Kate Wilhelm - Happiest Day Of Her Life

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Kate Wilhelm - The Happiest Day Of Her Life

THE DAY BEFORE THE HAPPIEST day of her life did not have an auspicious start for Reba

Cameron. She heard her bedroom door open and opened her eyes enough to see a dim light coming in

from the hall; she closed her eyes again. Her mother had slipped into the room; she could smell her. Still

dark outside and Sonya was already doused with perfume, and, no doubt, had all her makeup perfectly

in place. Reba did not stir as she tracked her mother's soft steps around the room; she would finger

something or other, put it down, straighten something, move something else, pause at the mirror to smile

at her reflection, move on.... When the door closed again, Reba looked at the clock. Six-thirty.

She groaned and pulled the blanket up over her head, desperate for at least one more hour of sleep, but

now she could hear her mother's voice in the hall outside her door.

"Of course, I didn't wake her up. She's sleeping like a baby.... "Reba drifted as the voice faded, then it

sounded closer again. "I have a right to look at my child, for heaven's sake!...trying to sneak in her

wedding without letting me know a thing about it." She was walking back and forth in the hall, apparently,

the sound of her voice rising and falling as she neared the door, then drew away. Talking to Aunt

Rebecca? Someone whose voice was too low to carry into the room, through the blanket.

Reba put her fingers in her ears.

"...ages ago! How was I supposed to know she'd still be engaged after such a long time?"

Reba had written to her four months ago, announcing her engagement, the date, everything, and in return

had received a postcard with her mother's scrawl:

Darling, I am so excited...(illegible) Me, too. Mr. Wonderful... (illegible)...

(illegible). Sonya. Yesterday Sonya had called, and last night she had arrived with Mr. Wonderful, the

New Guy. They were always the New Guy, this was number five. Maybe six. It didn't matter. He was

the New Guy.

"I know we were all just a little excited last night, but it's perfectly clear that Bob should give her away.

After all, he's her stepfather, and he brought his tuxedo...."

This time Sonya's voice faded away and didn't return. Maybe Aunt Rebecca had dragged her

downstairs. Pushed her down the stairs? Reba shook her head. No such luck. Reluctantly she sat up,

well aware that she would not go back to sleep that morning. She added items to the mental list of things

she had to get done that day, and headed the list with the number one in importance. Tell her mother to

butt out; the wedding was planned down to the last detail, and not a single thing would be changed.

Uncle Walt, the only father she had ever known, her mother's brother, would walk her down the aisle,

not the New Guy, whose name

Reba couldn't even remember.

During her entire life she had lived with her mother for a total of six years off and on; the first two years

she and her mother had lived here in Aunt

Rebecca's house. After that she had been shipped off to Aunt Rebecca now and then while her mother

and the current New Guy tried to work things out, or while her mother was in pursuit of a new New Guy,

or for some other reason. When she was twelve she had come to stay.

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According to Sonya, Reba's father had been a prince, a beautiful young man who had swept her off her

feet, loved her passionately, and then mysteriously disappeared without realizing she was pregnant. She

didn't know his last name.

Just Cary. Like Cary Grant, only much, much better looking. Sonya, of course, had been a lovely naive

girl, ready to be swept up, one who, Reba suspected, had always exuded clouds of pheromones. She

never had any trouble landing a New Guy, and, pretty as she always had been and still was, never kept

any of her catches more than a few years. Throwaway fish who didn't measure up to the Prince.

The problem was that the New Guys too often seemed to be intent on getting Reba killed. The first one,

Harvey Wilson, had died in a stupid wreck that threw Reba out of the car into a shallow pond with a nice

cushiony mud bottom. A different

New Guy had fallen asleep on the couch and dropped a cigarette; a neighbor had dragged him out, but

neither of them had remembered there was a child sleeping in the house. Reba had crawled out a dog

door, following the poodle to safety. A miracle, everyone had declared. How had she managed to fit

through? Later, a new

New Guy had gone skiing with Sonya and Reba; the gondola lift had jerked; he had lurched forward and

managed to push Reba over the side down to where she should have been killed on jutting basalt

boulders. Instead, she had landed in a deep new-powder drift between rocks.

Reba continued to sit on the side of her bed, brooding about her mother, and her new New Guy. An

omen, she thought bleakly. She had avoided her mother's New Guys for years, purposely had never paid

them a visit. There had been a number of parental visits over the years, when Sonya would appear by

herself, rearrange things for a few days, buy Reba some clothes or trinkets, try to curl her hair, give her

advice about how to walk, how to sit, how to eat, what to eat; then she would leave, and Reba and Aunt

Rebecca, sharing quiet relief, would restore order and get on with their lives.

And now there was a new New Guy in the house, an evil omen, certain to doom her wedding, doom her

in all likelihood.

By the time Reba dragged herself into the shower, dressed and went downstairs, she had a grade-A

headache. She stifled a groan when she saw that her mother was making a list....

"Darling, good morning!" Sonya cried. "Are you ill? Just nervous? You shouldn't drink coffee, if you're

nervous. And it's perfectly normal to feel a bit jittery, but believe me, sweetheart, tomorrow will be the

happiest day of your life. Your wedding day is always the happiest day of your life."

"The voice of experience," Aunt Rebecca said, pouring coffee for Reba. "I was just about to scramble

eggs. Walt will be down in a minute."

"None for me," Reba said. "Just coffee. I'll get a bite later. Mother, the wedding is all taken care of.

There's not a thing for you to do except take it easy, relax. Okay?"

"Darling, you wouldn't believe how much I have to do! What I thought we'd do is shop a little. I can't

wear a violet dress if Rebecca insists on wearing blue.

And the wedding gift, of course. What pattern of silver do you have? But that's so boring, isn't it? I want

something memorable for you. Then, I thought we'd meet and have lunch, just you and I, and Bob, of

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Kate Wilhelm - Happiest Day Of Her Life

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