Silent Bite-A Scanguards Wedding (1001 Dark Nights) by Tina Folsom Page B

Ursula slapped her hand over her mouth, then quickly scanned the room to see if her mother was close by. To her relief, she was still harassing the poor seamstress and giving her tips on how to do her job.
    When she turned back to Maya and Delilah, both women were chuckling.
    “Guess our Oliver has become quite a man,” Delilah said, the affection for him shining through her words and eyes.
    Ursula dropped her lids, suddenly embarrassed. “My parents don’t know.”
    Ursula felt a hand on her forearm and looked up. Maya squeezed her arm briefly. “And they won’t hear it from us.”
    “Thank you!”
    “So, about the dress,” Delilah started.
    “Don’t worry,” Ursula said. “There should be enough inside seam so the seamstress can let it out to make it wide enough so you can breathe comfortably. Let me get her.”
    She walked to the seamstress, who knelt in front of Yvette to adjust the seam of her dress, and tapped her on the shoulder. “Ms. Petrochelli? Could you please help out my friend Delilah? Her dress is too tight. You’ll need to let a little bit of the seam out.”
    “Too tight?” her mother interrupted, a panicked look on her face. “But you said she wore a size six. We bought her a size six.”
    “Yes, but it’s just a little too tight.” Ursula tried to calm her down, but it appeared it was already too late. Her mother had switched to panic mode and was already moving toward Delilah.
    With a sigh, Ursula looked over her shoulder and watched how she stepped behind Delilah to try to zip her up. Then she gesticulated wildly and Ursula had to turn away. She couldn’t watch. It would only make her stress about things even more.
    “Your mother takes things too seriously,” Yvette suddenly said, making Ursula look at her and smile.
    “Don’t all mothers?” She simply shrugged then let her eyes wander over Yvette’s red dress. “You look great in this. It’s totally your color.”
    Yvette smiled broadly. “I love it. I was just a little surprised that you chose red for the bridesmaid’s dresses. Normally the bridesmaids get to wear some ghastly color like pink or orange, just so that they can’t upstage the bride.”
    “Red means good luck at a Chinese wedding. The more red the better. Besides, with all of you except for Rose and Nina having dark hair, I figured it’s a color that would look good on all of you.” She chuckled. “And Rose and Nina can wear any color they want anyway.”
    Yvette laughed and winked at her. “Yes, blondes have all the fun.”
    Ursula had never seen her so lighthearted. As she joined in Yvette’s laughter, she heard her mother’s shocked gasp and turned, wondering what had gone wrong now.
    Her mother stalked toward her, eyes wide, a dismayed look on her face. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
    Instinctively, Ursula backed away. Had somebody let it slip that she’d been living with Oliver? “Tell you what?” she managed to ask, trying to buy herself some time.
    “About Oliver’s date of birth!” Her mother’s cheeks were flushed as her voice rose.
    The other women fell silent and were suddenly all staring at them.
    “Why didn’t you tell me that he was born on the fourth of April?”
    Ursula stared blankly at her mother. “What?” And who had even told her? She looked at the faces of her bridesmaids and saw Rose shrug and make a helpless gesture.
    “Your mother asked so she could get a horoscope done as a surprise gift,” Rose said apologetically.
    “The fourth day of the fourth month, Ursula! How could you keep this from me?” her mother asked again.
    That’s when it finally clicked. It was a bad omen. With four meaning death in Chinese culture, for the groom to have two fours in his birth date spelled disaster. Ursula didn’t believe in these superstitions, having grown up mostly in Western culture, but her mother was still too engrained in the old beliefs.
    “It doesn’t matter, Mom!” she answered.
    “It matters! Have you no respect