Destined To Collide

The Collision Expands - Chapter 33 - Kenny/Gina

The very next morning; a Monday; the wedding hall for Kenny and Gina's wedding

Gina- 

"I think the flowers should go over here." I say to Kenny and the wedding planner, Christine. "You don't have to worry about all that, Miss Gina," Christine says, "you let us handle all that."

"Yeah, babe, why're you hassling her, huh," Kenny says to me, "they're pros, let them do their thing. You're just trying to avoid bringing up why we're really here."

"I am not," I protest, "I'm the bride, the wedding planner should do as the client asks."

"Sorry, Christie," Kenny says to her, "she's normally not such a diva but I guess she's gettin' nervous."

"I'm not getting nervous!" I snap back at him.

"Alright, you two," Christine chimes in, "it's okay, Miss Gina's right, I'll do as she asks."

"Thank you!" I say, satisfied that she validated my requests. I know I'm being a bridezilla, but Kenny's right, I am dragging my feet about what we really need to talk with her about.

"Look, we need to change the date of our wedding." Kenny just blurts it out.

Christine's normally classy demeanor changed in an instant, "You, what?!" she yells, "Do you have any idea how hard it was to book this hall on the specific day you asked?! I had to do some...regrettable things with the building manager to pull this off. Not to mention booking the flowers and the doves and the Justice of the Court and the band and the handsome cab ride to all be available on that specific time?!"

"Well, I don't think you need to worry about the band, we'll talk to them." Kenny says trying to be folksy. Remember Chad and Donny's old band? (Way back in the very beginning of our story) Well, they're coming in special for this so they probably won't be happy about this sudden change. They've actually become pretty popular; they put out an album and will just be getting off a major world tour when doing our wedding.

All this is happening...because of Kenny's stupid mother!

"Look," I tell Christine, "something suddenly came up. My mother-in-law, whom I've never met and walked out on her own family when Kenny and his sister were very young, is showing up and can only come on a specific date."

"I can hear the enthusiasm in your voice," Christine says sarcastically, "I hate my mother-in-law, too and she's dead." Christine has the disposition of a Cheshire cat. Kenny and chuckle a little bit uncomfortably. I'm still pissed at Kenny for saying yes to her.

"So when do you want it moved to?" Christine asks

"It's gotta be next week." Kenny answers

"You need it moved up?!" Christine exclaims, "I thought you were pushing it back! You must really want your mom here, Kenny."

Christine doesn't know the half of it. Ever since our video conference call with his mother from Sicily (with the help of Candace to translate) he's suddenly acting like a momma's boy and he doesn't know her. I guess he wants to make up for all the last time but in my opinion, she doesn't deserve it, she walked out them when they were very young with hardly any contact.

According to what Kenny's told me over the years, when Candace began corresponding with their mom, it was around the time of their dad's passing. That woman is up to something. How did she even fid out about the wedding in the first place? She's very religious and she's very intolerant of people that don't share her values. She has very out dated philosophies on relationships, marriage, children, sex. She scolded everyone for having sex before marriage.

She was especially hard on Candace. Firstly, she got on Candace for getting romantically involved with a black guy (Derrick); no surprise to anyone at that point in the video call that she'd be racist. But even worse than that, she got on Candace unfaithful to Carlo, her husband, but she also had a child out of wedlock from that 'sin'. She coldly told her daughter that she wants nothing to do with her bastard child (Naldo) and doesn't consider him her grandchild. 

Understandably, Candace cursed at her mother in Italian and ran out of the room and also we lost our translator. But to my surprise, despite how her letter was written, she spoke perfect English even though she says she has to wash her mouth out every time she has to use it. She ruthlessly disparaged Ken, Sr. and admonished Kenny for not marrying an Italian woman and that we're not getting married in a church. So I'm thinking that if she disapproves so much, why does she want to come?! I have a hunch that she doesn't want to attend the wedding but to disrupt it and stop it.

After meeting this woman, I am very sorry for how I treated Candace and saying she's a pot stirrer and a drama queen. This woman, who's name is Angela, makes Candace's behavior seem tame in comparison. And yet, after all this, Kenny reacted like a spineless coward and apologized profusely to Angela and said he'll arrange for her to come to America for the wedding. Kenny  believes that once she's here and see's how happy everyone is, Angela may change her tune.

"So is it possible to move it?" Kenny asks

"It will definitely have to be at different location because this building is booked solid, which is why I'm so pissed," Christine says, "this took a lot of time and money to book this original date at this specific hall. You're both very nice and kind people but I can't be your wedding planner anymore and I'm still charging you my full rate." She storms out before either Kenny or I could say anything back.

"Babe?! What're we gonna do?!" I say to Kenny

Kenny-

"Don't worry about it, babe, I have a couple of ideas," I reply to my Fiancé, "one of them is to do it at our old high school, in the gym over there."

"Why are you so giddy about your mother coming, anyways?" I ask, "I've known you for a very long time and I've never seen you act like such a beta doormat. Why're you so nice to her after all the horrible things she said, especially about your damn nephew?!"

"I just think she needs time to get to know us." I say

"Y'know, I just realized something," Gina says, "I was just thinking that I suspect that your mother is up to something and it's not just to disrupt the wedding. But now, I look at you and I realize what I should have all along; your planning something, too."

"You got me, Gina." I say, "I got a hunch, too. After hearing all the shit she said that call, the one question I had in my mind that no one else was asking but it should've been the first one. How the hell did Angela know about all this? Someone knows something. Don't ask me why or how but I've got a baad feeling that Carlo is somehow mixed up in this. I think he's using Angela to get into this wedding. He'll find some way to be pardoned for what got him banned from the country in the first place or maybe he can claim he's a guest."

"So we should tell this to Donny and everyone," Gina says, "they wanna go to Europe after our wedding to deal with this-. Shit!" Gina interrupts herself, "I know how Carlo knows when our wedding is, before Candace came back here, we sent them a damn invitation and Angela knows about the Naldo thing from Carlo. But how did either of them know about Derrick?"

"Oh, shit, you're right, babe," I say, "there's only one way Carlo could know all this. He's got someone here keeping tabs on Candace; the only question is, who?"

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