"Anything for my sis." He smiled and when he made eye contact with me, I completely understood. Jayden would always be there for me, but he knew this would probably be much more difficult for me than the others expected. Knowing that he would be there to have my back if things became too much to handle was a complete relief. My mother, God bless her, sometimes made me wonder if she forgot all that happened, or at least, that was the way she acted. It was nice that I didn't need to field questions every day about my current mental state, but I also wished she would ask every once and a while.
"Okay, now get dressed, we're running late!" Without hesitating I took off towards my room to change. "And take your hair down from that rat's nest of a bun it's in. Having your hair down will help us picture it on that day."
"Yes, mother," I didn't hide my sigh of resignation and without surprise she caught it.
"Don't you huff at me, young lady! All of this should have been done months ago, but between you and Richard, the two of you never have enough free time to breathe! No marriage is going to last if you don't put the time into your relationship, you know!"
"I know." She kept lecturing, but I just tuned her out as I pulled on some shorts, an off the shoulder blue shirt and tugged a brush through my hair.
Within ten minutes I was ready to go, which I found to be impressive, but I was still greeted with a sigh when I entered the living room again. We loaded up into my mother's van, a vehicle she bought brand new a couple years earlier, and then proceeded to make us feel bad for not filling it up with more grandchildren. The entire drive to the bridal shop she talked about every type of dress in existence, and which styles she assumed I would look best in.
I tried to smile, engage in the conversation, and most importantly, get excited. But unfortunately, my heart was quickly losing interest.
"Oh I am so happy that my little girl is getting married! How many times do you get to help your daughter prepare for that big day?" The words were spoken aloud, but I had no idea if she meant them to.
"Two." I replied, and Jayden snorted. Leeann whipped her head around to glare at him before turning her attention back to me.
"No Greyson, only one."
"I've been married before mother, don't you remember?"
Her lips pursed and her hand made a motion to shoo away my words.
"Of course I remember that. What kind of mother do you think I am?"
"So, what is so different from this wedding to that one?"
"Because when you married Stefan the two of you were so wrapped up in your own little love bubble you couldn't see anything else. We were all invited, but the two of you planned it all. It was only at the court house, I know, but still. The two of you shopped together for that beautifully simple white dress you wore. Stefan used to always respect us as your parents, but I was always upset that he had never thought to include me. I knew how taken with him you were, it was like you always had your Stefan blinders on."
"Stefan blinders?"
"Yes, Greyson, blinders that blocked the rest of the world from your vision, except him."
My irritation faded, and no longer did I want to talk about this subject. Jayden immediately jumped in, talking about her help with his wedding. The slight change of topic was enough to take Leeann's attention from me. I turned my head to stare out the window, yearning to keep my heart from sinking even further.
It had been an hour since we all arrived at the shop, and I could no longer count the number of dresses I had tried on. The beginning of the consultation went fine until our sweet consultant, Polly, asked if there was anything I had seen and liked. Alright, so maybe the chaos started right away, while my mother completely ran the show. I barely had a minute to say hi to Kacie and Kari before we were sent off in all directions. The consultant showed me to my changing room, and the rest were sent to find the perfect gown. Of course, everyone had a completely different idea of what 'perfect' was, and quite honestly, I had no clue either.
No time was wasted as I was stuffed into one after the other. Eventually I felt as if I had tried them all: long, short, frilly, poofy, bedazzled, and even more that I couldn't remember. With each gown the others watched from the arm chairs that were neatly arranged, insuring the bride would feel like a monkey in a zoo. Alright, maybe the other brides loved the attention, but I hated it. Lucky for me, everyone had an opinion voiced before I needed to try creating my own. There wasn't a single gown that I loved, but I knew all the ones I didn't and thankfully they were kicked to the curb after only a few seconds.