My Lighthouse

The lady in red

Sheila couldn't stop smiling while she put the key into the front door of her apartment. Mark had kissed her a thousand times goodbye, although it was just for a few hours. The U.K. Tour was over and the last gigs had been incredibly good. Mark had sung better, then he had ever done before and they almost convinced Louis to take Sheila along to China as well. Just at the end, Sheila herself, had decided not to go. She had her appointments at the hospital and she had to arrange a wedding on Christmas Day. Is was to much, to go along with them to China as well. Mark had regretted her choice at first, but that night she had convinced him easily, it was the best way to handle it all. Thinking about that night brought a smile on her face again. Since they made up, their love grew stronger day by day and even annoyed the lads at one point. Please get a room, Kian had yelled at the last show, when they couldn't stop teasing one another. He had laughed though, so Sheila was convinced they didn't really cared, as long as the gigs went well.

Today they had finally returned to Sligo and Mark had invited Christie as well as his parents for diner. Mark knew a very good restaurant in Dublin, which would be perfect for this special occasion and Sheila was really looking forward to that. They had already told the lads about their upcoming marriage, but their parents still weren't informed about what was going to happen. After they broke up, well kind of ....... Sheila as well as Mark hadn't given them an update about their relationship. Being so sure about it now, made it necessary to tell their loved once, as quick as possible, about their future plans. It would be awful for them to read all about it in the newspapers, before they heard it from Mark and Sheila themselves.

To prepare herself as good as possible, Sheila had decided to dress herself up at her own apartment. She would pick up Christie after that and drive to the restaurant themselves, while Mark did the same with his parents. Although she loved having Mark around, it was nice to have a few moments for herself now too. The last few weeks, they spend almost 24/7 time together, so these few hours wouldn't be that hard. She smiled thinking of Mark again. He had agreed on it right away, but as he dropped her of at her apartment, he couldn't stop kissing her.

Her phone buzzed and her screen lightened up with Mark's picture on it. Sheila smiled. He had just left for half an hour. "Are you decent already?" he wrote. As quick as her fingers could touch the screen she wrote back, "No! Walking around in my underwear trying to find something to wear." It took a few minutes before she got a message back. "Just hit a tree😳! Don't send me messages like that or I'll turn around to help you find something. Only not necessarily something to wear..." Sheila laughed, when she saw what he wrote back. "Pervert!!" She texted and pushed send. He send back a page full of laughing faces and hearts who were jumping around. "Have to go, otherwise I have to come along naked tonight" Sheila texted and laughed out loud when she got a "thumbs up and hearts" in return. She decided to leave it to that, otherwise she would turn him on while driving and he maybe would hit that tree after all.

Christie stared at her adopted daughter and hit her hand before her mouth, oh sweetheart you're looking absolutely breathtaking! She took Sheila's face between her hands, kissed her on her forehead and whispered, if your mama could see you now. She would be so proud! Maybe just as proud as I am and she wiped away a tear of her face. Oh Christie, my sweet mummy, I love you just as much, Sheila smiled and hugged her tightly. She looked in the mirror just once and pulled her red dress straight. She hadn't wore it for ages, but tonight she finally felt good enough to wear it again. It had been love at first site, when she saw the dress hanging in the window on Oxford street in London. It looked like Julia Roberts's dress in "Pretty woman" and although she didn't thought good enough of herself, she wanted to feel pretty just once in her life, whenever that may be. So without knowing when to wear it, she had bought the far to expensive dress. After two years she had finally wore it at the wedding of her German friend. No one would know her there, so it felt right to wear it. But arriving at the party, she got far to much attention, which made her feel uncomfortable. She had regretted it all evening. It turned out, her body as well as her mind weren't recovered well enough after the attack and she put the dress away to maybe never wear again. Though today it was time to take it out again, although she was still very nervous about Mark's respond.