Amelia

Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"Dear, are you ready yet?" Alexander's voice reached me before he did. His form entered the bedroom in a tailored suit with a thin blue tie. His hair was perfectly coiffed, and his face was clean shaven and smooth. He looked picture perfect –and, coincidentally, there were cameras all downstairs.

"Just a minute, Alexander." I finally finished wiggling the second gold dangle into my ear. Fixing my hair back into place, I turned to look at my husband.

I didn't kiss Fin. I'd wanted to, desperately...and that scared me. As soon as I remembered Alexander, I ran out of the correctional facility. Looking back, I had seen the confused expression on Fin's face, but that hadn't stopped me. It had slowed me down, a little.

"You're going with that dress? Really?" I glanced down at the outfit I had prepared for tonight. I had paired shiny red pumps with a knee length red dress. The dress was one of my favorites; it was in a fifties, Marilyn Monroe style with a deep neckline, a ruched torso, and a flared waist. I loved the way I looked in the dress; I always felt like a movie star.

"What's wrong with my dress?"

"It isn't very appropriate, darling. Not to mention, it's a horrendous color. What about the nice green dress my mother gave you for Christmas?"

"Oh...alright." Alexander smiled, satisfied with his work.

"Meet me downstairs in five minutes. Everyone's expecting you."

As soon as he turned around, my smile fell. I took off my pretty red dress, throwing it into the back of my closet. Lord knows I won't be wearing that one for a while now.

I grabbed the green paisley-patterned dress Alexander's mother had gotten me last Christmas. It still had the tag on it, because, well, I'd never had the desire to wear it. It was an ugly old thing, tea length with bell sleeved and a white velvet collar. White velvet. Shudder.

I had never been too big on fashion, but even I knew this dress was out of style. Not to mention, it didn't exactly fit me well. I was a short girl to begin with, so finding adult clothes in my size was never easy, but this made me look like a child who had snuck into her mother's closet. In short –no pun intended-, I looked hideous.

Still, I knew Alexander would have a coronary if I walked downstairs in anything else. I shrugged on the ugly thing, contenting myself with the knowledge that at least Alexander's mother would be happy to see me wearing this. She was a nice lady, if a little fashion blind.

Fixing my hair and makeup –again- and finding a new pair of shoes, I finally made it downstairs. Immediately I was hit with the flashes from the cameras. Blinking quickly, I tried to locate my husband –or my parents or in-laws- through the haze of click click flash flash. I spotted my mother and father chitchatting to a well-dressed older couple, and promptly went over to greet them.

"Oh, Amelia! Dear, you look lovely. Henry, doesn't our little diamond look precious?" My mother's four-inch long acrylic nails dug into my forearm as she pulled me front and center.

"Why, this can't be Amelia! She's much too grown!" The old man smiled down at me, reaching over to pat my head. I tried to hold back my grimace and keep a smiling face. What am I, four?

"It's nice to meet you, mister..."

"Oh, Amelia, surely you remember you father's old college buddy Vance! He was over all the time when you were younger." Ah, yes. Now I remember. Of course, I remember it a little differently than how mother was portraying it. I remembered Vance as the man who flirted shamelessly with my mother when my dad wasn't in the room. If I tried hard enough, I could even recall seeing my mother let him into the house on nights when dad was working late in the office.