“I see.”
He’s overwhelmed, doesn’t understand what I’m saying.
“Obviously we can’t take blood from Mattie. She’s lost too much already. They may have to transfuse her as well. I wasn’t there when they read her CBC report.”
“Uh huh.”
“So the next logical choice is the child’s father.”
His eyes glazed over. He still isn’t comprehending.
“Kyle, will you donate blood to your newborn son?”
“My...What?” He pushed the mound of tattered papers toward me across the table. “Steven, he’s your son. Not mine.”
My eyes just about popped out of their sockets. “I...What did you say?”
“He’s your son, Doctor Russo.”
“Oh.”
“So I guess you better go and fix up my nephew with some blood then, huh?”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, eyes clouding over. Okay, so I was a guy after all. That whole procreating the human race was actually a thing. Apparently, those feelings are ingrained on our male DNA.
“Congratulations, Doctor Russo.”
I let out a nervous laugh. “Thanks, Kyle. Congratulations on your new nephew.”
Epilogue
Mattie
Four Years later
April 25th and 26th 2021
Mattie
Steven would not listen to reason. He wanted a huge, distracting, entertaining, and noisy wedding, with oodles and oodles of friends and relatives. So that was what I gave him. We invited three hundred people. Seventy-five were friends and the rest were relatives. Mostly on my side of the family. God help us all.
Steven was the kindest man I’d ever known, but a little dumb when it came to my family. He did not know what he was in for. God bless this wonderful loving and naive gentle man.
We waited to get married until Kyle—yeah we named him after his favorite uncle—was old enough to participate. Sort of. I also had a gazillion nieces and nephews in the wedding party. Children were thought to bless weddings, right? Well, I needed all the blessings I could get.
I invited everyone and anyone. Every friend the two of us had and so many relations. First cousins. Second cousins. Relatives I hadn’t seen in years. Even my crazy Uncle Henry, who promised no zebras, was supposed to show up. Did I know what I was doing? Sure I did. Did it bother me that things could go South on this very important day? Not a bit. It was time Steven realized just what my family was really like.
It began with the rehearsal dinner...
Despite the fact, she’d never replied to our invitation, nor had we even met each other in person—although we did speak on the phone once and she was as cold as Steven had predicted—Steven’s mother surprised us all by planning the rehearsal dinner at one of the most posh exclusive restaurants in Rochester.
I looked upon this as an olive branch, a token of my acceptance into her life. Sort of. An acceptance of...us at least. Never understanding why, she wouldn’t want to meet her only grandchild, I was both relieved and nervous. Steven said it was just like her to throw money around and that all it meant was she was fulfilling some twisted family duty. He insisted that it didn’t matter to him. If she came to the wedding fine but if she didn’t—well that was okay too. He seemed to have the same opinion of his mother I had of a few of my Uncles. We loved them, but they drove us batty nonetheless.
When we arrived at the restaurant, Mama met us at the door. “Now there’s my favorite grandson,” she cooed, crouching down so she could look Kyle in the eye. “Guess what Grammy has for you?” She produced a stuffed dinosaur from behind her back and Kyle’s eyes lit up like big round marbles.
“Rex!” Kyle squealed taking the toy. He held it up for me. “Mommy, it’s the Rex from Toy Story,” he squealed. “I’ve been wanting him my whole life! Thank you, Grammy!”
I laughed. “Your whole life, huh?”
“You really are spoiling him,” I told my mother.
“That’s what Grammys are for,” she said nonchalantly. She picked up Kyle and hugged him to her. “You are getting to be such a big boy.” She kissed him on the head and then set him back down again, wincing. Kyle was already three-and-a-half years old and not a lightweight by any means. “Why don’t you go show your new dinosaur to Mathew,” Mama said. “He’s over there, by Uncle Seymour.”
As Kyle scurried over to play with his cousins by the tables, I turned to Mama. “You have to stop buying him everything he wants. Please. He’s going to grow up expecting it.”
“Like you did?” She waved away my objection. “Don’t worry about Kyle. He’s a good boy. We have a bigger problem, Matilda.”
“Oh please don’t tell me that,” I said, my heart stopping. “Although I guess if something goes wrong I’d prefer it was tonight and not tomorrow at the wedding.”
“Oh dear. They’re already here,” Mama said pointing toward the double doors as they flew open.
“Who?”
“Your uncles.”
“Good grief.”
Red, yellow, and orange leaves fluttered in the entryway as the door swung open. Several of my uncles and my four brothers, all wearing skullcaps and dark suits, ambled into the restaurant along with their wives and about a dozen nieces and nephews taking up the rear.
My family were Conservative Jews which meant we were pretty lax about many of our practices. All of my brothers married Gentile women and one even celebrated Christmas. My uncles on the other hand, we old school. All were completely Orthodox, especially when it came to the dietary restrictions. “I thought they weren’t coming,” I said. “We talked about this, Mama. Tonight is supposed to be for the wedding party. Why...?”
“Apparently someone told them you were marrying a Gentile.” She shook her head and I could practically hear the huge argument they must have had over me. “It’s alright, Matilda. I assured them Steven was a good man but you know your uncles...”
Yup, I sure did. Once when I was in seventh grade, they showed up at a play of Beauty and the Beast I’d been cast in. One of the other kid’s grandfather was playing the beast. Uncle Seymour cornered him behind stage. He let him know how wrong it was to have our play on a Saturday. When the man didn’t agree, Uncle Stan told the stage hands. And the cameraman. And the girls running the lights. And anyone else that would listen. Later, he followed up by cheering when an app of the outdoors on his phone showed a few stars in the sky, indicating Sabbath was over. The cheering was not at the end of the play but in the middle of it. During my solo!
“Okay, so they’re here,” I said. “I’m sure there is plenty of food.”
“The food is kosher?” she asked, taking my arm. “Steven’s mother does know you are Jewish. Correct?”
“Of course she does.”
“Because from what I’m smelling...”
I knew that was pork I smelled
“I’m sure it will be fine. It won’t be the first time, they had their own menu.”
“I hope you’re right,” Mama said. “I’ll go check just to be sure.”
The private room Steven’s mother booked was lovely. Ivory and purple streamers hung from the ceiling and roses with vanilla scented candles glowed on every table casting shadows among the wine flutes and china.
My uncles were seated in the back talking among themselves and looking as formidable as I remembered.
As the food was served, I realized I had nothing to worry about. Sure enough, there was pork mixed with potatoes and shellfish, but it wasn’t served to everyone, just a few close friends and Steven’s parents. The rest of us had Matzo ball soup as an appetizer followed by potato kugel, and the most tender brisket I ever had in my life except my grandmother’s. For dessert we ate flourless chocolate cake without frosting. Everything had been delicious.
Grateful, didn’t even come close to explain how I was feeling toward Steven’s mother, but when I tried to thank her, I caught her talking with one of my uncles and backed away.
Mama cam
e up beside me. “I can see by your face how worried you are, Matilda. Don’t you worry about your uncles. I’ve had words with my brothers. If one of them does anything to upset my baby girl, they’ll have to answer to me.”
“Okay, Mama.”
“Now let’s eat.”
The Wedding
The door to the room where I was dressing squealed in protest and the eyeliner I was applying went directly to my ear. “Shit!”
“Darling...” said a familiar male voice.
“Don’t you dare come in here,” I shrieked, slamming the bathroom door shut and nearly catching Steven’s hand in it. “What are you doing in there anyway?”
I was dressed in nothing but a towel trying to apply the most useless stuff on the planet I could imagine. It felt sticky and wet and I hoped I would get used to it. It was the third time I’d tried to apply the eyeliner because Kyle kept interrupting my so-called beauty regimen. Every time I thought my makeup looked about right, something would happen to make it smudge. I’d have to start all over again. I grabbed the makeup remover, dabbed it on a swatch of cotton, and rubbed at the nasty black line. Why women did this to themselves every day I would never understand.
“Stop interrupting me, Steven.” I’d tried to get Steven to stay at his grandmother’s the night before so we wouldn’t tempt bad luck, but our son fell asleep on his chest watching cartoons. He was getting so big. Who knows how long before he’d refused to be rocked to sleep by his daddy every night. By the time Steven woke up and placed Kyle in his bed, it was midnight. Too late. What kind of a woman sends her fiancé away at midnight?
“Mattie, I’ve seen you naked. We have a kid. Remember?”
“It’s not the same. This is our wedding day, Steven. You can’t see the bride before the wedding.”
“Isn’t that only when she’s fully dressed?”
“No!”
“Okay, okay, but I need to get my tie, I looped it around the hook on the bathroom door. Can I come in to get it? I promise not to look.”
I knew it was a bad idea, but he did have to get dressed too. Luckily the rest of his suit was in the guest room. “Why is your necktie in here?”
“Don’t you remember? We tied you up with it last week.”
“Oh.” Parts of me heated and throbbed. Visions of Steven tying my hands to the shower head and then licking strawberry jam off my naked body had tingled me in places I didn’t know existed. Just thinking about that night gave me goose-bumps and more than a few ideas of where else I wanted him to tie me up. That was the night Big Kyle took little Kyle to the park, then kept him overnight for the first time. It had been the first time that we’d been bold enough to try new positions and experiment. The first time we’d watched pornographic movies together. The first night for a lot of things. I’d been hot. Needy. Done the most erotic things to Steven even he didn’t know he liked. The night had been glorious. The cherry on top...our phones hadn’t gone off once.
“Mattie, I need my tie, sweetheart.”
Frustrated that my normally patient fiancé couldn’t wait for me to exit the bathroom, I yanked said tie from the back of the bathroom door, wincing when I found it a bit moist. I cracked the door open and stuck my hand out, the tie dangling from my fingertips. “Take it, Steven.” He grabbed hold of my wrist instead, tugging me through the opening with tremendous force.
“Steven!”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. Bad luck and all that,” he said showering me with kisses up and down my neck while he tickled me. “We’ve had our share of bad luck already; don’t you see?”
“What?”
“The spring they found when we broke ground last month for the new house. When my car lost its muffler three blocks away in the middle of rush hour yesterday and don’t forget Uncle Henry losing his britches at the engagement party last week.”
“That...that doesn’t count. And besides it’s just the beginning.” I tried to keep hold of the towel but it kept slipping.
“You are right, Almost Mrs. Russo. Time to say fuck it!”
“Fuck it?” I said laughing because really how could I be stern with this man when he was this adorable? Steven never swore. Not even when he stubbed his toe.
“Yup. Fuck it. Nothing can go wrong,” he announced into my wet hair as I struggled. Today I am marrying the most beautiful doctor in the world.” He blew raspberries into my neck while simultaneously tickling my sides sending me into screaming giggles.
“You do not know my family.”
“Don’t I?”
“Oh, you’ve met them all one-by-one. Or I should say group-by-group, depending on how many at a time show up to Mama’s at Sunday dinners, but it’s not the same. They’re a bit different when we have big get-togethers.”
“I can’t wait. Mmmm, you smell good. Can’t we just...?”
“No!”
“Oh by the way, My Uncle Henry finally called,” he announced.
“You have an Uncle Henry?”
“My mother’s brother. He’s been in Canada for years but I just learned he moved back to the states. Mmmm. Nice. How about you go braless today? Now that would get your uncles’ tongues wagging.” He was licking my neck now, hands rolling along my extremely sensitive nipples.
“Sure. Whatever you say, Steven. I can’t talk to you if you keep doing that. Oh. Oh, that’s good.”
“Yeah, so finally someone on my side of the family will be at the wedding besides my parents,” he murmured in my ear.
“Good news,” I managed to squeak out.
“Oh wait. No. He said he can’t make the wedding. My mistake, but he sent a biblical verse he wants read at the ceremony. Apparently he’s found God. Or something.”
I pulled away, wrapped the robe ties around my middle, and tucked in the ends. “This so-called biblical verse...it’s not from the new testament, is it?”
“How do I know? I’m not religious.”
“That may be a problem, Steven. Just give it to the rabbi and let him decide whether to use it or not, okay?”
“Sure. Whatever.” He shrugged. “I really should read up on your culture more. Especially, since they kinda outrank me.”
“Outrank you! Why would you think such a thing, Steven?” Placing my hands to the sides of his face, I kissed him gently. “You’ll never be outranked where I’m concerned.”
“I know, but it’s just my parents and a few friends that aren’t Jews. I hope we don’t do anything to embarrass you, Mattie.”
Now I felt bad. Of course, we’ll use the verse.
“It’ll be fine,” I said brightly. “Besides what in the world could possibly go wrong on the most perfect day of the year? Besides, my very picky mother took care of almost everything. Well, except the rehearsal dinner. And we both know my mother is a whirlwind when it comes to planning family get-togethers.”
“This is a little bigger than a family get-together,” Steven said.
IT HADN’T STARTED RAINING until I was safely inside. Thank goodness I’d decided to get dressed at the chapel. That was a good sign, right?
I refused to believe that anything could possibly ruin our special day. Especially in this dress, which I knew I was taking a chance wearing around my uncles, but this was my wedding. The one and only I’ll ever have. I loved this dress. Nothing else would do. Definitely not traditional, but it wasn’t wild either. A full-length, completely made of lace gown, it had a plunging neckline, see-through tulle at the shoulder and a short train. I knew it was the dress I wanted the moment I’d tried it on.
Mama had been so accommodating to Steven’s family. This wasn’t a Jewish wedding. Not really. Well, a little. And I knew that bothered her, but she’d sucked up her pride because she adored my soon-to-be husband.
The wedding was unique.
A little Goldwater.
A little Russo.
It wasn’t completely selfish on my part. I wanted Steven’s parents to feel included too. They’d just barely accepted our union, hadn’t spoken to h
im in years and now, here they were. At our wedding. This was for them too after all, so Mama had agreed, at my insistence actually, to invite a Catholic minister along with the Rabbi to perform the wedding ceremony. They stood side-by-side. My plan was to combine the two, with the rabbi doing most of the officiating and the minister saying a few prayers at the end. I also liked the tradition of having a flower girl and ring bearer walk down the aisle ahead of me. I chose David’s daughter Rachel as my flower girl and Samuel as the ring bearer. Steven had become attached to big Kyle’s dog so we incorporated him too.
“Well, here we are,” Mama said. “Doesn’t she look pretty?” She had three-year-old Rachel by the hand.
“Like an angel,” I said to a squirming Rachel.
We thought it best, Grammy walked with her grandchild instead of me because according to my brother, Rachel was unpredictable. Completely adorable in her crinolines and cream colored lace, Rachel’s big blue eyes melted my heart the moment she’d been born. Of all my nieces and nephews she was the only one I knew I’d want in my wedding one day. Besides my own son that is.
I crouched to my lovely niece’s level. “Rachel sweetie, all you have to do is take little handfuls of rose petals.” I demonstrated, by taking imaginary handful of petals out of her basket and dropping them on the floor. “And then drop them like this” I handed her the basket. “Can you do that for me?”
She gave me a big grin, blonde curls bobbing up and down. The ring of flowers on her head tilted as she looked at me. I kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Okay, now Grammy is going to walk with you. When it’s time, you must hold her hand.” The procession order was different than what my relatives would be accustomed to. I hoped they’d understand.
“Any sign of Big Kyle?” Mama asked.
“Not to worry, Mama. He’ll be here.”
But I was worried, my stomach twisted into spirals. I hadn’t heard from Kyle in over a week, plus he’d not made the rehearsal dinner, not that he blew me off or anything. He’d texted me saying he’d not felt well. I didn’t say anything to Mama. She’d insist on him staying with her for a freaking month so she could feed him chicken soup twenty-four-seven.
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