Page 83 of Dozer

Chapter 61

Daisy

Dozer had a few days home with me, without needing to go into work, which was mostly nice with short periods of horrible, especially the oral training first thing every morning. He showed me his wolf on his second day back, and it was kind of anticlimactic, to be honest. I mean, he’s huge and beautiful, and I loved walking through the woods with him and Champ, but I didn’t much like talking to myself, so we just walked without anyone talking. Well, I guess I talked to Champ a lot, but mostly, he followed the wolf, so walking him on a leash was easier and didn’t need as many verbal cues from me. I still carried the treats and rewarded him for walking the way he’s supposed to when on a leash.

I asked the wolf if he wanted a treat, but he just glared at me, so I put the bag back in my pocket without further comment.

There’s a lot of silence when I’m under speech restrictions, so it isn’t that I wasn’t comfortable with it, but I was happy when he changed back to human before we came out of the woods and went back into the house.

All my wedding plan stuff was in a huge notebook, with a to-do list in the front, and then sections behind for each major thing — flowers, venue, clothes, and reception, which was divided into food, cake, decorations, and music, though that last part was completely empty because Master assured me he’dhandle the music, and he said the subject was closed so I wasn’t to ask him about it again.

Everything major was planned and arranged for, with the exception of buying my dress, and that happened a few days before my trip to see the piercer for my first checkup, where he’d tell us whether Master could start using the piercings to lock me up yet. I had a feeling he was going to say the labia piercings were fine, but the Christina piercing needed more time.

I was a nervous wreck about my mom coming on our shopping trip, but it turned out okay. Gen had set an appointment with someone, and she’d sent her my sizes, plus a few dozen pictures of me in the kind of clothes I like to wear, and in a bathing suit, so she could see my figure without clothes, and the woman said she’d have dozens of dresses in my size ready for me to try on. We went to a few other bridal places for me to try things on before we went to the appointment, and that made me appreciate the bridal specialist oh-so-much more.

And that’s when I found out my mother had arranged for some special couture dresses to be made available for me to try on as well — dresses I’d have never even considered if I knew Dozer was paying for them, but my mother wanted to pay for part of my wedding, and I guess she figured this was a sidestep around Dozer’s decree that he was paying for his own wedding and didn’t need help.

I secretly hoped the dress I liked best would be one of the regular dresses that were expensive, sure, but not stupidly expensive.

But wouldn’t you know it, the one I fell in love with was a one-of-a-kind from a designer I loved, back when I had no idea about the cost of things.

One doesn’t try mega-expensive dresses on alone in a dressing room. The bridal specialist helps you into and outof them, zips and unzips them, and makes sure they’re back properly on the hanger.

When the last dress was off, I said I needed to use the restroom, thinking I’d call Dozer and talk to him, but the bathroom was in the hallway just outside the private room we were in, and the wolves would hear our conversation.

I considered sending him a picture of me in both dresses, but I wanted it to be a surprise when I walked down the aisle, so I merely texted him,I wanted to like one of the dresses Gen had arranged for me to have available to try on, but my mother had some couture one-of-a-kind dresses brought in as possibilities, and I fell in love with one of them. I feel like I need to check in with you about it before deciding, though. I’ll be fine with the $2300 one, because I would never ask you to spend $90000 on a dress, so I can only get the one-of-a-kind dress if I let my mom pay for it.

$90,000? With four zeros?

Yeah. I’ll choose the other. Sorry. I shouldn’t have asked, but I really, really like it. You’re right, though. It’s too much to let her spend on me.

No, I didn’t say that, I just wanted to be certain I had it right. Are you at a place where you can talk?

No. I took the last dress off and said I need to use the restroom, and then I’ll be back to talk to them about my top five, but really, it’s between those two, I just haven’t told them that yet. Do you need me to find a way to get farther away, so we can talk?

Stay put. We can do this over text. I’m glad you checked in with me. How has your mom been today? Do you want to give this to her? Let her buy your dress? Or would it make you uncomfortable? Do you think she’s going to hold it over your head, or do you think this is her trying to tell you she wants to do something special for you?

She’s been great, which is surprising. I think I’d like to let her do it, but only if you’re comfortable with it.

I want what’s best for you. If you think it’ll help you and your mom if she does this, then go for it. If you think it might be used to hurt you down the road, if she can hold it over your head and put you on a guilt trip over it, then pick the other. You have to know I’ll be happy in whatever you choose – I just need you walking down the aisle, and then dancing with me and my brothers after, during the reception, and I want the huge tiered wedding cake, and the kick-ass groom cake Matty helped you design. That’s it. Your choice on the dress, little flower.

I love you.

I love you, too.

My mom had likely spent a great deal of money to have those dresses made available to me. The most expensive dress was nearly a quarter of a million dollars, but it hadn’t made it into the top ten because it was meant for a woman with bigger boobs and it didnotwork on me. I’d thought it was going to be perfect until I put it on, and I was relieved it wasn’t.

When I stepped back into our room, I told everyone, “Can my mother and I have a few moments alone, please?”

“Certainly,” the bridal expert said. “We have fresh Earl Grey tea in a pot on the dais, delivered while you were in the restroom. Feel free to sit and talk. I’m going to take your friends out to enjoy our shoe department. Text one of them when you’re ready for them to return.”

My friends would have a blast trying on shoes. I noted there were enough chairs on the dais we could’ve all sat up there, and I imagined it was expected we’d stay up there with the tea, away from the dresses. A small sign on the table by the teapot indeed had instructions to keep all food and beverages on the dais.

I poured tea for myself and my mom from the fancy teapot into the fancy teacups. I put two cubes of sugar into mine, and then some cream, and my mom did the same.

My top five were hanging on the wall on the other side of the room from the dais, each peg a different color.

“My top two are hanging from the green peg and the purple peg. I’m in love with the purple one, but I also love the green one. Not as much, but I love them both, and there’s a huge price difference between them. That wouldn’t have mattered to me, once upon a time, but I’ve learned the value of money, and now it does.”

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