The Bride Experiment (10 page)

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Authors: Mimi Jefferson

BOOK: The Bride Experiment
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Chapter 15
Raquel stepped out of the limo elegantly, just like she had practiced. Her jeweled peep toe sling backs hugged her feet perfectly as her long train drifted behind her. There were only a few steps from the back entrance to the hallway leading to the elevator. Raquel had given Anna specific orders not to come and get her until Alexis started her trek. After Alexis finished her journey down the aisle, a soloist would start to sing “This Is the Moment,” acapella, at the center of the church. Then the ushers would begin to adjust the seventy-five-foot customized aisle runner, slowly. Raquel wanted her guests to have sufficient time to stare at it as they waited for her arrival.
After they had completed the task of rolling it and securing the sides, the soloist, now holding one candle, would start to sing “At Last,” accompanied by a pianist. After a few bars, Raquel would come walking down the aisle, alone.
Anna pushed the button on the elevator. While they were waiting, they ran into the florist and her staff. All five of them gasped and began to compliment Raquel all at once.
“Look at her hair all decked out in perfect little roses and jewels.”
“Oh, look at her shoes. They look like Cinderella's slippers.”
“Her makeup is perfect. I love the bronze and brown. It's so royal!”
Anna smiled, then looked around the room for the security guard. She motioned for him to join them. Raquel had insisted on hiring a security guard after going to a wedding where one of the guests had arrived drunk. She ended up ruining the entire ceremony by talking loudly and often.
Anna was a few steps ahead of Raquel, rambling on and on about how wonderfully everything had come together, when the elevator doors opened. The two of them stepped onto the elevator with the security guard.
As soon as the elevator doors closed, while Anna was still talking and the security guard was staring at her cleavage, Raquel grabbed his gun out of his holster like a pro. She slapped him across the face with the gun before he had a chance to react. Several trickles of blood oozed from one side of his mouth. Anna stood terrified at the opposite corner of the elevator. Raquel had learned how to break someone's arm in a self-defense class. As the elevator approached the second floor, she pushed Anna close to her and twisted her arm until she heard it crack.
When the elevator opened, Anna was lying on one side of the elevator and the security guard was dozing in and out of consciousness on the other. Raquel slipped off her shoes and detached the train on her wedding gown. She took off running, surprised at how fast she could move wearing a heavy dress and weighing in at well over 200 pounds.
Raquel didn't know what she was going to do when she located Karen; all she could focus on was finding her. She was the only one who knew about her sexual relationship with Randall. After she found her, she was going to move on to James. She imagined the two of them working together to destroy, embarrass, and humiliate her. But today was not the day. She vowed to get the last laugh. They wanted to put on a show, and now she was about to give them one.
Raquel stopped running and cocked the gun, seconds before she made it inside the ceremony site.
She didn't notice her guests running or screaming. The terrified looks in their eyes were also easily ignored. She didn't hear Alexis and Morris screaming, “Mama, Mama.” She jumped over or shoved whatever was in her way—chairs, people, even the antique goldplated candelabras she had rented from a specialty shop.
Nobody and nothing was going to stop her. She was like a raging fire consuming everything she touched.
 
 
Joan unlocked her condo door, exhausted and confused. She walked her half-asleep son into his room and helped him into bed. She carefully took off his tuxedo while her mind raced. If she had not seen it herself, she would have been sure it was nothing more than an elaborate lie. She tried to piece together what she had seen and what she had heard. She and the other guests had been detained at the church for hours while police and reporters asked what seemed to be an endless barrage of questions.
Joan had arrived moments before the wedding ceremony was to begin. She and all the ladies were given a single red rose as they were escorted into the church.
A pianist was playing classical music as guests admired the beautiful decorations. It looked as if the wedding was taking place in a rose garden. It was fragrant and peaceful. One floral arrangement was more detailed than the next. The roses on the altar stood out from those on the pews and around the church. They had all been dipped in gold and arranged in such a way that it appeared as if they were hanging from midair.
Once the guests had feasted on the beauty of their surroundings, James Sr., the minister, and the groomsmen took their places at the front of the church. Then James Sr.'s mother, Agnes, was escorted down the aisle by Miles. She wore a golden gown with a matching hat. She proudly took her seat in the front row before giving her son a big smile. Miles took his position next to his brother.
Next a quartet of female violinists, garbed in long, flowing gowns, was seated on one side of the church. As soon as they started to play, the first bridesmaid began to walk down the aisle. Three more followed, each wearing a different red gown suitable to her physique. They each carried bouquets of multicolored roses, with the tips dipped in gold. James Jr. and Morris were next; each one was wearing a tux and holding a ring bearer's box.
After that, Alexis appeared. She was escorted down the aisle in an all-white wagon pulled by an usher with white gloves. She wore an embroidered white gown with a train. She methodically tossed rose petals out of the wagon. She seemed not to notice the other people at the wedding. She was only concerned with getting her flowers out of her basket and onto the floor. She was so serious, it was funny; the guests couldn't help but chuckle as she passed by them.
After Alexis made it to the front, there was a rush of movement. The ushers rolled down a custom-made aisle runner. The guests gasped. The aisle runner had been monogrammed with Raquel's and James's initials, along with the date of their wedding. It was hand painted with golden flowers and rich earth tones. It looked as if it had taken months for an artist to make it.
While the ushers were rolling out the aisle runner, the violinists left; then a soloist, with a rich soprano voice, began to sing. The guests looked around in anticipation for the bride's entrance. That's when things got crazy.
Joan put her head in her hands and tried to remember what she had heard from vendors, the police, and the other guests at the wedding. The few people who saw Raquel first said she had looked stunning as she stepped out of the limo and walked along the short hallway leading to the elevator. In hindsight, they said she didn't seem to acknowledge or even notice their admiring words or glances. She was mumbling something to herself. It may have been the same thing over and over again.
Raquel, the wedding planner, and a security guard got into the elevator. Nobody is clear what happened after that, but when the elevator door opened at the second floor, the wedding planner was in tears and her skin had turned a bright red. The security guard was bloody and motionless.
Raquel walked out of the elevator, carrying nothing but the security guard's gun. She stopped for a moment to take off her shoes, then took off running wildly into the sanctuary.
Joan was in the very back row. She was one of the few guests who could see the wedding party before they actually took the aisle. Joan braced herself to see Raquel in a beautiful gown. When she looked up, Raquel did have on a beautiful gown, but she was also running barefoot, with a gun. The other guests in the back row all took off running in different directions. Joan tried to move, but she was too shocked to make her body cooperate.
After the guests in the back row started to run, the other guests, who didn't know why the guests in the back row were running, started to run too. With people running back and forth in chaos, Raquel ran until she arrived at the altar. She then proceeded to fire gunshots in the air. Now everybody, including James, could see Raquel. He yelled to one of the bridesmaids to take the children and run, which she did. The rest of the bridesmaids left too. Joan still hadn't moved, and neither had James, Miles, or the other groomsmen. Since Raquel was now in the front, and everybody in front of her had run away, Joan had a clear view of Raquel.
Raquel's eyes scanned the crowd. She was clearly looking for somebody. Most of the people were hunched down in the perimeter of the room. They could have run out of the room, but like Joan, they were too curious to leave. Suddenly James Sr. and Miles started to walk toward Raquel. Their mother tried to stop them, but they kept moving. Agnes followed a few steps behind them. Raquel didn't seem concerned with them. She started walking around the room, waving the gun in the air. She passed James and Miles, and hordes of other people, until she found a lady in an emerald green dress. Eventually Joan found out this lady's name was Karen, apparently one of Raquel's former friends. Raquel yanked Karen by her hair and she hit the floor.
By this time, James had made it to Raquel. He used his body as a barrier between Raquel and Karen. Miles tried to take the gun; then Raquel kicked him in the groin. Raquel turned back around to Karen. James Sr. was still acting as a barrier. Then gunshots went off in what seemed to be several different directions. Everybody, including Joan, started running out of the church by then.
Some say Raquel became more agitated and shot a few more warning shots in the air. Some say she aimed and shot on purpose. Whatever happened, when it was all over, Miles lay in a pool of blood. Agnes lay on the floor next to him, her pretty golden dress lifted high above her knees.
Joan made herself a cup of tea. There was no way she was going to get to sleep tonight.
Chapter 16
James didn't know his heart could race so fast for so long. His tux was stuck to his body like a wet suit. Everything was a maze of confusion. First there was one doctor, then another doctor, a surgeon, and then a specialist. Next there was a police officer, then a detective—not to mention, the menacing eyes of his family members and friends. They stayed away from him, huddled in their prayer circles in the corner of the hospital's waiting room. James couldn't remember feeling more alone.
His mother's sisters were seated with big black Bibles in their laps. They had been praying out loud, but now they were only holding hands. Tears were flowing from their silent faces. James thought he had wanted them to stop praying, back when they had been praying. He thought all the vocal cries of “Holy Father” and “God Almighty” were making him uneasy. But now that they had stopped, the quietness had brought him no relief.
His mother was dead. James had known before the paramedics got there. He could tell from the way she was lying on the floor. He refused to check her pulse. He didn't want to know if her heart was working or if she was breathing or not.
It was a half hour ago that a beautiful black woman in her thirties had walked up to him and had given him the tragic news. Unlike the other female doctors who walked back and forth throughout the hospital, she seemed particularly concerned about her appearance. She had on a fitted black dress underneath her white coat and had freshly relaxed hair, which reached just below her bra strap. Her hair was the work of an expert colorist, brown with highlights of blond that stuck out between the layers. Her makeup, while tasteful, was overdone and seemed to be more fitting of a makeup-counter girl than a physician. She was the type of woman with whom James would have smiled, flirted, and then left with her phone number. But today he only stared at her as she mouthed the words “I'm sorry, we did all we could do.”
James hadn't cried yet for his mother. He was still waiting to hear something about his brother. The minutes turned into hours as James waited to hear word on his brother's condition. It was midnight when the surgeon came in. He was older and self-assured. James tried to read him as he watched the doctor walk closer to him and his family members. The doctor was used to people trying to read him. His face said nothing. The family gathered closer to hear his words. His mother's sisters all got on their knees and bowed their heads.
The doctor said in a low, gentle voice, “During the surgery, we realized Miles's injuries were much more serious than we had initially thought.” He said Miles's name like he knew him. He went on. “They couldn't stop the internal bleeding. The team of surgeons tried, but we don't believe Miles will make it through the night. Now is probably the time to go in and say goodbye.”
James could feel the walls in the room close in on him. He could barely breathe. What had just happened ? His mind raced. Everything had happened so fast. His mother and brother couldn't be dead? Just like that. Wasn't someone about to come in and shout, “Hey, you just got punk'd”? He must be on some cruel edition of
Candid Camera,
right?
James looked around for the cameras, but all he saw and heard were his mother's sisters wailing and crying bitterly. They wanted to get up so they could walk to Miles's room, but the grief was too strong. There were cousins screaming, uncles quietly weeping, and friends of the family looking at it all and trying to stay strong by rubbing backs and giving long, deep hugs.
This was no little thing. James couldn't shout, “Do over!” “My bad!” or “Psych!” He couldn't run away and start all over again tomorrow. He couldn't walk away from it and deal with it later.
James ran out of the waiting room, out of the hospital, and onto the dark streets. He didn't want to see his brother for the last time. He didn't want to watch him take his last breath. He didn't want to digest the accusing stares his family kept giving him with their tear-stained faces. James couldn't take one more moment of being swallowed up by all those pairs of condemning eyes.
As James walked, he remembered teaching Miles how to ride a bike. He taught him how to tell time, too. Later on, he taught him how to drive and how to tie his first necktie.
When Miles was ten and playing Martin Luther King in a school play, James and Agnes got there early so they could sit in the first row. Their father wasn't there as usual, but Miles didn't seem to care. He delivered his lines with power, clarity, and authority. James got up after Miles had finished speaking and started shouting, “That's my brother. That's my little brother!”
As James walked faster and faster, he allowed himself to cry for the first time that night. He cried and walked, until he couldn't see straight. Then he sat on a bench and cried until he couldn't cry anymore.
Hours later, James walked back to the waiting room. Only his aunt Lorene, his mother's oldest sister, was in the room. She had always been James's favorite aunt. She and her husband had been married for many years, but they had no children of their own. She would dote on James and Miles, often acting as their second mother.
James stood ready for a tongue-lashing, but none came. There was a calmness about Lorene that had not been present the last time he saw her. She stood up when she saw him walk in the waiting room. “I have been waiting for you. Miles . . . well . . . Miles.” She wiped tears from her eyes. “We are going to bury them side by side. We are hoping to have the funerals this weekend. Your uncle Carter and aunt Shana are making the arrangements. I'll call you when everything is final.”
James took in her words:
“We are going to bury them. . . .”
Lorene waited a few moments, then continued speaking. “Your cousin Jackie took Alexis and Morris home with her. But if I were you, I would pick them up as soon as possible. You know how Jackie can be. She will be fine, but as soon as something more entertaining comes up, she will just pop up and leave those kids. Nobody could get a hold of anyone on Raquel's side of the family to take them in.
“I would have taken them myself, but your uncle is old and so am I. We are way past being able to run around after a couple of kids. And you know your aunt Sylvia can barely take care of herself, with her arthritis and all. And aunt Kate already has a houseful, since Randy came home from Iraq and promptly moved his wife and three kids into his mother's one-bedroom apartment.”
“Thanks, Aunt Lorene. I'll take care of it.”
Lorene started to walk toward the door but changed her mind. “James, what happened? We have all been trying to understand what drove Raquel to do this. With your track record with women, we couldn't help but think it had to be something you did to her.” Her voice got uncharacteristically loud. “James, please tell me you didn't have anything to do with this. Please tell me my youngest sister and my nephew were not shot to death over some petty nonsense. Please, James! Please!”
James said nothing.
Lorene gasped, then started to cry. “I need to go. James, maybe you should think about not coming to the funerals.”
James knew he would never forget the repulsive look on his aunt's face as she left the waiting room.

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