SURPRISE!!!

Tony and Gina’s wedding was scheduled for Valentine’s Day.

Tony had thought that it would be a nice touch. He’d fallen hard for that little puss Gina, and he wanted to make her, his before she changed her mind.  Not that she would, Gina was anxious to start her new life with Tony. 

But he didn’t have the paperwork. That dumb clerk wouldn’t play ball. He’d have to reapply for the marriage license, have the application legibly filled out and produce his copy of the divorce decree. Tony didn’t want to let on he had trouble spelling. So he took the application home and enlisted Gina’s aid. 

On the eighteenth papers in hand, Anthony and Gina each swallowed two shots of blackberry brandy right before the service.  Anthony had said it was to help smooth out the rough patches. It worked. After the ceremony, Gina’s parents had gone home. It was strange to her that he would take her bowling but the time passed quickly, and soon they were on their way to what she thought was dinner at Hidden Valley. A nice little Italian place with a lake secreted off a back road in the country.

“Surprise!!!” the crowd, all stood, cheered, laughed and clapped. 

“What’s this, Anthony?” 

But Anthony was grinning and said, “welcome to our wedding reception.”  

“But, but, I thought my parents couldn’t afford it.”

“They can’t” No sweat, I paid for it, and I got a good deal too.” 

Anthony had thought of everything.

When Gina walked in the door, the first thing she saw was a three-tiered wedding cake. It was a white cake with white frosting, and her family was there even her Grandma from good old Germany had flown in. Funny, she didn’t come to the actual wedding, but no matter. Grandma was here and ready to celebrate. Gina was the first grandchild, and Gina’s father had been the favorite on that side of the family. So it was fitting. Some of Anthony’s family had also come. His father, his sisters and, of course, Uncle Pete and Aunt Dot. Anthony’s friend Charlie Chip was there too.  

There wasn’t any money to hire a photographer, so Gina received a few pictures months later from her aunt.  That was what she had to remember their day. 

One photo of her in the black jumpsuit, another shot of the two of them cutting the cake and a panorama of the crowd with grandma smiling in the middle. 

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