Page 79 of Reclaimed Dreams
Jo looked in the mirror and adjusted the veil over her face while she waited. The anteroom in the church hall sweltered in the summer heat, and she actively tried not to sweat off her makeup while her mother ran back to the car for the something borrowed.
In just under an hour she’d be Mrs. Josephine Valenti for the rest of her life. She tried and failed to suppress the grin threatening to split her face in two.
“You’re sure? Really, really sure?” Her mother stepped back into the room, repetitively smoothing a small strip of fabric.
“Mama, of course I’m sure. I love Dom. You love Dom. You and Daddy gave us your blessing.”
“I know, I know. It’s just you’re so young.”
“I’m older than you were when you married Daddy.”
“I know. I was so young!”
Jo shook her head at her mother’s nerves. She was ready to start this next phase of her life with Dom. Whether her mother was ready to let her go was clearly another story.
“You worked so hard for your degree. I’d hate to see you give all that up for a man.”
“I’m not giving up anything, Mom. I’m still going to teach. I’m gaining a partner. Don’t you know women can have it all?” Jo tried to tease her mother into a smile with her favorite feminist phrase, but it didn’t work.
“Yes, but now I’m afraid you’ll get more than you bargained for. That I haven’t prepared you for the real world well enough.”
“Mom, I know all about the birds and the bees.”
“It’s an early stork I’m worried about.”
“We’re taking care of that. We aren’t planning to start our family for a few years. We’ve talked about this.”
Her mother gave her an indulgent smile. “So confident.”
“Just like you taught me to be.”
Her mother handed her the scrap of cotton she’d been worrying. “This is for you. It’s a handkerchief from your Nonna Maria. She embroidered your initials on it the day you were born and told me to save it for the day you married.”
Jo ran her fingers over the beautiful blue silk stitches and creased fabric, remembering the woman with the deep wrinkles and warm smile who’d made it for her. She imagined adding a DV next to the JB and enclosing them in a heart made of tiny perfect stitches.
“Thank you, Mom. I love it.” She tucked it into the bodice of her wedding gown, in case she needed it. But she didn’t anticipate any tears. She was too excited.
“You’re positive this is what you want?”
Jo laughed and patted her mother’s hand on her shoulder. “Positive. Dom is the man for me.”
“Then I guess I can let you go with a clear heart. I love you, Josephine.” Her mother blinked rapidly and pressed her cheek to Jo’s, kissing the air and taking care not to mess up her makeup. “Touch up the powder on your nose, and I’ll tell your father we’re ready.”
Standing in the church vestibule, her hand tucked into the crook of her father’s elbow, Jo watched her friend and soon-to-be sister-in-law Elena walk down the aisle ahead of her and savored her last few moments as Daddy’s little girl.
“You ready?” he asked gruffly, the tears he held back thickening his throat.
“Why does everyone keep asking me that?”
“Because this is a big decision.”
“Well, the moment to ask that question was months ago when he popped the question.”
“If you’ll recall, I asked you then too. You can change your mind.”
“I’ll give you the same answer I gave you then. I’m sure. He makes me happy, Daddy.”
“That ever changes, I want to hear about it.”
