Plum not PuceBy: Jessica Graning First Draft For what seemed like the umpteenth time today, Chloe dug through her oversized purse to find her Blackberry before the entire “L” car could manage to find out that she was, in fact the one with the “Here Comes the Bride” ringtone that had been annoying them. She rummaged through the pink tote, finding everything but her cell phone. Some lip gloss, tissues, the new Phillipa Gregory hardcover, a baggie of almonds she always kept for a snack, Tylenol, a tampon, some stray bobby pins, about a million pens, her ridiculous key ring that held more key chains then actual keys, the September issue of Brides, a bottle of water, about eighty two thousand Post it Notes all with scribbles of ideas and lists for the wedding, her planner, bursting at the seams with more notes for the wedding, and the ribbon from the box of chocolates Mark had given her the day before. And at the very bottom…wait…could it be…yes!!! After what seemed an eternity of digging, Chloe triumphantly pulled her Blackberry from her purse as if it had been buried treasure. Before answering it, she quickly looked around to see if anyone on the train had noticed her treasure hunt for the source of the annoying ringtone. Only one elderly woman had looked up, the rest of the passengers had ear buds shoved into their ears or were too busy texting or reading their newspapers to have noticed. The elderly woman just gave her a warm smile and went back to her crossword puzzle. Awww she must be happily married…must be a long time…bet she remembers what it was like…I wonder if she had a wedding planner…Suddenly, “Here Comes the Bride” began to play over again and Chloe snapped out of her day dream, quickly pressed the “send” button, and put the phone to her ear pushing back her espresso colored waves.
“Hello?” she answered. “Hi ya Honey! I just had another question for you, wanted to make sure that you had said puce for the flowers…that is what you said right?” The voice on the other end was that of her over the top wedding planner, Gladys. She was practically screaming into the phone and Chloe had to move it away from her ear just to make out what she was saying. What is puce exactly?
“No, I said they should be purple. Not puce. Actually, I’m not even sure if I know what puce looks like…”
“Puce is a lovely shade of red darling!”
“I’m sure it is, but I would like the flowers for the wedding to be purple. Not puce.”
“Okey Dokey, Are sure you didn’t say puce?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” replied Chloe, now a little aggravated.
“OK then, if you didn’t say puce, what shade of purple did you have in mind?”
Now Chloe was really getting frustrated. It was always something with Gladys. Everything she told her, Chloe had to make sure she was very specific, and half the time, it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Chloe took a deep breath and said, as calmly as she could muster, “We talked about this Gladys, remember? Last week when we were at the florist, I said I wanted a nice plum shade.” There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then came Gladys’ reply. She sounded as if she had just had some epiphany and remembered that Chloe did actually ask for a shade of plum, not puce. “Of course darling! Silly me! Plum not puce! My mistake! I am terribly sorry! I will call the florist right away!” “That’s ok, Gladys, I am glad you asked. I would like my flowers to be different shades of purple. Plum and lavender to be exact. Is that all?” Gladys launched into a string of apologies again and Chloe reassured her that it was alright before hanging up the phone and making a note in her planner to call the florist herself.
As the concrete jungle of Chicago skyscrapers whizzed past her window on the “L”, for the rest of her commute all Chloe could think about was Gladys and how strange an experience it had been having her as a wedding planner. Her wedding was now less than a month away, and Chloe felt unsure about just about every aspect of her carefully planned nuptials. She had dreamed about this day since she was five and she couldn’t have been happier to be marrying Mark. He was her best friend. But the wedding day itself, Chloe just wasn’t sure how anything was going to turn out the way she had hoped when she had to constantly fix Gladys’ mistakes. Everything that Gladys had arranged, Chloe had to go back and redo. It felt like she had no wedding planner at all. That might have been just as well, Chloe thought, considering how she didn’t want a planner in the first place.
*
It all started about a year ago when after Mark’s perfect proposal at the Hancock building, Chloe called everyone she knew back in Ohio to tell them the news of their engagement. Of course everyone gushed over her and Mark, telling her what a great couple they make, asking if they had set a date, and exclaiming how they couldn’t wait to see the ring. Her mother even cried. Then there was her Grandma Griswald. Chloe loved her grandmother and couldn’t wait to share the news of her engagement with her, but Grandma Griswald had always been a little eccentric and over bearing. A wedding was the perfect opportunity for her to put her nose in Chloe’s business. Chloe knew that the moment she told her grandmother about the wedding, she would want to be a part of every aspect of the planning and be very opinionated about what she thought was best. Chloe wanted input from her family about the wedding, sure, but what she did not want, was for someone to hijack the day that she dreamed about since she was five and make it their vision and not hers. That was exactly what she feared her grandmother might do. She just could have never imagined how she would do it.
Chloe waited until she had called everyone else in the family before she could get up the courage to call Grandma Griswald and hear whatever ridiculous suggestions she had about the wedding. It was early in the morning the Sunday after Mark had proposed. She had called everyone else on Saturday night, as soon as Mark had proposed. But she had decided to save Grandma Griswald for last so that she could have just a little time to be excited for her plans for the wedding, without hearing about what her grandmother’s plans for the wedding were. Chloe sat down at her quaint little apartment sized kitchen table and dialed the number. Grandma Griswald answered and when Chloe told her the news she was ecstatic! She asked all the standard questions everyone else had asked, Like “How did he pop the question?” And Chloe excitedly explained how he had taken her to dinner at the Hancock Building and during dessert passed her an envelope which held the most wonderful love note. It talked about the first time they met, at the Laundromat during their days at Loyola, their first kiss, and all the inside jokes, secrets, hopes, and dreams they had shared with each other since then. Then, when she was done reading it, she looked up through tears and saw Mark down on one knee in front of her holding out a tiny robin’s egg blue box. “I love you Chloe” He said. “Will you marry me?” At that, Grandma Griswald began to cry. “He is just so cute!” she exclaimed through her happy tears. “And what does the ring look like?” She asked.
“It’s a simple round cut stone he picked out himself! I love it!” Chirped Chloe as she held her left hand out in front of her and admired it, turning her hand so it would catch the light, like she had done so many times already.
“It sounds very nice Chloe!”
“It is grandma! And I can’t wait to start putting everything together!” This is going pretty well. Maybe she won’t take over…thought Chloe. So far, Grandma Griswald had all the same questions everyone else did, and there were no signs that she was planning on hijacking Chloe’s wedding. Then, suddenly, as if she had just thought of some brilliant idea, Grandma Griswald let out a delighted gasp. Omigosh, here it comes… “Chloe, honey I have just the thing! You need a wedding planner!”
“Actually grandma, I am really excited to plan the wedding myself! I have been thinking about this day for as long as I can remember! I have a thousand ideas!”
“No, no, no I insist!” declared Grandma Griswald. “You simply must have a wedding planner! And I happen to know one in Chicago! Gladys! She will do the wedding for you!”
“Gladys? Who is Gladys?” Chloe asked.
“Just an old friend from high school, but she is fabulous! She moved out to where you are and has been planning events for years. You have to use her.” Chloe did not want a wedding planner. She had made that clear. Chloe knew her grandmother had good intentions, but what didn’t she understand about “no”? Before Chloe could begin her retort, her grandmother had ended the conversation. “Well it’s all set then. I will have Gladys call you tomorrow. Congratulations honey. Love you.” Click. And so, Chloe had a wedding planner. The next day, Gladys called and invited herself over to Chloe’s Lincoln Park apartment to discuss the wedding. Chloe had been nervous all day thinking about meeting the woman who was about to hijack her wedding, so before she opened the door that night to let Gladys in, she took a deep breath and thought, maybe it won’t be that bad after all, it could be nice to have someone help out, and if grandma is paying for it…I really didn’t want to hurt her…what choice did I have? It will be alright. It might even be fun. This is not a big deal. When Chloe finally opened the door, she was surprised to see just how “fabulous” Gladys was. She knew from their phone conversation this morning that Gladys was over the top, (she was always calling Chloe darling and saying things like “How lovely!”) but she didn’t expect her appearance to match her voice so well. Gladys was every bit as interesting in person as she was on the phone and then some. She wore a red skirt suit that stretched over her plump figure and frizzy white curls popped out from her head in every direction. She wore purple pumps and carried a black patent leather brief case. At her neck was a scarf printed in purple and red paisley. She looked like she was about to attend a meeting with the Red Hat Society minus the hat. And then there were her leopard print glasses. They perched on the tip of her nose and turned up into a cat eye shape adding to her eccentric appearance. Well, she is definitely a friend of grandma’s… Chloe thought as she collected herself and invited Gladys in.
By the end of the night, Chloe had grown to like Gladys a little bit, and she had listened to all of Chloe’s plans for her plum and chocolate brown color scheme, how she wanted the wedding to be simple but elegant, and how she wanted the ceremony held at a beautiful cathedral she remembered going to for Christmas Eve Mass as a little girl in Ohio. She listened to Chloe describe how Mark wanted an outdoor reception and they had talked about having it in tents under the stars with little white twinkle lights everywhere. When Gladys left that night, Chloe was filled with excitement for the wedding and was determined to make the best out of Gladys. She maybe a little weird, but she is such a nice lady, and it will be nice to have some help… thought Chloe as she drifted off to sleep that night.
*
“Yes Gladys. I have the tickets ready for us. Sure. Meet Mark and I by the Starbucks outside security at eight AM tomorrow and we will check in together…ok… buh bye.” A few weeks had passed since Chloe and Gladys’ plum or puce debate, and she and Mark were getting ready to fly to Ohio along with Gladys and some of their friends for this weekend’s wedding tomorrow. When she hung up the phone, all she could think was how happy she was to be marrying her best friend and hope that the wedding would run smoothly. “I can’t believe it’s really happening!” She said to Mark as she looked up from packing her suitcase and saw the boxes all around her. Her single life was in boxes waiting to be moved into Marks apartment in Wrigleyville after the wedding. Just the thought of starting a home with Mark made her smile. “It’s really happening!” she repeated. “Believe it!” said Mark as he waded through the boxes from where he was standing on the other side of the room and kissed her forehead. Since the great debate over puce or plum, Gladys had also wanted to know if Chloe had said she wanted belly dancers or the string quartet, if she had said the cake should be filled with grape jelly or chocolate moose, and if she wanted the favors to be tied with lavender ribbons or puce ones. All Chloe could do now was hope that by some miracle everything would fall into place.
*
The day of the wedding everything went perfectly. Her family and Gladys bustled around Chloe making sure every last detail was taken care of. The ceremony was beautiful. But when it came time to walk into the reception tents, Chloe held her breath hoping she would not walk into a sea of belly dancers wearing puce. To her surprise, everything was perfect. Simple and elegant, plum and chocolate brown. Then something caught her eye as she glanced over at the cake. Among all of the gorgeous purple blooms cascading down the side of the cake was one flower that stood out as different from all the rest. It was an odd reddish color. Puce. She thought as she smiled to herself. Just then, Grandma Griswald came over to greet the newlyweds. “Congratulations darling! Isn’t just wonderful? I knew Gladys would pull through!” “I couldn’t be happier Grandma! Thank you!” at that Granma Griswald leaned in to Chloe and said “Just between me and you honey, thank you so much for working with Gladys! She enjoyed every minute of it! I know she is a little eccentric and she seems confused at times, but the truth is, she is getting on in years, she has been sick for some time now, she was four years ahead of me in high school you know, and well I thought this wedding might be her last. I just wanted to give her one more opportunity to do what she loved. So thank you.” Chloe didn’t know what to say. She just looked at her grandmother in disbelief. “So how did everything…why is everything…its perfect grandma!”
“I know honey. I wanted Gladys to have one last chance to do what she was passionate about, but I wanted you to have the wedding of your dreams too. So I called in a few favors to make sure everything went smoothly today.” “It was you? The whole time, it was you?”
“Yes honey. It was me. Every time I called the vendors to check up on Gladys though, they said you had called too!” She laughed. “You didn’t need to worry honey!”
Tears had come to Chloe’s eyes. “Thank you grandma.” Was all she could muster. They embraced and as she pulled away wiping her tears, Grandma noticed the cake. She pointed at the puce flower and laughed. “I guess Gladys left an impression with the bakery though! Sorry honey! What color is that anyways!? Its…interesting…”
“Its puce grandma.” Chloe said as she smiled. “And its fine. Everything is beautiful.” Chloe couldn’t believe it. The whole time her overbearing grandmother actually had been planning her wedding. But she had also been helping a friend. And she made sure everything was the way Chloe wanted it. Maybe Chloe didn’t give Grandma Griswald enough credit. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t about whether the flowers were puce or plum. Today was just one day. And it was a beautiful day even with the puce flower. Today was just one day, and she had a lifetime to spend with Mark. With that, Chloe thought of the elderly woman who had smiled at her on the train the day of the puce or plum debate. She knew that the real beauty of a wedding is not in the flowers or the cake or the menu.I have to go thank Gladys! With that, she kissed Mark on the cheek and ran off to find Gladys. “Thank you. Thank you for everything Gladys. It is beautiful.” Chloe said as she squeezed her arms tight around Gladys.
“No thank you darling. It was my pleasure working with you. Really. You gave me more than you’ll ever know.” Gladys pulled away and Chloe looked up to see her grandmother smiling at her from across the room.
Final Draft Plus Chapter 1 of Book Two
(Revisions include added dialogue, word choice changes and other minor proofreading fixes that also help show more of the relationships in the story, plus a new chapter for a "sequel" with the same characters.) Plum not Puce For what seemed like the umpteenth time today, Chloe dug through her oversized purse to find her Blackberry before the entire “L” car could manage to find out that she was, in fact, the one with the “Here Comes the Bride” ringtone that had been annoying them. She rummaged through the pink tote, finding everything but her cell phone. Some lip gloss, tissues, the new Phillipa Gregory hardcover, a baggie of almonds she always kept for a snack, Tylenol, a tampon, some stray bobby pins, about a million pens, her ridiculous key ring that held more key chains then actual keys, the September issue of Brides, a bottle of water, about eighty two thousand Post it Notes all with scribbles of ideas and lists for the wedding, her planner, bursting at the seams with more notes for the wedding, and the ribbon from the box of chocolates Mark had given her the day before. And at the very bottom…wait…could it be…yes!!! After what seemed an eternity of digging, Chloe triumphantly pulled her Blackberry from her purse as if it had been buried treasure. Before answering it, she quickly looked around to see if anyone on the train had noticed her treasure hunt for the source of the annoying ringtone. Only one elderly woman had looked up, the rest of the passengers had ear buds shoved into their ears or were too busy texting or reading their newspapers to have noticed. The elderly woman just gave her a warm smile and went back to her crossword puzzle. Awww she must be happily married…must be a long time…bet she remembers what it was like…I wonder if she had a wedding planner…Suddenly, “Here Comes the Bride” began to play over again and Chloe snapped out of her day dream, quickly pressed the “send” button, and put the phone to her ear pushing back her espresso colored waves. “Hello?” she answered. “Hi ya Honey! I just had another question for you, wanted to make sure that you had said puce for the flowers…that is what you said right?” The voice on the other end was that of her over the top wedding planner, Gladys. She was practically screaming into the phone and Chloe had to move it away from her ear just to make out what she was saying. What is puce exactly? “No, I said they should be purple. Not puce. Actually, I’m not even sure if I know what puce looks like…” “Puce is a lovely shade of red darling!” “I’m sure it is, but I would like the flowers for the wedding to be purple. Not puce.” “Okey Dokey, Are sure you didn’t say puce?” “Yes. I’m sure.” replied Chloe, now a little aggravated. “OK then, if you didn’t say puce, what shade of purple did you have in mind?” Now Chloe was really getting frustrated. It was always something with Gladys. Everything she told her, Chloe had to make sure she was very specific, and half the time, it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Chloe took a deep breath and said, as calmly as she could muster, “We talked about this Gladys, remember? Last week when we were at the florist, I said I wanted a nice plum shade.” There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then came Gladys’ reply. She sounded as if she had just had some epiphany and remembered that Chloe did actually ask for a shade of plum, not puce. “Of course darling! Silly me! Plum not puce! My mistake! I am terribly sorry! I will call the florist right away!” “That’s ok, Gladys, I am glad you asked. I would like my flowers to be different shades of purple. Plum and lavender to be exact. Is that all?” Gladys launched into a string of apologies again and Chloe reassured her that it was alright before hanging up the phone and making a note in her planner to call the florist herself. As the concrete jungle of Chicago skyscrapers whizzed past her window on the “L”, for the rest of her commute all Chloe could think about was Gladys and how strange an experience it had been having her as a wedding planner. Her wedding was now less than a month away, and Chloe felt unsure about just about every aspect of her carefully planned nuptials. She had dreamed about this day since she was five and she couldn’t have been happier to be marrying Mark. In fact, marrying Mark was the one thing she was sure about these days. Gladys made everything about the details of the wedding so complicated and zany that Chloe had come to appreciate her relationship with Mark even more. He was the one detail of the wedding that Gladys couldn’t mess up. He was her best friend. But the wedding day itself, Chloe just wasn’t sure how anything was going to turn out the way she had hoped when she had to constantly fix Gladys’ mistakes. Everything that Gladys had arranged, Chloe had to go back and redo. It felt like she had no wedding planner at all. That might have been just as well, Chloe thought, considering how she didn’t want a planner in the first place. * It all started about a year ago when after Mark’s perfect proposal at the Hancock building, Chloe called everyone she knew back in Ohio to tell them the news of their engagement. Of course everyone gushed over her and Mark, telling her what a great couple they make, asking if they had set a date, and exclaiming how they couldn’t wait to see the ring. Her mother even cried. Then there was her Grandma Griswold. Chloe loved her grandmother and couldn’t wait to share the news of her engagement with her, but Grandma Griswold had always been a little eccentric and over bearing. A wedding was the perfect opportunity for her to put her nose in Chloe’s business. Chloe knew that the moment she told her grandmother about the wedding, she would want to be a part of every aspect of the planning and be very opinionated about what she thought was best. Chloe wanted input from her family about the wedding, sure, but what she did not want, was for someone to hijack the day that she dreamed about since she was five and make it their vision and not hers. That was exactly what she feared her grandmother might do. She just could have never imagined how she would do it. Chloe waited until she had called everyone else in the family before she could get up the courage to call Grandma Griswold and hear whatever ridiculous suggestions she had about the wedding. It was early in the morning the Sunday after Mark had proposed. She had called everyone else on Saturday night, as soon as Mark had popped the question. But she had decided to save Grandma Griswold for last so that she could have just a little time to be excited for her plans for the wedding, without hearing about what her grandmother’s plans for the wedding were. Chloe sat down at her quaint little apartment sized kitchen table and dialed the number. Grandma Griswold answered and when Chloe told her the news she was ecstatic! She asked all the standard questions everyone else had asked, Like “How did he pop the question?” And Chloe excitedly explained how he had taken her to dinner at the Hancock Building and during dessert passed her an envelope which held the cutest love note. It talked about the first time they met, at the laundromat during their days at Loyola, their first kiss, and all the inside jokes, secrets, hopes, and dreams they had shared with each other since then. Then, when she was done reading it, she looked up through tears and saw Mark down on one knee in front of her holding out a tiny robin’s egg blue box. “I love you Chloe” He said. “Will you marry me?” At that, Grandma Griswold began to cry. “He is just so cute!” she exclaimed through her happy tears. “And what does the ring look like?” She asked. “It’s a simple round cut stone he picked out himself! I love it!” Chirped Chloe as she held her left hand out in front of her and admired it, turning her hand so it would catch the light, like she had done so many times already. “It sounds very nice Chloe!” “It is grandma! And I can’t wait to start putting everything together!” This is going pretty well. Maybe she won’t take over…thought Chloe. So far, Grandma Griswold had all the same questions everyone else did, and there were no signs that she was planning on hijacking Chloe’s wedding. Then, suddenly, as if she had just thought of some brilliant idea, Grandma Griswold let out a delighted gasp. Omigosh, here it comes… “Chloe, honey I have just the thing! You need a wedding planner!” “Actually grandma, I am really excited to plan the wedding myself! I have been thinking about this day for as long as I can remember! I have a thousand ideas!” “No, no, no I insist!” declared Grandma Griswold. “You simply must have a wedding planner! And I happen to know one in Chicago! Gladys! She will do the wedding for you!” “Gladys? Who is Gladys?” Chloe asked. “You know Gladys! Haven’t I talked about her? No? Just an old friend from high school, but she is fabulous! She moved out to where you are and has been planning events for years. You have to use her.” Grandma Griswold had a friend in every business, and she expected everyone to remember the obscure details of what her friends did. Chloe did not want a wedding planner. She had made that clear. Chloe knew her grandmother had good intentions, but what didn’t she understand about “no”? Before Chloe could begin her retort, her grandmother had ended the conversation. “Well it’s all set then. I will have Gladys call you tomorrow. Congratulations honey. Love you.” Click. And so, Chloe had a wedding planner. The next day, Gladys called and invited herself over to Chloe’s Lincoln Park apartment to discuss the wedding. Chloe had been nervous all day thinking about meeting the woman who was about to hijack her wedding, so before she opened the door that night to let Gladys in, she took a deep breath and thought, maybe it won’t be that bad after all, it could be nice to have someone help out, and if grandma is paying for it…I really didn’t want to hurt her…what choice did I have? It will be alright. It might even be fun. This is not a big deal. When Chloe finally opened the door, she was surprised to see just how “fabulous” Gladys was. She knew from their phone conversation this morning that Gladys was over the top, (she was always calling Chloe darling and saying things like “How lovely!”) but she didn’t expect her appearance to match her voice so well. Gladys was every bit as interesting in person as she was on the phone and then some. She wore a red skirt suit that stretched over her plump figure and frizzy white curls popped out from her head in every direction. She wore purple pumps and carried a black patent leather brief case. At her neck was a scarf printed in purple and red paisley. She looked like she was about to attend a meeting with the Red Hat Society minus the hat. And then there were her leopard print glasses. They perched on the tip of her nose and turned up into a cat eye shape adding to her eccentric appearance. Well, she is definitely a friend of grandma’s… Chloe thought as she collected herself and invited Gladys in. By the end of the night, Chloe had grown to like Gladys a little bit, and she had listened to all of Chloe’s plans for her plum and chocolate brown color scheme, how she wanted the wedding to be simple but elegant, and how she wanted the ceremony held at a beautiful cathedral she remembered going to for Christmas Eve Mass as a little girl in Ohio. She listened to Chloe describe how Mark wanted an outdoor reception and they had talked about having it in tents under the stars with little white twinkle lights everywhere. When Gladys left that night, Chloe was filled with excitement for the wedding and was determined to make the best out of Gladys. She maybe a little weird, but she is such a nice lady, and it will be nice to have some help… thought Chloe as she drifted off to sleep that night.
* “Yes Gladys. I have the tickets ready for us. Sure. Meet Mark and I by the Starbucks outside security at eight AM tomorrow and we will check in together…ok… buh bye.” A few weeks had passed since Chloe and Gladys’ plum or puce debate, and she and Mark were getting ready to fly to Ohio along with Gladys and some of their friends for the Big Day. When she hung up the phone, all she could think was how happy she was to be marrying her best friend and hope that the wedding would run smoothly. “I can’t believe it’s really happening!” She said to Mark as she looked up from packing her suitcase and saw the boxes all around her. Her single life was in boxes waiting to be moved into Marks apartment in Wrigleyville after the wedding. Just the thought of starting a home with Mark made her smile. “It’s really happening!” she repeated. “Believe it!” said Mark as he waded through the boxes from where he was standing on the other side of the room and kissed her forehead. Since the great debate over puce or plum, Gladys had also wanted to know if Chloe had said she wanted belly dancers or the string quartet, if she had said the cake should be filled with grape jelly or chocolate mousse, and if she wanted the favors to be tied with lavender ribbons or puce ones. All Chloe could do now was hope that by some miracle everything would fall into place. * The day of the wedding everything went perfectly. Her family and Gladys bustled around Chloe making sure every last detail was taken care of. The ceremony was beautiful. But when it came time to walk into the reception tents, Chloe held her breath hoping she would not walk into a sea of belly dancers wearing puce. To her surprise, everything was perfect. Simple and elegant, plum and chocolate brown. Then something caught her eye as she glanced over at the cake. Among all of the gorgeous purple blooms cascading down the side of the cake was one flower that stood out as different from all the rest. It was an odd reddish color. Puce. She thought as she smiled to herself. Just then, Grandma Griswold came over to greet the newlyweds. “Congratulations darling! Isn’t just wonderful? I knew Gladys would pull through!” “I couldn’t be happier Grandma! Thank you!” at that Granma Griswold leaned in to Chloe and said “Just between me and you honey, thank you so much for working with Gladys! She enjoyed every minute of it! I know she is a little eccentric and she seems confused at times, but the truth is, she is getting on in years, she has been sick for some time now, she was four years ahead of me in high school you know, and well I thought this wedding might be her last. I just wanted to give her one more opportunity to do what she loved. So thank you.” Chloe didn’t know what to say. She just looked at her grandmother in disbelief. “So how did everything…why is everything…its perfect grandma!” “I know honey.” “And Gladys? Is she OK? I didn’t hurt her did I? Did she enjoy the planning?” “Of course Chloe. I think helping you plan this gorgeous day was just what the doctor ordered for her. She looks like she is great spirits! Listen, I wanted Gladys to have one last chance to do what she was passionate about, but I wanted you to have the wedding of your dreams too. So I called in a few favors to make sure everything went smoothly today.” “It was you? The whole time, it was you?” “Yes honey. It was me. Every time I called the vendors to check up on Gladys though, they said you had called too!” She laughed. “You didn’t need to worry honey!” Tears had come to Chloe’s eyes. “Thank you grandma.” Was all she could muster. They embraced and as she pulled away wiping her tears, Grandma noticed the cake. She pointed at the puce flower and laughed. “I guess Gladys left an impression with the bakery though! Sorry honey! What color is that anyways!? Its…interesting…” “It’s puce grandma.” Chloe said as she smiled. “And its fine. Everything is beautiful.” Chloe couldn’t believe it. The whole time her overbearing grandmother actually had been planning her wedding. But she had also been helping a friend. And she made sure everything was the way Chloe wanted it. Maybe Chloe didn’t give Grandma Griswold enough credit. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t about whether the flowers were puce or plum. Today was just one day. And it was a beautiful day even with the puce flower. Today was just one day, and she had a lifetime to spend with Mark. With that, Chloe thought of the elderly woman who had smiled at her on the train the day of the puce or plum debate. She knew that the real beauty of a wedding is not in the flowers or the cake or the menu.I have to go thank Gladys! With that, she kissed Mark on the cheek and ran off to find Gladys. “Thank you. Thank you for everything Gladys. It is beautiful.” Chloe said as she squeezed her arms tight around Gladys. “No thank you darling. It was my pleasure working with you. Really. You gave me more than you’ll ever know.” Gladys pulled away and Chloe looked up to see her grandmother smiling at her from across the room. Book II “Found them babe!” I called to Mark with my head still stuck in the refridgerator between bottles of beer and bottles of milk. “Oh geez! Is that were they were?” Mark asked as he ran into the room still frantically checking his pockets. “Yep. How did we manage to leave them in there again?” I said laughing. “I have no idea.” He said laughing and drawing me close to plant a kiss on my forehead through his laughter. “I have no idea, but we’ve got to fly or we will miss our plane!” He said suddenly glancing at his watch. I handed him the keys and gathered up my purse and my carry on that lay heaped on the floor. Then I rushed into the living room and nearly bumped into Gladys. “You’ll miss your plane darling! Really! Little Liam and I will be just fine! Now off with you! Lord knows you need this trip! And some alone time with Mr. Mark!” She said winking. She hasn’t changed a bit. I can’t believe everyone else cancelled on us and I am leaving my child with a member of the Red Hat Society. “I know Gladys but I just had to kiss my little man one more time! This is the first time mommy and daddy are going on a trip by themselves, and I am going to miss him so much!” I exclaimed, now half talking to Gladys, half talking to my son, in that exaggerated voice that I reserve only for him. He cooed at me and wrapped his little finger around mine as I leaned down to kiss him. “Car is warmed up and we gotta go, honey!” Mark said as he came into the living room and rushed over to Liam and I. “OK little dude, mommy and daddy are going to go have some grown up fun, and you are going to stay here with Auntie Gladys for a little while. Sound good?” Of course, anything sounds good to Liam, who is only 3 months old, so he laughs and coos at his father’s question. “OK. Good. You be a good boy OK? We love you!” Liam laughs again and Mark turns to me. “We really have to go Clo.” I look at Gladys, sitting on the couch holding Liam wearing those ridiculous leopard print glasses of hers and launch into asking her ten thousand questions, the same questions I have asked about eighty times in the last couple of days, and shouting out random statements too. “Are you sure you’ll be OK? You have our cell numbers? And the number to the hotel? And poison control? And don’t forget to give him his pacifier before bed! The doctor’s number is on the fridge! And he doesn’t like to be….” “Chloe darling, we will be fine! Now go!” Gladys said laughing and making Liam’s arm wave goodbye as Mark coaxed me toward the door. “Bye Liam!” we called.
* Finally in the car on our way to O’ Hare, Mark and I look at each other and laugh again. “You think they’ll be OK?” I ask. “Yes honey. He will be fine. Besides, Gladys is right. We need this”. He said as he took my hand. “I mean really, I love the little dude, but being a new parent is so chaotic, I feel like we are loosing our minds! This is the second time this week we found the keys in the fridge.” “Maybe you are right, I’m sure they will be fine, and we do need this.” I smiled at him. “I just keep remembering the wedding.” I said shaking my head. “Well, you know how our wedding turned out.” Mark said. “Perfect. You said so yourself. So Gladys and Liam will be fine. It’s only a couple of days.” He squeezed my hand as we walked into the airport. I thought of our wedding again and laughed to myself. Mark was right. Our wedding was perfect, and Gladys was going to be just fine with Liam. Heck, she raised three kids of her own. “Just as long as Liam is OK and we don’t come home to the nursery painted puce…"
First Draft
For what seemed like the umpteenth time today, Chloe dug through her oversized purse to find her Blackberry before the entire “L” car could manage to find out that she was, in fact the one with the “Here Comes the Bride” ringtone that had been annoying them. She rummaged through the pink tote, finding everything but her cell phone. Some lip gloss, tissues, the new Phillipa Gregory hardcover, a baggie of almonds she always kept for a snack, Tylenol, a tampon, some stray bobby pins, about a million pens, her ridiculous key ring that held more key chains then actual keys, the September issue of Brides, a bottle of water, about eighty two thousand Post it Notes all with scribbles of ideas and lists for the wedding, her planner, bursting at the seams with more notes for the wedding, and the ribbon from the box of chocolates Mark had given her the day before. And at the very bottom…wait…could it be…yes!!! After what seemed an eternity of digging, Chloe triumphantly pulled her Blackberry from her purse as if it had been buried treasure. Before answering it, she quickly looked around to see if anyone on the train had noticed her treasure hunt for the source of the annoying ringtone. Only one elderly woman had looked up, the rest of the passengers had ear buds shoved into their ears or were too busy texting or reading their newspapers to have noticed. The elderly woman just gave her a warm smile and went back to her crossword puzzle. Awww she must be happily married…must be a long time…bet she remembers what it was like… I wonder if she had a wedding planner…Suddenly, “Here Comes the Bride” began to play over again and Chloe snapped out of her day dream, quickly pressed the “send” button, and put the phone to her ear pushing back her espresso colored waves.
“Hello?” she answered. “Hi ya Honey! I just had another question for you, wanted to make sure that you had said puce for the flowers…that is what you said right?” The voice on the other end was that of her over the top wedding planner, Gladys. She was practically screaming into the phone and Chloe had to move it away from her ear just to make out what she was saying. What is puce exactly?
“No, I said they should be purple. Not puce. Actually, I’m not even sure if I know what puce looks like…”
“Puce is a lovely shade of red darling!”
“I’m sure it is, but I would like the flowers for the wedding to be purple. Not puce.”
“Okey Dokey, Are sure you didn’t say puce?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” replied Chloe, now a little aggravated.
“OK then, if you didn’t say puce, what shade of purple did you have in mind?”
Now Chloe was really getting frustrated. It was always something with Gladys. Everything she told her, Chloe had to make sure she was very specific, and half the time, it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Chloe took a deep breath and said, as calmly as she could muster, “We talked about this Gladys, remember? Last week when we were at the florist, I said I wanted a nice plum shade.” There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then came Gladys’ reply. She sounded as if she had just had some epiphany and remembered that Chloe did actually ask for a shade of plum, not puce. “Of course darling! Silly me! Plum not puce! My mistake! I am terribly sorry! I will call the florist right away!” “That’s ok, Gladys, I am glad you asked. I would like my flowers to be different shades of purple. Plum and lavender to be exact. Is that all?” Gladys launched into a string of apologies again and Chloe reassured her that it was alright before hanging up the phone and making a note in her planner to call the florist herself.
As the concrete jungle of Chicago skyscrapers whizzed past her window on the “L”, for the rest of her commute all Chloe could think about was Gladys and how strange an experience it had been having her as a wedding planner. Her wedding was now less than a month away, and Chloe felt unsure about just about every aspect of her carefully planned nuptials. She had dreamed about this day since she was five and she couldn’t have been happier to be marrying Mark. He was her best friend. But the wedding day itself, Chloe just wasn’t sure how anything was going to turn out the way she had hoped when she had to constantly fix Gladys’ mistakes. Everything that Gladys had arranged, Chloe had to go back and redo. It felt like she had no wedding planner at all. That might have been just as well, Chloe thought, considering how she didn’t want a planner in the first place.
*
It all started about a year ago when after Mark’s perfect proposal at the Hancock building, Chloe called everyone she knew back in Ohio to tell them the news of their engagement. Of course everyone gushed over her and Mark, telling her what a great couple they make, asking if they had set a date, and exclaiming how they couldn’t wait to see the ring. Her mother even cried. Then there was her Grandma Griswald. Chloe loved her grandmother and couldn’t wait to share the news of her engagement with her, but Grandma Griswald had always been a little eccentric and over bearing. A wedding was the perfect opportunity for her to put her nose in Chloe’s business. Chloe knew that the moment she told her grandmother about the wedding, she would want to be a part of every aspect of the planning and be very opinionated about what she thought was best. Chloe wanted input from her family about the wedding, sure, but what she did not want, was for someone to hijack the day that she dreamed about since she was five and make it their vision and not hers. That was exactly what she feared her grandmother might do. She just could have never imagined how she would do it.
Chloe waited until she had called everyone else in the family before she could get up the courage to call Grandma Griswald and hear whatever ridiculous suggestions she had about the wedding. It was early in the morning the Sunday after Mark had proposed. She had called everyone else on Saturday night, as soon as Mark had proposed. But she had decided to save Grandma Griswald for last so that she could have just a little time to be excited for her plans for the wedding, without hearing about what her grandmother’s plans for the wedding were. Chloe sat down at her quaint little apartment sized kitchen table and dialed the number. Grandma Griswald answered and when Chloe told her the news she was ecstatic! She asked all the standard questions everyone else had asked, Like “How did he pop the question?” And Chloe excitedly explained how he had taken her to dinner at the Hancock Building and during dessert passed her an envelope which held the most wonderful love note. It talked about the first time they met, at the Laundromat during their days at Loyola, their first kiss, and all the inside jokes, secrets, hopes, and dreams they had shared with each other since then. Then, when she was done reading it, she looked up through tears and saw Mark down on one knee in front of her holding out a tiny robin’s egg blue box. “I love you Chloe” He said. “Will you marry me?” At that, Grandma Griswald began to cry. “He is just so cute!” she exclaimed through her happy tears. “And what does the ring look like?” She asked.
“It’s a simple round cut stone he picked out himself! I love it!” Chirped Chloe as she held her left hand out in front of her and admired it, turning her hand so it would catch the light, like she had done so many times already.
“It sounds very nice Chloe!”
“It is grandma! And I can’t wait to start putting everything together!” This is going pretty well. Maybe she won’t take over…thought Chloe. So far, Grandma Griswald had all the same questions everyone else did, and there were no signs that she was planning on hijacking Chloe’s wedding. Then, suddenly, as if she had just thought of some brilliant idea, Grandma Griswald let out a delighted gasp. Omigosh, here it comes… “Chloe, honey I have just the thing! You need a wedding planner!”
“Actually grandma, I am really excited to plan the wedding myself! I have been thinking about this day for as long as I can remember! I have a thousand ideas!”
“No, no, no I insist!” declared Grandma Griswald. “You simply must have a wedding planner! And I happen to know one in Chicago! Gladys! She will do the wedding for you!”
“Gladys? Who is Gladys?” Chloe asked.
“Just an old friend from high school, but she is fabulous! She moved out to where you are and has been planning events for years. You have to use her.” Chloe did not want a wedding planner. She had made that clear. Chloe knew her grandmother had good intentions, but what didn’t she understand about “no”? Before Chloe could begin her retort, her grandmother had ended the conversation. “Well it’s all set then. I will have Gladys call you tomorrow. Congratulations honey. Love you.” Click. And so, Chloe had a wedding planner. The next day, Gladys called and invited herself over to Chloe’s Lincoln Park apartment to discuss the wedding. Chloe had been nervous all day thinking about meeting the woman who was about to hijack her wedding, so before she opened the door that night to let Gladys in, she took a deep breath and thought, maybe it won’t be that bad after all, it could be nice to have someone help out, and if grandma is paying for it…I really didn’t want to hurt her…what choice did I have? It will be alright. It might even be fun. This is not a big deal. When Chloe finally opened the door, she was surprised to see just how “fabulous” Gladys was. She knew from their phone conversation this morning that Gladys was over the top, (she was always calling Chloe darling and saying things like “How lovely!”) but she didn’t expect her appearance to match her voice so well. Gladys was every bit as interesting in person as she was on the phone and then some. She wore a red skirt suit that stretched over her plump figure and frizzy white curls popped out from her head in every direction. She wore purple pumps and carried a black patent leather brief case. At her neck was a scarf printed in purple and red paisley. She looked like she was about to attend a meeting with the Red Hat Society minus the hat. And then there were her leopard print glasses. They perched on the tip of her nose and turned up into a cat eye shape adding to her eccentric appearance. Well, she is definitely a friend of grandma’s… Chloe thought as she collected herself and invited Gladys in.
By the end of the night, Chloe had grown to like Gladys a little bit, and she had listened to all of Chloe’s plans for her plum and chocolate brown color scheme, how she wanted the wedding to be simple but elegant, and how she wanted the ceremony held at a beautiful cathedral she remembered going to for Christmas Eve Mass as a little girl in Ohio. She listened to Chloe describe how Mark wanted an outdoor reception and they had talked about having it in tents under the stars with little white twinkle lights everywhere. When Gladys left that night, Chloe was filled with excitement for the wedding and was determined to make the best out of Gladys. She maybe a little weird, but she is such a nice lady, and it will be nice to have some help… thought Chloe as she drifted off to sleep that night.
*
“Yes Gladys. I have the tickets ready for us. Sure. Meet Mark and I by the Starbucks outside security at eight AM tomorrow and we will check in together…ok… buh bye.” A few weeks had passed since Chloe and Gladys’ plum or puce debate, and she and Mark were getting ready to fly to Ohio along with Gladys and some of their friends for this weekend’s wedding tomorrow. When she hung up the phone, all she could think was how happy she was to be marrying her best friend and hope that the wedding would run smoothly. “I can’t believe it’s really happening!” She said to Mark as she looked up from packing her suitcase and saw the boxes all around her. Her single life was in boxes waiting to be moved into Marks apartment in Wrigleyville after the wedding. Just the thought of starting a home with Mark made her smile. “It’s really happening!” she repeated. “Believe it!” said Mark as he waded through the boxes from where he was standing on the other side of the room and kissed her forehead. Since the great debate over puce or plum, Gladys had also wanted to know if Chloe had said she wanted belly dancers or the string quartet, if she had said the cake should be filled with grape jelly or chocolate moose, and if she wanted the favors to be tied with lavender ribbons or puce ones. All Chloe could do now was hope that by some miracle everything would fall into place.
*
The day of the wedding everything went perfectly. Her family and Gladys bustled around Chloe making sure every last detail was taken care of. The ceremony was beautiful. But when it came time to walk into the reception tents, Chloe held her breath hoping she would not walk into a sea of belly dancers wearing puce. To her surprise, everything was perfect. Simple and elegant, plum and chocolate brown. Then something caught her eye as she glanced over at the cake. Among all of the gorgeous purple blooms cascading down the side of the cake was one flower that stood out as different from all the rest. It was an odd reddish color. Puce. She thought as she smiled to herself. Just then, Grandma Griswald came over to greet the newlyweds. “Congratulations darling! Isn’t just wonderful? I knew Gladys would pull through!” “I couldn’t be happier Grandma! Thank you!” at that Granma Griswald leaned in to Chloe and said “Just between me and you honey, thank you so much for working with Gladys! She enjoyed every minute of it! I know she is a little eccentric and she seems confused at times, but the truth is, she is getting on in years, she has been sick for some time now, she was four years ahead of me in high school you know, and well I thought this wedding might be her last. I just wanted to give her one more opportunity to do what she loved. So thank you.” Chloe didn’t know what to say. She just looked at her grandmother in disbelief. “So how did everything…why is everything…its perfect grandma!”
“I know honey. I wanted Gladys to have one last chance to do what she was passionate about, but I wanted you to have the wedding of your dreams too. So I called in a few favors to make sure everything went smoothly today.” “It was you? The whole time, it was you?”
“Yes honey. It was me. Every time I called the vendors to check up on Gladys though, they said you had called too!” She laughed. “You didn’t need to worry honey!”
Tears had come to Chloe’s eyes. “Thank you grandma.” Was all she could muster. They embraced and as she pulled away wiping her tears, Grandma noticed the cake. She pointed at the puce flower and laughed. “I guess Gladys left an impression with the bakery though! Sorry honey! What color is that anyways!? Its…interesting…”
“Its puce grandma.” Chloe said as she smiled. “And its fine. Everything is beautiful.” Chloe couldn’t believe it. The whole time her overbearing grandmother actually had been planning her wedding. But she had also been helping a friend. And she made sure everything was the way Chloe wanted it. Maybe Chloe didn’t give Grandma Griswald enough credit. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t about whether the flowers were puce or plum. Today was just one day. And it was a beautiful day even with the puce flower. Today was just one day, and she had a lifetime to spend with Mark. With that, Chloe thought of the elderly woman who had smiled at her on the train the day of the puce or plum debate. She knew that the real beauty of a wedding is not in the flowers or the cake or the menu. I have to go thank Gladys! With that, she kissed Mark on the cheek and ran off to find Gladys. “Thank you. Thank you for everything Gladys. It is beautiful.” Chloe said as she squeezed her arms tight around Gladys.
“No thank you darling. It was my pleasure working with you. Really. You gave me more than you’ll ever know.” Gladys pulled away and Chloe looked up to see her grandmother smiling at her from across the room.
Final Draft Plus Chapter 1 of Book Two
(Revisions include added dialogue, word choice changes and other minor proofreading fixes that also help show more of the relationships in the story, plus a new chapter for a "sequel" with the same characters.)
Plum not Puce
For what seemed like the umpteenth time today, Chloe dug through her oversized purse to find her Blackberry before the entire “L” car could manage to find out that she was, in fact, the one with the “Here Comes the Bride” ringtone that had been annoying them. She rummaged through the pink tote, finding everything but her cell phone. Some lip gloss, tissues, the new Phillipa Gregory hardcover, a baggie of almonds she always kept for a snack, Tylenol, a tampon, some stray bobby pins, about a million pens, her ridiculous key ring that held more key chains then actual keys, the September issue of Brides, a bottle of water, about eighty two thousand Post it Notes all with scribbles of ideas and lists for the wedding, her planner, bursting at the seams with more notes for the wedding, and the ribbon from the box of chocolates Mark had given her the day before. And at the very bottom…wait…could it be…yes!!! After what seemed an eternity of digging, Chloe triumphantly pulled her Blackberry from her purse as if it had been buried treasure. Before answering it, she quickly looked around to see if anyone on the train had noticed her treasure hunt for the source of the annoying ringtone. Only one elderly woman had looked up, the rest of the passengers had ear buds shoved into their ears or were too busy texting or reading their newspapers to have noticed. The elderly woman just gave her a warm smile and went back to her crossword puzzle. Awww she must be happily married…must be a long time…bet she remembers what it was like… I wonder if she had a wedding planner…Suddenly, “Here Comes the Bride” began to play over again and Chloe snapped out of her day dream, quickly pressed the “send” button, and put the phone to her ear pushing back her espresso colored waves.
“Hello?” she answered. “Hi ya Honey! I just had another question for you, wanted to make sure that you had said puce for the flowers…that is what you said right?” The voice on the other end was that of her over the top wedding planner, Gladys. She was practically screaming into the phone and Chloe had to move it away from her ear just to make out what she was saying. What is puce exactly?
“No, I said they should be purple. Not puce. Actually, I’m not even sure if I know what puce looks like…”
“Puce is a lovely shade of red darling!”
“I’m sure it is, but I would like the flowers for the wedding to be purple. Not puce.”
“Okey Dokey, Are sure you didn’t say puce?”
“Yes. I’m sure.” replied Chloe, now a little aggravated.
“OK then, if you didn’t say puce, what shade of purple did you have in mind?”
Now Chloe was really getting frustrated. It was always something with Gladys. Everything she told her, Chloe had to make sure she was very specific, and half the time, it seemed to go in one ear and out the other. Chloe took a deep breath and said, as calmly as she could muster, “We talked about this Gladys, remember? Last week when we were at the florist, I said I wanted a nice plum shade.” There was silence on the other end of the phone for a moment, and then came Gladys’ reply. She sounded as if she had just had some epiphany and remembered that Chloe did actually ask for a shade of plum, not puce. “Of course darling! Silly me! Plum not puce! My mistake! I am terribly sorry! I will call the florist right away!” “That’s ok, Gladys, I am glad you asked. I would like my flowers to be different shades of purple. Plum and lavender to be exact. Is that all?” Gladys launched into a string of apologies again and Chloe reassured her that it was alright before hanging up the phone and making a note in her planner to call the florist herself.
As the concrete jungle of Chicago skyscrapers whizzed past her window on the “L”, for the rest of her commute all Chloe could think about was Gladys and how strange an experience it had been having her as a wedding planner. Her wedding was now less than a month away, and Chloe felt unsure about just about every aspect of her carefully planned nuptials. She had dreamed about this day since she was five and she couldn’t have been happier to be marrying Mark. In fact, marrying Mark was the one thing she was sure about these days. Gladys made everything about the details of the wedding so complicated and zany that Chloe had come to appreciate her relationship with Mark even more. He was the one detail of the wedding that Gladys couldn’t mess up. He was her best friend. But the wedding day itself, Chloe just wasn’t sure how anything was going to turn out the way she had hoped when she had to constantly fix Gladys’ mistakes. Everything that Gladys had arranged, Chloe had to go back and redo. It felt like she had no wedding planner at all. That might have been just as well, Chloe thought, considering how she didn’t want a planner in the first place.
*
It all started about a year ago when after Mark’s perfect proposal at the Hancock building, Chloe called everyone she knew back in Ohio to tell them the news of their engagement. Of course everyone gushed over her and Mark, telling her what a great couple they make, asking if they had set a date, and exclaiming how they couldn’t wait to see the ring. Her mother even cried. Then there was her Grandma Griswold. Chloe loved her grandmother and couldn’t wait to share the news of her engagement with her, but Grandma Griswold had always been a little eccentric and over bearing. A wedding was the perfect opportunity for her to put her nose in Chloe’s business. Chloe knew that the moment she told her grandmother about the wedding, she would want to be a part of every aspect of the planning and be very opinionated about what she thought was best. Chloe wanted input from her family about the wedding, sure, but what she did not want, was for someone to hijack the day that she dreamed about since she was five and make it their vision and not hers. That was exactly what she feared her grandmother might do. She just could have never imagined how she would do it.
Chloe waited until she had called everyone else in the family before she could get up the courage to call Grandma Griswold and hear whatever ridiculous suggestions she had about the wedding. It was early in the morning the Sunday after Mark had proposed. She had called everyone else on Saturday night, as soon as Mark had popped the question. But she had decided to save Grandma Griswold for last so that she could have just a little time to be excited for her plans for the wedding, without hearing about what her grandmother’s plans for the wedding were. Chloe sat down at her quaint little apartment sized kitchen table and dialed the number. Grandma Griswold answered and when Chloe told her the news she was ecstatic! She asked all the standard questions everyone else had asked, Like “How did he pop the question?” And Chloe excitedly explained how he had taken her to dinner at the Hancock Building and during dessert passed her an envelope which held the cutest love note. It talked about the first time they met, at the laundromat during their days at Loyola, their first kiss, and all the inside jokes, secrets, hopes, and dreams they had shared with each other since then. Then, when she was done reading it, she looked up through tears and saw Mark down on one knee in front of her holding out a tiny robin’s egg blue box. “I love you Chloe” He said. “Will you marry me?” At that, Grandma Griswold began to cry. “He is just so cute!” she exclaimed through her happy tears. “And what does the ring look like?” She asked.
“It’s a simple round cut stone he picked out himself! I love it!” Chirped Chloe as she held her left hand out in front of her and admired it, turning her hand so it would catch the light, like she had done so many times already.
“It sounds very nice Chloe!”
“It is grandma! And I can’t wait to start putting everything together!” This is going pretty well. Maybe she won’t take over…thought Chloe. So far, Grandma Griswold had all the same questions everyone else did, and there were no signs that she was planning on hijacking Chloe’s wedding. Then, suddenly, as if she had just thought of some brilliant idea, Grandma Griswold let out a delighted gasp. Omigosh, here it comes… “Chloe, honey I have just the thing! You need a wedding planner!”
“Actually grandma, I am really excited to plan the wedding myself! I have been thinking about this day for as long as I can remember! I have a thousand ideas!”
“No, no, no I insist!” declared Grandma Griswold. “You simply must have a wedding planner! And I happen to know one in Chicago! Gladys! She will do the wedding for you!”
“Gladys? Who is Gladys?” Chloe asked.
“You know Gladys! Haven’t I talked about her? No? Just an old friend from high school, but she is fabulous! She moved out to where you are and has been planning events for years. You have to use her.” Grandma Griswold had a friend in every business, and she expected everyone to remember the obscure details of what her friends did. Chloe did not want a wedding planner. She had made that clear. Chloe knew her grandmother had good intentions, but what didn’t she understand about “no”? Before Chloe could begin her retort, her grandmother had ended the conversation. “Well it’s all set then. I will have Gladys call you tomorrow. Congratulations honey. Love you.” Click. And so, Chloe had a wedding planner. The next day, Gladys called and invited herself over to Chloe’s Lincoln Park apartment to discuss the wedding. Chloe had been nervous all day thinking about meeting the woman who was about to hijack her wedding, so before she opened the door that night to let Gladys in, she took a deep breath and thought, maybe it won’t be that bad after all, it could be nice to have someone help out, and if grandma is paying for it…I really didn’t want to hurt her…what choice did I have? It will be alright. It might even be fun. This is not a big deal. When Chloe finally opened the door, she was surprised to see just how “fabulous” Gladys was. She knew from their phone conversation this morning that Gladys was over the top, (she was always calling Chloe darling and saying things like “How lovely!”) but she didn’t expect her appearance to match her voice so well. Gladys was every bit as interesting in person as she was on the phone and then some. She wore a red skirt suit that stretched over her plump figure and frizzy white curls popped out from her head in every direction. She wore purple pumps and carried a black patent leather brief case. At her neck was a scarf printed in purple and red paisley. She looked like she was about to attend a meeting with the Red Hat Society minus the hat. And then there were her leopard print glasses. They perched on the tip of her nose and turned up into a cat eye shape adding to her eccentric appearance. Well, she is definitely a friend of grandma’s… Chloe thought as she collected herself and invited Gladys in.
By the end of the night, Chloe had grown to like Gladys a little bit, and she had listened to all of Chloe’s plans for her plum and chocolate brown color scheme, how she wanted the wedding to be simple but elegant, and how she wanted the ceremony held at a beautiful cathedral she remembered going to for Christmas Eve Mass as a little girl in Ohio. She listened to Chloe describe how Mark wanted an outdoor reception and they had talked about having it in tents under the stars with little white twinkle lights everywhere. When Gladys left that night, Chloe was filled with excitement for the wedding and was determined to make the best out of Gladys. She maybe a little weird, but she is such a nice lady, and it will be nice to have some help… thought Chloe as she drifted off to sleep that night.
*
“Yes Gladys. I have the tickets ready for us. Sure. Meet Mark and I by the Starbucks outside security at eight AM tomorrow and we will check in together…ok… buh bye.” A few weeks had passed since Chloe and Gladys’ plum or puce debate, and she and Mark were getting ready to fly to Ohio along with Gladys and some of their friends for the Big Day. When she hung up the phone, all she could think was how happy she was to be marrying her best friend and hope that the wedding would run smoothly. “I can’t believe it’s really happening!” She said to Mark as she looked up from packing her suitcase and saw the boxes all around her. Her single life was in boxes waiting to be moved into Marks apartment in Wrigleyville after the wedding. Just the thought of starting a home with Mark made her smile. “It’s really happening!” she repeated. “Believe it!” said Mark as he waded through the boxes from where he was standing on the other side of the room and kissed her forehead. Since the great debate over puce or plum, Gladys had also wanted to know if Chloe had said she wanted belly dancers or the string quartet, if she had said the cake should be filled with grape jelly or chocolate mousse, and if she wanted the favors to be tied with lavender ribbons or puce ones. All Chloe could do now was hope that by some miracle everything would fall into place.
*
The day of the wedding everything went perfectly. Her family and Gladys bustled around Chloe making sure every last detail was taken care of. The ceremony was beautiful. But when it came time to walk into the reception tents, Chloe held her breath hoping she would not walk into a sea of belly dancers wearing puce. To her surprise, everything was perfect. Simple and elegant, plum and chocolate brown. Then something caught her eye as she glanced over at the cake. Among all of the gorgeous purple blooms cascading down the side of the cake was one flower that stood out as different from all the rest. It was an odd reddish color. Puce. She thought as she smiled to herself. Just then, Grandma Griswold came over to greet the newlyweds. “Congratulations darling! Isn’t just wonderful? I knew Gladys would pull through!” “I couldn’t be happier Grandma! Thank you!” at that Granma Griswold leaned in to Chloe and said “Just between me and you honey, thank you so much for working with Gladys! She enjoyed every minute of it! I know she is a little eccentric and she seems confused at times, but the truth is, she is getting on in years, she has been sick for some time now, she was four years ahead of me in high school you know, and well I thought this wedding might be her last. I just wanted to give her one more opportunity to do what she loved. So thank you.” Chloe didn’t know what to say. She just looked at her grandmother in disbelief. “So how did everything…why is everything…its perfect grandma!”
“I know honey.”
“And Gladys? Is she OK? I didn’t hurt her did I? Did she enjoy the planning?”
“Of course Chloe. I think helping you plan this gorgeous day was just what the doctor ordered for her. She looks like she is great spirits! Listen, I wanted Gladys to have one last chance to do what she was passionate about, but I wanted you to have the wedding of your dreams too. So I called in a few favors to make sure everything went smoothly today.” “It was you? The whole time, it was you?”
“Yes honey. It was me. Every time I called the vendors to check up on Gladys though, they said you had called too!” She laughed. “You didn’t need to worry honey!”
Tears had come to Chloe’s eyes. “Thank you grandma.” Was all she could muster. They embraced and as she pulled away wiping her tears, Grandma noticed the cake. She pointed at the puce flower and laughed. “I guess Gladys left an impression with the bakery though! Sorry honey! What color is that anyways!? Its…interesting…”
“It’s puce grandma.” Chloe said as she smiled. “And its fine. Everything is beautiful.” Chloe couldn’t believe it. The whole time her overbearing grandmother actually had been planning her wedding. But she had also been helping a friend. And she made sure everything was the way Chloe wanted it. Maybe Chloe didn’t give Grandma Griswold enough credit. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t about whether the flowers were puce or plum. Today was just one day. And it was a beautiful day even with the puce flower. Today was just one day, and she had a lifetime to spend with Mark. With that, Chloe thought of the elderly woman who had smiled at her on the train the day of the puce or plum debate. She knew that the real beauty of a wedding is not in the flowers or the cake or the menu. I have to go thank Gladys! With that, she kissed Mark on the cheek and ran off to find Gladys. “Thank you. Thank you for everything Gladys. It is beautiful.” Chloe said as she squeezed her arms tight around Gladys.
“No thank you darling. It was my pleasure working with you. Really. You gave me more than you’ll ever know.” Gladys pulled away and Chloe looked up to see her grandmother smiling at her from across the room.
Book II
“Found them babe!” I called to Mark with my head still stuck in the refridgerator between bottles of beer and bottles of milk. “Oh geez! Is that were they were?” Mark asked as he ran into the room still frantically checking his pockets. “Yep. How did we manage to leave them in there again?” I said laughing. “I have no idea.” He said laughing and drawing me close to plant a kiss on my forehead through his laughter. “I have no idea, but we’ve got to fly or we will miss our plane!” He said suddenly glancing at his watch. I handed him the keys and gathered up my purse and my carry on that lay heaped on the floor. Then I rushed into the living room and nearly bumped into Gladys. “You’ll miss your plane darling! Really! Little Liam and I will be just fine! Now off with you! Lord knows you need this trip! And some alone time with Mr. Mark!” She said winking. She hasn’t changed a bit. I can’t believe everyone else cancelled on us and I am leaving my child with a member of the Red Hat Society. “I know Gladys but I just had to kiss my little man one more time! This is the first time mommy and daddy are going on a trip by themselves, and I am going to miss him so much!” I exclaimed, now half talking to Gladys, half talking to my son, in that exaggerated voice that I reserve only for him. He cooed at me and wrapped his little finger around mine as I leaned down to kiss him. “Car is warmed up and we gotta go, honey!” Mark said as he came into the living room and rushed over to Liam and I. “OK little dude, mommy and daddy are going to go have some grown up fun, and you are going to stay here with Auntie Gladys for a little while. Sound good?” Of course, anything sounds good to Liam, who is only 3 months old, so he laughs and coos at his father’s question. “OK. Good. You be a good boy OK? We love you!” Liam laughs again and Mark turns to me. “We really have to go Clo.” I look at Gladys, sitting on the couch holding Liam wearing those ridiculous leopard print glasses of hers and launch into asking her ten thousand questions, the same questions I have asked about eighty times in the last couple of days, and shouting out random statements too. “Are you sure you’ll be OK? You have our cell numbers? And the number to the hotel? And poison control? And don’t forget to give him his pacifier before bed! The doctor’s number is on the fridge! And he doesn’t like to be….” “Chloe darling, we will be fine! Now go!” Gladys said laughing and making Liam’s arm wave goodbye as Mark coaxed me toward the door. “Bye Liam!” we called.
*
Finally in the car on our way to O’ Hare, Mark and I look at each other and laugh again. “You think they’ll be OK?” I ask. “Yes honey. He will be fine. Besides, Gladys is right. We need this”. He said as he took my hand. “I mean really, I love the little dude, but being a new parent is so chaotic, I feel like we are loosing our minds! This is the second time this week we found the keys in the fridge.”
“Maybe you are right, I’m sure they will be fine, and we do need this.” I smiled at him. “I just keep remembering the wedding.” I said shaking my head.
“Well, you know how our wedding turned out.” Mark said. “Perfect. You said so yourself. So Gladys and Liam will be fine. It’s only a couple of days.” He squeezed my hand as we walked into the airport.
I thought of our wedding again and laughed to myself. Mark was right. Our wedding was perfect, and Gladys was going to be just fine with Liam. Heck, she raised three kids of her own. “Just as long as Liam is OK and we don’t come home to the nursery painted puce…"