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Lucy walked up next to me and stared at the reflection in the mirror. Lucy and I had quickly become the best of friends. So I couldn’t help but notice how anytime Roger was around, Lucy became distracted and seemed to drift off. Roger also acted funny around her.
Truitt had a suspicion the two of them liked each other, and Lucy had admitted to me that she and Roger had slept together on New Year’s Eve. Roger had thrown the party, and I swear there must have been a hundred girls invited to the twenty-five or so men. But Roger seemed to only have eyes for Lucy that night and since.
“Saryn, it’s like it was made especially for you,” she whispered. Turning to face the younger girl, Lucy asked, “What’s the story behind the dress?”
The girl looked back to make sure no one was listening and took a step closer to us. When she started to speak, she lowered her voice. “The bride who was supposed to wear this caught her future husband-to-be in bed with her sister.”
Lucy and I both gasped and said, “No!” in chorus.
The girl nodded. “The dress was completely paid for and in possession of the bride. She was due to get married the next day. She came in here, handed the dress back to the owner, and told her to sell it and donate the money to a charity. So that’s what we’re doing.”
“What charity?” I asked.
“All the money we make from the sale of this dress will go toward Dell Children’s NICU. Our owner’s daughter spent a number of weeks there, and she’d like to repay them.”
“Oh, shit, now you have to buy it, Saryn. It’s like a damn sign,” Lucy said.
The young girl looked at us, confused. “I was a NICU nurse,” I explained.
Her eyes widened in delight. “No! Oh, it is a sign! I mean, there hasn’t been another woman who has walked into the salon with the same exact measurements as the other bride. The dress was made for you!”
I looked back at it. The mermaid gown fit me like a glove. It screamed romance with its embroidery and embellishments that created a sexy yet sophisticated look. Beautiful flower designs sat atop the delicate tulle cathedral train and added the perfect touch. The way the neckline plunged deep on the sequined corset gave the whole dress a dramatic look.
My chest warmed at the sight before me, and I placed my hand on my stomach. This was the dress. I knew it the moment I looked at myself in the mirror.
“How much is it?” I asked.
The young girl paused, and when I met her eyes in the mirror, she sheepishly said, “Three-thousand dollars.”
I frowned. I knew that wasn’t much in Truitt’s eyes. He was paying for the entire wedding, with the exception of the dress. My parents had insisted they were taking care of that expense. My father had given me a budget of five thousand, which I had laughed at considering my first wedding dress cost me less than a thousand. I’d bought the second dress I had tried on, thinking at the time it would do. This time around I had wanted the perfect dress, and I was wearing it.
With a wide smile, I let out a breath and said, “I’ll take it.”
Lucy and the young girl jumped for joy.
“Let’s get it off and steamed up and then you are set!”
One week later, I was staring at myself in the same dress. This time Liliana was standing next to me, and it was my wedding day.
February fourteenth. Valentine’s Day.
Liliana was dressed in a white satin and tulle dress that tied in the back with a giant bow. We had stumbled upon it in a little children’s boutique store in San Antonio while looking for dresses for my mother and Janet. Janet spied it first, and when I saw it was Liliana’s size, we all jumped for joy. It was perfect. Yet another sign.
Everything for the wedding seemed to fall right into place. It was small. Family and close friends only. We were getting married on my parents’ ranch in a spot that overlooked the beautiful Texas Hill Country. The reception was being held in one of the barns Ryan and my father had converted into a living area of sorts. Ryan had hosted many a poker game and bachelor party there. Today, though, it had been transformed. The ladies in Mom’s book club volunteered to decorate everything for the reception. We kept it simple. They draped tulle so that it rolled across the ceiling in waves. White roses filled Mason jars on the table, with white lanterns hanging down from the rafters. Old wooden chairs my folks had up in the attic were brought down and simple white lace fabric was tied to the back of each chair. Ryan and Truitt had spent the last week making three, twelve-foot-long tables to be used for the reception. At the entrance of the barn, large white panels of fabric had been hung and tied back to give the barn a more elegant look.
