“Well, it’s not my first time trying on wedding dresses.”
Brenna laughed. “True. And hopefully it’ll be your last time.”
“No hopefully about it. This is definitely my last.”
“It had better be,” Mom said. “My heart can’t take any more stress.”
Erin wrapped her hand around their mother’s arm. “Trust me, Mom. Jason will be standing at the end of the aisle on our wedding day.”
“I know he will, cailín leanbh.”
They walked into the store and were greeted by a tall, dark-haired woman by the name of Alexandra. Erin introduced everyone to her.
“Erin, it’s nice to meet you and your family,” Alexandra said. “I’m ready to get started if you are.”
“I am.”
Erin had told them she’d sent some ideas to Alexandra earlier in the week, so she’d already pulled some dresses for her to try on. They took seats and waited while Erin went into the dressing room.
The first dress was lace and tulle and looked totally overwhelming on Erin’s slender frame. They all thought it was a no, including Erin.
The second dress was a very pretty satin and clung to her curves.
“It’s pretty,” Brenna said.
“Agree,” Honor said. “It’s pretty.”
Mom shook her head. “Too plain. You need something more wow.”
Erin smoothed her hands down the dress. “It is nice and I like the fit, but I agree it needs something . . . more.”
“Back to the dressing room,” Alexandra said.
The third dress was entirely too poofy. The volume swallowed her up.
“Absolutely not,” Erin said as soon as she looked at herself in the mirror.
Even Alexandra wrinkled her nose. “You’re right. Let’s move on. I think I have one you’re going to love.”
After Erin left, Brenna turned to her mom and sister. “Have you noticed she’s trying on dresses that look absolutely nothing like her first wedding dress?”
“Can you blame her?” Honor asked. “She wants nothing to remind her of that first disaster, including the dress.”
“It was a beautiful dress,” Mom said.
“Yes, it was,” Brenna said. “But it wasn’t the right dress. Or the right guy.”
“True that,” Honor said.
Brenna knew how that felt. She’d had a lovely dress for her first wedding. If she was going to get married again—which she wasn’t—the last thing she’d want to wear would be anything resembling her first dress. It would seem unlucky somehow.
“She’ll pick the right dress,” Mom said. “The one that’s meant to be hers.”
A few minutes later, Erin floated out on a dress that made them all gasp. A white crepe with off-the-shoulder lace sleeves, it clung to her body and floated down to a mermaid shape, with a lace cathedral train. When Erin stood up on the platform with her back to them, they all gasped again.
The back was adorned with see-through lace and crepe buttons and Brenna could swear this dress was made just for Erin because it fit her as if it had been created for her body. If it was going to need alterations, they would be very minor.
“Damn,” Honor whispered.
Brenna caught the telltale glitter of tears in Erin’s eyes as she stared at herself in the full-length mirrors.
“Erin,” their mother said. “That dress is breathtaking.”
She finally turned. “I love it. I love it so much.”
“It’s perfect, Erin,” Brenna said.
“It’s you, honey,” Honor said. “It fits you perfectly and you look like a princess.”
Mom nodded. “I agree.”
“Isn’t it amazing?” Alexandra asked. “The alterations on this would be minimal. And she looks like a million bucks in this dress.”
Brenna couldn’t argue.
Mom stood up and went over to get a closer look, then took Erin’s hand. “Well?”
“I can’t imagine loving another dress as much as I love this one. I can see myself wearing it when I marry Jason. This is the one.”
They all clapped and Brenna and Honor got up and went over to her to hug her. Erin changed, filled out the paperwork and paid for the dress.
“While we’re here we should look for dresses for you two and for Mom,” she said.
Brenna rolled her eyes. She was going to be a bridesmaid again. Not her favorite thing, but she’d do what she had to do since her sister was the bride-to-be this time.
In the end, it hadn’t been difficult at all to find dresses. Erin had already chosen her bridesmaid colors, and the store had a wonderful inventory. Honor and Brenna tried on a few and found a couple of styles that looked amazing on both of them, which was quite a feat considering they had two completely different body types. Brenna was curvier and taller than Honor, but Erin said as long as the colors of the dresses were the same, they could wear different styles. She wanted Alice in the wedding as well, which meant once Alice flew back to town from Los Angeles she’d have to come and pick out a dress as well. But the fabric and color would be the same and the styles were similar, and now that was taken care of with a minimal amount of fuss. Even Mom had found a dress she liked. All in all, a good shopping day.
After that they were starving, so they hit up a restaurant in the city and celebrated with margaritas.
Brenna raised her glass. “Here’s to finding a wedding dress, Erin.”
Erin raised her glass as well. “I’ll definitely drink to that.”
They sipped their drinks and rehashed their workdays, then put in their food orders.
“Erin, you crossed quite a few things off your wedding to-do list today,” Honor said. “Wedding dress, bridesmaid dresses, mother-of-the-bride dress. That’s a huge accomplishment.”
“It is. More than I planned to accomplish, actually. I’m ahead of schedule now. We could probably move the wedding up to September.”
Honor frowned. “That’s not funny.”
Brenna laughed. “Actually, it’s pretty funny.”
“That’s because you only have to supply the wine. I have to do everything else.”
Erin grasped Honor’s hand. “Hey, not true. I told you I’m handling all of this.”
“As if I’d let you. You’ve had enough stress already. Just being the bride is stressful.”