Joey Fatone noticed Circe the minute she walked in the church. She’d been in Florida for a few days already, but he hadn’t seen her.
They still had a little while before the rehearsal began. Joey decided to approach her.
“Hello, Ron- Circe,” he said. He was still used to calling her by the name he’d first met her by, Veronica.
“Hello, Joey,” Circe said, not looking at him.
“Can we talk sometime?”
“Do you really want to?” Circe looked at him, her green eyes probing his brown ones.
“Yes. I’m really sorry about the way I reacted to what you three had done. It was a gut reaction. I thought-”
“Joey, not right now. I don’t even think I want to hear it at all. You’re sorry for reacting the way you did, I’m sorry for what I did. Let’s just leave it at that, and try to start all over again. But we can’t talk right now, because the rehearsal is going to start in a few minutes.”
“Where’s Calypso?” Joey asked her, suddenly realizing Calypso wasn’t there.
“She got caught up with someone,” Circe told him. “She should be here in a few minutes.”
Just as she said that, Calypso walked in, followed by Lorelie and JC.
“Hi, Calypso,” Joey said.
“Hi, Joey.” Calypso scanned the rooms with her golden eyes, coming to rest on Justin, who was standing by the alter. Lance and Amaryllis, who was another of Lorelie’s bridesmaids, were sitting on the pew closest to the alter, and Chris was bouncing up and down in front of one of the paintings.
Lorelie’s other bridesmaids, all seven of them, walked in the church a few minutes after Lorelie and JC. Most of the girls were either Lorelie’s cousins or people she couldn’t afford to slight from her country.
“Who’s maid of honor and best man?” Circe asked.
“Well, you and Calypso are my maids of honor, and Justin and Tyler are JC’s best men. You’re paired with Tyler,” Lorelie told her. “And Calypso with Justin.”
Circe smiled. “Is that a good idea?”
“Probably not. Is Calypso serious about being engaged?”
“Yes.” A shadow crossed Circe’s face. “That’s why she didn’t arrive here with me. Galbraith
suddenly showed up at the hotel, and demanded a word with Calypso.”
“You don’t like him, do you?”
“Calypso was wearing a sleeveless shirt when I left. Now look at what she’s wearing.”
Lorelie looked at Calypso, who was staring at one of the stained glass windows. She was in a
long sleeved shirt that was far probably far too hot. “You think he hit her?”
“I don’t think, Lori, I know. When Calypso and I were in Europe, we met him at one of the
parties we went to. He beat the horse he was riding during the hunt, kicked three dogs that I
know of, all but raped one of the maids, and got the same maid fired from the mansion. That’s the type of man who would beat a woman.”
Justin, close enough to overhear their conversation, felt something inside his heart shatter.
Calypso, of all women he knew, didn’t deserve that. He might still hate her for what she did to him, but still, she didn’t deserve to be hit by anyone.
Don’t think about that, Justin. She made her choice, and she has to live with it now.
“Does Calypso know what type of person he is?” Lorelie asked.
“Of course. She isn’t blind. But she is turning a blind eye to what he is.”
“Did you talk to Joey?” Lorelie inquired, changing the subject.
“We’re going to talk about everything, but at least we did talk. And we agreed to start over. So hopefully, things will be good between us.”
“Are you going to stay in Florida longer?”
“Yeah, I think we will. It’ll be easy to convince Calypso, she doesn’t seem to care about anything anymore. And if she says anything about having to plan the wedding, I’ll just get a hold of the woman who planned your wedding and that’ll solve everything.”
“I didn’t want a huge wedding, like we’re having, but everyone convinced me otherwise.” Lorelie sighed. “I suppose it’s for the best.”
“Of course,” JC said, coming up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist. “After all, you’re a princess, both a real one and my princess. You deserve this wedding.”
Lorelie laughed, relaxing against him. His chin rested on the top of her head. “I love you, JC. You’re my prince.”
“Only a prince for a princess,” Circe joked. She walked over to Calypso.
“We have to start now,” Lorelie’s mother said, walking into the church.
Justin looked at Calypso as he took her arm to walk down the aisle. “How are you?”
“Fine,” Calypso replied vaguely. “And you?”
“Wonderful.” No, I’m not wonderful, but I won’t let her see that.
“So, are you dating now?” Calypso asked.
“I’m seeing someone. I really like her. What about you?”
“I’m engaged.”
“Yeah, I heard. To some asshole who beats animals. You’ll make a perfect couple.”
Calypso gasped. “That was low, Justin, even for you. And if we weren’t in a public place, I’d slap you.”
They were half way down the aisle. Justin stopped and turned to face her. “Why don’t you? We’re all friends here.”
“Justin, stop it right now,” Calypso said, as everyone looked at them. “”I’m not going to ruin
Lorelie’s wedding.”
Justin took her arm again. “Oh, you don’t want to ruin your friend’s wedding, but you don’t give a damn about ruining your life or mine.”
“If you hadn’t been so fucking pigheaded, then our lives wouldn’t have been ruined.”
“If you had trusted me enough to tell me the truth, then I wouldn’t have been so angry.”
“And you would have accepted it if I’d told you earlier in our relationship? You wouldn’t have told someone else and ruined our plans?”
They had stopped again, three-fourths of the way to the alter and their conversation had erupted into a screaming match.
“You should have trusted me not to.”
“I didn’t ask you that, Justin. I asked you if-”
“Calypso, Justin, shut up,” Lorelie said. “You can argue about this later. But please, let us
continue with the rehearsal.”
Justin took Calypso’s arm for the third time and they finished their walk to the alter, parting there.
The rest of the rehearsal went smoothly, and the dinner afterwards lasted a few hours. Circe and Calypso didn’t get back to the hotel until eleven.
“Luckily we don’t have to be up until ten tomorrow,” Circe said, as they walked into the suite.
They were getting their hair and make-up done at eleven, and the wedding started at two.
“That’s very good. I probably won’t get to sleep until late, and I hate waking up before like nine.”
“Don’t we both. I’ve fallen back into the routine of going to sleep late and getting up late.” Circe walked over to the window and looked outside. “I miss going to bed at a decent hour. I miss being useful. I feel so much like a useless ornament, it’s not funny. My life has no meaning. I’m not going anywhere. God, I hate this.”
“I feel the same way, except for the going to bed at a decent hour part. I’ve always been a night owl, and I’ll always be one.” Calypso looked up at the ceiling from her collapsed position on the sofa. “I resent the fact that I can’t go to college, that I can’t do what I want to do.”
“Do you really want to marry Galbraith?”
Calypso laughed bitterly. “Circe, do you think I don’t know what he is? Of course I don’t want to marry him.”
“Then why did you agree to it?”
“Maybe he’ll beat me to death and I won’t have to deal with this empty feeling inside of my heart. Or maybe he won’t, and I’ll at least have done something in my life. It’s what’s expected of me. And I’m sick of rebelling. I’d rather live with what I know and don’t like than risk the hurt Justin caused me again.” She walked to her room in the suite.
Circe watched in shocked silence as Calypso closed the door behind her. She couldn’t believe Calypso had just said those things. They were so unlike Calypso. A death wish and giving up. Out of the three of them, Calypso would never give up. To that girl, nothing was impossible. And a death wish? That was unbelievable. She wasn’t afraid of death, but she didn’t invite it, either. She wanted to live her life and die when it was her time.
“I hope everything works out,” Circe whispered in the haunting silence of the room.