Page 27 of Jam and Jingle Bells
Mel smirked. “She did. I know, took me back a few steps, too. I think she’s feeling a bit under the weather, so I decided she should stay home and rest.”
“She can’t be sick. You’re getting married in seven days!” I exclaimed, my hand to my heart. “Let me call my mom. She’ll go over and check on her!”
Mel put her hand on my arm. “Addie, she’s fine. Kids feel punky out of the blue and then are fine the next day. She hasn’t been sleeping well, so she’s probably just tired. Mason will sit with her on the couch to watch a movie and she will decide to lay on his lap. He will stroke her hair until she falls asleep to Frozen and he’ll let her get a few solid hours of sleep before he carries her to her bed. I appreciate the offer, I really do, but if she’s not better by tomorrow I’ll take her to the clinic.”
I relaxed a bit and sighed. “Okay. Why isn’t she sleeping? Excitement for the wedding?”
She shook her head and I noticed tears in her eyes. I sat forward instantly, as did Ivy. “Melissa, what’s the matter?”
She brushed at her eyes and sighed. “I’m worried about her, that’s all. She’s been struggling the last month. This was the time last year when she came home to us, but the emotions and things that led up to that happening are still there. She’s struggling with the loss of the people who raised her. She doesn’t know how to not feel guilty about replacing her grandpa, as she puts it, with Mason when he adopts her. We try to tell her she’s not replacing him, but she doesn’t understand adult concepts yet. Her therapist is working with her, but I think she worries about it late at night. We’ve resisted pulling her into our bed at night because we don’t want to start that, but if she’s not sleeping then we might have to.”
I rubbed her arm while she stared at her drink. “This parenting thing is hard sometimes, isn’t it?”
She laughed, but the sound wasn’t amused. “It is when you’re dealing with a child who had seven years of lies fed to her. I feel guilty for it, even though I know I didn’t do it to her. It’s just really hard to watch.”
I hugged Melissa to me and glanced at Ivy who was frowning, unsure of where to go next. “I think this can wait for another day, honey. Why don’t you go home and check on her? If your heart isn’t into it, you won’t find one you like.”
She bit her lip for a minute but finally shook her head. “I can’t. Mason said he wouldn’t let me back in the door for at least three hours. He said I needed some girl time and a little break from Holly. I know he’s not wrong but I still worry.” A text tone reached our ears and she lifted her phone, a smile tipping her lips. She flipped it so we could see the picture of Holly, asleep on his lap. “Nailed it, didn’t I?”
My hand went to my heart at the sight of her sweet, relaxed face. “You sure did. I’m glad he sent that. Now you can relax and have a little fun, right?” I asked, looking down my nose at her.
She nodded once and set her glass down. “Right. I still don’t think I need a big dress. What’s the point?”
I stood and pulled her up, pushing her toward the dressing room. “The point is, you don’t want to give up on all the fun traditions a bride has before they get married. There’s no reason we can’t find a dress suitable for the occasion without it being obnoxious in looks or expense. We’ll find something that makes him say ‘wow,’” I promised, doing jazz hands, “when he sees you.”
She motioned at my hands dryly. “Is he going to do the jazz hands, too? I would love to see that.”
I laughed and pushed her into the dressing room where the attendant waited with some dresses she had already picked out per our specifications.
I joined Ivy on the couch again and plopped down, blowing out a breath. “You did good, kid,” she said, laughing and patting me on the back. “I can tell you’re used to working with brides.”
I snortled and shook my head. “Brides and kids. They’re a lot alike. Quick to meltdown, but easily distracted with something pretty.”
It was Ivy’s turn to snicker and she leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand. “I’m having serious second thoughts about this,” she sighed. “I don’t want to overstep.”
I held up my hand. “Me either, but nothing is firm and there’s no reason we can’t back out. Just relax. It’s not good for you and the baby to be worried.”
She side-eyed me with sarcasm. “Easy for you to say,” she joked. “You don’t have to work with her.”
“She would never hurt a pregnant woman,” I promised, grinning.
For the next hour we sat giving thumbs up or thumbs down on the dresses she tried on, none of them making our hearts truly go pitter-patter.
Melissa tossed up her hands. “There are only two left. I’ll try them on, but then we’re leaving.” She wandered off mumbling about how she was never going to find anything that fits. She looked like a big white Holstein in everything and why did everything have so much lace on it.
Ivy and I sat on the couch trying to hold in our laughter, but it wasn’t working very well. “You’re right, brides and kids,” she agreed. We waited with our chins on our hands for her to come back out to the three-way mirror.
We shot straight up to our feet when she did. She was practically floating on air.
“So pretty,” I sighed. Ivy and I moved around the couches to join her at the mirror. “This is perfect, Mel.”
I took in the gown in all of its simplicity. It was a heavier brocade material with long sleeves that came to a point at her finger, where it attached with a loop. It shimmered with iridescent beads and fell just to the floor with no train to get in the way. “This fits you like a glove. It’s stunning. I love how the shoulders are covered, but oh, Mason is going to love that bodice,” I said, trailing my finger across her neckline. “I know the perfect necklace that would go with this, too.”
“You do?” she asked, tearing her eyes from the mirror for the first time.
“It was my grandma’s. I have it at the salon. It can be your something borrowed or your something old, or both.”
“You don’t think your mom would mind?” she asked, turning back to the mirror, still unconvinced.
