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WEDDING SURPRISE OF THE YEAR

Hindenburg stars' red-hot romance sparks controversy: Actors Bruno di Blase and Greta Woolston wed in media firestorm…

It blossomed on the set of Hindenburg, last year's mega-movie blockbuster, which broke all previous earnings records and garnered seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture: a romance that, unlike the relationship of the heroic characters the two stars portrayed on screen, many said would never last. Now two of the hottest stars in Hollywood have delighted fans by making their big-screen romance a reality….

"Yo."

Officer Nick Calabrese stared down at the front page of the New York Post. The Post, man. The freaking thing had made the Post. Even worse, the front page of the Post.

"Yo, a little help over here, please?"

Nick glanced at the other papers lining the front of the newsstand. The Daily News had it, too. Newsday. Even USA Today. About the only paper it hadn't made the cover of was the New York Times, and Nick was certain it would be in there somewhere. The Metro section, probably.

Jesus!

"Yo, Calabrese," snarled Officer Gerard "G" West, as he struggled to place handcuffs on a local junkie who was proving reluctant to come along quietly. "You gonna stand there readin' the funnies, or are you gonna help me with this guy?"

Nick picked up a copy of the Post and strolled over to his partner, pointing to the picture of the attractive couple on the cover and tilting it so that the struggling captive could see the photo, too.

"Look at this," he said. "See this guy? The one in the tux? That's my sister's boyfriend. Or was."

The junkie peering at the photo didn't seem to notice when G used this momentary distraction to snap his cuffs in place.

"Get outta town," the man said.

"No," Nick said."Really."

Even G, still holding the junkie by the arms, looked skeptical.

"Yeah," he said, sarcastically. "And my sister's dating Denzel Washington. C'mon, Nick. I wanna get a hash-brown down at the Ds. You know they stop servin'em after ten-thirty."

"I am telling you," Nick said, holding the paper out so that the owner of the newsstand, who'd been looking on with interest, could see the photo, too. "That is my sister's boyfriend. Two of 'em were livin' together up until about a few months ago, and the rat went and married somebody else behind her back. Can you believe that?"

The newsstand owner replied, his Bangladeshi accent so thick that his English was barely understandable, "No, sir, that I cannot believe."

"She wrote that movie, you know," Nick said to the newsstand owner. "My sister did. The one that made them both so famous."

"You are shitting me, sir," the newsstand owner said politely.

"No, I'm not," Nick said. "I swear it. Lou wrote it as, you know, a whadduyacallit. A vehicle. For Barry."

"Who is Barry, sir?" the newsstand owner wanted to know.

"This guy." Nick pointed at the paper. "Bruno di Blase. That's not his real name. That's his, you know, stage name. His real name is Barry. Barry Kimmel. He grew up in our neighborhood out on the island. I used to make him eat bugs." He noticed the disapproving look his partner sent him, and said, with a shrug, "Well, you know. We were kids."

G, still holding onto the junkie, grunted. "Oh, yeah. Barry. I forgot. Tough break for Lou. You don't stop squirming around, I swear to God—"

The junkie however, was having a hard time containing his excitement. "Hey, s'that really true?" he asked Nick. "Your sister really shacked up with that guy from Hindenburg?"

"Watch it," Nick growled. "My sister never shacked up with anybody, understand?"

"Well," G said."Not anymore, anyway. I mean, not now that the guy's married to—"

"You watch it, too." Nick flashed his partner a look of annoyance over the top of the diminutive criminal's head while he dug into his pocket and extracted some change, which he tried to give to the owner of the newsstand in exchange for the copy of the Post he held beneath one arm.

"Oh, no, sir," the newsstand operator said graciously. "It is on the house. You are keeping our streets safe for law-abiding citizens."

Nick, pleased, slipped the change back into his pocket. "Hey," he said. "Thanks."

"And please to tell your sister," the newsstand owner called, "that I enjoyed her film, Hindenburg, very much. As did my wife. It was truly a moving triumph of the human spirit."

"Sure thing," Nick said, as they moved towards the squad car. "Jesus, I still can't believe it. Barry eloped on her! The poor kid."

Copyright © 2002 by Meggin Cabot