Toni was impatient for the dinner to be over.  There was nothing wrong with the dinner itself, nor did she particularly mind most of the people in attendance.  She just couldn't wait until tomorrow, the day her grandmother had promised would change her life.

She turned to look at Paul, seated next to her.  He seemed to be having mixed emotions, too; genuine pride at receiving the congratulations of so many family members and close friends complicated by the notion of so many well-wishers gorging and pickling themselves on his parents' dime.

Just you wait, thought Toni, tomorrow we'll show them all what the power of love can do.

Her hand touched the pendant strung around her neck on a braid of fine platinum and gold.  The "groom's gift," it far outshone their actual wedding bands, family heirlooms that Toni had insisted they use.  Paul had agreed to them after Toni had told him they were from her grandmother, but she suspected the enormous diamond pendant was his way of compensating for the rings' antique simplicity.

Toni hadn't been offended.  If her grandmother was to be believed, soon no one would be impressed by a mere diamond.

The parade of relatives had been exhausting.  There was Paul's cousin Noreen, who was too cheap to get a sitter, so her brat Avellyn ("not 'Evelyn,' Aay-vel-in!") wouldn't stop squalling all the way through the salad and soup courses.  Then there was Paul's brother-in-law Frank, who saw every gathering as an opportunity to plug his Acura dealership.  And, of course, there was Toni's own father, who, despite all the cancellation refund deadlines having long elapsed, still contrived to get her alone for one last plea for her to reconsider.

"C'mon, Tone," he said as they huddled around the corner from the coat-check.  "I don't even know where you met this guy.  Don't try to sell me that crossfit class line again.  He couldn't bench more than your Aunt Petunia."

"Does it really matter?" she replied with more patience than she felt.  "We've all had months to get to know each other."  Toni had had no difficulties curbing and assuaging her father's reservations, but she still didn't want to reveal (to anyone, much less her father) that she had actually met Paul through an anonymous online forum devoted to an obscure sexual fetish.

"I suppose not, Sweetie," he said.  "I just don't want to see you get taken advantage of.  It's a crazy world, and if you're not careful people will step all over you."

It was the same bullshit he always used to hem her in, but this time Toni didn't bristle the way she usually did.  Just one more day, she thought.

She spotted Paul at one end of the bar and pretended she had something urgent to tell him.  He was standing next to Tom, his best man.  They hadn't seen each other since high school, and Paul still occasionally referred to him as "Tommy."

Tom had arrived at the dinner over a half-hour later than the rest of the principals, and it seemed at first that he had forgotten his date.  It turned out that she had just been in the bar the whole time.  It was clear that had Tom not been standing next to her with her arm around his waist, she would have fallen off her stool long ago.

Even though Toni had only met Tom once briefly over a year ago, he brightened significantly at her approach.  "Here's the blushing bride!" he said too loudly, making Paul wince and Toni roll her eyes.  Tom's date had no reaction beyond a slightly deeper slump.

"I don't blush easy, Tom," she said sidling up next to Paul and casually squeezing his ass.

"Toni," said Tom with a grin, "I'd like you to meet Gloriana."  Toni could hear the recent rehearsals behind the last word.

"Delighted," said Toni, extending a hand.  The occasion called for an embrace, but that was clearly beyond Gloriana's capacity at the moment.  Toni helped her out by reaching forward and to clasp Gloriana's hand atop the bar.

"Pleased ta meetcha, Tina," slurred Gloriana.  "Congrats on getting this boy to the altar."  She started to pat Tom on the chest, but then stopped just short and pivoted to Paul, grabbing him by his upper arm.

Paul forced a grin on his face.  "That's kind of you, Gloria," he said, "but I'm the one to be congratulated.  I didn't deserve it, but Toni made me the happiest man on earth when she said yes."

Such false modesty, thought Toni.  She saw in Paul a man who deserved the entire world, including her.  Tomorrow they would start reaping the rewards of their love.

Paul and Toni turned to head back to the dining room, but she spotted someone standing out on the patio having a smoke.

"I'll catch up with you," she said to Paul with a peck on his cheek.  "Won't be a minute."  She pushed open the heavy door and stepped out into the warm June evening.  The smoking woman started when she saw Toni, then narrowed her eyes at her.

"Hello, Petunia," said Toni.  "Enjoy the dinner?"

The older woman exhaled smoke through her nose.  "No one can make a decent chowder anymore," she sniffed.  "It's a lost art."

"I'm sorry the venue is disappointing," replied Toni, "but I'm not marrying the chef."

"You really think he's the one?"

"I know so."

"What a waste.  You deserve someone better, even if you don't deserve the rings."

"How many times do you have to read Grandmother's will before you get over that?

"I was her daughter!  And I'm not foolish enough to throw away her gift on a complete loser!"

Toni just stood, there, marveling at how twisted by jealousy her aunt had become.  Even if she had tried to explain to Petunia how perfect Paul was both for her and for Grandmother's vision, Petunia would refuse to hear.

Toni slowly shook her head.  "I take it, then, you will be there tomorrow to see the prophecy fail?"

Petunia pursed her lips in contempt.  "Of course!"

"Nice try," replied Toni with a sneer.  "Did you really think you could keep me from noticing that you sold Grandmother's house, even if you didn't list it?"

Toni was surprised at how much she enjoyed seeing Petunia's eyes go wide when she called her bluff.

"I hope they nuke you!" hissed Petunia, flicking the remains of her cigarette at Toni and stalking out of the restaurant.

"Don't forget to write!" Toni called after her.

Returning to the dining room, Toni smiled serenely at the oblivious celebrants.  She was young, but she knew enough to savor the pangs of anticipation she was feeling now and would never feel again.

- - -

Toni woke to the smell of bacon.  She rarely made bacon at home, but Paul insisted on every indulgence when he made breakfast for her.  She hardly bothered with her hair and face before grabbing her robe and walking out to their kitchen.

She noted the plates of fruit already on the table in the nook, but she headed straight for Paul at the stove with his back to her.  He didn't flinch at all when she placed both her palms in the small of his back and ran them up over his shoulder blades and around his upper arms to his chest.  Eventually, he just rested his hands on the front of the stove, neglecting the bacon while she took what she needed.

"Don't you want to save some of that for tonight?" he chided.

Toni hugged him tight from behind, recognizing that this was just more of herself saying goodbye to their old life.  She knew better than to trouble Paul by simply saying so.

Paul served the bacon and they both sat down at the nook.  Toni sampled the melon balls as Paul tore into the bacon while it was still hot.  She loved watching him eat; his appetite was infectious.

"You know," he said after a savory swallow, "after we get back from the honeymoon, I wanna re-do the windows in here.  Natural light would really open the space up."

Toni admired his industry; she had definite plans for it, in fact.  She nodded approvingly.

"Really?" he asked.

"Sure."  There was no point in explaining now that she never intended to see the inside of their house again.

They continued to nervously avoid the day's proceedings as they showered, dressed, and drove to Toni's father's house.

"Don't be late," she said with a twinkle and a kiss before getting out of the car.

"If I am, it'll be Tommy's fault," he said wryly.

Toni swallowed and set her shoulders before entering the house she had burned to escape for so long.  She had prepared herself to be welcomed inside by her father, but in fact it was worse; the door was answered by his sister Fran.

"Here she is!" bellowed the short woman with the encaked face.  Toni didn't have time to register how little her childhood home had changed before Fran hustled her upstairs, where her cousins exhausted their meager stores of creativity trying to fit Toni into the absurdly elaborate gown her father had bought.  She eventually kicked them out of the room and abandoned the train and any ruffle or belt she couldn't fasten by herself.

When she emerged from the room, her father finally appeared.  If he noticed that the gown now took up less than half the volume it had at the first fitting, he didn't mention it.  Toni was nevertheless dreading the words he did say.  "If only your mother were alive to see you today."

Toni had no good response, despite having had the very same thought for months now.  It still gave her vertigo of sorts.  Had her mother in fact beaten the cancer two years ago, would the details of Grandmother's vision have changed, or would today even been happening at all?  Toni smiled the pained smile that had become reflexive regarding the subject of her mother.

Her father rescued her from the moment.  "At least Petunia will be there to represent her side of the family."

"Yes, I'll be glad to see her there," said Toni, enjoying a better memory.

Her father checked his watch.  "We better leave soon if we want to keep you under wraps."

Toni nodded, content to let the tide take her ashore.  She barely noticed as her father and his family packed her into the car, drove over to Holy Cross, and escorted her into the sacristy that on Saturdays served as a holding pen for impatient brides awaiting their cue, if not a pee break.

Toni's father had wanted to hold a full Mass, but Paul had rejected that even before Toni could say a word.  All that kneeling would have been unbearable to anyone, let alone someone swaddled in a wedding gown.  It still seemed an eternity to get everyone in place before her father returned to walk her into the spotlight.

The sea of faces turned to Toni, but she barely saw them.  It seemed to her as if she were floating down the aisle, seeing only the grinning face of Paul at the far end, magnified out of proportion, a Cheshire Cat head polluting the edifice of solemnity.  That's right motherfuckers, she thought, get ready for the Paul & Toni show!

She became conscious of her father's hand digging into her arm as she willed herself towards the end of the aisle, of the ceremony.  She slackened her pace to keep time with the processional, and she finally turned to look at the pews reserved for family.  Noreen and spawn were right on the aisle, Vera and Frank in the next pew, underdressed as always.  No sign of Petunia; she had almost certainly gotten on a plane no later than this morning.

Finally Toni reached the end and she felt herself exhale when her father let go of her arm and took his seat in the first pew.  She handed the bouquet to her cousin Marie, an utterly political choice as her Maid of Honor.  Marie's father Pete had been somewhat estranged from Toni's father, and Toni had wanted all of her father's family here today.  Uncle Pete had some connections at a swanky lakeside country club, and everyone had been ecstatic when he agreed for the reception to be fully catered there.  Everyone except Toni, who expected to see very little of the chocolate fountain.

Paul's grin retreated to a smirk as he reached out with both arms and took Toni's hands in his.  Father Michael started droning on, and again Toni's world shrank to just her and Paul.  We're almost there, Toni thought, her blood humming in her ears.  How many Ephesians still lay between us and our destiny?

It had fallen to Toni to insist upon the one deviation from tradition that cost her real political capital.  Both families had been eager to nominate precocious waifs to act as ringbearers, and Toni absolutely refused to let her grandmother's rings out of her custody, even during the rehearsal.  She had wanted to hold onto them all the way until the ceremony, but of course her stupid gown didn't have any pockets.  So that morning she had surrendered them to Paul, who had been hoping to delegate them to Tom until the proper moment.

"It's traditional, Tone," he had said.  "It's about the only job a best man has, and you want to take it away from him?"

For the hundredth time, Toni had been tempted to fully explain her concerns to Paul, and for the hundredth time she decided not to strain his credulity at a fraught moment.

"Alright," she had relented, "Just don't let him have them until just before the ceremony starts."

Her grudging words echoed in her head as she searched Paul's eyes, the cue fast approaching.  Don't fuck us now Tom, she wished fervently.  The time came, and Toni's heart stopped as Paul turned to Tom, who looked momentarily stunned.  Then he smiled and reached into his tux jacket and brought out the case.  Paul opened it, and there they were, looking the same as they had when she last seen them that morning.

Toni had worn both rings at various times in recent months and she knew that there was nothing intrinsically special about them.  It was the commitment they symbolized, Grandmother had said.  That's where the power lies.  Toni's scalp tingled as Paul slid her ring over her finger.  A calm descended over her as she plucked Paul's ring from the case held by Tom, then she fitted it over Paul's trembling fingertip.

Father Michael started up again, but Toni's patience was exhausted.  Grasping both of Paul's hands she pulled him close for a passionate kiss.  She heard the priest stumble over his homily and fall silent, along with scattered hoots and claps from the congregation.  When she opened her eyes, she glimpsed Tom grinning, but then she could only gaze at the shuddering form of Paul.

His breathing was labored, and his eyes frantically searched hers.  His gut clenched, and beads of sweat appeared on his brow.  Finally, realization of her agency dawned in his eyes.  "What did you—" he muttered before another convulsion seized him.

Toni's vision dimmed and her blood rushed in her ears, and Paul and the congregation and the church fell out of her awareness.  Pain bit into her shoulders and ribs and chest, and she grinned at the knowledge that her fucking ugly gown was to be her first victim.  Its death cries as she burst through its hand-sewn seams were drowned out by her own shout of joy.  The skirts, the lingerie, the overpriced shoes, all ripped and ruined as her expanding body left human proportions behind.  Only Grandmother's ring, of course, kept pace.

Toni wrenched her eyes open to glance at Paul, his own tux in tatters.  The first of many damage deposits to be lost today, she thought giddily.

They were both over eight feet tall, and their growth was accelerating.  Another wave of delicious pain ripped through Toni, provoking a grunt deeper than she had ever uttered.  She turned her gaze to the pews and found her father, staring up at her in astonishment.  Their eyes met, and he took an involuntary step backward.  Sound instincts, she thought.

She cracked her head on the ceiling and reflexively hunched her back to conform to the once-cavernous dimensions of the cathedral.  Grimacing at her bad habit, Toni threw her head and shoulders back and exploded through the reinforced concrete.  Passing fifty feet in height, Paul stood up through the collapsing rubble, his eyes blinking from the sunlight, the masonry dust, and the sight of his nude bride rising into the sky.

Toni grinned at her stunned consort and turned to survey their new realm.  The city that they had both grown up in would be the first to witness their glory and suffer their appetites.  And they continued to grow.  One hundred, two hundred, three hundred feet tall, passing all points of reference.

Bewildered, Paul gingerly lifted his feet out of the ruined cathedral and sat down in the relatively open parking lot, his gigantic ass flattening a dozen cars.  Toni discovered that, as she focused her attention on one spot or another, she could hear the slightest sound or voice, however tiny or distant.  So it was that she knew seven people had been crushed to death by Paul's lovely, immense butt.  Just as Grandmother foretold, she thought, we are gods walking the earth.

Something stirred at Toni's feet, and she directed her gaze downward.  There, next to the wrecked altar, squirmed the tiny figure of Father Michael.  Puny next to the ball of her foot, he appeared to Toni no more than half an inch tall.  The barest movement of her foot, a reposition for balance, and the priest who had admonished her throughout her childhood would be pulped.  Her chest filled with justice and glee.

She squatted down over the altar, her shameless thighs and labia spreading as she came.  "I apologize, Father," she thundered, "I realize this isn't your preferred view."

Toni settled on her haunches and drunk her fill of the priest's terror.  "I just want you to know that I still remember my catechism.  I have a new one for you.  Drink this in remembrance of me, which I'm afraid won't be very long in your case."

A geyser of urine sprayed forth from Toni's gaping crotch, knocking Father Michael off his feet and flooding the altar.  As her piss inundated the doomed priest and all the sacred frippery, Toni enjoyed a memory from when she was six and had discovered an assembly of ants on a neighborhood sidewalk.

Although the tiny priest had undoubtedly perished under her piss, Toni needed this first judgment to be final and beyond appeal.  She stood back up, and with a nudge of her foot she destroyed the foundation holding up the remainder of the cathedral, bringing it all down on top of the ruins that still trapped dozens of their guests, whose death rattles filled her ears like the cracking of a hundred insect carapaces.

"Isn't it wonderful?" she gushed, looking around for Paul.  He wasn't in the parking lot anymore, but she saw someone trying to flee on foot and her pursuit instinct took over.  She raised one mighty foot, but then she was grappled from behind.  Astonished, she whirled around.

"Have you lost your mind?" bellowed Paul, the largest creature on earth.  "You just killed everyone!  Our family!"

Toni blinked.  She had known Paul would need some time to adjust, but now she was fearing the worst.  They would soon start being recorded, if they weren't already.  If they were to rule this world, appearances would have to be kept up.

"What's wrong?" she asked as quietly as a seven-hundred-foot-tall person could.  "This is what we've always dreamed about.  The very first story you ever wrote for me was just like this."

Paul's jaw dropped.  "That was a fantasy, Toni!  Just a fantasy!  We play with evil fantasies so we can be good people in real life!  Are you telling me you don't get that?"

Toni began to feel sick.  This isn't happening, she thought.  He's going to say he's kidding.  Any moment now.

Paul's face withered in disgust, as he slowly shook his head at her.  "You're not really this evil, are you?" he said.  "You really didn't plan for this?"  He gestured at himself and at her.

Fighting back tears, Toni nodded.  "Good and evil, those words don't apply to us anymore, Paul!  We can rule the world, kill whoever we want, make it work right!  Grandmother's prophecy wouldn't have worked if we weren't destined for this."

Paul scowled.  "Prophecy?" he spat.  He held up his left hand, brandishing the right.  "You mean these ugly things?  I can't believe you did this to us!"  He yanked the ring off and flung it at her, then turned around and knelt down by the ruined cathedral, lifting girders and sifting through the rubble.

The love of Toni's life was over seven-hundred feet tall, nude, and bent forward, performing feats of godlike strength, but she couldn't look at him.  Instead she was staring at Paul's ring, lying atop the rubble at her feet where it had fallen.

She felt as if an icicle had pierced her heart.  The greatest gift anyone had ever been given had just been thrown back in her face.  The sirens and screams faded from her consciousness, and the chill sunk into her stomach as she realized just how alone she was.

Toni looked up at the swarm of news and police helicopters approaching.  They're coming for you, said a voice in her head that sounded like Petunia.  Toni snorted.  Let 'em try, she thought.  Remembering her contempt, she burned through the chill in her gut, transforming it into bile.  He's still a slave, she thought, expectorating her disappointment.  I loved him enough to make him a god, and he turned his back on me, turned back to his chains.

She knelt down and picked the ring up off the ground, then slid it over her fingertip and down against the other ring.  She barely registered that the rings nested securely together, the filigrees interlocking.  Then she stepped forward and grabbed Paul by the shoulder.

He stood up and spun around, looking down into her bitter eyes.

"You aren't the man I loved," she said, then spat a barrage of phlegm into his face.