Chapter 24 Don’t Tell Bubbe

New Year's is the time to titivate like you've never titivated before. Time for dark lipstick, gold sequins, and glitter. Lots of glitter. Leah took this opportunity very seriously, stepping into a shiny dress that she would never wear on any other night of the year. She didn't care that she'd be wasting this fabulous New Year's dress at a wedding where most of the guests would be related to her or at least one or two generations older. She'd make the most of her New Year's no matter where she was.

She and Gabe arrived at the hotel the morning after the rehearsal dinner, which, according to Leah's mom, was so classy and so beautiful, and such a shame that Leah chose not to attend. But while Leah wanted (sort of) to celebrate her cousin's nuptials, she also wanted to limit Gabe-exposure to her family.

"Well, you need to sow your wild oats sometime," Leah's mom had said when Leah told her who would be her plus one. "This will be a good opportunity for you to realize that he isn't exactly a fit for you. "

Leah rolled her eyes but reveled in the victory that her mother agreed to add Gabe to their RSVP, even if her mother thought it just might end their relationship.

She and Gabe were not getting ready in their hotel room where she added dark shades of makeup and glitter to her face. Any more shine and she would have been mistaken for a showgirl or perhaps a disco ball.

"Wow." Gabe stepped back when she walked out of the bathroom. "What did you do with my girlfriend?" Flattered, Leah twirled around, her shiny dress dazzling in the dim hotel room lights. "You look incredible." Gabe, too, looked pretty incredible. He surely didn't titivate like Leah did, but he was wearing a dress shirt so black that it surely had never been washed and black slacks creased like he knew what he was doing. He put his arms around Leah's waist, stopping her twirl, and pulled her in. "I wish I could show you off to all my friends," he said as he kissed her. Leah too wished she could be shown off, but instead, she'd be showing him off, in a way.

As they were about to leave the room, Leah's phone buzzed. She grabbed it from the counter.

Sure you're not coming? Asher's message included a picture of her friends all scrunched together smiling with red cups framing their faces.

Next time! Tell everyone I miss them! She quickly typed back and shoved the phone into her tiny purse. They held hands as they left their room and walked down the carpeted hall to the elevators where Leah couldn't help but stare at their reflection in the mirror. They were a good-looking couple, she thought.

The elevator came and they sped down to a reception hall where people were already standing around eating passed hors d'oeuvres and ogling the room's décor. A waitress came by with sliders and Leah and Gabe each grabbed one.

"Yum," Gabe said after devouring the tiny burger in two bites. Leah agreed while still chewing her first mouthful. "But it's missing something."

"What?" She tried to say through chews.

"Cheese!" He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Leah tried to finish her bite so she could explain to him the reason there was no cheese and why there would be absolutely nothing featuring cheese or any other milk product during the entire wedding. Even desserts and coffee would be served with fake milk substitutes and everyone would comment that the wedding cake was "pretty good considering," but in truth it would be just a bland dry cake with fake buttercream, ensuring that the entire event was kosher.

In truth, Leah had never even had a slider with cheese on it, and not because she really cared about kosher. Only because she had grown up knowing that cheese on meat was bad and she really didn't think she was missing anything by eating cheese-less burgers. But maybe she was?

Leah didn't have time to tell Gabe all these things because by the time she finished her bite, her mom had reached them and wrapped Leah in a big hug before giving Gabe an awkward embrace.

"You let us know if you have any questions about the ceremony," Savannah said to Gabe. "It might be different than what you're used to."

Gabe nodded politely while Savannah continued talking. "Did you see your table assignment? Where are you sitting?"

Leah hadn't yet looked for their little placard and she shook her head.

"Just pray you aren't sitting with Bubbe," she responded. "Have you said hi to your Bubbe yet?"

Again Leah shook her head. She hadn't seen her grandma yet and in truth, she was a little wary about introducing Gabe to her.

"Just don't tell her about Gabe," Savannah said. "Or tell her that Gabe grew up reform. Or maybe that his synagogue was a little progressive or something."

Leah nodded and tried to shake a conspiring smile with Gabe, who curled half his lips and looked around.

"All right, well have fun!" Savannah suggested. "Go find some of your other cousins! You guys always used to have fun together! By the way, where is Shira?"

Leah shrugged. She knew her sister had arrived the night before and had attended the rehearsal dinner but she hadn't yet arrived at the wedding. Savannah clicked her tongue and then waved off to some other relative who she was extra excited to see, leaving Leah and Gabe alone again.

"Should we go see what table we're at?" Leah asked and flicked her head toward the table where the placards were set.

"Is it a problem that I'm not Jewish?" Gabe asked. He was looking around the room, but then his eyes stopped on Leah. She could see what he saw. Most of the men were wearing kippahs. Some were dressed in dark suits and had long beards. A few of the women in the reception had their heads covered.

"It's just not something my family is used to," Leah responded while she scanned the placards. "Here we are! Table nine!"

"It seems like it's a bigger issue than that if you have to lie to your grandma," he said.

"That's just her generation!" Leah defended. "It's OK, don't worry about it. When they get to know you, they will like you for who you are." Leah hoped what she said was true, but she didn't actually believe it herself.

When the reception flowed to the ceremony, she and Gabe grabbed seats in one of the middle rows, just as Shira waltzed in. She waved and shuffled in her heels to sit next to Leah.

"Pretty brave of you to bring Gabe here," she commented quietly into Leah's ear. Leah smiled and shrugged, trying to pretend like it was no big deal, but she was starting to wonder if it was a mistake. Should she have come alone? Sacrificed a New Year's midnight kiss to hide her non-Jewish boyfriend from her family?

The ceremony began with a harp and Leah saw her Bubbe walk down the aisle with one of her cousins. Her Bubbe caught her eye and waved to her. Leah waved back and blew her a kiss. She loved her Bubbe, who made the best matzah ball soup. Her Bubbe who had numbers tattooed on her arm from when she was a little girl in Poland and the Nazis imprisoned her in Auschwitz. Her Bubbe, who hasn't spoken to her own brother since 1964 because he married a shiksa . Her Bubbe, who could never find out that Gabe wasn't Jewish.

No one had to tell Bubbe, Leah reasoned to herself. If no one brought it up, her Bubbe would just assume. With a name like Gabe, there would be no reason to suspect, especially when Leah had always assured her Bubbe that she would only ever date Jewish boys. It was one of the conditions to receive her inheritance.

Leah then turned to watch the bridesmaids and groomsmen parade down the aisle and line up along the edge of the chuppah. She felt like she was watching the wedding as an outsider, an anthropologist studying the bizarre rituals of a hidden tribe. She watched the rabbi sing with a raised kiddush cup. She watched Rebecca circle her new husband seven times.

"Hope he doesn't mess up!" Shira joked when their cousin's new husband stepped on the foil-wrapped glass. Leah chuckled uncomfortably, looking at Gabe. What did he think of these rituals? Did he find them barbaric? Too traditional? Just plain strange?

When the glass shattered, everyone stood up and clapped, while Rebecca and her new husband kissed each other under the chuppah.

"That was beautiful," Gabe said while clapping with the crowd. Leah nodded with relief. Maybe their culture wasn't so foreign after all.