smitten [s. clearwater]

here comes the bride

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-CHAPTER NINE: HERE COMES THE BRIDE-

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A week before the wedding and only days after Delilah found out about her spot as senior class president, Jillian was pacing the kitchen, her heels clicking on the linoleum tile so frequently that it could've broken it. "Well, what do I tell him? I mean, he waited this long to ask me and- and-"

"Do you want to be his date to the wedding or not?"

"I think I may love him, Delilah," Jillian blurted out. "I think I may love him and I don't want to mess everything up because he's important and we're important."

Delilah smiled at her mom. "Mom, you're not going to mess it up because it's important."

"I'm flighty, that's a proven fact," Jillian said nervously, her heels wearing out the tile even more.

"Flighty or not if you love him and he loves you, it'll work out. That's how love works, right?"

Jillian looked to her daughter, her footsteps slowing. "When did you get so wise about this stuff, Dee?"

The teenager shrugged. "I watched you and dad date on and off for pretty much my entire childhood because you wanted me to have a nuclear family like all my friends," Delilah said with a shrug. "It never worked out because it felt like something you had to do for me. But with Charlie I can tell it's better and different. You look happy, your eyes are bright, and the store is fully stocked."

It could have been because she had been imprinted on and knew that she would always have someone there to love her, or that she was watching Bella end her life (if you asked Jacob) because of how much she loved and wanted to spend her life with Edward. Delilah knew enough about love to know that right was supposed to be easy, not forced for someone else.

"My spawn is the smartest person on the planet." Jillian said, her pacing coming to a complete stop in front of her daughter to pull her into a hug.

Squished into her mother's arms like she was six years old again and getting another cast, Delilah smiled. "Hey mom," she muttered and Jillian hummed in response. "Stephen Hawking exists, you know that right?"

"You're still smarter."

"Am I?"

"Stop asking stupid questions, you smart, smart girl."

Their hug ended after a few minutes of silence. After the pair pulled apart, Delilah looked up to her mother. "I kissed Seth?"

"Whoa, does your mother know?" Jillian asked jokingly and when Delilah didn't laugh or quip in return, Jillian frowned. "This is a good thing, right? You like Seth. You love Seth."

"I like him but I wasn't thinking."

"What's wrong with that?"

Delilah sighed. "Because I'm a head thinker, not a heart thinker and I was thinking with my heart, so my head doesn't know how to deal. I just don't want to screw things up."

"Hey now," the older woman started, a small smile pulling on her lips, "weren't you the one who just told me that if he loves you and you love him it will work?" Jillian questioned. "Well, you know Seth loves you, now you just need to figure out how you feel."

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On the morning of the long awaited wedding, Jillian and Delilah got dressed. Alice hadn't been so insistent on buying Jillian a dress, so she went with something that she had in her closet while Delilah was scared to zip her dress up.