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Susan set the dress on the bed, taking Clarissa back. “There’s only one way to find out.”
Alice quickly stripped and tried the dress on, looking at herself in the mirror above Susan’s dresser. “It’s perfect. Oh, Susan, I love it! May I wear it? I’ll be ever so careful!”
Susan laughed. “I have many other dresses. That one is your wedding gift from me.”
Alice threw her arms around Susan and the baby. “Thank you! You’re the best sister ever!”
“We’ll see if you still say that when I start acting like a mother-in-law.”
Chapter Four
Alice slept like a rock that night. She woke up after eight in the morning to Susan telling her she had to get ready for the wedding, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d slept so late. She was normally up before dawn.
She swung her legs out of bed and looked at her sister with bleary eyes. “I wish we could put off the wedding for one more day, and you and I could just spend some time just being sisters.”
“Honestly, I’d like that too. If I’d known you were my sister before coming, I’d have ensured we had at least a week, but I’ve already invited too many people to postpone things now.” Susan sat beside Alice on the bed. “You’re not getting nervous, are you? About the wedding night?”
Alice laughed. “I think I’m even more eager for that than Albert is. It’s not that. It’s just that I’ve always known I had this big sister who lived far away, and now I get to meet her, but we don’t get to spend as much time together as I would like.”
“That makes sense,” Susan said. “We’ll still be right next door to each other, and you’ll be able to visit whenever you’d like. And I’ll come visit you as well. Maybe we can even talk Ma and Pa into coming out here now that we’re both here.”
“I doubt it,” Alice said. “Ma told me that we can all go off and marry as long as we write to her and we understand that any visiting must be done by the children and not the parents.”
“Well, I guess that answers that, doesn’t it?” Susan stood up. “I let you sleep later than I should have. I kept your breakfast warm, but you need to hurry if you want to be ready by the time people start arriving.”
Alice nodded, getting to her feet. She was glad she’d bathed the night before. “After I eat, will you help me with my hair?”
Susan looked torn for a moment, but she finally nodded. “I will. I shouldn’t because I should be playing hostess, but I’ll let Mrs. H handle that.”
“Am I allowed to call her Mrs. H as well? That name is so long and complicated!”
“Absolutely. Come on, let’s get you fed.”
Alice ate quickly while Susan dealt with Clarissa. She seemed to be very needy to Alice, but Susan didn’t seem to mind. She seemed genuinely infatuated with the child.
A short while later, Alice stood in front of the mirror in Susan’s room. Susan had pinned her hair up in a style Alice had never seen, but she would make certain her sister showed her how to style her own hair that way later. “It’s perfect. Thank you, Susan!”
Susan smiled. “My sister is about to be my daughter-in-law. I had to do my share!”
Alice just smiled. “It’s strange, I know, but I think it’s going to work out.”
“I hope so. Just don’t expect a happily ever after from day one.”
“You know, Elizabeth told me just the opposite. She told me if I expect to be happy, and I don’t let myself concentrate on the bad stuff, I will be happy. I think I’m going to follow her advice.”
“I think that our sister is very wise.” Susan opened the door just a smidge, and they could hear voices from downstairs. “I’d better get down there. I’ll send little Oliver up to get you when it’s time.”
Oliver was six, and he’d be starting school soon, so he was the logical choice to send to do simple things in the house. The other children were in school, except for Clarissa and Anabelle, who were all younger than Oliver.
Alice took the time while she waited to pray, asking God to bless her marriage, both with feelings for her future husband and with many children. She wasn’t yet finished when a knock sounded on the door. “It’s time for the wedding,” Oliver told her.
Alice got to her feet and slowly made her way down the stairs, spotting Albert at the bottom looking up at her. Someone was playing soft music on a piano, and she followed the music down to her groom, taking his hand as they stood before the minister.
The wedding went by way too quickly for Alice. She’d wanted something she would always remember, and instead it was a ten-minute ceremony. When Albert was told he could kiss his bride, she turned her face up to his, offering her lips.
The kiss was softer than the ones the night before, but it was full of promise, it seemed. A promise to treat her right. A promise of passion to come. A kiss of promise sealed their vows, and she felt hopeful for her future.
Much food was set around, and people helped themselves to a small plate of it. The food was more finger food than anything else. Other than the cake of course.
