Designing Abigail Kilton's Dress - #1 The Wedding Dress

Chapter 21 - There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it

Kayleigh waited patiently in the pristine waiting room, the soft music doing very little to calm her nerves. Her fingers were rubbed raw and her lower lip was broken from biting on it so hard. 

She stood up and looked through the window over the busy street below. Dr Marcus Barrow's clinic was just a few blocks down the street from KHF, so the view was fairly familiar. And yet, from this angle, it was strangely new, as though seeing a well-known painting in different colours.

The door to the treatment room finally opened and a beautiful brunette with shoulder-length, straight hair and large sunglasses that covered most of her slightly swollen face walked out. A bulky man in a black suit met her at the door that led to the reception and followed her closely out of the clinic. Kayleigh stared slack-jawed, eyes wide, heart hammering.

It couldn't be...

"Kay Kay?"

Marcus was leaning against the doorway wearing his white lab coat and a curious expression. 

"Was that..." she started feebly, losing her words mid-sentence.

"Yes."

"Can you-"

"No."

"Why not?" Kayleigh whined looking longingly at the empty hallway.

"Because she's my client and asking for autographs for my friends is unprofessional," Marcus the dentist said firmly.

"But Marcus, you know how much I love her!" she cried turning back to him.

Marcus studied Kayleigh as though she were a particularly complicated math problem. She could see the laughter teasing his lips and it made Kayleigh feel like a silly, little girl. Finally, he released a slow breath and sighed, "Come in."

He disappeared into his treatment room and Kayleigh followed after him with drooping shoulders and a frown.

The room was large, bright and super clean but the stench of acrylic hanging in the air brought back a flood of tearful memories. Kayleigh hated the dentist and not even the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Oxford Street and the fact that she wasn't there for treatment could distract her. The walls closed in on her and her breaths became laboured.

Just when her vision was blurring, she felt Marcus approach her slowly. Instinctively, she focused her attention on him. He was holding an A4 poster which was very familiar to her. In fact, an identical one hung on the inside of her wardrobe back in Southwold for over ten years.

"Are you okay?" Marcus asked lifting a concerned brow.

Kayleigh nodded with a nervous smile. 

"You're not still afraid of the dentist, are you?"

"No... of course not!"

But her nervous scoff betrayed her, and Marcus shook his head at her. "Even me?"

"Especially you, Marcus Burrows! What's that?" she asked pointing at the poster between his fingers.

He shifted his weight uncomfortably before answering. "This is for you."

Kayleigh took it from him and inspected it carefully. Then she saw it. In intricate, black, hand-writing, on the bottom-right corner of the photo, read the words:

To Kayleigh,
Keep Shining.
With Love,
Lily x

Kayleigh felt her heart turn to butter and bubble up to her throat. Tears tickled the back of her eyes as her fingers caressed the writing. "Is this..." She stopped to breathe so that she wouldn't faint. "How do you have this?"