Marilyn Brant: According to Jane

I catch a glimpse of Sam in the hallway as the procession heads outside. He’s leaning up against a marble pillar, the cell phone still in one hand and, in the other, a stray pink rose that must’ve escaped one of the bouquets.

I mouth, “Well?”

He nods, raising the rose like a champagne flute in my direction, toasting me. “It’s done,” he mouths back.

We exchange weary smiles before Nick escorts me to my place in the receiving line. I give Di the news via a thumbs-up, and my sister whispers, “I’m thinking maybe you should marry this Sam guy. I know you said he can be a pain in the ass, but he’s hot, and I kinda like him.”

High praise indeed.

I laugh at her suggestion, but a tiny niggle of hope begins to tango within me, kicking at the dust in my soul and stirring up all sorts of things it probably shouldn’t.

I open myself up to the feeling anyway, and I find I’m overwhelmed by a happiness I can’t sweep away.

If you can overlook Mr. Blaine’s endless infractions toward you merely because he rushed to your aid at long last , Jane complains, you are ridiculously forgiving. Either that or incredibly foolish .

And you, Jane, are unbelievably prejudiced against him , I retort, unable to contain the silly grin that’s found its home on my lips. Sam’s grown up. I believe he really —

Is unchanged , Jane interrupts. For all your romanticism, you must realize the gentleman has done nothing worthy of note. He has not saved your family’s reputation or partaken in any pursuit that requires his specialized skill or resources —

What do you mean? He DID use his resources. He called in his contacts to get us some music for tonight .

Perhaps he may have acquired the musical entertainment for your sister’s wedding dance, but this hardly indicates a grand commitment of time or effort. It fails to show an improvement in his character or his temperament or —

Sure it does. Jane, you’re being absurd!

After a long, silent moment she says, It has been my private mission to see you happily settled in this life, Ellie. Because I care about you and…and because you are the descendant of someone very dear to me. There. I have said it at last . She pauses. But I fear I have failed you .

No, you haven’t! You’ve been amazing. You tried to direct me away from hurt and harm even when I seemed determined to screw things up, and I — Then it hits me. Wait, your Clergyman By The Sea? He’s a relative of MINE?

Yes. He died, of course, but his brother the doctor — an arrogant man, similar in temperament to your Mr. Blaine and an individual I confess I did not much like — DID marry and have children. You come from the last branch of that family’s line .

I cover my mouth with both palms and close my eyes as I try to process this. Oh, Jane .

She sighs softly. Ellie, I waited almost two centuries to find just the right one of his ancestors with whom to share what I know of human nature, what I recognize to be true about love and passion. I waited to try to connect with his one descendant that I felt shared an outlook on life most like mine, in hopes of making her life better. Perhaps it is a small gift. Perhaps it has been hopelessly ineffective, but it is the only one I have left to give to the memory of the man I loved. And to you .

I hear her out, and my heart fills with appreciation for all she’s tried to do for me since the moment I first held that paperback copy of Pride and Prejudice . My heart fills also with the pain of love’s loss — one she’s carried with her for far, far too long.

I love you, Jane, and I’m indebted to you , I tell her. I’m so honored to be the one you chose…I can’t tell you how much. But now you need to let me handle my own destiny. Or at least the tiny bit of it I control. I promise I’ll try to make you proud .

If you will thank me…let it be

for yourself alone…your family

owe me nothing. Much as I

respect them, I believe I thought only of you .

— Pride and Prejudice

Four hours later, at the reception, the Glen Forest Four Seasons Hotel glitters with tiny white lights on the outside but, on the inside, in Di and Alex’s reception ballroom (the Manitoba Room, not the Winnebago), the color scheme sparkles with deep violets, smooth lavenders and accents in lilac.

The lovely dinner, complemented by good wine and humorous, heartfelt toasts to the couple, has ended. The photogenic cake-cutting ritual has, likewise, passed. And, at last, the dance party begins.

“Oh, my God,” Di says, pointing at Sam and the just-arriving, hunky-looking DJ, who are busy making final adjustments to the sound system. “You know who that is, don’t you?”

I study the DJ’s chiseled profile but can’t recall any similarity to anyone in our acquaintance. “No,” I say.

“It’s Wild Ted in the Morning!”

“Can’t be.”

Di grins. “Yeah, it can be. WXRJ’s Wild Ted. He always does the weekday morning show and those eighties retrospectives you love.”

“How can you be so sure that’s him?”

“Seen him on a billboard out near O’Hare, and he was a guest VJ on VH1 once.”

“Oh, wow,” I say. “I never would’ve guessed he looked like that . I mean, he sounds great on the air and everything, but DJs aren’t usually so — ”

“Scandalously gorgeous?” Di concludes for me. I nod. “Yeah,” she says. “But he’s also got one of the most famous voices in Chicago. I wonder what your Sam had to do to convince him to come here…and last minute like this.”

“He’s not my Sam,” I say, mentally adding not yet , “and I don’t know.” But Di is right to wonder. Getting Wild Ted to work a non-celebrity wedding on one of his free Saturday nights has to be an expensive venture, even if there’s some kind of favor-payback involved. “I’ll go ask Sam how much we owe him.”

Di nods, worrying her lip a bit.

I walk around the edge of the dance floor, approaching Sam and the DJ just as they flip on the microphone.

“Helllloooo, Barnett and Evans families! Let’s give a shout out to the reunited newlyweds, Di and Alex!” The DJ pauses while everyone cheers. “Congratulations, you lovebirds, and welcome to all your friends. I’m Wild Ted — ” brief pause for delighted gasps, “and I’m here to kick off this rockin’ party with the first dance. By bridal request, here’s Billy Idol’s ‘White Wedding’!”

I catch Sam’s eye as the distinctive electric-guitar opening bursts through the speakers. He winks at me, and I walk to meet him at the corner of the dance floor.

“So, is this good?” he asks.

I reach for his hands, squeeze his strong fingers, feel the current flowing between us. “This is great , but Wild Ted…how on earth did you — ” I shake my head. “This had to take more than a phone call, Sam. We’ll pay you back, of course, but — ”

“No, you won’t.” Sam brings my fingers to his lips and starts to sway as if we’re beginning to dance. “Consider it my wedding gift to your sister.”

“Quite a wedding gift.”

“Quite a wedding,” he replies, eyeing Di and Alex with a raised brow. “Besides, my motives were ultimately selfish. I really was only thinking of you, Ellie…and how much I wanted to dance with you tonight.”

“Oh,” I say, the crazy pounding in my chest becoming more frenzied at these words. “Well, of course we can — ”

“Excuse me,” Nick says behind me. I turn to look at Alex’s brother. A good-looking guy, to be sure, and a nice one, but he’s just not Sam. I’m coming to understand that nobody , no matter how smart or attractive, is Sam…except for Sam. An obvious concept for most people, but a real lightning-bolt realization for me.