Around Our Heads

The next day at lunch, Gazarra came to get me from work. We went out to eat, and I gave him the paperwork Chris and I filled out the night before. He looked them over while we ate and deemed them exemplary. He said he would let me know once they were filed. Then a few days later, he called to see if Chris and I would meet him the following Saturday. So on Saturday, we took Avery to his house to see him. She was playing with the baby while we talked. Diane was going over some design book. I wasn’t very into fashion, but she was going to help me and Chris’s mom find a wedding dress.

Gazarra handed over the paperwork and told us our hearing would be in two weeks. We would meet him at the courthouse and plead our case. Then Trent’s lawyer would do his bit, and then we’d find out if it was approved or not.

A week later, we got down to some actual wedding business. We had everything already mostly planned out, except for the dress. My bridesmaids had dresses. Avery had her dresses. The boys were all suited up. The only thing missing was my dress. Which I was putting off for the last minute due to having a stomach that was constantly growing.

Diane knew all of the best bridal places in the city, so she got us in her fancy black and sleek luxury car and drove us around town. She had already made some calls for maternity dresses and knew where to find them. When we got to the first stop, she and the lady who worked there did one of those weird fancy lady cheek kiss things.

“This is my step-daughter, Marley, and her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Helen,” she told the woman.

“It’s nice to meet you, Marley,” she said as she shook my hand. “And Helen.” She shook Helen’s hand. She seemed kind of uncomfortable and was sticking close to me. “Well, my name is Lane, and we’re going to do our best to find a dress for you. When are you due?”

“February 24th,” I told her.

“How exciting. Are you excited?”

“Yeah, we’re pretty excited.”

“What’s your fiancé’s name?”

“Chris. He’s amazing.”

“I’m sure he is. Is this your first child together?”

“Second. We have a three-year-old daughter.”

“Is she going to be your flower girl?”

“Yeah, we’ve already picked out her dress and everything. She’s excited too.”

“I bet she’s going to have a blast. Come on back, and I’ll show you what we have.” We followed her back to the racks. “We have some that are relatively loose in the front. They’re not maternity dresses, but the baby doll style dress is in right now. We also have some that ARE maternity, so you can try them all out and let me know what you think. Half of the fun is looking for dresses.” I laughed.

“Yeah, Helen’s making me a scrapbook.”

“That’ll be a nice thing to show the little ones.”

She was being polite, but she still had a very snooty voice. I could see why Helen was uncomfortable because the two of us were definitely from the same kind of background. Helen even gave me a wince when Lane dragged me toward the racks of dresses she picked out. She picked up the first one and showed it off to me. It was tight to just under the breasts but long and poofy. It had thin straps and was pretty, but I was worried I’d look like a fluff ball.

“Oh, I’ll try this one,” I told her, even though I wasn’t so sure.

“We’ll put this one on the maybe rack.” She switched it to another rack. “How about this one?” This one was more traditional. It was long and poofy and tight to just below the breasts like the other one. Only the straps were thicker, and the fabric was poofier.

“I’m not too sure about this one.”

“Sometimes, we can’t tell if it’s the right dress until it’s on. You can try it on and decide then.”

“Yeah, okay. I guess I can do that.” She put it with the other one. The next one had long sleeves, tons of lace, and beads. I winced. “It’s like a snow beast.” She laughed.

“So definitely, no?”

“Not at all.”

“Well, try it on anyway,” Helen instructed. “So I can take a picture, and we can laugh.”

“Okay, we can just try all of them then.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lane decided. “Follow me back.” I left Helen and Diane and followed Lane into the dressing room. I wasn’t uncomfortable in front of her because I was sure she did this sort of thing all the time. Plus, I kind of needed her help to get into the dresses. So she helped me try on the first one and then led me out to the mirrors so I could look at it from all angles. Helen started snapping pictures right away.

“This one is really pretty,” I said as I looked myself over.

“I think it’s too summery,” Diane said. “For an autumn wedding, I mean.”

“Yeah, and a bit plain,” Helen agreed.

“Hmm—I don’t know. Still in the maybe rack then,” I decided. So we went back and tried the next dress. I came out, and Helen got right in on the pictures.

“This one is a definite no,” Diane told me.

“I agree,” Helen replied.

So I tried the next one. This time I came out stomping like a snow beast right out of the Yukon. The women all immediately started laughing. I struggled to climb up onto the pedestal and looked myself over. Then I laughed too. It was nothing but white fluff and beads. It might look good on a non-pregnant woman, but it made me look like a giant cotton ball.

“Okay, so this one goes into the definite no rack,” Lane said as she helped me down. Then we tried another dress. This one was sleeveless and made specifically for a pregnant woman. It had a ribbon that tied around the back, and it was just the right amount of poofy. It was slightly off-white, and the top was lace. It didn’t make me feel fat or uncomfortable or anything.

“The ribbons for this one are interchangeable. You can have any color you want,” Lane told me. Chris and I had already decided to go with orange. Both Helen and Diane cringed when we told them. But with a few tips from Diane, we made the color work nicely. It was a more autumn-themed orange.

“Do you have orange?” I asked.

“We have several shades of orange you can look at.” She led me out, and Helen and Diane both went “Oooooh,” simultaneously. I stepped up onto the pedestal and looked myself over in the multiple mirrors.

“Wow,” I said.

“Here, hold on a moment,” Lane said. She rushed off and returned a moment later with a handful of orange ribbons and a veil. She showed them to Diane, who pointed to the right shade of orange, and then she approached me. She pulled off the red ribbon and tied the orange one around my waist. Then she placed the veil in my hair.

“Oh my,” Helen said.

“And the great thing is that it’s made for pregnant women, so you won’t outgrow it.” I turned around a few times before facing Helen and Diane.

“What do you think?” I asked them.

“I think you look beautiful, honey,” Helen told me. I smiled and looked at Diane. I knew Helen would approve of any dress I chose just because she was sweet and wanted me to be happy. But Diane was the expert. She’d be able to know precisely which dress was best for my skin tone and body type and pregnancy and colors and lighting and all that stuff. She looked me over and walked around me to get a better angle.

“Sweetheart,” she said finally. “I know we just got here, but I think you’ve found your dress.” I smiled brightly.

“Really?”

“It’s perfect. Stylish and accentuates the fact that you’re pregnant rather than hiding it. You don’t look overstuffed, and you don’t look uncomfortable. It looks like the dress was made for you. It’s a little long, but Lane can have it tailored. I’m not sold on the veil, but this is the dress, honey.”

“Yay!”

“Do you want to try on the rest just to be sure?” Lane asked me.

“Yeah, we can do that. I think Helen still wants more pictures too.”

“Okay, come on.” She helped me down, and we tried on all the other dresses so Helen could take more pictures, and we could laugh about them later. But even after trying on the other ones, I still knew exactly which one I wanted. So we put it back on just to be sure and reassess it after the others.

“It’s still this one,” Helen suggested.

“I agree,” I replied. Lane smiled.

“You look lovely,” she told me.

“This is the one then. This is the one I want.”

“Great, let’s get it ready for you then. Hold still while I mark the bottom.” I stood still as she measured the bottom of the dress. She was just going to take a bit from the front, so I didn’t trip and fall. I’d already found my shoes and was wearing them. So she just measured it and let me step down.

“Where’s the price tag?” I asked her.

“Right here,” she said. She was about to hand it over when Diane ripped it from my fingertips and stepped back.

“Don’t worry about that,” she said.

“Oh no, it’s okay,” I told her.

“Nope. This is mine and Jacob’s gift to you. Normally the bride’s parents pay for the wedding, and Christopher and his parents are already covering most of everything else. So let us at least take the dress off your hands.”

“Well, then I’ll feel bad.”

“Don’t feel bad. We already decided we wanted to do it. We already planned it out. Helen agreed and everything.”

“Well, how much is it?” She smiled.

“Don’t worry about it.”

“It’s expensive, isn’t it?” I asked her.

“Doesn’t matter,” she replied. I maneuvered myself to look at the other tag. The dress was made by a designer I’d only ever read about in magazines.

“Holy shit, no wonder this dress is so nice. This is wicked expensive, isn’t it?” I asked.

“It’s pretty pricey,” Lane admitted. I gave Diane a serious expression.

“I can’t let you pay for the dress,” she told me. “You’re getting this one. I work for a fashion magazine. What kind of ridicule do you think I’d get if my peers found out I let my step-daughter walk down the aisle in a cheap knock-off dress? Plus, Helen and I have already discussed it. I’m paying for the photographer too, and we’d like to feature you in our magazine.” I blinked a few times.

“Ew, no.” She smiled again.

“Honey, you’re not getting a full-fledged article because Christopher didn’t want that, but you can just get a small mention in my editor’s blurb, and it’s going to be great.”

“Fine,” I said. “But only if I look super sexy and there’s no mention of Chris or the Giants.”

“Honey, people already know. Chris has a fan club,” Helen told me. I turned to face her.

“He has a fan club?” She nodded.

“Mm-Hmm. I found it on the internet.”

“And they know about me?” She nodded again.

“Yep.” I was puzzled by this. I wanted to ask Chris about it because neither of us was very cool with the idea of our personal lives being on the internet. But Helen didn’t seem to find it disturbing, so I trusted her instincts.

“Well, go ahead and take off the dress so we can ring it up,” Diane said.

“I don’t know what we can do to repay you,” I told her.

“You don’t need to. We want to do this for you. Jacob has been waiting for this day all your life. So don’t take this chance away from him, okay?”

“Ah, the guilt trip. Alright. Thank you then.”

“You’re welcome, honey.”

Lane followed me back into the dressing rooms to get it off. Then I put my regular clothes back on, and we went to test cake flavors. Helen was paying for that one, and we picked one that wasn’t entirely expensive or made by anyone famous because I didn’t want to put that on her. And I already couldn’t handle the guilt of having Diane and Gazarra pay for my dress. But after we picked one out, I was starting to get really excited.