“Your dress is yellow,” she said, touching Lily’s sleeve. “Pretty.”
“Thank you.” Lily beamed at her now-three-year-old niece who looked so much like her late brother-in-law, Terry, it hurt. “Your dress is pretty too.”
* * *
? ? ?
It was almost eleven p.m. when the party finally ended. Lily stood outside of the restaurant with her sisters and waved goodbye to their parents as they drove off, heading back to New Jersey.
“Don’t forget what we talked about, Lily!” their mom called.
Lily nodded and forced a smile, but inwardly grimaced. After suffering through another long discussion with her mom and aunts while they tried to convince her to apply for law school or medical school or any new avenue that might result in success and decent money, Lily had reluctantly agreed to attend another EmpoWOMENt networking seminar with her mother. Her family was baffled that now at twenty-six, Lily was still someone’s assistant with a meager salary, while Violet was an established celebrity stylist at only twenty-seven, and Iris was the head of partnerships at a beauty brand start-up at twenty-nine. Even her parents had opened their own plant and flower nursery in their late twenties after graduating from Brown. So what was wrong with Lily?
She personally had no idea, but she hated the narrative that in order to be a moderately successful Black person, she had to be exceptional. She didn’t know if she was capable of exceptional. She simply wanted to be. That was already hard enough.
“Can you believe I’m getting married?” Violet said, draping Eddy’s blazer over her shoulders. He’d gone to get his car, so the three sisters were alone, with Calla sleeping in Iris’s arms. “I’m going to be somebody’s whole-ass wife. I can’t wait.”
“Don’t you think you should wait a little longer?” Iris asked. “Getting married at the end of August is pretty soon.”
Violet rolled her eyes. “Not this again.”
“What?” Iris switched Calla to her other hip. “You barely know him, Vi.”
Violet groaned, and Iris shrugged, straight-faced.
Iris was the smart sister. Growing up, she’d juggled Model UN, debate team and year-round sports while keeping a 4.0 GPA. She graduated at the top of her class in both undergrad and business school. She was beautiful too but didn’t bother with frills like Violet. Tonight, she wore a sleeveless black top and black jeans, and her curly hair was cropped close to her scalp. Even though she worked for a cosmetics company and often gave free products to Lily and Violet, she wore no makeup, just clear lip gloss. And she made only practical decisions, which was why she couldn’t understand Violet’s sudden choice to get married.
“I do know him. I love him,” Violet insisted. “Why can’t you just be happy for me?”
“That’s the thing. I don’t know if I believe that you’re happy.”
“I am!” Violet said. “Tell her, Lily.”
Lily, ever the peacemaker, glanced back and forth between her headstrong sisters. Honestly, she wasn’t quite sure what to make of Violet’s engagement. It seemed that out of nowhere, she’d met Eddy and decided to get serious. But Lily had fallen for a stranger she’d met online, who hadn’t even turned out to be the stranger she thought he was. Her actions had been more illogical, so how could she judge anyone?
“I don’t know,” she finally said. “Eddy seems nice.”
“Thank you,” Violet said.
Iris simply shook her head and frowned. “Okay, but there’s still so much else to plan in a short time span. You need a wedding dress. We need bridesmaid dresses. Someone has to plan your bridal shower and bachelorette party. Do you and Eddy even have a venue? A caterer?”
“Yes, we have a venue, Iris,” Violet huffed. “Eddy pulled some strings at a place in New Jersey not too far from Mom and Dad. He’s taking care of the caterer too. We aren’t having a traditional wedding. There will be no bridesmaids or groomsmen. Just Eddy and me, professing our love to each other in front of our loved ones. And the wedding dress search is in progress. If I know how to do anything, it’s finding the right item of clothing.” She paused and then sidled closer to Iris, grinning. “And as far as the bridal shower and bachelorette party, you know how wild my schedule is. Let’s just do them the same weekend. And I was hoping my lovely, detail-oriented older sister would help me plan.”
“Of course you were.” Iris rolled her eyes but was unable to fight her smile. “Fine.”