They should have gotten up off the floor to start planning. They had to figure out how to get a marriage license fast, find a wedding place in Niagara Falls and book it, and call Amira. And Reena had another idea brewing for Sunday, but it would also need a lot of planning and pulling some strings. But instead they just kissed until he finally picked her up off his lap and took her to his bedroom.
And Reena got the reverent, intense, sensual sex she expected. Apparently, that wasn’t for endings, but for beginnings.
***
They started planning early the next morning. A quick Google search found a Toronto-based wedding officiant who specialized in elopements in the city, so thankfully they could avoid the drive to Niagara Falls. They’d met in Toronto, and Reena wanted to get married here if possible. After taking the subway downtown to get their license at city hall, they called the officiant and arranged for her to come over late in the evening. License in hand, Reena called Amira.
Her best friend was, of course, shocked and appalled that Reena would do such a thing as elope after only a few weeks of dating, and spoke louder and faster than normal voicing her objections. But once she got it off her chest, Amira informed Reena she wouldn’t allow her best friend to tie the knot without standing next to her. She assured them that she and Duncan would leave straight after work and arrive at the apartment, hopefully before the officiant.
She called Saira next, who sounded surprised but happy. She said she was glad Reena was doing this, because if Mum disagreed with any of her own wedding plans, she could just threaten to elope like her big sister. Reena wanted to call Marley and Shayne next, but she knew they were both working late shifts at their retail jobs.
And so, on Friday night, under the October stars on the tiny back deck of her father’s building still decorated with glowing white balls of light and rainbow-colored patio chairs, Reena Manji and Nadim Remtulla were married. The bride wore a turquoise and pink lehenga with her hair open on her shoulders, silver anklets on her feet, and to the groom’s delight, no shoes. The groom wore a gray kurta with turquoise Converse high-tops that he bought to match the bride’s lehenga. Standing beside them, the maid of honor wore a black pencil skirt with killer stiletto boots, the bridesmaid (who’d rushed straight from work) wore jeans and a Nourish health-food store T-shirt, and the best man wore jeans and a red plaid flannel shirt, his vibrant red beard reflecting the low light on the deck.
It was the strangest wedding Reena had ever attended, and it was exactly the fairy-tale wedding she didn’t know she wanted. In a single word, it feltperfect.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
After the ceremony the entire wedding party started brainstorming plans for a reception. And Saturday morning they started making phone calls to plan the event. Not too early, though. It was, after all, the day after Reena’s wedding night. First, they called Steve at the Sparrow to secure the venue. Then, together, they called Anderson, explaining that Nadim needed to head back to Tanzania this week, so could they please bump up the video shoot for the contest finals. Anderson, thankfully, was easily convinced, once Reena hinted that Shayne would be there. Then they called their family and friends to invite them—and they fully expected a significant portion of those calls to go badly.
Mum and Dad were not happy. In fact, it took Reena a while to get them to believe she was married at all. And once they did, Mum was so furious, she hung up on Reena.
Well…at least it was better than yelling? Hopefully with time their anger would mellow a bit. Reena shrugged as she put her phone down, not really caring too much what her parents thought right now.
“What’d your father say?” she asked Nadim as he walked out of his room. Reena did not see it as a good sign that he had been in there for less than fifteen minutes.
He squeezed his lips together before smiling sadly. “He’s not impressed.”
Reena didn’t know if he wasn’t pleased that Nadim eloped, or if it was his choice of bride. Either way, she could see how upset Nadim was about the damage to the relationship with his father. Reena crossed the room and put her arms around her husband. She wouldn’t press—if he didn’t want to tell her what his father said, it was fine. She wasn’t fooling herself—she knew they were building something, and they weren’t there yet. But they would be.
They held each other tightly for several seconds. He inhaled deeply into her hair. “Love you,” he whispered.
“Love you, too.”
Shayne and Marley appeared soon after, squealing with joy over Reena’s texts about last night’s wedding. Amira and Duncan, who were still across the hall in Reena’s apartment, heard the squealing and came to join the party. And it really was a party, because she was still telling Shayne and Marley about their moonlit wedding when there was a loud banging on Nadim’s door.
Reena took a deep breath before opening it. She knew who it would be.
“Reena, is this some joke?” Mum said the moment the door was open. Her father was there, too. Both with tight faces and stiff postures. Saira stood behind them, a wide smile on her face. And Ashraf stood behind her, looking bewildered about this family he’d attached himself to. She didn’t blame him.
“C’mon in. The more the merrier.” She motioned her family into Nadim’s apartment. It was a tight squeeze. Ten people in a small apartment covered with boxes and suitcases.
Mum walked in, dropped her purse on the counter, and turned, glaring at Reena. “You reallymarriedhim?”
“Yes. We eloped last night. I’m very happy, Mum.”
Mum somehow managed to make her frown bigger. “Without your family? And what is this…eloped! That is not a wedding! You need a Nikah in the Jamatkhana, and mehndi, and a big reception. Maybe at the Toronto Ismaili Centre, or—”
“Wait—so you don’t have an issue with who I married, or that I did it so quickly, only that I didn’t have a big wedding?”
Amira stepped forward. “It was a lovely ceremony. Outside, under the stars.”
Mum glared at Amira for three seconds before turning back to Reena. “Shewas there, but not us? Not your sister?”
“Actually, I was there,” Saira interjected. “I was sworn to secrecy, though. It was so romantic! Might think about eloping myself!”
Mum glared at Saira this time. She was really getting good mileage out of her frown today. This must be how Mum made those Vegas high rollers quiver in their seats.
“Um,” Marley said, inching awkwardly toward the door. “Hey, Duncan and Amira, why don’t we go upstairs to my place. Duncan said he wanted to see my…um…Gucci bag?”
