BREAKING | rafe cameron

TWENTY ONE

I was willing to cut corners on our wedding, any way we could, except for my dress. That's the superficial thing that I always dreamed of. We had talked it out, and decided to get married in a little under a month, we are going to use the reception to announce the baby. Of course Sarah and Kie already knew, I was going to have the blood test done to find out the gender early. Sarah and Kie were going to find out and have a cake made, with the color inside, that's how we're going to tell everyone else. We were getting married on the beach, with just our friends, it's the only people we have to invite anyways. The reception was going to be at The Wreck, Kie's parents are giving us a good deal since they love me so much. But today, today was the day I went dress shopping. Sarah and Kie accompanying me.

We entered the dress shop, nerves running through me. "Oh wow." Kie ran her hands across the racks of dresses. "Can I help you ladies?" An older woman came out from behind the desk, "yes, I have an appointment, Charlotte Landry." I spoke, feeling underdressed in this store, the receptionist was in business casual attire, yikes. "Oh of course, I already pulled a couple of dresses for you. But of course feel free to browse." She gave me a smile, telling me which racks were what type of dresses. I nodded, deciding to start with the a line dresses, I had a vision in my head of a dress I loved that I saw online. Sweetheart neckline, ruched bodice and a flowing tulle skirt.

I continued rummaging through the racks, we had found a couple of dresses I liked, "alright. I'm ready." I took a deep breath as I followed the bridal consultant, Laura, to the dressing room. I looked over the dresses she had, my eyes stopped, it was basically the dress I had just described. "Oh wow." I ran my hand over the dress, "can we start with this one?" I asked nervously, Laura threw her hands up, "of course!" She clapped, slipping the dress off the hanger.

I looked in the mirror, tears immediately sprung to my eyes. "Oh my, it looks just perfect on you, fits like a glove too." Laura looked at me through the mirror, I nodded turning to the side. "I love it." I wiped at my face, "well, let's go show your friends." She smiled opening the door, holding the back of the dress up as I walked. Sarah and Kie both gasped, before I was even on the pedestal, I nodded looking in the even larger mirror. "I love it." I told them, crying again, it looked amazing. "So do I." Kie spoke, standing up to come look at it closer. "You look beautiful, Charli." Sarah stood, coming to the other side of me. "I don't want to try on any other ones." I looked to Laura, she had a giant smile on her face. "Is this something I can take home today? The wedding is only a few weeks away." Laura's face fell, "let me see what I can do." She walked into the back room, I stood anxious. "I love this dress." I mumbled, chewing on my lip, the girls sighed from either side of me. "I know."

"Okay, you can take it home today, I did some sweet talking for you." Laura came out, a large smile on her face. "Really?" All three of us asked in shock.

***

"Don't look!" I said as soon as I walked in the front door, Rafe looked up from his phone, "Don't look!" I said again, hiding the dress in the bag behind me. "I'm sorry!" He covered his eyes with his hands, I rushed through the living room, heading straight for the closet, "are you done yet?" He called, I walked out he still had his eyes closed. "Yeah." I mumbled sitting on his lap, "so I guess it went well than." Rafe smiled at me, "it went great, I love it so much." I hugged him tightly, trying to contain my excitement. "I can't wait to see it." He gave me a quick kiss, leaning back and resting a hand on my lap. I played with his fingers, "I'm so nervous, for the wedding, to tell everyone about the baby... to find out what the baby is." I sighed, a small smile on my face. "I can't wait, three weeks can't come soon enough." He replied with a giddy smile. I matched his excitement, "do you still think it's a girl?" He questioned, rubbing his thumb across my stomach, I got goosebumps at his touch. "Yeah." I smiled, placing my hand over his, "I still think it's a boy." He retorted, lifting my shirt, "you're getting the smallest little bump." He whispered, in complete admiration, he was too busy looking at my stomach to see me looking at him. "I love you, little baby." Rafe whispered, I let a tear slip, "you're so cute." I whispered moving his messy hair around. "I try." He joked meeting my eyes, "oh," he pouted seeing the tear on my cheek, "I thought this wasn't supposed to start for a few more months." He laughed lightly, he's been reading about pregnancy? My heart couldn't handle this, "you've been reading?" I questioned with a sniffle, "of course." He deadpanned, "you're just-ugh." I laughed resting my head on his shoulder. "Well thanks babe, you too, I think." He joked, not really sure what I meant. "It means, you're so cute that I just can't handle it, but you know I'm extremely hormonal right now, so we'll just go with that." I explained, a smile still gracing my face. It's been a good day, and tomorrow I get the blood test, the results will be in a couple days, but I'm having them sent to Kie and Sarah. This is going to feel like an eternity, but so quick at the same time. "Once we find out the gender, can we start getting stuff?" Rafe asked all of a sudden, as he was scrolling through his phone, he wasn't looking at me so snuck a look at his screen, he was looking at baby girl clothes, I knew it. "Of course, and we can start thinking of names."