The looks on their faces told me they couldn’t imagine my dad being soft with me or my mom. I’d heard people talk about my dad all my life. People used to say he was cold, and still said that about him to this day. No one could deny his love for my mother if they saw them together though. Everyone that knew them said she’d tamed the big bad most powerful Alpha.
As far as me, well he’d always been a big teddy bear. I’d seen him when people crossed him though. He was fierce and I was proud of him. What people failed to see was a lot was that often it was my dad holding my mom back and calming her down a lot. He kept her from going nuclear on a lot of people.
Rain chimed in, “They probably don’t see it because mom is a master at composing herself and her emotions.” She was. My siblings and I could feel her though, even though she had walls. We still felt her. My dad, especially when it involved him or me and my siblings, was the voice of reason. My mom preferred to go nuclear, and sometimes did. She had no tolerance for anyone messing with her family.
Honestly, I wanted to be just like her with my own kids. Cayden would have a time of it calming me down, just like my dad did, because I thought my mom was right. There were many times it was proven she should’ve gone off when she’d wanted to. I was going to learn from that and be stealthier about it.
Rain snorted, “Mom goes off and does stealthy all the time.” She did but a lot of the times she tried to talk people into being on her side. I didn’t need that. I was just going to go off on my own if it was needed. Grammy Veronica often said sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I was going to take that to heart.
I went into the first dressing room with all the dresses. Once the woman helped me into the dresses I didn’t bother to show my mom. They weren’t the dress. Eventually, I could sense the woman that was helping me was distressed, so I went out to show my mom.
My mom clapped saying, “You look stunning, Cass.” I smiled somewhat forced saying, “I like it but….” My mom interrupted, “But you’re not having your ‘this is the dress’ moment yet.” I nodded loving that she just understood my feelings.
By the twentieth dress I tried on I was beginning to fear my dress wasn’t here. My mom said, “How about we take a break? Let’s have some lunch. Your dad organized catering for us. That man never misses a chance to spoil us.” She smiled while the women working with us leaned in. It was clear as day how much my mom loved my dad in her tone and facial expression.
My mom waved, “He just never misses anything. I do so love that about him. He’s the fucking best.” He was. The girls brought in Coq au vin. I smiled because it was a favorite of mine. They brought in a burgundy Pinot Noir to go with it. My mom told me encouragingly, “Your dress is here, I feel it.” I sighed, “I just don’t know. Maybe this all was for nothing.”
My mom snorted, “Spending the day with my little girl is never for nothing. You’ve looked beautiful in everything. Plus, you’ve only looked at ceremony dresses.” I acknowledged, “That’s true. We could still find the reception dress.”
My mom winked, “Go to the Pinterest dress room next. Your dress is in that room. I swear it to you. I’ve been picturing you in it since the day I pinned it. It’s fucking perfect.” I laughed, “They do say that mother knows best.”
My mom sighed, “Sadly, you get bad fucking mom’s that ruin that saying. A mother doesn’t always know best, and it’s important you know that. Those good mom’s out there are doing the best we can every day, but being a mom is hard. Sometimes our decisions are clouded by what we know, experience, and there’s always a bit of that’s my kid in there.”
I laughed, “It’s bad eggs, mom. Not mom’s.” My mom frowned, “Oh Jesus Christ. A bad egg? What is the yoke brown or something?” I laughed, “No, but I’ll go to your Pinterest room next. What dress am I looking for?” My mom evaded, “Just see if you like any of them.”
I smiled and walked into the room. Rain purred, “She doesn’t want to influence us. She’s the best.” She was and I knew even if I didn’t like any of these dresses she wouldn’t care or be upset. My eyes danced over the dresses looking for any that caught my eye.
I gasped the second I saw it. It was perfect. The woman helping me nudged me saying, “Your mother insisted we have this dress here for you. It was flown directly from the designer. I don’t know how she got it to be honest. It’s not set to be shown until next spring.” I replied, “That’s my mother for you.”
I touched the dress loving the feel of it. It was an A-line cut fitted white top with places of sheer material and the skirt was pale yellow tulle. My mom just knew dresses and who they suited better than anyone I’d ever met.
I put it on and teared up. The sales lady asked, “Is this the one?” I nodded, “Yes.” She smiled, “Then let’s go show your mom.” We walked out and I already had tears of happiness running down my face. Cayden sent me all his love and excitement that I had found my dress.
My mom fanned her face then said, “Fuck it. If you can’t cry when your daughter looks every bit the Duchess and beautiful woman she is in her wedding dress, when can you?” She started crying and Blade instantly handed her a tissue.
Serion spoke, “You look beautiful, Cassie.” I blushed, “Thank you, Serion.” I looked over tentatively asking, “Ghiza?” I’d grown up with him and his opinion was important to me. I gasped when I saw him. I blurted out, “Are you crying?” He muttered, “No, I am not. I just have dust in my eyes.” I laughed, “Ok then.” He said, “It’s a beautiful dress made better by the young woman in it.”
My mom said, “Men. He’s fucking crying. I don’t know why he won’t admit that.” I hugged my mom whispering, “I just don’t know how you do it. I love this dress. Let’s cut to the chase and you just tell me which room to see my reception dress.”
My mom laughed, “That’s no fun! Plus, we need to celebrate this moment. We need champagne then we have to do something called a hashtag about finding the fucking dress. The pack girls say it’s absolutely vital.” I laughed, “Oh, mom.” She asked, “What does that mean?” I grinned, “That you are so you it’s amazing.” Rain chuckled in my head.
The women working in the store brought us more champagne and we toasted. My mom announced, “I can’t post a picture of you in the dress, so I am not certain how I hashtag this moment. Where can I go to say you found the fucking dress without a picture?” Before anyone could stop them, the lady who’d been helping said, “That would be Twitter.” Blade bit his lip.
My mom sighed, “Twitter? What’s that? UGH! Now, I have to get a damn twitter and twitter my thoughts.” The woman laughed, “They are called tweets.” I bit my lip knowing that was heading for trouble. My mom sighed, “For the love of god. FINE! I will find this Twitter to Tweet that we found the dress. Honestly, this is so damn absurd.”
The woman held up a sign for us to take a picture with that said we found the dress, but I subtly shook my head. This way would be more fun. Serion nudged me and pointed to a room. I smiled knowing why he was pointing me that way.
I stepped out of my wedding dress and looked around. In a second, I saw the perfect reception dress. I laughed telling the attendant, “She’s batting a thousand.” My mom was muttering under her breath about a twitter handle. Rain was cackling in my head.
She said, “I just want to fucking tweet on the Twitter. Why do I need a fucking handle? Do I have to open the door to the Twitter?” I managed not to laugh and get into the reception dress. My mom gave up, “I don’t understand this fucking bullshit. Unless someone helps me with the setup I can’t Tweet my thoughts. What utter bullshit. I reject this app. No wonder I wasn’t told about it. I’m going to block this entire annoyance from my goddamn mind.”
The woman helping me and I laughed. I turned around and looked at my dress in the mirror in the dressing room. It was perfect. It was both sparkly and sexy. I walked out and Ghiza choked, while Blade and Serion laughed.
I teased, “There’s no dust in your eyes this time, Ghiza?” Ghiza groaned, “Aesir above, you and your mother just LIVE to make my life complicated.” My mother snorted, “She looks afuckingmazing.” She turned to me, “Baby, you look absolutely gorgeous! Cayden won’t know what hit him. I don’t quite understand that saying, but the pack girls told me what it meant. I feel it applies here even though you don’t plan to hit him with the dress.”
I smiled saying, “I know what you mean, and the pack girls helped you get the context correct.” She grinned then Aiylee and Beagan walked into the store. I squealed, “I got both my dresses!” My mom softly said. “Of course you did. My baby gets what her heart wants.” She’d move heaven and earth to make that happen too.
Aiylee screamed, “OH MY GOD! LOOK AT YOU!” Beagan gasped, “It’s stunning and sexy. It’s the reception dress, right?” Aiylee grinned, “It should be the ceremony dress. I’m all for the reception dress being even riskier.” Ghiza told her, “You stop talking right now.” She winked at him, “You adore me, and you know it.” He smiled at her.
