Page 73 of Escaping Wildfire

“I hate to interrupt, but Alpha Marek brought us here to pick out dresses for your mothers and sister-in-law.”

‘Of course, he did. His surprise is just more of what he wants.’ Amora snapped in my head. ′At least our mother is here.′

I hadn’t noticed Luna Clarissa was also here with Sheila, and I warmly greeted them both. The dressmaker showed us where everything was before letting us look around.

“Let’s go this way, Mom. We can let Gema and her mom have a moment as they haven’t seen each other in weeks.” They went off to look through a rack of blue and red dresses.

“Estás bien? (Are you okay?),” My mom asked.

“Si, Mami…Jasmine, Jade, y los niños están bien. Lograron escaparse, y están con los chicos. (Jasmine, Jade, and the boys are good. They managed to escape and are with the guys.)

“Que? (What?)” She covered her mouth in surprise, as her eyes watered up again.

“No tengo tiempo de contártelo todo, pero los hijos del alfa son buenos y me dejaron llamarle a Cristian. El me va a sacar de aquí.” (I don’t have time to tell you everything, but the alpha’s kids are good people and let me call Cristian. He’s going to get me out.) I kept speaking in Spanish as no one else could understand what we said.

My mom understood the need for secrecy and just nodded at me smiling. She squeezed my hand. “Tu padre realmente siente lo que hizo.” (Your father really is sorry for what he did.)

“Puede sentirlo todo lo que quiera, pero no cambia lo que hizo.” (He can be sorry all he wants but it doesn’t change what he did.) She looked at me with a grim expression as she nodded at me, seeming to understand that I was still hurt about everything.

“How are we doing over here? Did you find anything you like?” The dressmaker came over to us with her overly cheerful expression.

“This one.” My mom yanked a random dress off the rack, which turned out to be the most hideous mustard yellow gown with ruffles in all the wrong places.

“Oh, a lovely choice, that one is quite avant-garde. Would you like to try it on?” The dressmaker clapped as she looked eagerly at my mother.

I stifled my laughter, “Yes, please. I’d also like her to try these.” I picked out two more dresses in more appealing styles, but I certainly wasn’t passing up the opportunity to see my mother try on the ruffled monstrosity.

My mother was a good sport and humored me by trying the dress on…and the look did not disappoint.

“Oh…your mother’s dress is…” Rory, who usually always had something nice to say, was at a loss for words. “It’s an interesting style choice.”

I wasn’t able to hold my laughter in this time. “Don’t worry, we don’t like it. I just wanted to see her in it.” I whispered to Rory as the dressmaker clapped her hands, fawning over my mother.

“It looks lovely on you.” She turned to me for confirmation. “Oh, yes, it does…but I don’t feel it’s quite right for my wedding. I think something more subdued would fit her better. I wouldn’t want her upstaging me.”

“Oh, that’s a wonderful point. Let’s have you try the blue one then.”

I laughed again as my mother cringed before she stepped back behind the dressing partition. For a moment, things felt almost normal. Just a mother and daughter shopping for dresses. Even having Rory and Luna Clarissa here was nice. The next hour went by quickly and my mother selected a burgundy gown while Luna Clarissa chose a champagne gown. Rory chose a red dress to match the theme, as she would be serving as the maid of honor. It was almost fun…if it weren’t all fake.

“I have to go now, Gema. Te quiero, mi niña. (I love you, my girl.)” She hugged me tightly before the maid from earlier escorted her out the door. Luna Clarissa and Sheila said their goodbyes and headed out while Rory and I headed back upstairs.

Rory wanted to take advantage of her Saturday swim time, so I joined her downstairs. We had invited Hadley to join us the night before, and she surprised us by showing up right on time.

“Hey!” She called out waving at us. “What have you two been up to?” Hadley dipped her feet into the pool as she talked.

“We picked out our mothers' dresses for Gema and Larkin’s wedding.”

“Sounds fun, I love getting all dressed up. If you two were allowed off pack, I’d totally have you two help me pick my dress out for the wedding.

“Really? You like us enough to help you pick out clothes.”

“Yeah, you two have been so nice to me, especially considering the circumstances. It’s a nice change from always being with Scarlett and her friends.” She shrugged and submerged the rest of her body in the pool.

“Do you not like it here?”

“Here as in the state, the city…this pack?” She asked seeming to stall the conversation by asking a question instead of answering.

“All of the above, I suppose.”

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