Thursday 11 June 2020

The Wedding Dress


by Linda W Payne

sour wine

 “This is a lovely piece of satin. Nice for a wedding dress.”
“Yes, but …”
“I took a photo of the dress and then come home and copied it. Same colour, same material, even the same drape.”
“Yes but …”
“I know what you are thinking;  you’re a woman in her mid-40’s you shouldn’t be wearing a white wedding dress. Well it’s not white it’s ivory.”
“Yes but …”
“There’s no buts I didn’t have a proper wedding dress at my first wedding so I’m going to this time. Well almost. I’ve shortened the pattern so the dress is knee length. Even I could see that a long dress would be ridiculous.”
“Yes but …”
“I couldn’t wear a veil either so I compromised by wearing a hat. What do you think of it?”
“It’s very nice but …”
“I bought a pill box hat. Don’t tell anyone but I got it from a charity shop.”
“I won’t but …”
“I then covered it with the same ivory material as the dress and put some netting of the same colour around it. I decorated it with creamy coloured roses and freesia. I’m very pleased with it.”
“So you should be but …”
“I was extravagant with the shoes. I took a bit of the material to the wedding shop and bought silk shoes had them dyed to match the dress. I bought a crystal shoe clip to decorate the shoes. Bit plain otherwise. What do you think?”
“Very nice but …”
“Is that all you can say very nice? I thought they were better than that.”
“They are. They’re really beautiful. It’s just that …”
“I did the same with the bag look.”
“Gorgeous but …”
“I thought it would be silly to carry a bouquet so I made a corsage of roses and freesias for my wrist. They smell lovely. Here smell.”
“Beautiful aroma but …”
“Ooh is that the time? I’ll have to be leaving soon, don’t want to keep George waiting do I?”
“No you don’t. But don’t you think you’re being a bit unfair.”
“Unfair? Why am I being a bit unfair.”
“You waited until your son and his intended bride had made all the arrangements for their wedding. You let them book the church, the restaurant for the wedding breakfast and the hall for the evening reception. You were kindly allowed to accompany your future daughter-in-law to choose her dress. She didn’t have to invite you because a lot of brides just take their mum and friends. You even photographed her dress so you could copy it – down to the very last detail.”
“I’ve shortened the hem and made the sleeves short instead of the three-quarter length that she has. So it’s not quite the same.”
“It’s the same to look at. You’ve even asked the photographer to come early to take your photos at the time when the guests should have started arriving for your son’s wedding.”
“Well he’s already at the church isn’t he.”
“No you deliberately waited until they had arranged their wedding then chose that day to renew your vows. You managed to make George feel guilty enough to go along with you even though he didn’t agree. Why did you do that?”
“I thought it would be easier than …”
“No you didn’t. If you thought it would be easier you would have asked your son and his bride if it was okay before you went ahead with your arrangements. Then if they agreed you would have renewed your vows after their wedding ceremony not before. And you wouldn’t have gone behind her back and copied everything she had with the dress and the flowers.”
“But …”
“Don’t but me. There are no buts for you. You did it because you are jealous and you can’t bear for someone else to be the centre of attention instead of you. Not even your son’s bride. She’s a lovely girl but what do think the aftermath of all this will be. Don’t bother to answer but there’ll be repercussions mark my words.”

*

10 years later


“Hi Grandma.”
“Happy birthday Liam.”
“I’ve had a lovely load of presents and thank you for yours. We’re round Nanna’s house and she’s making me a lovely birthday tea.”
“That’s nice. Where’s your sister.”
“She’s just coming. Come on Susie, Grandma’s on Skype.”
“Hallo Grandma. Mummy when are me and Liam going to visit Grandma?”
“Never. Never ever.”

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