Red

Made of Honor

I didn't sleep that night at all. Or the night after that. I felt dirty. I had pulled down the shades in my room and never opened them again. Whoever had sent the message was outside of my mom's house that night. Who knows what else they could have seen or how long they had been watching me for? My blood ran cold and stayed that way for several days after receiving the personal message.

I hadn't told Evan about it yet; I didn't want to just tell him over the phone in fear that I would break down talking about it and wouldn't be able to get the words out. And this wasn't something I could just text him about. I wanted to show him in person but that seemed to be a problem when I hadn't seen him in days.

It was now three days until Mom's wedding and there were tons of people in and out setting up chairs and tables in the large backyard. The wedding alter was set with a beautiful arch over it that had lace and white and pink flowers clinging to it as if they'd been there forever. Chairs were being lined up in rows of five on either side of what had become the makeshift aisle that was now lined with a thin white strip of lace to make a pathway to the altar. Everything was turning out beautifully and I could see the glow on my mom's face whenever she looked at the way it was all falling into place.

"Hey, I see you're up on your feet again!" My mom approached me from the back door as I stared at the gorgeous altar set up in awe.

I looked down at my previously injured ankle and nodded, "Yeah, it started feeling better yesterday and today I don't feel much pain at all."

"That's wonderful! Now come inside so you can try on your dress."

My eyes met hers, "My what now?"

"Well, my maid of honor needs to be the second most beautiful woman at the ceremony, next to the bride of course."

"Maid of honor?"

"Naturally! Who else would you think I'd have be by my side?"

Tears sprung into my eyes as I took in her words and I couldn't stop myself from enfolding my arms around her small frame. "I love you, mama."

It took her by surprise, but she also wrapped her arms around me and patted a hand on my back, "I love you too, baby. Now come on," she pulled away and tugged on my hand, "let's go see about that dress."

I let her pull me along through the back door and into her bedroom where there were four white dress bags hanging from a mobile hanging rack in the corner. She pulled one off of the rack and handed it to me enthusiastically.

"I hope it fits, I guessed on the size, but this was the only one they had of this style and I just knew it would look amazing on you."

I eagerly unzipped the zipper and the first thing I noticed was the deep green satin material that reminded me of the color of the trees in the woods behind her house. I pulled the dress out further to see the white flowers embroidered into the edge.

"Oh, my-"

"Try it on!" She seemed more excited about it than I was.

I didn't keep her waiting as I stripped from my jeans and t-shirt and pulled on the beautiful green material. I stood in front of the mirror, gazing at myself, not really grasping the fact that this gorgeous dress was on my body.

I ran my hands down the soft fabric, watching as the skirt of the dress flared in the back. It fit me perfectly. Mom's guess on the size was spot on. It had a keyhole chest piece and continued down to hug my abdomen and the skirt with the white flowers was longer in the back, stopping just above my ankles as the front stopped at the bottom of my thighs. She was right, it did look amazing on me.