Chapter 21
CHAPTER 21
After talking to Anika and being relieved by her new and improved poster, Lizzie can’t help herself, and even if she really doesn’t have the time today, after she walks back to the paper, she decides she has to take a quick trip out to Terra Marique and see what’s happening. And of course give her fiance’ a big congratulatory hug.
She’s there in just a couple of minutes and can’t believe her eyes. These investors aren’t fooling around. There are trucks and all sorts of heavy equipment everywhere. It’s so busy there’s even a police officer there to make sure people coming and going are safe.
After being directed to a spot to park near the construction team’s trailer, Lizzie gets out of her car and is totally agog at all the action. Per the plans they are being very careful about tree removal, only taking out ones that absolutely have to go for construction, so there is no clear cutting going on like in so many developments where they fell every tree in sight. Over the last several weeks, being hopeful the project was going to pass at town meeting, a team has been optimistically putting bright yellow ties around the trees to be cut, bright pink for those to remain.
Lizzie has only been there a moment when Jack spots her through the window and comes bounding down the stairs from the trailer.
“Well, what do you think, huh?” He says, grinning from ear to ear.
“This is amazing! I thought they couldn’t get all the machinery here until next week, what happened?” Lizzie asks, still staring in disbelief.
Jack shrugs, “Someone on the team made some calls. They certainly have a lot more pull than I do. I think I got hung up on three times, but then all of a sudden, bam, they were here.” He puts his arm around her and hugs her close. “I know we talked about doing this whole groundbreaking ceremony with the paper here and everything, but after how hard it was to get them here I wasn’t about to ask them to wait. I did get some good pictures though I think, which I emailed to you. So, it’s not a complete loss.”
Lizzie looks at all the work going on and is a little disappointed that they weren’t able to have the guests she’d hoped for there to see this, to have some sense of ceremony around this momentous event. The governor had not said no, so she had been hoping she was coming… “I understand, I really do,” which she meant, but still... “Maybe we can create another photo op a little bit down the road. It’s okay.” She puts her arm around his waist. “This is very exciting! I can’t believe this is happening! I’m so proud and so happy for you, sweetie,” she gives him a kiss, just as someone with a hardhat and some plans comes over.
“Excuse me, sorry to interrupt,” he says, clearing his throat nervously. “We had some questions about a couple of the trees? Looking at the plans there are a couple of pink ones that look like they should be green, or they’re going to be in the middle of someone’s living room.”
“You go, you have lots to do,” Lizzie says. “I’ll see you tonight, we’ll celebrate.”
He starts to walk away. He turns to her, “I have a feeling the next few months are going to be a little crazy. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
“Ah, so in like, six months?” She calls after him, smiling.
He keeps walking and gives her a thumbs up and nods.
She takes a couple of photos, but is aware that it’s actually pretty dicey walking around. Trees are being cut down, the sound of chain saws is deafening, there’s debris all over, and she’s not exactly dressed with proper footwear or a hard hat for traipsing around a construction site. She jumps when not too far from her she hears a tree fall to the ground.
“Okay, so it’s back to town for me,” she says quietly to herself.
When Lizzie gets back to the office both her father and Stan are gone. The photographer she hired, Lisa, is there, but she’s got headphones on and is busy editing some photos, so she doesn’t bother her. That said, she can’t seem to settle down. She’s distracted and preoccupied.
Despite her lack of focus, she gets everything done she needs to. The photos Jack sent her are up on all their social media platforms. She’s filed a story that she’d been close to done with, and had formatted page one. She sits back and sighs.
“Hey, I’m going to head out,” she says to Lisa as she puts her coat on. Lisa, in the midst of editing photos from the latest high school hockey game, nods and waves.
Once in her car, Lizzie has no idea where she wants to go. So far her engagement hasn’t exactly gone how one might think it should go. “You’ve been watching too many romcoms,” she says to herself as she starts her car. And then, just like that, she knows exactly where she wants to go, and what she wants to do. She takes her cell phone out of her pocket and texts Alexis and her mom.
If you aren’t too busy right now, would you both like to meet me for a very important errand?
She hits send and waits a moment.
Is this the errand I’m thinking it might be? Her mom writes right back.
Lizzie smiles and types back, Yes! Can you both meet me at Jess’s?
I’m in!” Alexis tests back. See you in five!
Lizzie is now beaming as she heads to the bridal store.
She and Alexis arrive at the same time, and Alexis comes bounding down the sidewalk, “Yes! This is going to be so much fun!” she exclaims, hugging Lizzie.
Gabby then arrives, so excited she has to turn around when she gets out of her car because she forgot to close her door. “Oh my gosh! This is so fun!” she says, hugging both Lizzie and Alexis. “Shall we?”
Once they walk in, Lizzie’s heart begins to race. She’d been so excited, but now, all of a sudden, she’s feeling a little wobbly. Her mom immediately notices. So does Jess, the shop owner who busies herself behind the counter, not wanting to intrude.
“You okay, honey?” Gabby puts her arm around her and leads her to a couch. “What’s going on?”
“I don’t know… I, um, I was so excited to do this, then all of a sudden I feel really anxious, I don’t know why, but, ugh,” she shakes her hands. Alexis comes over and crouches down.
“What’s up? You okay? You want to leave? We can get out of here right now if this isn’t feeling good to you,” she says, rubbing Lizzie’s arm.
Lizzie takes a deep breath. “All of a sudden I was brought back to having put a dress on hold four years ago, and then having to call and say that I wouldn’t be needing it.” She leans into her mom who has her arm around as they sit. “That probably sounds insane, it’s not like it was a huge trauma or anything, but yet, it kind of was. I didn’t realize until right now how scared I am of that happening again. That he’s going to leave again. Does that make me crazy?”
“No, it does not. It makes you perfectly human,” says Gabby, kissing her on the head and stroking her hair. “That was a terrible time and you have done an amazing job moving past it, but of course, old feelings would come up as this next chapter becomes more real.”
Alexis scoots onto the couch and joins them, Jess, who has probably seen it all being the owner of a bridal shop, is giving them their space. “Lizzie, I think you are incredibly brave, and strong and if today is not the day, it’s just not the day. It’s all good.”
Lizzie sits up and dries her eyes with her sleeve before her mom can pull a tissue out of her pocket. “Thank you, both, no, I want to do this. Things are not the same as they were four years ago, Jack isn’t the same, and neither am I. I’m not planning the wedding from four years ago, I’m planning the wedding for now.” She sniffs, wipes her nose with the tissue her mom put on her lap and stands up. “Okay, so I have one question...what style?” She starts going through the racks. “Mermaid? Nah, not me, vintage?” She pulls a gorgeous dress from the 1950s section out and they all ooh and ahh over it.
“I can start a dressing room for you if you like?” says Jess, who sees the storm has passed and has come in to join them. “We also do couture alterations right here, so we can make any changes you need, even if it’s just the hem, right here.”
“Oh, that’s so good to know, thank you!” says Gabby. “This wedding is coming up pretty quickly, in May, so it’s important we can get things done right here in Cranberry Harbor.”
“Jess,” Lizzie says, standing up and walking over to her, and putting out her hand, “Thank you so much for helping Jack with this beautiful ring, I love it so much.”
Jess takes her hand and smiles. “Oh my gosh, it looks fantastic! I’m so glad you love it.” She lets go of Lizzie’s hand and leans in. “Truth be told, this was my favorite out of all the rings I brought in.” She turns to return to her task at hand. “Let me know if you need anything, I’ll let you and your crew look around a bit.”
Alexis pulls out a dress from the 1970s, a gorgeous crocheted, empire-waisted dress with bell sleeves. “Oh, look at this, it’s so Cher circa 1972!” she says, holding it up and dancing with it. “What do you think?”
“Sure! Put it in the dressing room.” Then, Lizzie sees it. It’s a new dress, not vintage, but it has a certain something. It’s not too frou-frou, it’s a bit beachy, but not too bohemian.
“What are you looking at, honey,” Gabby says, following her gaze. “Ohhh…that’s beautiful!” Gabby takes it off the rack, “This is the first one you’re trying on,” she says leading the way.
Lizzie goes into the dressing room and peels off the many spring, but still winter layers she’s wearing, and realizes the stretchy sports bra she has on is hardly the right undergarment for a wedding dress. But she slips on the dress and smiles when she sees herself in the mirror. She opens the curtain and steps out, her mother immediately starts to cry before she’s even zipped up.
“Mom, now you’re going to make me cry!” Lizzie steps up on the carpeted platform and turns to look at herself in the mirror, and promptly starts to cry too. “Now, look at what you’ve started,” she says looking at her mother and laughing as she wipes her eyes.
Jess hands her a tissue, and zips her up. “This looks wonderful,” she says as she fluffs the train out to give Lizzie the full effect.
“This can’t be it, can it? The first dress? But I have to say, I sort of love it.” Lizzie says, turning and looking critically at the dress and herself. “I surely need to try on like, ten, right?”
The dress is a beautiful ivory color, Lizzie has never been a fan of bright white, and while it’s new, it has the lines and elegance of a vintage dress. It’s not too poofy, but not too tight so it’s easy to move in.
“I love the lace detail on the bodice, and the illusion fabric on the chest and shoulders, it looks like it’s from the 1940s, but it also looks contemporary,” Alexis says, she’s choked up too. “Maybe this will sound funny, but, I don’t know, it just looks like you,” she shrugs her shoulders and grabs a tissue from the box Jess has kindly placed nearby.
“It’s this wonderful line from New York,” Jess says as she circles Lizzie, seeing how every aspect of the dress fits. “They do an incredible job of marrying old and new,” she laughs. “Pardon the bridal pun.”
“Mom? What do you think?” Lizzie asks.
Gabby blows her nose and nods, throwing up her hands and laughing,“Look at me, what do you think?” Then they all start to laugh.
“Should I try on a couple more? Just to be safe?” Lizzie asks the room.
“Hey, why not,” Alexis says. “We’re all here, you’ve got the ring and all,” she smiles. She gets up and takes a dress off the rack. “I thought this one was really nice.” She puts it over her arm and walks it over to Lizzie. “It’s strapless, and you have such pretty shoulders from all your yoga,” she says, smiling, and hands it to her.
“Sure,” Lizzie says, “I’m game!” Jess takes the dress from her and puts it in the dressing room. She steps down from the platform, “Mom? Do you mind unzipping this for me?” She asks, pulling her hair to the side.
Gabby gets up, but before unzipping the gown gives Lizzie a hug. “I’m not a mom who thinks the only way you’re going to be complete is by getting married, you know,” she says.
“Of course I know that, you’ve never pressured me at all,” Lizzie says, feeling emotional.
“It’s just, ugh, I don’t know why I’m so teary,” Gabby says, wiping her eyes again. “But you and Jack are so good together, and you two are such forces on your own, but you’re even more together, and I just feel so grateful for us, for you, for Cranberry Harbor to have the two of you starting your life together right here. Okay, I’ll shut up now.” And with that she unzips the dress. “There you go! I promise to stop crying now,” she jokes.
Lizzie slips into the dressing room and closes the curtain, and keeps talking. “You know, if I choose that dress I may be one of the only brides to choose the first dress they put on, is that right, Jess?”
“Well, you’d be in the minority, that’s for sure. I’ve had brides try on as many as twenty and still not end up buying one.” She moves next to the curtain, “Do you need some help with the zipper?” she asks.
“Yes, I cannot get this on my own,” she says.
Jess pulls back the curtain and goes in. In under a minute Lizzie emerges taking tiny steps in the very tight gown.
“Yeah, I’m not sure this mermaid style is really me,” she says. “I don’t think I can even get myself up there,” she says, eying the platform that is about eight inches high. “I’m thinking that unless I plan to spend the wedding posing by a doorway, and never moving, this isn’t for me.”
Gabby and Alexis each crinkle their noses and shake their heads. “Yeah, no,” they say also in unison.
“Dress one?” Lizzie says. They both nod enthusiastically.
“I’ll help you out of that,” Jess says, smiling. “You know when you know.”
“Yup, and I know. And that’s my dress,” Lizzie says.
“I don’t think you’re going to need too many alterations,” Jess says and she puts a “sold” tag on Lizzie’s dress, “But I’d like you to come back with the undergarments you will be wearing and the shoes, shoes are important to get the length right, and then we can make sure everything is perfect.” She takes the dress and brings it up to the counter, takes the tag off and hands it to Lizzie. Gabby immediately intercepts and takes it.
“Mom, I don’t expect you--”
“No, you are our only daughter, of course I am buying your dress!” Gabby says, taking out her wallet and selecting a card.
“But Mom, you really don’t have to,” Lizzie says, knowing full well this is a battle she will not win. When Gabby makes her mind up about something, there is no changing it.
“I know I don’t have to, I want to. You Dad and I both want to. Really, honey, let us do this for you. We’re happy and delighted to do this for you,” she hands her card over to Jess.
“Oh! We didn’t even discuss veil, no veil, flower crown, and all that,” Alexis says, coming around the corner wearing a shoulder-length veil, stopping to pose for them.
“Oh yeah! I didn’t even think of that!” Lizzie says. Maybe when I come back, sans sports bra and snow boots we could try a few looks?” She cocks her head and looks at Alexis. “Hmm, I don’t know that I’ve ever considered myself a veil person. Did you wear one, Mom? I can’t remember from the photos.”
“I did not. I pretty much went non-traditional, we got married on the beach and all, I was even barefoot, much to your grandmother’s dismay,” Gabby says, laughing at the memory. “But I was pretty independent, I was in my third year of medical school, so she knew I would do whatever I wanted to do. Honestly, I think they were just happy to see me ‘settling down,’ I was so different from my cousins who married very young and were a bit more traditional than me.”
“Gabby Martin, doctor, rebel, and creator of her own path,” Lizzie teases.
“You are so cool, Dr. Martin,” Alexis says.
“Alexis, I’m always telling you, please, call me Gabby! And you are so wrong, I am so not cool, but I appreciate the thought!”
“Oh no, you totally are…Gabby,” Alexis says, stumbling a bit on her name. “Believe me, we all think so!”
Jess hands Gabby the receipt, “Listen to them, Dr. Martin, face it, you are totally cool.” She turns to Lizzie. “Call me and we can make an appointment for you to come in for a fitting, make it soon, though, your wedding is coming up fast.” She puts a garment bag over her dress and zips it up so it’s safe and sound to be stored in the back.
Lizzie’s stomach does a little flip. It is really soon she thinks. And then she reminds herself, it may feel soon, but it’s also been years in the making. “I will, thank you for everything!”
“Are you ladies ready to scoot?” Lizzie asks. “If no one’s in a hurry should we go celebrate with some cake and tea? My treat!” She looks at her mother. “I insist on treating!”
“I’ve got time,” Gabby says.
“Me too,” says Alexis.
They all bundle up as they head out into the waning sun on this cold February afternoon. It may be cold now, but Jess is right, before she knows it her wedding will be here. And with that thought, she smiles to herself. It’s all working out, and it’s going to be perfect. She just knows it.