It's Better This Way(35)

They all met at ten, the appointment time Hillary had been given by the shop. They were seated in a private room and offered champagne before Hillary was ushered into a dressing area. Before they arrived, Hillary had previewed several dresses online and selected five within her budget.

    “This is exciting,” Carrie said, as Hillary followed the sales representative into the dressing room.

Julia sat between Marie and Carrie and shared her niece’s enthusiasm. This was a happy day, or would be, once she was able to clear the air about Heath’s relationship to the stepmother they refused to acknowledge.

“I’m happy for Hillary,” Marie said, crossing her legs and settling back in the comfortable chair. “Did she tell you she heard from Dad?”

“She didn’t.” Julia was pleased to hear it, hoping that Eddie had taken her words to heart.

Looking surprised, Marie said, “I wonder why not.”

Julia sighed, and was admittedly surprised. “I’m sure she has her reasons.”

Marie shrugged. “It’s no big thing. Dad called me first.”

That would be just like Eddie. He had a habit of going through the back door when he wasn’t sure what would greet him if he was direct.

“He believes I’m less stubborn than Hillary,” she explained. “I guess I must be, because I decided to talk to him.”

Carrie bent forward to look at her cousin. “So what happened? Don’t keep us in suspense. What did he want?”

Marie shrugged, indicating it was no big deal. “Unfortunately, it was the same song, different verse.”

“What does that mean?” Carrie asked, pressing for more details.

“You know,” Marie said, as if bored with the subject. “He’s more interested in us accepting Laura than anything else. He couldn’t keep her name out of the conversation. It was Laura this and Laura that, as if I was eager to hear the updates on their wonderful life together.”

    Julia had a hard time understanding how her ex-husband could continue to be this insensitive.

“To be fair,” Marie added, “he asked how Hillary and I were doing and if I was seeing anyone. He said he heard that we were both enjoying our jobs, you know, that sort of thing.” She turned to Julia. “You must have said something?”

“I did.” She didn’t make a habit of contacting Eddie. In their last conversation, she’d filled him in on both girls, letting him know how well they were doing.

“Then Dad asked me to relay his congratulations to Hillary.”

That was a step in the right direction, and hearing it encouraged Julia, although she wished he would have reached out to Hillary directly.

Before she could say anything more, Hillary stepped out of the dressing room in a gorgeous wedding gown that suited her beautifully. She stood on a small platform and looked at them expectantly, silently seeking their opinion. Her gaze automatically went to her mother first.

Julia couldn’t take her eyes off her daughter. Hillary, with her shoulder-length dark hair, was as regal as a queen. She was taller than Julia by several inches, which came from Eddie’s side of the family. Her blue eyes were all Eddie. Hillary was simply stunning. Julia found it hard to believe this beautiful young woman was her precious daughter.

“What do you think?” Hillary asked when no one spoke.

Julia had a hard time answering past the lump that formed in her throat. “Oh my,” she breathed, in a raspy whisper.

Hillary’s eyes widened. “You don’t like it?”

    “No, I love it. It’s perfect; you’re perfect.”

Marie nodded. “I like it.”

“Me, too,” Carrie added.

The problem was, each one of the five dresses Hillary had preselected were equally gorgeous. Then the sales rep brought out another dress. One several hundred dollars above Hillary’s budget. It was by far the most beautiful of all the dresses, making it even more difficult to choose one over the other. After a lengthy discussion with the sales rep offering her advice, they were able to narrow it down to two: the first one Hillary had tried on, and the last, most expensive, one. Both were the same style, sleek and elegant, and suited Hillary’s slender frame beautifully.

“I’m going to think about it,” Hillary announced, before the end of their appointment time. Julia knew the price difference between the two was a major factor. Her own wedding dress had cost less than five hundred dollars, but that had been nearly forty years ago now. Times and prices had changed. She recalled when she and Eddie bought their first home and worried if they would be able to make the nearly four-hundred-dollar-a-month house payment.

“Whichever dress you decide on will be perfect,” Julia assured her daughter.

“I like the more expensive one,” she said, biting into her lower lip. “It’s six hundred dollars above my budget, though.”

“Ask Dad for it,” Marie advised. “He said he wanted to contribute to the wedding costs. You should let him.”



* * *



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They’d arrived at the restaurant and had been seated. Their orders were in, and they sat sipping a crisp white wine, chatting about the wedding arrangements. The wedding date was set now for early November, and the perfect venue had been found for the reception.