My Cool Family

*Mike’s POV*
I had managed to wake Rosie who immediately burst into tears when she saw Frankie. I got the twins upstairs and they changed into some clean clothes. I took Adie’s wedding dress and brought it downstairs where I hung it over a chair in the living room.

Rosie was still sitting on the couch. I gave her a hug and handed her a tissue.

“I can’t believe it, it’s all ruined. I’m so so so sorry Mike.”

“Hey, it’s not your fault, we can try taking it to a dry cleaner, or a specialist restoration . . . person. We can fix it.”

“You really think so?”

“Yeah. I mean look,” I gestured towards the dress. “The feathers are falling off already, that’s them sorted; the paint must be washable, because no parent in their right mind would buy any other kind, especially with toddlers, and extra especially with twin toddlers.”

“What about the mud and grass stains?” Rosie had stopped crying but still looked pretty upset.

“Like I said, we can take it to a restorer person, they can get rust and everything out. It’ll be fine.”

Rosie smiled, then got up. “I’ll go get the telephone book and try to find somewhere near here. Thanks Mike. I’m sorry I was so . . . y’know.”

I grinned back. “Don’t worry, melodrama was always a Wright specialty.” She swatted me round the head, then hugged me before going into the kitchen.

* * *

*Rosie’s POV*
I took a deep breath as Mr. Williams went out to the back of his shop. Almost two months after we had dropped the dress off with him, he had called back to say it was ready. I shuddered as I remembered how bad it had looked, and consoled myself with the fact that it could not possibly look any worse.

“Here we are, Mrs Armstrong,” he came back, carrying a garment bag over his arm. He deftly unzipped it, and put it over a mannequin.

I gasped.

“It was almost beyond salvaging, but the stains came out after we’d washed it rather intensively, and then there were a few tears which we mended. As you can see, we have had to replace some of the lace, but we found an exact match, and I’m rather pleased with what we’ve done.”

The look of accomplishment on his face was rapidly replaced by shock as I bounded forward to hug him.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! You have no idea how much this will mean to my family,” I let him go and wiped away a tear or two with my sleeve.

“Um, well . . . that’s quite alright,” he straightened his tie awkwardly, a look of amused disapproval on his face. “I take it you’re pleased, then?”

“Immeasurably. It’s perfect.”

And it was. I walked out of the shop, dress over my arm, a pamphlet or two on ‘aftercare’ in my handbag, grinning like an idiot. It looked absolutely perfect.

When I got home, I ran inside. The whole family, except of course Billie Joe and Adrienne, were in the living room, waiting to see the dress. We’d had it altered so that it would fit Adrienne as she was now, but we would check it again about a month before the ceremony. She had started chemotherapy now, and her hair was gone. She joked about it, and put on a brave face, but it was obvious that she was upset.

“So? How is it?” Mike asked. I held out the bag to him, and then held the dress up.

There was silence.

“It’s beautiful,” Joseph murmured. “Mike, how does it look?”

“Just like it did on their wedding day,” Mike smiled.

I turned as I heard a noise behind me. Emma and the twins ran in.

Frankie gasped. "My pincess dress!" She clapped her hands with glee.

"No!" Even I jumped as Mike, Joe, Jakob and Jack yelled simultaneously.

Frankie's face trembled and she burst into tears, while Emma looked very confused.