reputation

Epilogue

March 1st, 2019.

Twenty-three - Emma

Emma stood in front of the large gold-trimmed mirror inside the room she had been designated to get ready in. In the reflection, she watched as her hands smoothed down imaginary wrinkles on the skirt of her dress. Amanda had already fussed over and fixed anything she deemed less than perfect.

Emma knew there wasn't anything wrong with it, yet she couldn't help but pick out problems. The neckline of the dress fell weird, her shoes didn't match right, the paintings of her's Taylor had picked out to display weren't going to be good enough. They weren't problems she was worried about yesterday, but today the worries refused to leave her mind.

"Stop it," Amanda asserted randomly as she stuck pins in Emma's hair.

"Stop what? I wasn't moving."

"Stop overthinking everything. You look wonderful, everything out there looks wonderful, and after all of this is over you're going to spend a month on a private beach having sex and feeding your wife fruit and doing whatever else gay people do on their honeymoon. And if something goes wrong, which I know you've thought about, you can always come stay with me," Amanda offered. Emma nodded, knowing she was being sincere.

"I don't think somethings going to go wrong, it's just hard to not come up with worst case scenarios and escape plans."

"I know. You don't have to explain yourself to me." Amanda stuck the last pin in Emma's hair and held her back at arm's length to admire her work. She hummed and walked behind Emma before reappearing with her phone open to a picture of her hair in a half up braid. A few white flowers were stuck in the braid while the half that was left down was wavy from a curling iron. Emma reached back to touch her hair, but Amanda was quick to smack her hand away. "Don't touch it!"

"Sorry! It's perfect. Thank you."

Someone knocked at the door and pulled it open once Emma told them to come in. She hoped it was her mother, but it was just Andrea. "Hi! Just wanted to check on you two. You look so beautiful. Do you need me to do anything?"

Emma shook her head. Everything was ready, except for her mum not being here. No one had heard from her since early yesterday afternoon and Emma was beginning to wonder if she wasn't coming. The plane ride was long, but it wasn't that long. Their relationship wasn't always the best, but surely she wouldn't miss her only child's wedding. "No, thank you though. Have you heard from my mum?"

"I haven't, I'm sorry." Andrea frowned sympathetically. "Do you want me to go get Taylor? You two can wait until your mom gets here."

Emma thought about it for a second before shaking her head. As much as she did want her mum there, she didn't need her. They were getting married in less than an hour, and her mum hadn't even bothered to shoot her a text to say she wasn't coming or would be late. "No, it's fine. Just... can you ask Freddy to come in here when he has a second?"

"Of course I can. If you change your mind about waiting, just say the word and we'll make it happen, okay?"

"Thank you, Andrea."

"I never cared if Taylor wanted to marry a girl or not, I only ever wanted her to be happy. She's found that with you. The way she lights up when she's near you... I couldn't have asked for anything more."

"I love her," Emma said simply.

"I know you do. She loves you too. We all do. You've always been family, today it's just official. You make a beautiful bride." She looked up and blinked a few times. "I should go before I start to cry. I'll get Freddy for you."

Just seconds after Andrea left, another knock came at the door. Freddy entered wearing a soft pink suit opposed to his normal black. There was a boutonniere fixed to the outside of his jacket and he had on a matching tie with white flowers on the fabric if you looked close enough. Freddy, as little as Emma had seen him smile, beamed when he saw her.