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Lena and Amélie were getting married, and they had no intention of telling their families.
Amélie’s parents continued to call but daily, but daily faded into weekly, which eventually turned into once in awhile. It wouldn’t be long before she would be completely forgotten, and the thought of cutting ties with her unhappy life for good brought joy to her cold soul. No more guilt trips, no more blackmail begging to return. And as Amélie saw it, that was for the best. She would never be as happy in the mansions that they sought for her to spend her life in than she would be in her small apartment.
Lena’s family on the other hand, was nonexistent as far as she was concerned. She’d be lying if she said that it didn’t bother her; A tiny part of her wished that she could call and tell her mother the news. It was a life changing event that had brought her an unimaginable happiness and she had to tell everyone. Despite their fights, despite her desire to forget her family, it still hurt that her mother wanted no part of it.
Luckily for both Amélie and Lena, they had something much better.
“Which one of you is pregnant?!”
Lena and Amélie stood hand in hand in the doorway of Mama Maria’s home, not even able to get a word out as she immediately pointed accusingly at the two women with narrowed eyes.
Jack and Gabe had also come along for the ride, carrying grocery bags filled with drinks and chips to go along with dinner but were both immediately sent into hysterical laughter as the two women were too stunned to respond.
“Mama,” Gabe wheezed, wiping the stream of tears from his eyes, struggling to breath,”did you forget your medication again?”
Had he been closer she would have smacked him.
“Callete Gabriel ! With technology these days? You never know!” the tiny woman stomped her foot and crossed her arms.
“What? No! Maria no neither of us are pregnant,” but then Lena paused for moment in realization, ”...at least I don’t think so?”
“I know I’m not… are you?” Amélie struggled to keep a straight face as Lena reached out and gently patted her stomach just to double check.
However Maria was not there for the sass and pouted,“Then why all the glow? The smiles? Why is everyone so happy and not telling me?!”
They looked at each other before Amélie lifted Lena’s hand to show off a beautiful engagement ring on her finger.
Maria’s eyes widened, unable to cover her own mouth in time as she screamed with joy and ran forward, enveloping the two girls into a tight hug. Gabe laughed, holding his phone steady as he recorded the moment.
This tiny woman, to whom neither were blood related in any way, began to cry with uncontrollable happiness - which sent a gut punch to the both of them who couldn’t help but find themselves also crying as they held her tight.
Their own families didn’t care.
But she did and somehow in this moment it all became real, became final.
They were getting married and their “mother” couldn’t have been happier.
“ Mija I’m so proud of you” she said, letting her tears stream freely as she held Amélie’s face, gently stroking her cheek with sincerity in her old eyes.
Amélie couldn’t say anything, bent down to be eye level with this small woman she could do nothing as her heart melted as Maria pulled her in and placed a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“And you!”
Lena yelped in surprise as the woman switched over, throwing her arms over her shoulders to yank her down to her level and pepper her cheek with tiny but obnoxious kisses. Lena laughed, feeling like a child being visited by grandma as she ruffled up her hair before parting.
“I always knew it would be you! No one brings someone to Mama Maria and doesn’t mean business!” Maria laughed.
Finally she stood back, looking up at her two girls with pride and love in her eyes.
“That being said…”
Her head whipped to the side, and her eyes narrowed in on her son who was trying his best to hide behind Jack.
“...uh…”
Gabe had hoped his mother would be distracted with the happy news to not notice it was the first time Jack has visited since their break up. A particularly small detail he realized when it was too late.
Instead, she smiled warmly up at the tall blonde man,“Jack, it’s good to see you again mijo . I’ve missed you.”
Jack smiled sheepishly, feeling very hot under the collar all of a sudden, her smile was too warm, with promise of many unasked questions yet to come, “Hey Maria...”
“We can deal with that later” she huffed, waving her hand in the general direction of her son,”But for now, when can we plan!?”
The mood shifted once again as she took the girls by the hands and yanked them into the house excitedly.
“Actually about that…”
Amélie’s words trailed away as they entered the house, eyes immediately snapping up to the movement beyond the wall dividing the living room and kitchen, where a small window was cut into the wall thus exposing a young woman with her hand literally in the basket of tortillas.
“Olivia!”
Lena could’ve sworn that a tumbleweed rolled by in that moment. It was like a western, with two gunmen standing utterly still with eyes locked, tension heavy in the air.
The tension snapped, and in a flash, with the precision of an irate mother, Maria lifted her foot to swipe the sandle right off and flick it across the room like a dagger.
Olivia, who was very well versed in being a target for her aunt’s chancla, immediately ducked and shoved a fresh tortilla in her mouth before running off.
“ Mapache ! Give me my chancla back!” she huffed, marching back to the kitchen with her hand out expectantly.
The young woman returned as requested but she did so with a grin, victorious with the tortilla still dangling from her lips as she brought back the sad flip flop. Maria grabbed it and smacked her arm before shooing her out.
She greeted her cousin with a middle finger salute, in which he responded with the same as he entered the kitchen to assist with the usual preparations for dinner.
“Hey bitch,” Olivia nodded, her mouth full of tortilla as she reached out and yanked Amélie into a tight hug.
“Good to see you too, asshole,” Amélie rolled her eyes, but expertly swiped what was left of the tortilla as she parted.
Olivia grumbled for only a moment before shifting her gaze to Lena, “And you! I’ve missed you and your adorable accent!”
“Cheers Love!” Lena laughed with the most over exaggerated cockney she could muster.
Olivia squealed, wrapping her arms around the smaller woman in a tight hug, “Aaahh I love it!”
One thing Lena had learned very quickly was how much Gabe’s family loved hugs. It was strange at first but she had immediately embraced it.
“We haven’t seen you since you broke into the apartment!”
Olivia shrugged, flopping over onto the couch with Lena close behind who took a seat on the recliner, careful to not knock over the small pile of newspapers and coupon clippings.
“I hope you upgraded your locks, I was really close to stealing Amélie’s shoes if your freaky spider wasn’t there staring at me.” Olivia smirked and closed and opened her hand, ”Now, show me the goods!”
The two immediately hopped up, sitting at the edge of their respective seats as Lena flashed her engagement ring.
Olivia reached out and gently grasped her hand, inspecting it only a breath away.
Lena couldn’t help the silly smile that grew on her face as the resurgence of excitement and joy was just overflowing. Her friends were excited, her family was excited for them. They had a long road ahead of them but until then she could enjoy this moment.
“ Aye que bonita ...tell me everything!” Olivia flashed a bright smile as she focused, giving Lena her full and undivided attention.
“ Esperate ! I want to know too!” Maria called out, sticking her head out of the small window in the wall.
“Then get out of the kitchen Tia !”
“Mama I can finish-”
Maria disappeared back into the kitchen, a few pots were moved and a short slap was heard followed by Gabe’s small whine of pain, “ No ! You’re stirring too much!”
“I’ll tell it over a hundred times I don’t mind!” Lena laughed as Gabe and his mother continued to bicker in spanish about the proper construction of menudo.
“You’re so cute! Ugh Amé, where did you find this one again?”
Amélie stopped placing silverware on the table to shoot a glare over the couch.
“Hey, I put a ring on it Oli. Watch it.”
“Psshh, I’m very happy with what I have thank you very much.”
At this, Jack laughed, bringing out a basket full of fresh tortillas, it’s warmth concealed underneath a small flowery towel, “Are you still dating that scary Indian woman who is so very much out of your league?”
Olivia stuck out her tongue. “Satya is fine thank you for asking.”
“Aye, ven qui! Come comida.”
Lena may not know spanish at all but she had been able to pick up the word for food very quickly.
Their strange little family gathered together at the small table, bumping shoulders as they reached out for limes, slurping down soup and laughing Gabe rolled up a tortilla with one hand like he were a dark wizard with a blunt.
Jack gave Maria his phone first, already open to view photos he took from their vacation in Europe; he and Gabe had went on their own small excursion before meeting the girls up at the Chateau for the big moment.
“Aww you guys are so gay,” Olivia smiled, flipping through the photos as Maria held the phone and struggled to put her glasses on with one hand. There were an insane amount of selfies with a beautiful Paris skyline in the background, usually with Jack kissing Gabe’s grumpy face.
“Well I mean you’re not wrong,” Gabe shrugged, munching on what was left of his lime.
Maria’s lip quivered as she carefully examined each photo, of course only after smacking Olivia’s finger away as she was swiping through them too quickly for her to enjoy them. She held the phone in both hands and sighed.
Gabe gulped, unable to look away as his mother slowly looked up and stared at him with big brown eyes, now accentuated with her thick glasses.
“Mijo you look so happy…”
He coughed nervously and waved her off,“We’ll talk about this later, the girls first Mama.”
In an instant her mood changed, giving the phone to Olivia who immediately sent all of them to herself.
“Ah yes you’re right!” Maria was practically bouncing in her seat as she slipped her glasses off and let the bright red beaded chain dangle her specs around her neck.
“So tell me everything! How were you feeling Amé? Lena did you have any idea? What happened? What did you do?”
Lena looked to her fiance to start who shook her head, burying her face in her hands as she groaned,”It was awful...I was sick to my stomach with worry…”
“Come on love, you should have known my answer.”
“I did! But still, I don’t know how to describe it.” she sighed, sitting her chin atop her fist,”Fortunately for you I beat you to the punch, consider yourself lucky for not having to experience this bullshit panic attack for a week,” Amélie grumbled.
“I mean, I knew you were acting a little strange that week before we left but otherwise I had no idea,” Lena laughed, playfully nudging Amélie’s arm with her elbow.
“I’m still reeling thinking about that entire day. I barely remember it, I was too busy panicking…”
“Oh no worries I got this!”
Lena whipped out her phone and immediately went into a play by play of their entire trip as if it happened only yesterday. Amélie was more than grateful not only to allow herself to enjoy her meal but also to listen in, they had spoken about their fateful day many times but there was something different about listening to her recap to someone else who held on to every word.
“We went to Annecy where Amélie was born and it’s absolutely gorgeous!”
Lena’s eyes lit up, and she was barely able to get a small spoonfuls of food in between her stories and explaining every photo that Maria flipped through her phone. Olivia rested her chin on her aunt’s shoulder and watched on quietly with a wide grin on her face.
“It was beautiful! Look at this amazing castle on the water!”
Amélie sighed happily, watching Lena animate and retell their day with such clarity that even she was able to relive it now without the blinding anxiety.
“Gabe gimme your phone you have the video yeah?”
The dining room was filled with a chorus of soft ‘aws’ as Maria and Olivia watched the short video of Amélie getting on one knee and Lena crying.
Followed by soft sniffling hear from behind the camera that was very clearly Gabe overwhelmed with emotion at the beautiful sight.
“Smooth Amélie, real nice,” Olivia winked, for once actually honest and meaning it as she took her napkin and playfully dabbed it along Maria’s cheek. She was not crying freely but her eyes still watered as she smiled uncontrollably.
“I’m so happy for you two” she sighed, gingerly returning the phone across the table she folded her fingers together and huffed,”So! Have you made any plans yet? I want to help! Anything! Who knows when either of those two will do anything and I’d like to see a wedding before I die!”
Gabe sputtered mid bite on a large spoonful of soup as Jack laughed, though his face was bright red.
“Yeah Gabe step up sheesh,” Jack grinned, lifting his hand and wiggling his fingers to indicate the vacancy on his ring finger.
Gabe looked away, suddenly finding the small light fixture above them with a ceiling fan set on low far more interesting. One of the bulbs had gone out, perhaps he should take care of that soon.
“Anyway...plans? Ideas? I’ve heard of this website... Oli que es?”
Olivia furrowed her brows for a short moment before realization hit her and she snapped her head towards the two women across from her.
“I swear to God if you ask for a barn wedding with fairy lights I’m disowning both of you,” she hissed, her eyes narrowed and pointing accusingly.
Lena pouted, she might have visited Pintrest and took note of the hipster barnyard chic that seemed to be popular but she nodded reluctantly,“ No on the barn but I want fairy lights!”
“Well, actually we were wondering...if maybe we could have it here?”
Maria tilted her head in confusion.
“Here? But the backyard is so small!”
Amélie bit her lip for a moment, offering a small sad smile.
“Maria, we’re... not inviting our families. They don’t...well, they don’t care or want to be involved. It’s going to be small, just us and our friends, maybe less than twenty at most”
Lena was busy catching up, slurping down her soup and devouring her tortillas with a wide grin as Maria looked on, clearly disheartened by the news. She shrugged and continued eating though her left hand found Amélie’s under the table and gave it a tight squeeze.
Maria scoffed,“I’ve made enough tamales to feed an army.”
Which was Christmas time with her family.
“And all on my own before, that was three times what you’re telling me.”
Lena nearly dropped the spoon in her grasp,“Holy shit can we get catered mexican hot pockets for our wedding.”
Jack and Olivia nearly fell off her chair laughing as Amélie very slowly placed her face into her hand. Gabe only rolled his eyes and reached out to pat her on the shoulder but failed to conceal his grin.
“Lena, for fucks sake.”
Maria however could not have cared less, she was bouncing, scrambling out of her seat for a pen and paper and began to furiously write down ideas and plans.
“I think you should have it during the springtime when the trees have beautiful flowers in them! Gabe we will need to make the garden bigger and-”
It was set to be late spring of next year, simple, basic but they couldn’t have been more excited.
Lena and Maria spent the remainder of the evening still on the table, several pages out with notes and phones out seeking inspiration.
“Hey, Amé. I bet $10 you and Lena adopt before Gabe pops the question.”
Amélie glanced over from her seat on the couch and found Gabe on the recliner, his mouth open and snoring so loudly she had to raise the volume of the tv to mask it, yet Jack who was also on the recliner and half draped over his body slept soundly.
“Please, you and Satya will be getting married before that.”
“Oh, I’ll take that bet.”
Olivia grinned, reaching out and taking Amelie’s hand in a firm handshake to solidify the deal before settling back into the couch. Their stomachs full, plans were being made and all was well.
“This house is really gay Olivia.”
“So gay. ”