Page 5 of The Ties that Bind
“Are you sure? I think it looked the best on you of all these ones we have here, but we can always try any of them on again and take a second look. I want you to be completely sure and love your decision.”
“I’m sure,” Maggie declared as she gave the dress another look. “I love this dress and I want to be married in it.”
Janet looked absolutely thrilled. “And how do you feel about the bridesmaid gowns?”
Maggie, Abigail and I easily made up our mind - this place wasn’t known as the best bridal salon in New Orleans for no reason - and Mrs. Delphine picked her favorite of the two she liked best. My parents had offered to buy my dress for me, Al was footing the bill for Abigail’s and Maggie would be using her grandma’s savings, so we all had the funds to cover our gowns. Abigail and I had sneakily told Maggie to tell her mom that her grandma’s money would cover both of their dresses, and if that wasn’t true, we would chip in for the last bit of money needed. After all, this would be an incredibly special day for Mrs. Delphine, too. She had three children, but Maggie’s two older brothers were in the military and had yet to marry. She had to be the proudest mom ever, and she needed her perfect dress too.
We walked out of the salon and back into the fresh New Orleans air. Each of us took a deep breath, glancing around at everyone else.
“We did it,” Maggie said happily. “They said the alterations would be simple, and it’ll be done in time for-”
A big, celebratory group hug squeezed the last few words out of her, and I noticed Mrs. Delphine wiping away tears of joy.
Chapter Three
Marty
There were so many reasons that a June wedding was perfect for Maggie and me. It would be hot, but not too hot to have the reception outside, which we had both agreed we wanted. Maggie’s two best friends would both still be in New Orleans in June before they went off to play piano for a band and go to law school respectively. My cancer was in remission - meaning that, I was almost finished with the chemo treatments. My bones still ached sometimes, and I still felt tired. Mostly though, I was fine right now. But the best part was when the oncologist reassured me I could have children. That was so important to Maggie and me.
To an outsider, someone who didn’t know us, our marriage might seem sudden. But we had known each other for years. We had been high school sweethearts, and we had thought about each other every day we had lived our lives apart. Sudden? We had been waiting to join our hands longer than we had realized.
And even though the past month had been the scariest of my life, I was happy. I was so, so happy. The kind of happiness that filled your lungs instead of air and made your chest swell each and every day - especially when spending time with that special someone.
Today, I would get to spend time with a different special woman in my life - my mother. After hearing Maggie’s success in finding the perfect wedding dress a few days ago, she had planned to drive from Lafayette and pick me up so we could scout for locations for the new flower shop. We had a couple places in mind, and we intended to head to those first and take some notes, but we would also keep our eyes open for any other possibilities.
I couldn’t wait. I’d gotten used to working closely with my mother, and I admired her self-starting attitude, strong business sense, and love for her family. It might have seemed silly, but I was definitely that little kid in school who wrote “my mom” on the blank next to the prompt: “role model.” I loved my fiancée and New Orleans, but I missed handling the day-to-day with my mother.
I missed working at all, actually. The sooner I got my strength back, the sooner I could get back to being a part of the family business.
A knock sounded on the apartment door. I slipped my phone, wallet and keys into my pockets, made my way past the stares of Maggie’s three black kittens and gave my mom a big hug.
“I’m so glad Maggie is taking care of you,” she said approvingly when she glanced around me and spotted the kittens as well as the other homey touches Maggie had added.
“Yeah, yeah. Don’t make me change my mind about missing you,” I joked. Together, we headed down to the parking lot. “You drove my pickup?” I asked in surprise, affectionately patting my beloved truck. Momma usually preferred to drive automatics, especially when dealing with city traffic.
“Well, we need to see how it looks in the parking lots of potential locations,” my mom said, smiling as I eagerly accepted the keys like a child with a new toy.
My hands hadn’t lost the calluses built up from countless workout sessions in our garage, and I wrapped them around the leather steering wheel of my truck and felt more like myself than ever. I had checked with the oncologist and the nurse who visited me occasionally in the medical center housing, and both had told me that driving was totally fine.
Sometimes, on Maggie’s days off, I found myself borrowing her car to go to the store for things we didn’t really need. She never asked to come with me. Somehow, with her own brand of loving-fiancée ESP, she knew without me mentioning a word that since this was one of the few things I could do by myself, I wanted to do it alone.
“Maggie’s amazing,” I told my mom as we pulled out of the parking lot, needing to share with someone how incredible this woman I would get to spend my life with was.
“I know she is. You both are.” My mom had the brightest smile of anyone I knew, and nothing was easier than smiling back. “But hold on, stop here for a second. Let me map this place I thought was really promising.”
While she used her phone to put in the address, I took a quick picture of the wheel and dashboard of my truck and sent it to Maggie. “Back in the saddle!”
“Flower cowboy,”came the teasing response.
I sent her a winking face with the tongue sticking out. She sent me one rolling its eyes.
Ten minutes later, we reached the first possible location for a new LaFleur’s Flowers. Before it had gone out of business, this place had been a metaphysical shop that sold things like crystals, candles and incense. A hint of its past lingered in the shop, detectable only through sense of smell, and not at all unpleasant.
“Metaphysical Melodies,”Maggie texted me when I sent her a picture of the shop. “I’ve been there with Abigail and Zoe before. Melody, the owner, moved away last month.”
I opened a door to another room that had probably been an employees-only area, hoping Metaphysical Melody hadn’t left any unpleasant or bad vibes for future owners of the place to deal with. I didn’t have time to communicate that thought with Maggie, though, because my mother had pulled out her notebook, written down the address of the building and started a list of notes on the place.
“It’s the right size,” I commented.
