She fixed her veil and peered into the mirror to scrutinize her features. “I think I look pale”, she announced critically and sighed. “Don’t be ridiculous! You look beautiful.”, her mother laughed. Not convinced, she turned around and headed for the door. “Where are you going? You are getting married in an hour!”, her mother scolded. “I am going to meet my to-be husband, Mother. I need to know I look good.”

As she turned the doorknob, her mother hurried and pulled her back, “Don’t be silly, dear. It’s bad luck to see the bride before the wedding. You can ask him at the altar.” She tilted her head and bit her lower lip, “Okay, I will wait, but-” Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” cut across her words and she bent to pick up her cellphone from the dresser. “It’s him. Why is he calling me now? Has he changed his mind?”, she stared at the screen where her fiance’s name and picture flashed with the song still jarring through the room. “Oh, just pick it up and talk to the poor guy!”, her mother implored going over to the mirror to peer at herself, not unlike the way her daughter had been doing earlier.

The bride, exquisitely wrapped in white kept staring at the phone until the call got cancelled and then, straightening her shoulders, dialed his number. “Hello, are you okay? Why didn’t you receive my call earlier?”, came the familiar voice through the speaker and she relaxed and replied, “I don’t know. I kept staring at the screen but then as I was going to receive it, it got disconnected. What happened?”

“Walk up to the mirror for me and tell me what you see.”

“What? But why?”

“Just do it.”

“I see a pale woman dressed in white with a ridiculous veil covering her face, talking on a phone all the while waving her free hand like a maniac.”

“Look closely. And you will see the woman I fell for. The woman of my dreams. She is the woman I will walk down the aisle today and spend the rest of my life with. I love you.” and the phone clicked.

She stared at the woman in the mirror and smiled. Her faith was restored.