Modern Day

My unbeating heart made a funny little stutter in my chest as I climbed out of the car and stood in front of the shop where, hopefully, I'd find my wedding dress.

The May air was soft and warm, the stars peeping out through thin veils of cloud, and the shop should have closed hours ago, but they'd made an exception for me, both because I couldn't visit the shop during the day, and because they were probably hoping that they'd get some good publicity if I chose my dress here. A celebrity vampire wedding was big news, and I probably could have had a custom dress professionally made by some fancy designer, but that felt like buying into celebrity culture in a way that just wasn't me. 

I didn't care about being famous. 

I didn't care about my wedding photos gracing the cover of magazines. 

I didn't want to build hype leading up to the big day, or tease Vladdicts about what the dress might look like or who might have designed it. 

My wedding was for me, Edmond, and the people we loved. It wasn't entertainment fodder for people we didn't know.

Roux squeezed my hand. "I'm so excited," she whispered.

I smiled at her, then looked back at my mum, who lingered by the car.

"Mum?" I said softly.

She smiled, but it was pinched at the edges. June's death was still a raw wound for both of us, but Mum felt it differently. She'd gone from having two teenaged daughters who lived at home, to one daughter in a grave, and the other who'd become famous, immortal, had moved out and got engaged in the space of less than a year. I didn't regret the choices I'd made, but I knew that Mum sometimes struggled.

I held out my hand and she took it, her smile a little warmer this time.

Isabeau led the way to the shop door, her chestnut curls swaying with every step, and I followed her, still holding Mum's hand, while Roux and Jason brought up the rear.

Inside, we were greeted by a forty-something woman in dark trousers and a cream blouse, her blonde hair held back in a neat French braid.

"Renie!" she exclaimed, as if we were old friends catching up. "It's so lovely to meet you. I'm Helen."

"Hi," I said, shaking her hand.

Everyone else introduced themselves while I gazed around the shop. Padded seats of cream leather sat here and there on the polished board floor, and the white walls were almost hidden behind artsy wedding photos, and racks upon racks of wedding dresses.

My heart gave another excited stutter.

I wasn't the kind of girl who'd dreamed of my wedding day, or imagined how my dress would look, but now I was here I was genuinely excited to try on dresses and find The One.

"So," Helen said, clasping her hands together. "Have you given any thought to what style you'd like?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," I said.

I liked pretty clothes, but I knew little about fashion terminology and I suspected that if Helen started suggesting the technical names of dress styles, I wouldn't know what she was talking about.

"How about you start by taking a look around and see what catches your eye?" Helen said.

"That works," I said.

"Excellent. Can I get champagne for anyone?"

Jason perked up. "Absolutely."

"I'm not sure," Mum said.

Jason gave her his best puppy-dog eyes. "Don't make me drink by myself."

"Very well," she relented. "But only a small glass."

Helen disappeared through a door on my left. By the time she returned, a couple of minutes later, I was already browsing the racks of dresses.

"You have to try on at least one meringue," Roux said, pulling out an enormous ruffled eye-sore.

"I am not wearing that," I said, my eyes widening.

"Then I'll find something even worse."

We sifted through the racks in silence for a few minutes, and I started to wonder if I should have done some prior research and got at least a vague idea of what I liked. There were so many dresses.

"Are you going with something full-length?" Roux asked.

"I didn't realise that was optional," I admitted. I had a pretty fixed idea of what wedding dresses looked like, and they were all long.

"Well, yeah, it's your wedding. You can wear whatever you want. It doesn't even have to be white." She gestured to a rack of patterned dresses hanging on the opposite side of the shop. It was the smallest rack, so I guessed the market wasn't as big for non-traditional dresses.

There were probably some real beauties on that rack, but the ones I could see looked more like ballgowns than wedding dresses, and I'd have plenty of opportunities to wear ballgowns at future Belle Morte events. I only had one chance to wear a wedding dress.

"I want to wear white," I said.

Roux nodded, and turned back to the racks. "Are you prepared to think outside the box?"

"Maybe," I said cautiously.

"Try a couple of shorter dresses," Roux urged, and pulled something lacy from the rack. "This one's pretty."

I started to say no, then stopped. If I didn't know what style I liked, I should probably keep an open mind. Who knew, maybe The One would turn out to be a shorter dress.

"Okay," I said.

Roux beamed and draped it over her arm.

I glanced over my shoulder. Mum was studiously going through a rack close to the patterned dresses, while Isabeau and Jason worked from opposite ends of a rack on my left. Jason looked a little bit lost, frowning as he pulled out dress after dress.

I glanced again at the dress Roux had picked out.

"Okay, guys, let's narrow this down a bit. Everyone pick out one dress that you like and I'll try it on. That way we can start narrowing down what shapes and styles work for me," I said.

"Sounds like a plan," Jason said.

Roux snatched another dress from the rack. "My choices are shorter so I get two."

"Fair enough," I said.

Once everyone had picked a dress, Helen led me to the changing rooms in a corner of the shop, separated from the main space by dusky pink velvet curtains. Mirrors were angled on the walls all around.

I started with Roux's choices. The first dress she'd picked out was a lacy little sheath that stopped a couple of inches above my knees and clung to my curves, giving me that hourglass silhouette. It was both pretty and sexy, but I realised that I wanted my wedding dress to be more of a statement. It needed to be something that I couldn't normally wear.

"Well?" Roux called through the curtain.

I stepped out so she could see. Mum and my friends were gathered on a leather sofa, their faces bright and expectant.

"It's not special enough," I said.

Roux gave me a quick once-over, and nodded. "Yeah, it looks great on you, but you want something really amazing."

"Agreed."

Roux's second choice was a little longer, this one hanging a couple of inches below my knees, and featuring a full skirt that swished whenever I moved. The sleeves were long, made of the most delicate lace, and I spent a little longer looking at myself in the changing room mirrors before pushing back the curtain so everyone could see.

"The sleeves are gorgeous," Roux said at once, and Isabeau murmured agreement.

"Right?" I said. "I hadn't considered one with sleeves before, but I really like them."

"Grace Kelly's wedding dress had sleeves like that, and it's considered one of the most iconic of all time," Isabeau chimed in.

"I was going for more of an Audrey Hepburn look with this one," Roux said, running a critical eye over the dress I was wearing.

"I like this more than the first one, but I think I want a full-length dress," I said.

Roux got up. "I'll put the short ones back."

The dress my mum had picked was very different, and I hated it as soon as I put it on. The halter-neck top half was embroidered all over with silver beads, which I didn't mind, but the skirt was a froth of ruffled tulle, shorter and longer lengths layered together. I still showed it to everyone, and Jason's eyes went wide. If Mum hadn't chosen the dress I think he would have laughed out loud.

"It's not great, is it?" I said.

"What's wrong with it?" Mum asked, looking a little disappointed.

"It looks like someone cut two completely different dresses in half and stitched them together. It's too messy," I said.

Mum pursed her lips a little, but didn't say anything.

I changed out of the dress as quickly as I could. All the tulle prickled my skin.

Isabeau's choice was very different. She'd picked a long-sleeved dress, cut low across the shoulders, made of simple ivory satin, free of any embellishment or decoration. It was old-school elegance, but unlike Mum's choice, this one was too understated. Isabeau was quick to agree when she saw it.

"That shape is very flattering on you, though," she pointed out, and I glanced at myself in the mirrors again. It didn't hug my curves the way the lace sheath dress had, but Isabeau was right; it did really suit me.

I swapped it for Jason's choice, which was more form-fitting until it reached my knees where it spilled into a trailing skirt. The dress was covered in tiny glittering beads, and if I hadn't been a vampire, it might have been too heavy to be comfortable.

"Wow," Roux said as I came out of the changing room, the dress swishing and glittering around me.

"You look incredible," Mum said.

"Hey, I'm pretty good at this," Jason said, looking distinctly pleased with himself.

I turned this way and that, studying myself in the mirror. It really was the most beautiful dress, and it did look good on me, but . . . "I think this one might be too much," I said. "I love it, but I'm not sure I can picture myself walking down the aisle in it."

Jason's face fell. "Are you sure?"

"It's my favourite so far, so I'm not immediately ruling it out," I said.

"I'm intrigued to see what you chose," Roux said.

I disappeared back into the changing room to try on the final dress. When I pulled back the curtain again, Jason couldn't hold back a laugh.

"Oh honey, no," he said.

I examined my reflection. The dress I'd chosen was an unusual shape – it seemed to ripple down from my chest, held in place by a single strap of white satin roses on my left shoulder.

"I was trying to think outside the box," I said.

"You look like you just got out of the shower," Jason said.

I looked again. Shit, he was right. The shape of the dress was way too reminiscent of a towel wrapped around my chest.

"Back to the drawing board, I guess," I sighed.

Helen took all the dresses back to their racks, except for Jason's beaded choice, which I still hadn't ruled out. It was such a gorgeous dress, but as good as it looked, it just didn't feel right.

Roux begged me again to try on a meringue dress, and I finally caved and stepped into a frothy nightmare that made me look as though I'd fallen into a wedding cake.

"Oh my God, it's so ugly," Roux cackled, when I stepped out of the changing room.

"Happy now?" I said, striking a pose.

"Nope." Roux whipped out her phone and snapped a quick picture of me. "Now I'm happy."

Once I was free of the meringue, Helen suggested what she told me was an empire waist dress, modelled on dresses from the Regency era. It probably looked great on some women, but it made my body look too short and my boobs look too big. I ruled out that style immediately.

"Do I get to make a speech if you wear the dress I chose?" Jason asked, peeking into the changing room where the beaded dress still hung from a hook on the wall.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I really don't think it's quite the right dress for me," I said.

"Okay, but if you change your mind, I get to make a speech, right?" Jason pressed.

"Sure, why not?"

But I was absolutely sure that I wasn't going to wear that dress.

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