Black Rose

Fifty Eight

"Lydia, what time do we have the ballroom to ourselves?" Mel asked, while driving to her last dress fitting.

"Eight to twelve. I didn't think y'all ready needed that much time to rehearse, but then I remembered black people never be on time for a damn thing."

Laughing out loud, Mel nodded her head in agreement. "You're right about that. Did Raine ever get back to you on the cake?"

"Yeah, after he had me waiting around for an hour to show up. I called you to see where he was, but I guess you were with the family."

"Probably." Mel said, pulling up at Kiyoshi's house. "Alright, I done made it to my destination, so I'm going to get off this phone. Please call me if anything else goes wrong. I cannot have a repeat of the past two weeks.

"I will. Talk to you later."

"Ok, bye." She ended the call and got out of the car.

If life couldn't get any worse for Mel, try being in her shoes the past fourteen days. Everything that could have gone wrong pertaining to the wedding, went completely wrong. Firstly, the Country Club booked their wedding for October 22—an entire month later than the original date—causing a huge ruckus between Melrose and the owner. Eventually, she was able to book the place for a higher price, but it's worth it. Secondly, the silverware and plates, she ordered were shattered when they were delivered and she had to order three hundred more that have yet to come. Mammaw had fallen ill due to a cold turned pneumonia, so she couldn't leave her house at all. Uncle Pete wanted to stay with her for a few days until they felt she was well enough to be on her own. There were other mix ups and mishaps to occur, but even under pressure Mel managed to handle them as they came without a mental breakdown. It didn't make it less stressful though.

"Knock, knock." She called out, walking in the house.

"We're in the studio." Kiyoshi yelled back from down the hall.

Mel made her way to the medium sized room she'd grown accustomed to over the past month and saw Kiyoshi sketching an outfit at her desk.

"Hey, love." She greeted her with a kiss on the cheeks. "What is that?"

"Just something that randomly popped up in my head earlier. I was bored waiting on you, so I started sketching to pass time." Kiyoshi dropped her pen on the desk and stood up, looking at Mel. "You look tired as hell."

Sighing, Mel shook her head as to say you have no idea. "If only you knew the ripping and running I've had to do every day. God knows I love my man to death and I'm thrilled to marry him, but your girl is over this whole wedding planning. Had I known it would be this stressful, I'd have been fine with eloping."

"That's what Danny and I did. It was quick, easy and just right for us. We had a ceremony on our one-year anniversary."

"I still don't have a clue as to how I overlooked that huge ring on your finger." Mel chuckled, thinking back to their third day of working together and she spotted a rock on Kiyoshi's hand, realizing they were married.

"I barely wear it because it's heavy on my finger, so I tend to forget sometimes too." She shrugged, grabbing the dress she created by hand. "Here's your Kiyoshi's original. It's free to go home with you now."

Mel gladly took her dress from her, smiling harder than ever. "I can't believe it's finally finished. Just two more weeks until I can wear it down the aisle. But, I want to try it on here if you don't mind."

"Of course, I don't. Go ahead, girl." Mel wasn't ashamed of her body anymore, so she didn't mind changing in front of Kiyoshi. The permanent scars from her rugged past only showed how weak and venerable she was at one point, yet how strong and brave she is for making it out alive and moving forward.