"I do."
With those words, Jeff Stephens bowed his head in disappointment. Here he was in this beautiful church at the wedding of his mother, Stephanie, and rather than being happy that she found someone to spend her life with, he could not help but shake the feeling of discouragement. This had nothing to do with the fact that Jeff's mom was marrying someone other than his dad. No, Jeff's dad had skipped out on the family when he was just four years old. He barely had any memories of his dad and could care less where he was now. Jeff was upset because the man that his mom was marrying was a total prick.
It's not that Jeff didn't try to bond with Richard. When they first met, Jeff attempted to get close to him. He even went so far as to invite Richard to join him for an Atlanta Braves game. Jeff loved baseball and always tried to make it to at least ten Braves games each year. When Jeff presented him with the tickets, Richard rolled his eyes as he said, "I don't like baseball." When it was clear that Richard would not make any attempt to get to know him, Jeff backed off and decided that he didn't want to waste his time.
Jeff did feel a little guilty. His mom appeared very happy, and Richard had a great job as the CEO of an Atlanta based landscaping company, meaning that his mom would be financially well off. It's not like Richard was abusive towards Jeff's mom. He did really seem to love her and care for her. It's just that Richard could give a shit about him and his sister, Maggie. The most difficult part of all this was that his mom just didn't see it, or worse, she didn't want to see it.
As the marriage ceremony progressed, Jeff glanced over at Maggie and could tell that she felt the same as he did. Just like Jeff, she had been cordial towards Richard, just to be brushed off like she was no better than a mosquito. Maggie was especially angry with the fact that Richard had two daughters who were a year and three years older than her, and he spoiled them immensely. Their names were Diane and Connie, and since they were so spoiled, they were just as mean and vindictive as Richard. They routinely talked about Maggie behind her back, and they did their best to distance her from their father and her mother.
When planning for the wedding, Richard wanted his daughters in the wedding party, but he was not open to Jeff and Maggie participating. They were fine standing on the sidelines, but it really hurt that their mother did not stand up for them. In fact, Jeff and Maggie had grown more and more distant from their mom ever since Richard came into the picture. It's like Richard had this idea of what a perfect family should be like, and neither Jeff nor Maggie fit that mold.
Unfortunately, their mother went along with everything that Richard did. The only silver lining for all of this is that as their mother became more distant, Jeff and Maggie grew closer. They started to do more and more things together and came to enjoy each other's company. When they were kids, they often squabbled about stupid things, but now that they were older, they had put this petty bickering aside. Maggie had just turned 23 years old a few days before the wedding. This was the summer before her senior year in college. Jeff was one year younger, and followed in his sister's footsteps by attending the same college.
As the ceremony was coming to a close, the bridesmaids and ushers were walking back down the aisle behind Richard and Stephanie. As they passed them, Diane and Connie gave Jeff and Maggie a condescending smirk. They shook their heads thinking about how disgusted they were that Richard was now their step father and they had two new bitches for step sisters. For the sake of appearances, Jeff and Maggie kept a smile on their faces as long as people were looking at them. Once they had a chance to speak without being overheard by anyone, Maggie took Jeff to the side and whispered, "Did you see how Diane and Connie were looking at me throughout the ceremony?"
"How could I miss it?" he replied. "They were staring daggers at you the whole time. I definitely think that other people must have caught that too."
"Maybe, but I doubt it. I think that most people were focused on mom and Richard. I just wanted to walk right over there and slap them both!"
With a smile, Jeff said, "I would have loved to see that. It would have been so entertaining. Why do they hate you so much?"
"I don't know. They must be jealous of me for some reason."
Maggie said this comment in passing, but as Jeff thought about it, he believed that she was probably correct. They certainly had a lot to be jealous of. Maggie was very pretty. Her and Jeff's dad had been Filipino, and their mom was white, so she had a great combination of features. Her skin was slightly darker than white people and her long hair was jet black. Her facial features were a perfect combination of Caucasian and Asian, making her look very exotic.
Diane and Connie on the other hand were not at all attractive. Diane was very overweight, with tons of acne. Connie actually had a nice body, but her face was hideous. She looked like a stereotypical witch, with a pointed chin, pointed nose, and a huge wart on her face. Oftentimes, guys would check her out, but once they saw her face, they ran the other way. It's never good to judge people based solely on their appearance, but their personalities were even uglier than their looks. In addition to being mean and vindictive, Diane and Connie were the epitome of selfishness. Maggie was definitely on to something by suggesting that they were jealous.
As people started to exit the church, Jeff and Maggie put on their fake smiles and greeted family and friends, telling them how happy they were for their mom. As they were mingling with people, Maggie looked over and saw that Diane was scowling at her. Rather than giving her any attention, Maggie ignored her, which appeared to have the desired effect because after a few minutes, Diane stormed off to join her sister outside.
"Oh, it was such a beautiful ceremony!" exclaimed Hannah as she approached Jeff and Maggie. Hannah was Jeff's and Maggie's aunt. She was Stephanie's only living sibling. At 34 years old, Hannah was the baby sister, twelve years younger than Stephanie. Hannah had a twin brother named Bobby, but unfortunately, he passed away in a motorcycling accident six years back. Because of the huge age gap, Stephanie and Hannah were not close growing up. They were born in New Mexico, but moved to Georgia when Hannah was 6 and Stephanie was 18. After college, Hannah returned to New Mexico and had lived there ever since. This was the first time in years that Hannah was back in the Atlanta area. Jeff's and Maggie's grandparents had both passed away from cancer a few years ago. They did not really have a relationship with their grandparents since they spent a majority of their time traveling. They wanted to see the world before they were too old, but unfortunately, the cancer got them before they had time to truly enjoy their family. Since their uncle and grandparents were deceased, the only family that Jeff and Maggie had other than their mom was Hannah.
Hannah leaned in to hug her niece and nephew and told them, "I'm so happy for your mom. It's great that she found someone. She deserves to be happy, especially since your asshole father walked out."
Hannah stopped herself, fearing that she had offended them. Maggie reassured her when she said, "Don't worry, Hannah. We totally agree with you. He was a total asshole for abandoning us."
Hannah was clearly relieved that they did not take offense to her comment, and noticing some family friends that she had not seen in a long time, Hannah excused herself, telling Jeff and Maggie that they would talk more at the reception. As Hannah walked away, Jeff leaned over to Maggie and said, "I guess mom is just attracted to assholes." Maggie giggled and nodded in agreement.
For the next half hour, they all wrapped up at the church. Congratulations were showered on the bride, the groom. and their families. It was a beautiful day and lots of pictures were taken outside and inside the church. Jeff smiled so much for those photos that his face was starting to hurt. When the photographer finally wrapped up, it was time to head to the reception hall.
As everybody headed to the parking lot, Maggie tried to break the awkward silence with her new stepsisters and attempted small talk by saying, "So, that was a really nice ceremony."
In reply, Diane and Connie just stared at her. Fishing for some type of response, Maggie continued, "So are you both looking forward to dancing at the reception?"
"No." Connie's reply was very curt as she and Diane walked right past her. Not wanting to cause a confrontation, Maggie did not address their rudeness, despite the fact that she could start to feel her blood boiling. Jeff just shook his head in disgust at their behavior. He felt that it was OK if they didn't like him and Maggie, but they could at least show some courtesy.
