The Paid Bridesmaid(14)
As Stefan circled around me, moving the fabric this way and that, he tutted and sighed loudly. He made me feel like I should apologize for having hips.
Then he started muttering to himself about things he had to change and I tried to be helpful.
“I think it looks great just the way it is.”
His imperious glare let me know that I was wrong. Technically his company was paying for the dresses, so I decided to keep my mouth shut and just go with the flow. So often the bridesmaids’ dresses selected for us were hideous, even though the brides repeatedly assured us that they were “like, so pretty!” and we could “totally wear them again.” Unless I planned on going to the future marriage of Big Bird and Barbie, the hot-pink dress with yellow feathers from the Hemmings’ wedding was definitely not something I was ever going to put on my body again.
I took off my dress and handed it to Stefan’s assistant. Who was also shooting me dirty looks. I changed into my regular clothes, smoothing my hair in its french twist so that I didn’t look too messy.
Sadie said, “I’m coming out!” I stepped around the screen to see her, and her dress was stunning. It was fitted with a lace overlay on the bodice and was open in the back. The bottom half of her dress surprised me—she’d gone for a poofy skirt with a tulle overlay.
“Does it not look good?” she asked me.
“No, you look gorgeous! It just surprised me that your dress has such a princess feel to it.”
“I considered a lot of different styles, but in the future, I’m going to wear formal, more traditional dresses. When will I ever get the chance to wear a Cinderella-esque ball gown like this again?”
She was right. Her designer, Stefan, walked around her making more noises.
“It looks like it’s all finished,” I offered, not wanting him to stress out Sadie, and he brushed me aside with another icy stare.
“Of course it’s finished. I’m making sure that we don’t need any last-second alterations. You don’t know how many brides put on five pounds the week of their wedding because of all the stress eating,” he replied.
Oh, trust me. I did.
A camera operator panned up and down Sadie’s dress, but I knew this wasn’t being broadcast live. They wanted the footage for later, and for the wedding itself to be the big reveal of the dress.
Sadie teared up and I was right there with a tissue, to make sure she didn’t get any mascara on her dress.
“Happy or sad?” I asked her while Stefan ordered his two assistants to get the dress off right away as he fretted aloud about possible tearstains.
“Sad,” she said, moving her arms out of the sleeves and stepping out of the dress. She grabbed her white robe that had bride emblazoned across the back and sat down in an armchair.
“What are you sad about?”
She let out a shaky breath, like she was trying to hold off big sobs. “When I imagined this moment, I thought my mom would be here. But she’s off somewhere with my aunt.”
I immediately felt guilty for not anticipating this. “You didn’t tell me you wanted her here.” If she had, I would have personally poured coffee down Brandy’s throat and then made sure she’d behaved.
“I know. I just thought she’d want to see me in my dress, and she said, ‘I’ll see it when you get married.’”
I pressed my lips into a thin line. Her mother was so selfish.
“But,” Sadie continued, “I think she was afraid Maybelle would be here today. I hate that my mom’s making me choose. Geoff is the only father I’ve ever known and I want both of them to be here and to just be happy for me.”
“I understand that. And I’m going to do my best to help that happen.” Her mentioning Geoff as a father made me realize this was another part of her life she’d glossed over and that I needed more information in case Camden went digging around again. “He married your mom when you were thirteen, right?”
She used the tissue to wipe away some tears. “Yes. Life was so hard before they got married. We were poor. Like, living in a mobile home with aluminum over the windows and gaping holes in the floor kind of poor. My mom always went from one man to the next, trying to find someone to take care of us instead because her drinking made it so she couldn’t hold down a job. Then she met Geoff, and she was on her best behavior for a few years. Our lives were so much better. But then she started drinking again and he couldn’t deal with it. So he left her and moved on.”
“That’s rough,” I told her.
She nodded, blowing her nose before continuing. “I decided that I was going to make my own money and never depend on someone else for survival. So I’m paying for this wedding through sponsorship and it means I’m giving up a lot of say-so, but it’s worth it to me to have this. I love Dan, and I don’t ever want him to think I’m after him for his money. Or that I can’t take care of myself.”
I one hundred percent understood this, but for different reasons. “He knows that. It’s easy to see how much the two of you love each other.”
“Sadie! Where are you?” Stefan stuck his head around the dressing screen. “Shoe time. Let’s get your dress back on and make sure the length is right!”
Sadie smiled at me and headed off to do as she was told, again, for the sake of her sponsors. To be honest, I’d thought her decision to use sponsors for her wedding had been self-aggrandizing, but it turned out that she’d done it to prove something sweet to her groom.