The Artist [h.s.]

twenty

Carter beamed, holding the phone to her ear and twirling slightly in the mirror, "No, you're not allowed any sneak peeks."

Harry had called her literally minutes after she'd started to try on the first dress of many. He wanted to know how things were going and he also wanted to charm his way into getting a preview of her dress.

"Not even just the neckline?"

Carter giggled and shook her head, "Absolutely not. You'll see it on the twenty eighth, when we actually get married."

Harry laughed lightly on the other end, "Well, you're no fun. But, I know you'll pick something just as beautiful as you are, so I'm not worried about it. I'll let you go now. I love you."

The blood rose in her cheeks and Carter stared at herself in the mirror, she was starting to see what he was getting at with the whole beautiful angle, "Okay, I love you too. Good-bye, Harry."

"Good-bye, sweetheart."

Carter hung up only to stand in the dressing room and stare at herself in the mirror. She didn't think there was anything wrong with how she looked on a daily basis, actually she thought she looked pretty average 80% of the time, but Harry had always told her that she was beautiful and she hadn't really thought much about being beautiful until now.

Faced with herself in a ridiculously expensive and ridiculously stunning wedding dress, she clung to his words and she realize that she was beautiful. Carter felt like she could take on the world and she was starting to be thrilled about all of this wedding business, the dress and Harry is all that it took.

When she'd finally made it out of the dressing room, she apologized briefly for taking so long, "Sorry I took so long. Harry called and distracted me some more. What do you think?"

Carter spun in a slow circle for her mom, Harry's mom, and Pandora to see. Everyone was silent and Carter immediately thought that they didn't like it, even though they were smiling.

"Is it bad?"

Everyone shook their head quickly, Rosemary was the first to break the silence, there were tears in her eyes, "It's wonderful. You look so beautiful...I can't believe my little girl is getting married."

Since they had met up for lunch, Carter and her mother had talked frequently and mended their relationship significantly. Rosemary still felt terrible for what she'd done, but Carter liked to think to the future instead because she had her mother back and the past didn't matter anymore.

Anne was next, "You look absolutely stunning, Carter. My poor boy is going to lose his mind when he sees you in any of these dresses."

That had Carter laughing, Anne was just as amusing as her son and she loved the woman to death.

Pandora was the only one left and she was looking at Carter like she was a celebrity, which made Carter even more giddy than she had been only moments ago.

Carter grinned at her best friend and cracked a slightly sexual joke, "What's the verdict? Not enough skin showing?"

Pandora shook her head and laughed, "While that is true, it's not what I was thinking. If you don't end up in this one, I might be very upset with you."

"Well, I've got three more picked out, so you'll just have to wait and see."

Carter gave them one last twirl before heading back into the dressing room to try on the second dress. This one was strapless, formfitting, and it had a beautiful arrangement of flowers that crept down the side. She really liked the flowers and that's what had drawn her attention to the dress in the first place.