Chapter Fourteen
CORA
Daisy,my dress attendant, called out. “I’m still looking for one, I promise.”
“I look like a cake topper.” I looked down at the lace-heavy gown I was wearing and sighed. I loved the ball gown silhouette, but my body wasn’t built for this much lace.
“Or a doily,” Anna agreed, wrinkling her nose from where she sat in the plush chair beside the fitting area. “It was so pretty on the hanger.”
My attendant gave a sympathetic smile. “This isn’t the one, is it?” Her Texas twang made the “it” two syllables. She’d been so patient with us, bringing dress after dress while I tried to find something that didn’t make me look ridiculous.
“No,” I said, running my fingers over the itchy bodice. “I do like the bling, though. It makes it sparkle.”
“The beading is beautiful,” Daisy agreed. “But comfort is important too. Let me keep looking. I promise I’ll find something perfect.”
Anna made the whole process so much fun. I was so glad she’d decided to fly down to help me. I couldn’t imagine doing all of this on my own.
Picking out invitations was a blast. I’d learned all about belly bands, which were little strips of paper that wrapped the invitations. About fonts, colors, paper weights, and all sorts of things I had no clue about. By the time it was all said and done, my ivory paper invitations would be printed with silver ink. I’d skipped the belly band. It just seemed like an added cost to me, especially since they would be addressing all of them.
Anna looked at her phone and groaned. “That was Claire reminding me to invite Henley Bishop. I’ll call the shop and add her to the list.”
“Who’s that?”
“She writes the wedding section for the Chicago Sky paper. If she isn’t invited to all the big society weddings, she writes scathing reviews about them. Claire forgot to invite her to her wedding, and that woman tore it apart in print. No way am I letting her do that to my brother.”
I shrugged. “I’ll take your word for it.”
After another minute of scrutinizing the monstrosity I was wearing, I stepped off the pedestal and returned to my dressing room. “Three strikes and I’m out, right?”
“You’ve really never thought about your wedding dress?” Anna asked as I returned to my dressing room to get out of the gown.
“Not really. I never thought I’d be able to afford one. I figured a Walmart ring and a courthouse judge would be the way I got hitched.” I thought about the black credit card Jason had handed me before Anna and I left, telling me to do whatever I needed to do. I’d seriously thought those unlimited balance cards were myths.
Anna wasn’t shocked at all, and she’d taken his direction to heart.
Suddenly, Anna gasped. I turned to see Daisy approaching with a new gown in her arms.
“I think you might like this one,” she said, holding up a stunning ball gown. “You said you liked light material, and this designer out of Pleasantville, Texas, creates dresses that are like wearing air.”
Anna held up the skirt. “It’s gorgeous.”
Daisy grinned. “So…”
Out of nowhere, my heart started beating so fast. “I’ll try it.”
Her grin stretched even further on her lips. “Let me help you out of that one and into this one.”
It took a second with all the buttons, but I finally got the lacy one off.
The moment the fabric touched my skin, I knew it was different. Everything else was heavy and scratchy. This was the exact opposite. Light, comfortable, and even with it being a ball gown, it didn’t feel like I had a hundred pounds of fabric on.
As Daisy helped me get into it, she said, “I’d actually forgotten we had this one. A woman had picked it out and then changed her mind. I was supposed to put it back out two days ago, but there it was, hanging on the rack… I think it was waiting for you.” She finished with the last button and fussed with the skirt. “Oh… well… now this is something.”
My heart hummed so fast, it was like a thousand hummingbirds were buzzing around in my chest. I looked like a princess. Not a cake topper kind either. A real one. Cinderella. I half expected woodland creatures to start showing up.
Anna peeked in and gasped. “Ohh… we need this in the big mirrors.”
With Anna and Daisy’s help, I reached the pedestal and took the whole thing in. It was light and comfortable, hitting all my curves just right. It was off the shoulder, white, and gleaming.
