MILA
Mila cocked her eyebrow when Blake told her that they both needed to welcome Thao into their home this morning. She had a few errands to run, so she donned a pair of tattered denim jeans, a blouse, and high-heels. After their visit, she needed to meet with Veronica at The People’s Love Project. They were to commence the first auditions for her nonprofit’s modeling event. Although the gist of the competition was to increase self-worth in young ladies, she still had no idea how big or exactly where she wanted it to go. Just moving up and forward for right now was good enough. While spritzing perfume onto her throat and wrists, Mila received a call from her mother.
“Hey, Mama, you should be heading to bed.” She placed the call on speaker and searched her jewelry box for a pair of diamond solitaire earrings.
“I had to wait for you to wake up, Mila.” Mrs. Ali’s tired voice decreased in sound. Apparently, she had pulled the phone away to yawn. “How are things going? I received your message about the dress. My beautiful daughter, no need wasting money on me.”
“Oh, it’s no waste at all.” Mila began to clasp a black diamond into her left ear. “What are your measurements? I’m sure the Madame can accommodate us.”
“Tsk, Mila I am okay.” Her mother sighed heavily. “I have a dress. I’ll wear it.”
Mila bit her tongue, not telling her mother that her wedding would span multiple nights, and Thao had yet to secure a venue. She also refused to disrespect her elders. “Alright, Mama, so far, I have a dress. We’d like to get married in Japan or Asia at the very least.”
Mila was beginning to make herself upset. Asia is an entire continent. What the hell am I talking about?
“You and dad are more than welcome to fly out. Although I’m confident that Thao knows exactly what he’s doing, I could use some help planning the last-minute details.” Mila bit her lip, eager for her mother’s agreement. Yet, growing up in her mother’s household, she had become accustomed to her mother’s meek decline.
“You spoke with a wedding planner last night, right? Yasmin was up hours ago, she spoke with me at—my dinner time. He’s a famous planner, right?”
Damn, and now Mrs. Ali was building a case. Mila heaved a sigh. “Yes, Mama, but—”
“Then you don’t need me. And you have your sisters.”
“Yes, I do.” Mila shuffled through the bracelet section of the box, aimless in her search. “But it’d be nice to have you too.”
“Your father will be away from the practice long enough for the wedding. He’s already worried about cantankerous dadka waayeelka ah—old people—who cannot survive too long without seeing their beloved doctor.”
“I’ll just see you in two weeks?”
“Mila, don’t sound so disheartened. You are planning the wedding of the century, Yasmin says.”
***
It was a quarter after when the doorbell rang. Blake took Mila’s hand in his, and they headed toward the towering front door. As they ventured into the foyer, they noticed that either Thao had grown a couple of inches or someone else stood on the opposite side of the frosted glass double doors. And next to that person was another person who had some sort of hat on his or her head. Blake grasped both knobs and opened the doors.
A man and a woman stood before them. The man wore a traditional embroidered kimono, and the woman wore a vintage cheongsam. Speaking first, the man bowed his head then, with gloved hands, held out an engraved crystal sake bottle. “Please join in the celebration of the wedding of Blake Brendan Baldwin to Mila Ali. To mark their special occasion, here is a bottle of our most expensive sake.”
Blake took the bottle. “Thanks. Count me in. If there’s more alcohol.”
“Aw.” Mila’s eyes misted as her fiancé removed the rice paper invitation surrounding the bottle. The invitation boasted a location in Tokyo, the perfect date, and time of the wedding.
Next, the woman stepped forward. She bowed her head as well, before giving a similar spiel. She provided Mila with a silk box.
“Thank you.” Mila took the top off the box. Inside was an oriental lily. Atop the lily was another invitation. This one outlined a different location but with the same time and date.
“Wow! But you said you needed a couple of days.” Mila gushed, looking past the man and women at Thao. He stepped forward, wearing another colorful suit.
“That is true, but the two of you have an aura about you that was contagious. Anyhoo, I do not prefer to leave much to the imagination, except for you, sir.” He nodded to Blake. “You won’t be able to see that beautiful dress anytime soon. But tell me,” he clasped his hands together, “which invitation package were you more interested in? The man? The woman? You can have both of them for the delivery or separate. That is top of the line sake by the way. Each invitation, although different, is encrusted with gemstones.”
Mila sniffled back tears. “I love it.”
“Once I open this bottle, I can tell you which I prefer,” Blake said. He kissed Mila’s forehead.
“You knew.” She grinned.
“Yes, baby, I knew. I just had to surprise you to determine if you liked it. Which one? Whatever you like, Mila, my love.”
“The lily. But I thought the sake was gorgeous.”
Thao spoke up. “Your rich, sweetheart. There is an infinite number of possibilities. We will do the lily. We can also have sake as a keepsake at the wedding, perhaps with a token poem on the bejeweled paper instead of the invite? Something that attests that the two of you have loved each other to the end of the world. I haven’t forgotten the story about Mila’s attempt to climb Annapurna.”
“You are wonderful.” Mila deftly wiped more tears away.
“Now, as you will see, both of the invitations have different locations.” Thao opened his man purse and pulled out a tablet. “With the time constraints, I have videos with panoramic details of each one. We can have the chefs flown to you, for food samples, but we ought to choose a destination post haste because we can’t send the invitations without a venue.”