Feeling the weight of the entire family on my shoulders, I held my breath, waiting for a response. After a few moments Sheree mouthed the words, “Thank you.” The look on her face was all I needed to see to know that whether she got married or not, the curse had been broken.

And then, that very moment, I saw the truth. The real truth. I did have love. I’ve had it for almost my entire life. I’ve had it in the kindest, most sincere, most honorable man in the world. A man who has loved me since I was six years old.

“William!” I said aloud. “William! I’ve been blind. I’ve been stupid. If your offer still stands, and you still want me, I’m here! I’m right here,” I said, willing to put it all on the line for one shining moment. “William!” I shouted, scanning the room from the podium. By now everyone in the room was calling his name, searching, hoping that he would respond. I could feel my moment swiftly starting to dim when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Montana, William’s not here. He left fifteen minutes ago,” my mother whispered into my ear.

“He did?”

“He did. So now that you’ve made a complete ass out of yourself, and this time I don’t mean the one that’s in the Bible, and you’ve alienated every woman in this entire family, are you happy?” she said, staring in my face, seeing in my eyes that my whole world had just crumbled.

Dropping the microphone on the podium, as the feedback rang through the room, I ran down off the stand, past Sheree and her fiancé, past Sam, past Aunt Daisy from Dallas—“Baby?”—past Uncle Clarence from Cleveland—“Good Lord!”—and past second cousin Mertile from Memphis—“M—M—Mon—” I ran through the room and out into the hallway where I burst into tears, hearing my mother’s voice through the door.

“Okay everybody, wasn’t that nice? Now, it’s time for more music and merriment as we celebrate the happiest day of a young girl’s life. My youngest daughter Sheree is headed down the road to becoming a woman. Clarence, wake up! Daisy! Mertile! Let’s hear it for Sheree and her new fiancé! Her new fiancé—whatever his name is!”

Sam burst through the door, himself almost in tears. Seeing me as distraught as I was, he came and hugged me.

“Oh Montana, this isn’t how the story was supposed to end!”

“Well, how did Funny Girl end?”

“Like this. But I thought things were at least going to work out better for you. If you don’t stop crying you’re gonna make me start crying, and I don’t want to start crying ’cause once I get started, I can’t stop.”