Finding Eden(34)

She stared at me for a minute and then let out what sounded like a resigned breath. "As long as he didn't intentionally hurt you," she said.

"No, I promise you. Never."

My mom seemed to consider something for a minute and her expression softened. "Eden, darling," she took my hand in hers. "You and I should have a nice, little mother/daughter talk." She smiled brightly. "Boys will want things from you, honey, and—"

I groaned. "Mom," I took a deep breath and gave her a smile. "I'm aware of what goes on between men and women when they're in love."

Disappointment clouded my mom's expression. "Oh. Okay. Well, we'll chat about that a little more another time. Get dressed and meet me downstairs. The guests should be arriving in a couple hours, and I have a few things I was hoping you girls would help me with."

Molly gave me one last sympathetic look and left the room, too. I checked my phone and my heart dropped to see there still weren't any messages. Did Calder regret the night before? Had he started questioning his feelings for me? Had he reconsidered what he'd said about always loving me? Anguish gripped my heart.

I retrieved the outfit my mom had picked out and started to get dressed. I pulled on the tights first—tights! As far as I knew, only little girls and ballerinas wore tights. Then again, I wasn't exactly up to date with the height of fashion. In fact, Marissa had bought every piece of clothing I owned. I frowned slightly and pulled the sheer white tights up my legs, doing a little jumping dance to get them up as high as possible.

Then I pulled on the dress and zipped the side zipper. The flower came right under my chin and I batted at it with both hands as it tickled my neck and jaw. I swear I heard it growl.

I slipped on the pale pink heels that were sitting by my bed. They were actually pretty, and not high at all, but I wobbled slightly when I walked in them. My mom probably hadn't considered the fact that this was my first pair of heels. I practiced walking around my room for a few minutes and when I felt competent enough that I wouldn't tumble down the stairs, I walked down to the kitchen where I heard my mom’s and Molly's voices.

When I walked in, they both looked over at me, my mom gasping out a smile and bringing her hands together and Molly gasping out in a different way and bringing her hand up over her mouth.

"Oh, Eden, you look beautiful," my mom said.

I smiled. "Thank you, Mom. Thanks for the dress."

My mom came over and took my hands in hers and then spun me around. "It's perfect," she sighed. She futzed with the flower, frowning slightly and then smiling when I assumed she got it to lay the way she wanted it to.

"What is that?" Molly asked, coming over to me.

She messed with the fabric flower, batting at it like I had when it sprang out of whatever position she'd tried to wrangle it into.

I leaned toward her. "Don't anger the flower," I whispered, raising my eyebrows at her and then glancing down at it, feigning wide-eyed fear.

She snorted and my mom put her hands on her hips. "Oh stop it, you two. That flower is perfectly lovely. It's elegant and feminine. It makes a statement."

"Yeah, it says, 'I'm craaaaa-zy,'" Molly raised her voice and sang out the last word in a high-soprano.

I burst out laughing, clutching my stomach. Molly started laughing, too, and Carolyn pursed her lips at us.

"Oh fine then, if you don't like the dress," she said, looking away. "It's just that you had one similar when you were four and it was your very favorite. You wore it all the time. I just thought . . ."

I got control of my laughter, feeling suddenly guilty, and put my hand on her arm. I didn't like the dress, but her intentions weren't bad . . . mostly anyway. And I hoped it was just a phase—she was still learning who I was now. I was hard-pressed to reject motherly affection, even if it felt a little misguided. "Oh, no, no, really, it's very . . . pretty. I'm just not used to dressing up. I'll get used to it in no time." I smiled at her. "Really."

She pulled me to her, hugging me tightly. "Thank you." She pulled back, bringing her hands together. "All right, we're ready early, but there's so much to do. The florist delivered the flowers and they're in the refrigerator in the garage. Do you think you and Molly could start putting together the centerpieces?"

"Yes, we'd love to," I said, looking at Molly. Her eyes were still on the flower at my chin. I cleared my throat and she snapped her eyes up to mine.

"Oh yes. Right. The three of us, I mean, uh, the two of us would be happy to."

I snapped my lips together not to laugh and then pulled Molly with me toward the garage as my mom called behind us, "The vases are in the lower cabinet next to the refrigerator."