Chani
Recap: Chani has announced her engagement to Effi to her sister Mindy and begins informing others.
Mrs. Rosner, as might be expected, was deeply taken aback when Chani called her as soon as she hung up with Mindy. “I have some news to announce,” she said, an unmistakable glow in her voice. “There’s a l’chaim at our house tonight, and you’re invited. I’m getting engaged to Effi Weinberg!”
Shulamis, caught in the teacher’s room between her 11th and 12th grade English classes, was dumbfounded. “Are you sure?” she said. “I thought Yerucham looked like such a good idea for you!”
“I never got a good sense of Yerucham. Something about him always made me very nervous,” Chani said. “Then I have a friend who told me some things about him that I prefer not to repeat, but let’s just say they made me decide that pursuing it was not an option for me.”
“You wouldn’t have even had to change your name! He’s family!” Shulamis protested feebly. She poured herself a cup of coffee as if reaching for a stiff drink.
“I’m not that invested in continuing the family name,” Chani said.
“But—are you sure Effi is the kind of man you’re looking for?” Chani could hear that Shulamis was having a hard time shifting gears, after pinning all her hopes on Yerucham.
Chani stifled the urge to scream in frustration: Of course he is, and he was eight years ago! But she said, quite calmly under the circumstances, “Mrs. Rosner, I believe he was my type from the beginning, and believe it or not, he never forgot me either. Neither of us ever found anyone else we liked as much as we’d liked each other eight years ago!
“I understand why you discouraged me from continuing the shidduch when we went out years ago, but today things have changed, and it’s a different story. I’m not intent on marrying a rosh yeshiva anymore, just a solid guy with good middos. Effi is definitely that! He’s a hard worker and financially more than stable, and I’m quite sure he’ll make a great husband and father.”
Mrs. Rosner frowned, perplexed. “But before—as I remember—as a young man he was so self-confident, almost jumpy. I was worried maybe he was arrogant.”
“Not at all! He’s bright and he knows it, that’s all. I actually think he’s exceptionally modest given how much he’s achieved in his life so far.” She chuckled. “He tells me the people he knows in the Silicon Valley are such uber-geniuses he could never consider himself particularly gifted. And he is energetic, that’s true. Why is that bad? Can you find a single thing to fault him with since he’s been back in Brooklyn?”
“I suppose not,” Mrs. Rosner admitted. Yes, she had originally thought the young man was impetuous. But come to think of it, if he had really never forgotten Chani during all these years, that was surely a sign of an admirable level of constancy. Had she made a terrible mistake in telling Chani to break off the shidduch all those years ago? Was it her fault it had taken Chani so long to get married? That was a question that ran a serious risk of keeping her up at night, for she truly was a goodhearted person who had only wanted the best for Chani. “All’s well that ends well,” she told herself firmly.
And clearly Chani was on a cloud, and seeing her happiness warmed her heart. She decided to put her old mistrusts to the side (while still keeping her eyes open, just in case) and do her best to welcome Effi into the “family.”
“I’ll drive down. What time should I be there?” she said. “Tell me fast, because I’m late for my class. But truly, I couldn’t think of a nicer reason! Mazel tov!”
The l’chaim that evening was small and warm, just the two families. Effi, buoyed by his exhilaration at finally getting the girl he wanted, was able to be generous of heart and welcoming to Mrs. Rosner, forgiving her the years of pain and suffering that had been due in no small part to her prior interference and missed judgment call. Mrs. Rosner, for her part, was grateful for his lack of rancor, and did her utmost to wish him a sincere mazel tov.
To the vast delight of her colleagues, Chani appeared at the agency the following day with a scintillating bracelet on her arm and the exhilarating news that she was—finally—engaged. “He was someone I dated years ago, and back then we didn’t think it was shayach,” she told her enthralled coworkers. “But we met again this summer and everything just clicked into place this time.”
Tammy, her supervisor, was the first to wrap her in a bear hug. “No one deserves this more than you!” she said. Chani was pelted with questions about the lucky guy and Tammy ran out and brought back a fancy cake to their weekly meeting to celebrate. Only Ita, the sharp-witted secretary who read the Wall Street Journal cover to cover during her breaks, picked up on who Effi was in the business world. “OMG, Chani!” she gasped. “He’s the one who did that real estate app with his brother-in-law? We’ll lose you! You won’t need to work for us anymore!”
Chani grinned. “I would work here even if I didn’t need the money,” she said.
Her work friends filled her home the following Sunday evening at her vort, which Shiffy and Avraham had insisted on hosting at the Elman house. “Why should you rent a hall?” Shiffy said practically, tactfully not mentioning the dire financial straits that had led to the Krausses occupying their house in the first place. “This house is huge, there’s more than enough room for a crowd. We’ll just pay for a caterer and someone to clean up after.”
The upshot was that Velvel was able to host a vort for his second daughter in his very own home, as if he were still the lord of his own castle, graciously accepting the congratulations of his friends and posing with the chassan for the photographer of his beloved local Jewish Times, on a cloud at the idea he’d appear the following week with a caption describing his future son-in-law as a young, self-made gvir. Chani, for her part, was more than happy to eschew publicity, although she looked radiant in a floor-length, periwinkle-blue dress that made her eyes look violet, posing only for family photos.
Zahava, swathed in a sleek, baby blue number that played up her carefully nurtured tan, accepted congratulations while doing her best to keep a smile on her face. She really was trying hard not to be jealous of her younger sister with her rich, good-looking fiancé, not to mention the stunning yet modestly sized two-carat diamond on her finger. Rikki stayed at her side, supportive and sparkling as she always was at parties, her long auburn wig aflame against a turquoise silk dress. Yerucham had come to the vort, and stopped briefly to wish them mazel tov, and was rewarded with glowing smiles from both of them.
Mindy followed her sisters’ color choices by choosing a gown in lavender blue, with a high waist that hid her baby bump. She brought her children along for pictures, then sent them home to a babysitter so she could enjoy herself. Hennie and Lieba, and their chassonim and parents, couldn’t be more pleased for Chani. “You know how highly we think of Effi!” Mrs. Moskowitz beamed. “And now he’ll be our Chezky’s brother-in-law!”
The Weinberg clan showed up, filling the house with Effi’s seven siblings, of whom five were married and came with children. As Chani had predicted, his parents actually showed up in frum-compliant clothing, his father in a white shirt and black suit, his mother in makeup, a swirly silk dress, and a surprisingly sleek wig. Rabbi Nati was there with his pleasant wife, and Velvel was now able to place his face from local community affairs.
The Weinbergs were all exuberant that Effi had finally found a girl, and Chani made a point to introduce her future sister-in-law Elana, the one with the clothing store, to Zahava, who actually followed her Insta posts. “I remember—you just posted your fall line!” Zahava said, as Rikki listened along raptly. “There was one dress I really liked, like a houndstooth print?”
Elana laughed. “You have a great eye!” she said, lifting up a redheaded toddler. “Come in, and I’ll give you a family discount! We’re all going to need dresses for sheva brachos, right?”
To be continued.