Blind Promises

36. The Dress

Alex held up another dress for Gwen to look at, it was worse than the one before. Pink taffeta with a ruffle at the waist. It was a long ruffle, but a ruffle nonetheless. Not to mention the flower that gathered the left side up, it made Gwen a bit queasy. "I'm not sure that one is my color. Liam wanted me to find something like the dress I wore when we first met. It shouldn't be too hard. It was a cream cotton jersey, knee length, elastic gathering under the bust. I don't even know what that is called. Back home there were these little boutiques that were really popular, my aunt always took me shopping in them." She smiled shyly.

"You gush when you're nervous," Alex observed. She'd put the dress back on the rack and had already moved on.

Gwen half suspected she'd pulled it out on purpose. "All the time."

"It's cute." Liam's sister was groomed, pretty all the time lest anyone see her imperfectly put together. It wasn't that she was snooty, she'd been conditioned to always look a certain way no matter the circumstance. At that moment, cute felt like a putdown. "Thanks, I think."

Alex looked up from the methodical scouring of the racks, "My mother must have really shown her ass. Liam has you on a razor's edge."

"It wasn't typically how you would expect meeting your boyfriend's parents to go, I'll put it that way. All this time I thought Liam had problems with his dad but I don't think that's the case. He has only used that tone with me a couple of times and both instances were for my benefit. He set into your mom with his dressing-down demeanor and did not let up. Then Rich set into her." Gwen looked back down at the rack in front of her. This was Alex's mom after all. "The clincher was Liam pulling out the ring and asking me to marry him in front of them. She took personal affront to that, I'm obviously not the marrying type."

Alex was quiet a little while, still looking for a suitable dress. When the constant scraping of hangers across the metal racks no longer rang out in her ears Gwen looked up, Alex was staring at her. "You're suffering, from what I can't say, but my mother's opinion of your suitability for my brother should be the least of those. The way you said that, it makes me wonder, how many times has he asked?"

Gwen put her head down, god damn ivy league educations, "Enough. Too many. I don't know. I tried to talk him out of it, he deserves so much more. But I couldn't, I've always known I'd say yes, no matter what my logical self said, my heart screams for Liam. I did want him to wait a little while until life was settled down a bit but he's not interested. He says he'd like to get married at the courthouse soon before his mom has a chance to do anything to target me. If that's what he wants, so be it. He's been through hell and back, what's getting married in a courthouse in a few weeks to me? It's all just paper, but to him it's security. He gives me that every day, why would I deny him one thing?"

"You are everything Liam has ever needed. If a mother would take that away from her child, she must not have much in the way of a soul. At the least, she must love herself far more than she does her child. You have wisdom beyond your years, even when you allow insecurity to overrule your intelligence." Alex was back to looking through racks, her clear blue eyes studying fabrics, fingers lingering over certain textiles, regarding each for some quality Gwen didn't understand. But she'd stopped examining Gwen's face she was grateful for that bit of respite. "I can't imagine doing that to one of the kids, if they were happy, I'd do my best to be civil. I hope I will."

"To be fair, Alex, she never said she disliked me, only she couldn't believe Liam was doing this to her. It's a punch in the gut but not a full on insult. She doesn't know me, as far as I know, Liam hasn't spoken with her since we met. We've rarely been apart, when we were no one was taking calls. She mentioned not seeing him since he came home after the ambush, I took it to mean they don't stay in contact much. William knows enough about me through Hal, but I also got the feeling he wasn't overly fond of sharing information with your mom. So, at the end of the day, your dad and your brother left me feeling like I was either about to be attacked by assassins or debutantes. I'm not even sure what the latter is, you don't see too many of them where I'm from. I don't know your mom. She never said a direct word to me. I'm not going to pass judgment on her though Liam thinks I should."

Alex looked up from the rack she'd moved on to straight at her, "Gwen, you should. You should always be aware of my mother, even if it is only to know where she is and what she is doing. She'll never have your best interests at heart. She only has my interests at heart when I'm doing the things that make her happy. Luckily, at the moment, they correspond. She's a miserable person, I love her as she is my mother but I'm not afraid to say that. I won't think less of you if you protect yourself and my brother from her." She walked up next to Gwen and put her hand on her arm, "I give you my blessing in her place."

"Hey, Gwen, what about this one?" Lacey popped up from somewhere, she'd been nowhere around, with a dress that was exactly what Gwen had in mind.

She asked, "Where did you find that, Lace?"

Lacey smiled, "Over there in the section with the winter stuff where you put me and Ava." Gwen could see the devil behind those green eyes, Rich was trying to come out, she wanted to stick her tongue out but she settled for a smirk. "It's perfect, let's see if they have my size! Liam will love it."

"That's not anything like what I had in mind." Alex looked skeptical.

Gwen laughed, "I'm sorry, I know it's not, but I promise that Liam will adore it. It's soft, cut the way he likes, and the right length. Bonus, romantic bell sleeves."

She tried it on, when she stepped out from behind the curtain, Alex's face said a lot."I'll keep my mouth shut next time, you knew just what you were looking for all along, it's perfect for tonight's dinner."

Gwen smiled shyly, "Thank you." Lacey was beaming, she was proud of herself and she also loved the dress. She could hear her gushing to Alex over how gorgeous it looked on Gwen, Lacey thought it looked like she should be in a magazine. The child was sweet but it didn't look that good.

"I'm glad that's done, I was afraid I'd never find anything and your momma would make me wear something pink!" Gwen stuck her tongue out at Ava who giggled. "Thank you for finding it, Lace, it's perfect, sweetheart."

"You're welcome, it looks really good on you, too!"

"Okay girls, it looks like you're next! We're done with this one." Alex put her hand on Lacey's shoulder and smiled down at her. Lacey mouthed "Yes!" while Ava groaned and protested, Alex only laughed. Ava was an imp of a child, small and lithe. She had to be what Liam looked like as a child, she favored him. Alex suddenly looked up, "Oh, Liam is waiting for you outside."

"You don't want me to help you with the girls?"

Alex laughed, "Nah, I've got this under control." She reached for her dress in Alex's arm but she shook her head, "Also managed, go have fun!"

Gwen started to protest but Alex shook her head, stubborn Halstadt demeanor firmly backing her up. "Okay, fine. I tried!"

"Go enjoy a quiet lunch, tonight is going to be loud and anything but quiet. I'll see you later."