Jasper Jax's fiancee, Oksana, had wanted to avoid a double wedding with Jax's brother Jerry, on the ground that Jax, unlike his older brother and his new bride, and she herself, Jax had never been married before.
Then Jax realized that though his bride-to-be had been married before, she had not had a big wedding either. Soon after she and Sergei had defected, they had gotten married before the clerk of the peace, with no relatives.
He had started getting this information out of her by asking her about her experience with planning weddings and whether she needed any help.
"But you had no real family affair either, then," he said. "Your parents weren't even there, nor his. They can be there this time."
"His could not have been," she said. "They had died already. But mine, yes, they can be here this time." She smiled as though she realized that for the first time.
"Then you are going to be a real bride," he said, sweeping her into his arms and dancing around the room with her. They were in her living room, and her parents were sitting across the room, talking. They both looked up, beaming, at the handsome couple dancing to some tune only they could hear.
"At my age?" Oksana asked.
"Yes, even though you are such an old lady, you shall have a white dress, and bridesmaids, and all that, a good fashioned wedding."
"I feel silly, but," she said, looking up at him, "You should have it."
"Ah, me, the excuse," he said, smiling his most charming smile. "What good is a wedding without a bridegroom?"
"Not much good," Oksana said, trying to pretend to be serious. He laughed and picked her up.
"Put me down! What are you doing?"
"Practicing carrying you over the threshold, don't you Russians have any customs in common with the rest of us."
"No," Oksana said, but she put her arms around his neck and let him carry her.
He carried her out into the hall.
"Just boring, drab, Soviet wedding chapels," he said, having heard a little bit from her and her brother Mikhail about weddings in the Soviet era.
"Yes, with the party insignia," she said, pretending to be annoyed at him.
He kissed her cheek and put her down. "We're going to make an American out of you yet, comrade," he said. Then he kissed her on the top of the head.
"You too," she said. "But we will never get rid of your accent. I hope."
"You like my way of speaking the Queen's English, do you?" he twinkled. "I think you like my Russian, too."
"That needs much work."
"I'm in the right place," he said.
"Yes," she answered. "You are in the right place. The best place for you."
"So you believe me now, when I say I am perfect for you?"
She kissed him for an answer.