Page 36 of The Vow
“-But yes, a big white wedding, and all that comes with it… the parties, the dress… and then having a tall, dark and handsome man who adores you and who would worship you for the rest of his life, provide for you…”
“You want that?” Lena asked, stroking her sister’s hair.
Pina looked up at her sister directly. “Yes, I do.” She was almost defiant.
Lena knew she had to respond tactfully here. “Well, if that’s what you want, then have you spoken to Daddy?”
“Yes. He said I have to graduate high school first-”
Lena’s eyes went wide. “Er yes, I think that’s a good start-”
“But then he said he’d start searching for someone. I said I wanted another Armenian family, a good connection for the business, of course, but also a really popular, handsome guy-”
“Er, Pina, you’ll still be so young-”
She wiped her hair off her face with an angry swipe. “But if you know what you want, you should just go for it, right? That’s what you are doing. Sure, it’s a different thing, you want all this independent woman thing, I don’t, and that’s okay, right?”
“Yes, right,” Lena agreed quickly.
“I just want to be given a credit card and move into a lovely apartment or house and buy candles for it and go to yoga and cook dinner for when my husband comes home from work-” Pina genuinely looked excited, as well. Lena noticed her eyes went a bit glassy. “An Armenian background, so he’d have lots of cognac in the classy drinks cabinet we’d have,” she giggled to herself. “A successful businessman, wearing a sharp suit, and maybe we’d go out to dinner with his business associates and I could dress up and we’d get driven into town to a nice bar-”
Pina was very wrapped up in her fantasy. Lena felt a surge of sisterly love of her innocent, naive little sister. She had so much growing up to do and she seemed desperate to do it, to rush forward. But was it all that much different to what Lena was doing at college, rushing to learn the business, steaming ahead to lead the family and prove herself to them and her community?
She ruffled her sister’s hair now. “What are you doing with your hair tonight, missy, anyway?” Lena asked. “Up or down?”
Pina snapped out of her dreamy state and combed a hand through her long dark locks. “Down, definitely.”
“You want me to curl it or-”
“I should be offering to curl yours.” Pina smiled.
She smiled back. “Nah, I’m kind of not taking tonight too seriously… I’m just going to leave my hair as it is, long and straight.”
Pina was now in front of the mirror. “I’m going to blow mine out I think, a bit more body, kinda big volume… can I borrow this dress?” she asked, holding the lace barely there dress up to her body.
Lena frowned. “Yes but not for tonight-”
“No, I know, just, in general…”
“That’s me never getting that dress back, huh?” Lena joked. “What are you going to wear then?”
“I’ve got another dress in mind.” Pina smiled deviously. “My future husband might be here tonight, after all, I want to dress to impress-”
Lena rolled her eyes. “Nothing that Daddy wouldn’t approve of?”
“Oh, he probably would not approve of this dress.” Pina chuckled.
“Pina! I always think, would Kavan or Ardian approve of the way I was dressed, then if the answer is yes-”
“Oh, screw those boring killjoys!” Pina’s face wrinkled up. “Anyway, it’s more fun when they get a bee in their bonnet about something, isn’t it?”
Lena couldn’t argue, she’d done this when she was younger, too, try to wind up their father’s most loyal and senior ranking advisors.
Pina pursed her lips and sat there pensively for a moment. Lena pulled out a black dress. It was skintight, bandeau straps, not too short. That would be perfect. Elegant enough to please her mother and father, sexy enough for Carmelo and the MC, but respectful enough for her, as well.
She stood and hung it on a hook by the mirror, facing away from Pina for a moment.
“Have you slept with that cop yet?” Pina suddenly burst out.