Secret Deception (Jonathan Black's Love Story)

Chapter 34: Dress

I picked Kay, Dina, and Jasmine up on the way to the wedding boutique.
"I'm so excited to be doing this with you guys." Kay said happily sitting next to me.
"I'm excited Jonny and Cam took the kids to the zoo for the day." I laughed.
"Let's hope Cameron doesn't try to bring home another wolf." Dina mentioned.
"Oh my God, I forgot about that!" I laughed again.
"He did not really do that?" Jasmine asked.
"He did. The boys were like 23 and I paid to see the new wolf cubs and Cam tried to carry one of the babies out under his jacket." I said.
"If took me an hour to convince the zoo not to press charges."
"Why does that not surprise me?" Kay laughed as I pulled up to the boutique that I'd bought my own wedding dress at when Jonathan and I first got engaged in 2014.
"Alexia!" A woman about my age with dark hair and hazel eyes exclaimed hugging me as we walked in.
"Hi!"
"This is Hannah Lawson. She helped me find my wedding dress 11 years ago." I smiled at Kay.
"Kay Daniels." Kay shook her hand.
"Congratulations on your engagement, Ms. Daniels." Hannah beamed at Kay.
"Just Kay. Please."
"Of course. Right this way."
She lead us to a large room surrounded by garment bags.
"I pulled out roughly 20 dresses based on our conversation last week. You may fall in love with the first one or it could take til number 20. There's no rush."
Kay tried on the first dress. A white Aline dress with lace that oddly reminded me of their mother's dress. She systematically vetoed each dress looking to me as we neared the end.
"If we don't find one Hannah picked out we'll look around the boutique and see what you find. This is your wedding dress. You have to be in love with how you look and feel in it." I smiled at her.
Hannah walked in with another garment bag.
"This just came in and I had to bring it in for you." She smiled.
When Kay put the dress on her face lit up and I knew.
"Lex?" She looked at me.
I smiled and nodded at her.
We found a few bridesmaids dresses and Kay helped us decide on the two styles. One for my matron of honor dress and the other for Dina and Jasmine.
"Thank you guys for doing this. I've never been good at making friends and my sister died years ago."
"We're honored." Jasmine said touching her shoulder.
"You're family, Kay." Dina added.
We took all of the dresses back to my house and hung them in the spare hall closet.
Kay and I sat downstairs in the living room with hot chocolate.
"It's almost your anniversary. What are you guys doing?" She asked.
"I'm not sure that we've decided yet. Jonny's been talking about a trip to Paris but I don't know yet." I answered leaning back.
"That's a big plan to be pushing back." She chuckled.
I shrugged.
"It's a lot harder to make plans than it used to be now that we have four kids. Even if we go it'll probably only be a weekend trip."
"Is pregnancy the way to reel them in?" She teased.
I laughed.
"Cam wants exotic trips because his father controlled his movements. Jonny loves just being able to go to work because his father practically held him captive for his whole life." I sighed.
"I never thought about it like that..." She muttered.
"Jonathan and Cameron went through a lot as kids. They're stronger for it. They know what they want." I shrugged.
"That's part of why I love him so much." Kay said looking at me.
"It does make them incredibly loveable." I smiled.
My front door opened and my five year old twins ran over to me.
"Mama! Mama! Look what I got!" They exclaimed in unison.
Joshua held a stuffed cheetah and Logan held a stuffed tiger.
"Sammi and Ty got one too." They smiled at me.
"Oh my... They're perfect. Go on up and get ready for bed, my loves."
Jonny walked in carrying our sleeping daughter holding her stuffed wolf followed by Cameron carrying Ty clutching a stuffed jaguar. Jonny came over and kissed me before walking up the stairs to lay our babies down.
About 10 minutes later Jonathan came back down and knelt down in front of me and took my hands.
"You, my beautiful wife, are a goddess. I have no idea how you do that every day." He said lying his head down on my lap.
"Oh, my sweetheart." I gently pet his head.
"We're going home to sleep." Cameron said walking back down the stairs.
Kay laughed as she followed Cameron out of our home with a wave back at me.
"Come on, Jonny. Let's go to bed."
I pulled my husband up the stairs to our bedroom
Early the next morning I sat alone in my office when there was a knock on the door.
"Come in" I called absently still engrossed in the paperwork I was reading.
"Director Black? Director Alexia Black?" A woman's voice said questioningly.
"Yes?" I answered looking up.
In my office doorway stood a woman in her mid to late 70's with long grey hair and pale blue eyes.
"Can I help you ma'am?"
"Yes. I think so. My name is Elizabeth Black. I believe you're married to my son."