bloody marys and mimosas while they discussed what dress was right for her.
The last time Leah went dress shopping, it was with her mother when Leah was engaged to Asher. Her mother had chosen a boutique with dresses that cost as much as several months of rent and had ooed and awed at everything, telling Leah not to even think about the price tag. Her mother didn’t have the same enthusiasm this time around.
Shira and Maya, however, were excited. And Leah thought inviting them both would be a good opportunity for them to meet. After all, they were both in the wedding party, and it would be important for her maid-of-honor and all her bridesmaids to get along.
Leah drank coffee at home with Gabe and then kissed him goodbye to meet Shira when she got off the train. She hadn’t seen her sister for a few weeks even though Shira had been staying upstate with their parents with nothing to do but lounge around and think about her future. The sight of Shira shocked her, but Leah grabbed her sister into a hug and pulled her close.
“How are you feeling?” she asked once she pulled away and gently put her hand on her sister’s stomach. Her stomach had ballooned now that Shira was seven months pregnant. But it wasn’t just her stomach that had ballooned. Shira looked like she was wearing a thick layer of padding all over her body. Her face, which was always oval-shaped, was now square.
“Great!” Shira responded, putting her hands on top of Leah’s on her belly. “Can you feel her kick? She’s a wild one!” Leah felt her sister’s stomach bubble and ripple under her hand. “I’m starving, how long until brunch? Can I grab a scone before dress shopping?”
Leah nodded and the girls stopped at Starbucks. Shira ordered a giant muffin and offered to buy another for Leah, but she declined. Probably best not to eat that before she’d be naked in a dressing room and scrutinized in front of a giant mirror. Instead, Leah ordered a black coffee and the girls walked to the dress shop.
“Last weekend Dad set up our old crib for me,” Shira told her as she ate her giant muffin. “Can you believe they’ve kept it this whole time?” Shira continued to tell Leah about her baby preparations, which mostly started with “Dad did…” or “Mom did…” Leah wondered how much Shira was planning to do when the baby arrived or if their parents would be raising it while Shira continued eating everything in sight.
Maya was standing outside the dress shop looking at her phone. She glanced up as Leah and Shira approached her. Leah had warned Maya about her sister’s pregnancy and Maya had offered to help with any maid-of-honor duties that Shira struggled with after giving birth. When Leah now introduced them, they shook hands and smiled at each other.
Inside the dress shop, the three girls immediately scattered. Shira and Maya were scrutinizing the racks while Leah found the saleswoman.
“Let me know when you’re ready to try on,” the saleswoman said. “I’ll help you. Or if you need help finding anything, let me know what you’re looking for.”
Leah joined her companions to look at dresses, although both Shira and Maya were already carrying a few that they showed to Leah. All were beautiful, she thought, so she led her friends to the dressing room and motioned to the saleswoman that she was ready. Her sister and Maya hung the dresses inside and Leah let the saleswoman help her into a plain strapless satin dress with a straight skirt down to the floor. With the dress clipped on her from behind, she stepped outside.
“I love it!” Maya immediately exclaimed. Leah also thought she liked the dress, smiling at herself in the mirror. It was classic and elegant, not too princess-y or over-the-top. She felt like a glowing bride and could imagine herself walking down the aisle. This is it, she thought. “You look amazing!” Maya continued.
Leah looked at her sister. She was sure Shira would love the dress too, so she was surprised to see her lips were slightly turned down and her eyebrows were raised. “Don’t you think you should cover up more? Or do you want to get a jacket or something to put over it?” Shira said.
“Why? It will still be warm in the fall,” Maya responded. “You don’t need a jacket, it will just cover the dress!”
“That’s the point,” Shira said. “Aren’t you Jewish?” she asked Maya. “In Jewish weddings, you’re not supposed to have your shoulders showing.”
“Is this going to be a Jewish wedding?” Maya asked, looking back and forth between the sisters. “Has Gabe agreed to that?”
“It doesn’t matter!” Shira said. “Leah is Jewish and she should at least honor our traditions. Check out some of the dresses I picked out for you! There are some gorgeous ones that won’t offend our bubbe or the rest of our relatives.”
Some of the Rosenberg’s relatives were Orthodox, much more religious than Leah would consider herself. She hadn’t even thought about how they would feel coming to her wedding.
“She should wear what she likes,” Maya said. “Who cares what your relatives think? I love that dress. Leah, you’re stunning.”
Leah did feel stunning, but she also understood what her sister was saying. She went back into the dressing room and tried on one of the dresses Shira picked out. It had lace covering the chest and sleeves and a satin skirt that slightly puffed out below the waist. It too was a beautiful dress, but when Leah stepped out of the dressing room and saw herself in the mirror, she didn’t love it.
“That is a stunning wedding dress!” Shira insisted. “Don’t you think, Leah?”
Leah studied herself, hoping to see what Shira saw. It was a nice dress, but Leah didn’t get the same feeling in it that she had in the previous one. But maybe that feeling was all in her head. “It’s nice,” Leah finally said.
“You don’t want a nice wedding dress!” Maya insisted. “You want something fabulous! Amazing! Something jaw-dropping! Not nice!”
“This one is classic,” Shira responded. “It’s similar to the one Rebecca wore at her wedding! She looked gorgeous, didn’t she?”
Rebecca was their first cousin who had gotten married on New Year’s Eve a few years ago. It was a modern orthodox wedding that Leah had brought Gabe to, which in retrospect might have been a mistake because her bubbe had figured out that Gabe wasn’t Jewish, caused a scene, and then Gabe had stormed out of the wedding. Gabe and Leah had broken up that night because Leah wasn’t sure they could overcome their difference in faith. She had come a long way since then, but the reminder of Rebecca’s wedding made her heart race.
Leah nodded. Yes, the dress was perfect on Rebecca, but it wasn’t exactly what Leah wanted. She went back into the dressing room and tried on a few more dresses, none of which Maya and Shira could agree on.
There was the cream-colored mermaid-style one with thick straps that Maya thought was very fashionable and would be great in pictures, but Shira thought didn’t frame Leah’s body well. Then there was a drop-waist dress with puffy sleeves that Shira thought was original and complimentary to Leah’s body, but Maya thought was too princess-y. Leah tried on a bohemian-style dress with macramé and rhinestones, which Maya thought was perfect for a New York wedding, but Shira thought was too casual. Leah’s head was spinning from all the options and when she thought it wasn’t possible for her to figure out what she liked anymore, she thanked the patient saleswoman and put her own clothes back on.
“I still really like the first one you tried on,” Maya said when they walked out of the store. “It was definitely the best one today.”
“It’s just not an option for our family,” Shira responded.
“When did you become Mom?” Leah asked her sister. While she valued Shira’s opinion, she was starting to feel like Shira was sabotaging this experience.
“Me? Mom?” Shira laughed. “Not at all!”
“Really?” Leah said. “Because I thought you like Gabe! I thought you thought we are a good couple! I thought that you were for our wedding, but all your negativity and talk about covering my shoulders and Rebecca’s wedding makes me think you’re on Mom’s side and don’t want me to marry Gabe.”
“What?” Shira scoffed. “I do like Gabe! He’s a great guy! And I am not on Mom’s side or anyone’s side! I’m your sister! I support you! But I also am here to be a voice of reason. Aren’t we getting brunch?”
Leah nodded. Their brunch reservation was nearby and the three girls were silent as they walked there. A hostess sat them at a small table and offered them their first drink of their bottomless brunch. Leah and Maya got mimosas.
“Hold the champagne for mine,” Shira said with a smile at the waitress. “What happened with that venue you were checking out last week?”
Leah then told them about the pipe burst.
“Oh my God! I wonder if it is a sign!” Shira exclaimed as she drank her champagne-less mimosa.
“A sign of what?” Maya responded. “That plumbing should be replaced at least once a century?”
Shira shrugged. “I don’t know. It could be a bad omen.”
“Since when do you believe in signs and bad omens?” Leah asked her sister who had never been much of a superstitious person.
“Signs are signs. It doesn’t matter if you believe or not.”
“What are you saying?” Leah felt her cheeks getting red. The mimosas only fed the fire. “You think I shouldn’t marry Gabe? You like him, he’s a good person, but I shouldn’t marry him? I should only marry a Jew, right? It wouldn’t matter if the Jew was a terrible person, if he beat me, it would only matter that he was a Jew!”
“That’s ridiculous,” Shira said at the same time Maya said, “Leah, don’t do this.”
Leah looked at her sister and her friend and finished her mimosa. “I don’t believe in signs! I don’t believe in bad omens! I believe Gabe is a great guy! I think his personality and the way he treats me are more important than his religion. And if you don’t agree, maybe you shouldn’t be my maid of honor!”
“I’m your sister, I will be your maid of honor!” Shira shouted. “I’m just saying! But whatever you decide, you do you!”
The waitress came with another round of mimosas and the food they had ordered. The girls commented on their food and the restaurant atmosphere, and no one said another word about the wedding.
When they finished, Maya said a cold goodbye to Shira and hugged Leah. Leah then walked her sister to the train station and went home, all the while wondering if her sister was right, was it a bad omen? Leah didn’t believe in bad omens.