A Tragic Hero

Chapter 15

Sky was beginning to develop a head ache. Maybe it was all the stress she was under. Maybe it was a side affect from the war her emotions were raging over Ryder at the moment. Or, maybe it was the fact that Wendy and Ella hadn't stopped talking and asking her questions since they had arrived at the mall.
"Oh, yes!" Wendy exclaimed, pulling out a silky red dress from the rack she was searching through.
"This one is beautiful! You need to try this one on too."
She dropped it into their already piled high shopping cart and dived back into her clearance rack.
"Red will be a great color on you, darling. Very, very captivating,"Ella said as she examined the new dress.
Sky didn't want to ruin their fun, so she stayed quiet. They were just trying to be nice, she knew that, but she needed a break.
"I can go and try these now."
She smiled at both of her shopping companions.
"All right,"Wendy answered, still scanning through clearance dresses.
"Just meet us back here when you decide which ones you want to keep. We'll have more ready for you to try on when you come back."
Ella gave her a light pat on the shoulder then joined her daughter in her search.
Sky took the opening and hurried to the changing rooms with her heavy cart. She would try all of them, just cause they had spent time looking for them. But mostly, she just needed space from thing one and thing two. The apple truly hadn't fallen far from the tree!
She entered the largest stall with her load of dresses and locked the door behind her.
"Okay, where to start."
She successfully tried on and fit 7 dresses, couldn't even pull up 5 of them, realized there was a rip in one of them, and didn't even try 3 of the bizarre dresses Ella had added into the group.
Sky plucked up a cream colored dress from the bottom of the cart. She tugged it on and turned around to face herself in the mirror. She gasped in surprise. This dress was way above her knees, tightly fitted around her upper thighs. Splits along her sides revealed too much skin for her liking, obviously made to attract a certain type of attention. Who had put this in her cart? She had a feeling it had been Wendy, trying to give her a sign of some sort.
Sky yanked the inappropriate dress off hastily, feeling herself blush. What if Ryder had seen her in that horrid outfit?
She pitched the unbecoming dress back in her cart. The only dress she had left to try on was the silky red one Wendy had found last. Sky examined it, laughing to herself. Wendy probably already had another cart of clothes for her to try on.
She got to work pulling the dress over her head. It was a slim fit, gracing just right on her small frame. The sweetheart detail enhanced the beauty of the plain, smooth dress. Sky stared at herself in the mirror, baffled.
She looked...stunning. She slowly turned around, studying her every curve and feature. She hadn't felt this beautiful in years. The last time she remember feeling like this was...was at her wedding.
Tears began to fill her eyes.
When had everything been covered with loneliness's shadow? She remembered all of it like it was yesterday.
The beautiful red and silver decorations that had been set up by her once loving mother-in-law. All the laughing guest who had attended, all her old friends who had now seemed to vanish into thin air. How her father-in- law had giving her a hug before the make up crew came into her room to fix her up, saying he was so happy that she was gonna be part of the family.
And Noah.
He had been grinning lovingly as she had made her way down the isle. His deep vows had touched her heart and his soft touch as he had placed the ring on her finger had made her glow with happiness. His soft kiss had held a thousand promises, a thousand dreams that now would never be fulfilled.
All of it, gone in a second.
"Sky, darling? Which stall are you in? We wanna see how you look in one of those dresses."
Ella's voice forced her wandering thoughts to vanish. She dabbed at  her eyes, trying her best to recover. She didn't want Ella and Wendy to know she had been crying.
"I'm-I'm here."
She failed to stop the catch in her voice.
"Darling, what's wrong?"
Sky knew she couldn't hide in here any longer, so after a deep breath, she stepped out.
"Sweet baby Jesus, look at you!"
Ella's bright smile lifted Sky's sprits a tad bit. She approached her steadily, taking in all of her.
"My goodness," she tucked a stray hair behind her ear, a sparkle in her eyes,"now all you need is a classy date with my boy Ryder."
"Wendy,"Ella then hollered.
"Come look at this angel!"
Wendy appeared a second later, slightly out of breath.
"Sorry,"she panted,"I spotted another rack of sales and I had to just check and see if-"
Her words trailed off when she spotted Sky.
"Okay, this outfit will totally make my brother melt!"
Wendy walked around her, nodding to herself.
"Yes, yes, and yes. This is the one. The one to get his full attention for sure. It sure is getting mine!"
"Girls," Sky spoke up, getting them to focus on her and not her breathtaking dress.
"I already told you, I'm not trying to get involved with Ryder."
"But darling," Ella smirked at her,"you're already involved with him. He definitely is with you. Taken with you, actually."
Sky shook her head. They wouldn't let it go. She would just have to keep going along with them.
"Honey,"Sky glanced at Wendy who had completed her inspection.
"Even if you didn't want to get seriously involved with him, which I still think you do even if you deny it, wouldn't it be nice to just get some masculine attention for once?"
Sky knew all about masculine attention. Just ask Peter West.
"I don't know," she mumbled, finding the mirror again and staring at herself.
"I know you don't, but I do. Trust me, you won't regret it."
Sky glanced back at Wendy who smiled politely back at her.
Trust me.
There were those two words again. Why couldn't she just move on and try?
"Alright ladies,"Ella clapped her hands together to get their attention.
"Let's pay for this fantastic dress and head off to our next store. Big mall, bigger stores and even bigger sales!"
After changing back into her plain summer dress, Sky helped Wendy and Ella put back her other outfits, glaring at Wendy when she began to laugh as she put back the extremely flashy dress, paid, and headed out to the next store.
After searching around in 3 more stores, Sky held a Levi's bag with 4 pairs of skinny jeans tucked in one arm, and a H&M's bag filled with shirts, shorts, socks, and a variety of other things in the other.These women seriously had money to blow. Knowing that all that money was being spent on her pulled at her heart strings.
"Did you see that shirt they were trying to sell for 24.00 in Khols?" Wendy rolled her eyes as she walked ahead of her.
"That cashier was so rude. There was no way I was gonna buy anything from there."
Wendy held another of Sky's bag, that one being filled up with new sandals and a couple of sneakers. Ella held onto a new purse she had bought for Sky. She wouldn't be surprised if she kept it, since she was holding on to it pretty tightly.
"She was pretty mean," Sky respond to Wendy's rant.
"See, even Sky agrees mom."
"Anything you say, honey,"Ella said as she kept walking, not fazed by her daughter.
"So, what's your son's name?"Wendy asked, slowing down to walk beside Sky.
"Jake."
"How old is Jake?"
"He's five. His birthday is on October 10."
"Oh, you hear that mom!" Wendy called out to her mother who looked back at them.
"We have ourselves a birthday boy next month!"
"You know what that means."
Ella slowed her pace to match theirs.
"No."
Sky glanced at both of them, lost.
"We have to get him some presents!"
"I agree!" Wendy grinned at her mother, planning something.
"Sky,"Wendy faced her now, walking backwards to do so,"we have to go to Toys R Us. I was shopping there the other day for Elisha and I saw this giant teddy bear that I so wanted to get! But, I knew he wouldn't play with it, so I left it. Does Jake like stuffed animals? If so, we are totally getting that bear."
"He likes cars, but yes, I think he would love a giant teddy bear."
Sky smiled at Wendy.
She returned her smile with her own dazzling one.
"Perfect! Mom, forget the trip to Macy's. We're going to Toys R Us."
"Alright," Ella laughed.
The next thing she knew, Sky stood outside of the biggest Toys R Us she had ever seen. Maybe it just look enormous cause she hadn't been to one in years. She could never afford anything here. But, with her new friends, she stepped in and began to hunt for presents for her son. He was gonna love these two. He would probably never want to leave them. She couldn't blame him. Yes, at first they were a little overwhelming, but now, she was so overjoyed by their simple kindness.
"Thank you so much girls. I could never pay you back for all of this stuff you've gotten for me and now are getting for my boy, even though you've never even met him!"
Sky smiled softly at both her new friends, keeping her tears at bay.
"You're welcome darling. And we don't expect you to pay us back anything."
Ella wrapped an arm around her shoulders, giving her a gentle side hug.
"And we do expect to met Jake. I mean, how else will we give him his gifts?"
Wendy reached up and grabbed a set of hot wheels form the top shelf of the isle they were in. It came with 20 cars, all classic ones, ready for play.
"Here you go."
She handed them to Sky.
"Now, let's see if they have any-"
Wendy's eyes widened as she exited out of the isle with Ella and Sky following.
"There it is!"
A huge smile plastered onto her Wendy's face.
"Mr. Teddy, come to mamma!"
She ran like a overly hyper kid to a humongous stuffed bear that sat on top of a display table. She picked it up and spun back to face her.
"He's gonna love it,"Sky assured Wendy, laughing at the sight of a grown woman ecstatic over a simple teddy bear.
"If he doesn't, I'll just have to keep it. I refuse to depart without this bear in my life ever again."
"Alright darling,"Ella approach her joyful daughter.
"Calm down. We're gonna get the bear. Remember though, you have to see if Jake wants it first before you smuggle it for yourself."
Sky chuckled as she rushed over to caught up with her friends. These two were great. Not something she thought she would have been saying this morning.
Her phone began to buzz in her pocket and she quickly whipped it out.
"Hello?" She spoke as she pressed it to her ear.
"Sky."
Ryder's deep voice brought a flood of emotion spilling into her. She reminded herself that she needed to keep him at a distance. Whatever he wanted couldn't be that bad.
She calmed herself as best as she could.
"What is it Ryder?" She asked smoothly, trying her best to not indicate anything more than mild interest.
He was silent for a moment too long. Had he caught her sudden change of tone? Why wasn't he speaking? She began to worry. What if- what if this was about something serious?
"Sky, it's- it's Jake." His voice cracked.
She began to panic. What was wrong with Jake? She looked up to see Wendy and Ella staring at her, a look of question in their eyes.
"Jake," Ryder continued.
"He's awake."
Sky's racing mind stopped. All of time seemed to slow. Her vision instantly became blurry and she started to breath heavily. Jake was...awake?
"And he's asking for you, Sky," Ryder's voice strangely penetrated through the haze.
"He asking his momma."