"Lots of people cry at weddings, darling," Gloria said lightly, walking ahead of her across the beach and then planting herself straight down in the sand. She scooped up some sand in her hand and watched it slowly trickle down between her fingers.
"Yes, but you never struck me as the type," Galina replied.
The wedding ceremony had been absolutely beautiful and Galina had been mesmerized by the proceedings, at least until she had noticed the tears flowing down Gloria's cheeks. From where she was sitting, Galina had felt like they were about much more than just being moved by her cousin getting married.
"I'm a sucker for a good wedding," Gloria smiled, tucking her knees up underneath her as she stroked her palm over the sand.
Galina rolled her eyes at her and smiled. She had loved meeting Diablo and Blanca the other day, and had completely enjoyed attending their wedding. It was entirely informal, with both the bride and the groom breaking off script to laugh together and exchange inside jokes that nobody but the two of them could understand. They were crazy, but their relationship was solid and everyone could see how much they completely adored one another.
"Nicky asked me if I wanted to get married again," Galina shared.
"Oh?" Gloria said, her eyes darting nervously to the side. "And what did you say?"
Almost at once, Galina's heart started pounding more quickly and the baby seemed to feel it too. She had been wearing Benny in a wrap all afternoon for the wedding proceedings. The wrap was grey with a pattern of red roses the precise shade of the dress she was wearing so that they matched. She wrapped one arm around the baby and used her other to support herself as she lowered herself down onto the sand to sit next to Gloria.
"Honestly...I told her that I think weddings are a thing of the past for me," Galina replied, she tried tucking her legs underneath her the way Gloria was, kneeling on them, and then finally stretched them straight out in front of her in an attempt to get comfortable. She smoothed her hand down over her skirt and shot a nervous glance at Gloria.
"Of course, I could reconsider if that's something that you really wanted," she added quickly, concerned that she might have upset her. "I know it's important to some people, and it was to me when I was having my children, but at this stage in my life, I just don't feel it is necessary."
"I don't either," Gloria shrugged her shoulders. "Arturo just signed the papers; I'm not even technically divorced yet. Getting married again is probably the farthest thing from my mind. In actual fact, the idea terrifies me. Besides, I don't need a piece of paper to make what we share feel more really...especially after yesterday," she added with a smirk.
Galina blushed. They'd taken advantage of Diablo and Blanca's offer yesterday, and savoured some alone time in their apartment which was practically non-existent when you had as many kids as they did. They had kissed and they had touched, and they had barely spoken. They didn't need words. Arturo finally agreeing to grant Gloria her divorce and this trip together had drawn them even closer. . They had felt free to give themselves to one another in every way, at long last.
"That's how I feel," Galina assured her. "I don't need anything more."
"That's fine," Gloria assured her. "Let me know if you change your mind though. I'm pretty sure Dmitri wants to marry Tammy next year."
"Well, then more power to him," Galina said simply, not feeling even a smidgeon of discomfort at that reality. Their marriage really was over in every sense of the word and she felt completely okay with that. Her children were doing okay with it too. It helped that she and Dmitri were figuring things out between them. Sometimes she thought that she loved him more now than she ever had before in all their married years. Now that she wasn't beholden to him and trying to honour something that could never be right for her, it was easier to appreciate him for the good man that he was. They were still a family.
"You look so beautiful," Galina whispered, "did I tell you that?"
"About twenty times," Gloria grinned. "But keep the compliments coming. I like them."
She was wearing a turquoise dress made from beautiful chiffon fabric. It was tied in a halter behind her neck and her hair was knotted up in an elegant twist. Her back was bare, her skin tanned like it had been kissed by the sun. Still taking care to support the baby, Galina leaned over to trail gently kisses along the sharp edge of Gloria's right shoulder blade.
"I'm honestly surprised that everything was so traditional though," she said honestly. "I don't know what I expected them to make you wear, but it wasn't this. I expected a bit more eccentricity."
"You missed the argument between Blanca and Lourdes this morning when we were getting ready," Gloria said with a wry smile. "She let Lourdes have a lot of influence to make her happy, but she was really determined to wear a set of devil horns beneath her wedding veil to walk down the aisle."
"Devil horns?" Galina raised her eyebrows, as Gloria laughed at her reaction. "That's a thing now?"
"It's her and Diablo's thing," Gloria shrugged. "They even had Julio running around in a pair at one point before Lourdes snatched them off his head. I told her we needed to keep them for Benny."
"Stop," Galina protested, affectionately pressing her lips to the baby's thick head of hair. "How can you say that after he was such a good boy all day? He didn't make a sound the entire ceremony."
"Because he was raving all last night," Gloria said, sounding unimpressed. "You didn't hear him because you were fast asleep snoring."
Galina bristled. "I don't snore," she objected.
"Yeah, okay," Gloria laughed. "Let's go with that. Anyway, we compromised and got pictures taken of us all wearing horns. Pretty sure that one is not going to make it onto Tia's mantel."
"Ma!" Vasily called, and both women turned their focus to the water's edge. All five of the kids had taken their shoes and socks off, and were laughing together when the waves brushed up onto the shore and tickled their toes. Julio kept running away just in time screaming. His suit was covered in sand from all the times he had dove into it. He was having the time of his life.
"What?" Galina called back, resting her hand on Gloria's knee.
"Can I roll up my pants and wade out just a lit-"
"No," she replied, before her son could even finish his request. "You take one step into that ocean and you won't like what happens next."
"Why can't they?" Gloria questioned.
"I don't want them to get their nice clothes all wet," Galina replied.
"What does it matter? The wedding is over," Gloria countered. They had just eaten dinner and though it was expected that the after-party reception would go all night, nobody had any intention of going there in the same clothes they had worn to the ceremony. Diablo's heavy metal band was going to be performing and Blanca had already slyly shown Gloria what her costume change was going to be. Galina and Gloria were planning to go there later tonight, once they got all the kids' home and put the little ones to bed.
She jumped up from the ground and jogged across the sand, enjoying the tickling sensation on the pads of her feet. "Let me get a picture of you guys," she urged, "and then you can go wading, Vasily. Mama will just have to deal and then you don't have to have a bath tonight."
"Works for me," Vasily agreed. He went to stand between Nicky and Maxim, while Yuri caught Julio in his arms and hoisted him up on his shoulders. Gloria took her phone out of her little beaded clutch and smiled as she took a few shots of them all, making sure to capture the setting sun in the background. They all looked so lovely. Yuri, Maxim, and Vasily in their black suits with silk ties, and Nicky in the black pantsuit they had bought for the school dance. Gloria had fixed the tear in the knee and it looked as good as new.
"Y'all look so good!" she exclaimed, smiling as she felt Galina approach and wrap a gentle hand around her waist. "Now, will one of you take one of me and your mom?"
"I will," Nicky said agreeably, her brothers had already begun to disperse. Yuri set Julio back down and kept him in close sight, as he and Maxim followed him up the shore. Vasily rolled his pants up as high as he could and waded out past his knees in the surf, before one leg dropped and he was soaked.
"Get out of the way," Nicky ordered him. "Mama and Gloria need to stand there. The sunset in the background is beautiful."
"It is," Galina agreed, though she flashed her daughter a reproving look about the way she addressed her brother. She allowed Gloria to steer her closer to the water's edge and smiled when she leaned forward to kiss the baby in the wrap.
"My sleepy little prince," Gloria cooed, stroking his hair back with a light finger. Then she leaned over to kiss the corner of Galina's mouth. "You look so beautiful too," she whispered.
"I've had this dress forever," Galina brushed her off. It was a timeless silk dress that hit her just below the knee and had been in her closet forever. Benny had been running his fingers over the fabric since she'd put it on and parts of it were now sticky and coated with drool, but she didn't care.
"Because it looks amazing on you," Gloria replied, leaning her head against her shoulder as they both smiled in Nicky's direction.
They broke apart when they heard the sound of crying. Julio had tripped over a stick partially buried in the sand and was sobbing for his mami while Maxim carried him over to them. The noise woke up Benny who jerked his head back in alarm, before glaring up at Galina indignantly as though she were the one responsible for disturbing him.
"Back to sleep," she urged him softly, but Benny just responded by sticking a finger up her nose.
"Watch it," she chuckled, gently pulling his pudgy little fist back from her face. She kissed it lovingly and then held it in hers as her assailant tried to pry free for another attack.
"Ah ahh ahhhh ah," he babbled, and Galina nodded at him as if it made sense to her. Sometimes she imagined she could hear words in between his cooing but mostly it was just loud shrieking from their very vocal baby.
"This one is my favourite, ma," Nicky announced. She had been swiping through the pictures on the phone and held it up for her mother to see.
"You like that?" Galina asked, trying to mask her surprise. Nicky had taken nearly two dozen photos in the few seconds they had stood together, and had shown her a sunset shot of Galina smiling just after Gloria had kissed her.
"Yeah," Nicky said simply. "You two should dress up more often. You look like you really belong together."
"Thank you, honey," Galina replied, feeling a little self-conscious. "I think so too."
She would have settled for her children regarding her and Gloria with a sense of respectful neutrality, so to see their acceptance beginning to drift towards enthusiasm was quite amazing. It was more than she would have ever expected from them and she knew she was incredibly fortunate to have discovered what had been missing her entire life and have it be embraced by her children and even her ex-husband. It made all the difference and although she was still nervous about being out and judged, it was a relief to know that she was safe in her family to love the person she wanted to love.
Sorry for the delay in posting this. I promise not to wait this long to update again. Thank you so much for the reviews wallscollide, whenaspritemeetsaunicorn, Johanna-002, Juliette, HobbitPez, A Star in My Universe, and galinareznikovlove.