Another Life (Book 3)

Chapter 11

TW// Some contents in this chapter can be triggering. Please be advised, this is a completely fictional story, but if it gets too heavy for you, feel free to skip ahead. 

I'm starting to think we chose the wrong time of the year to get married. It's already stressing enough that it's the holidays and to add a wedding to it—what was I thinking?

Steph's dress is a problem. We didn't get it on the same day because my poor baby passed out when she found out she was pregnant. We went back the day after and eventually found one that is forgiving enough. Now, two weeks after, we're here to try the dress again and it. Does. Not. fit. The zipper goes all the way up, but she looks as if she's suffocating already. It's too close. The wedding is next Wednesday and I'm nervous if it's even going to zip all the way up by then.

She looks at me, defeated. "I'm going to cry."

"Okay, so what's going on here?" Ray asks, motioning to her midsection.

"Uhm,"

He pokes her sides and rubs his chin. "Hmmm." He looks back at me. "How far along are you?"

I shrug. She shrugs. "Not far. We don't know yet."

Ray nods. "So, we'll have to do some alterations. As I've mentioned, we have 1-2cm in the seams. We can pull from there, but I'll need you not to gain any more weight by Wednesday, please. It's just a couple of days."

"That's not up to her, Ray." I snap. "Don't make her feel bad about it. The last thing I want is her to starve herself to make a dress fit. It's just a dress and I'll buy another one if I must. I'll buy them all, Ray," I go up to her and she buried her face into my shoulder with a frown. "Just try to make this work for now."

He calls Kim over and they inspect her. "How far along are you?" Kim asks.

"We don't know for sure. About 6-7 weeks."

"Definitely more than 6-7 weeks," Kim says. They poke around her breast and ask her how the fit was up there. She said it is fine. I'm relieved that the fabric has some stretch in it. So even though it looks skin-tight, it's not as bad as it looks. In the end, they're only going to go into the seams for a cm on each side and switch out the zipper for a corseted back. That way, she'll have a little room while still having a close enough fit. In the meantime, we're all praying to God that that's enough.

She looks at me with gratitude on her face and a whisper on her tongue. "Thank you."

Ray sighs when it's over. "Mary never told a lie about you. You're turning me old."

"I appreciate your efforts, Ray. Really."

"Yeah, yeah."

We met up with Sierra, Grace, Amelia, and the kids for lunch. We're at this lounge up in Roslyn that's nice. The minutes we walk in, Irelee is gawking at everything. It's woodsy, with a variety of flowers and shrubs around. A small stream flows around the building's structure. Tiny fishes dive up and down in it. Lee and Max spent an incredibly long time gawking at them, Sierra encouraging their antics. When we go inside, there's another section that leads to an outdoor area with small exotic animals. Lee and Max run off to look at the parrot, the cockatoos, and the iguanas. Amelia and Sierra went with them.

I push the stroller out of the way while Grace speaks to the host about finding us a table. "How're you feeling?" I ask Sloane, tucking her hair away.

"Still feel normal."

"Good. That's good."

Grace looks back at us and waves us over. I turn to shout at the others. "Amelia, Sierra!" I point towards the table we got and they nod, coming over.