In Sickness and In Health

Chapter Thirty Three

Chapter Thirty – Three

"What about this one, Eddie?" Erin asked as she pulled yet another dress from the rack. "It has a jacket so it can cover..."

Eddie nodded, "Grey is a nice color too with the pink in Lila's pallet. What do you think honey?"

"Anything that makes you feel okay is fine for me, Mom," Lila replied. "You're going to look pretty no matter what. If you think something sleeveless will be more comfortable then wear that."

Eddie wouldn't dream of wearing any without a concealing sleeve to her daughter's wedding. The swelling was proving to be a huge issue finding a dress. She went into the dressing room and slid on the grey silk gown that Erin pulled for her. The bodice of the dress fit perfectly and the cap sleeve didn't pull but when she slid the jacket on it cut off the circulation in her left arm, the material incredibly tight over her skin.

"I hope this one takes," Lila sighed. "She's been so down on herself lately. Dad's at his wits end trying to convince her that it all doesn't matter. I think the wedding is making it worse. The doctor told her that she will probably never..."

The dressing room door opened and Eddie came out in the grey dress. "Oh that look so nice on you," Erin smiled. "It does a lot for your curves, you can see you figure..."

"The jacket sleeve it too tight," Eddie sighed. "I'm not going to find anything that looks right and feels okay too."

"Put the jacket on and let me see," Erin told Eddie who complied. All three women could see the material pulling and rolling. "Do you love this dress?" Lila aske Eddie. She shook her head.

"Let's keep looking."

Two hours later Eddie had tried on ten more gowns, none of them would fit around her arm properly. The next to last dress she really fell in love with. It was midnight blue with a sweetheart neckline covered with a sheer drape. It had a wide strap sleeves with an A line silhouette. The color was perfect for Lila's color palette and Eddie complexion the only problem, the sequin jacket did not fit.

"I guess I can just wear it like this," Eddie sighed looking at herself in the mirror. "And stand strategically so that no one sees it in the pictures."

"Let me see," Erin said biting her lip in thought. "What if we saw someone in alterations and have them open the seam. It's not as tight as the other dresses, if they can put a false seam in it might be more comfortable."

Eddie thought about it and smiled, "That might work, the worse that can happen is they say they can't right?"

They spent an hour in alterations and it was determined that they would be able to open the sleeve to get it to fit Eddie more comfortably. Still, as they three women had lunch, Eddie was quiet and picked at her plate.

"Mom, you feeling okay?" Lila asked. "You barely touched your lunch."

"I'm okay honey, I'm just a little tired. Dad had a rough night last night and then there's the thing with Joey. He was back to riding with Annie today, I guess I'm concerned that he's not 100% focused on the job."

"I wish I could give her a piece of my mind," Lila grouched. "He's a pain in the butt but he's my only brother. What is he not good enough for her or something?"

"I don't think it's that," Erin offered. "I think she just doesn't have those feelings for him, that happens and it's okay. Joey probably should have kept it to himself..."

"Jamie advised him to speak his mind, and let her know what was in his heart. It took guts for Joey to do that and frankly it took guts for Jamie to give that advice. Their relationship has grown leaps and bounds, one good thing that came from the strong."