GUILTY | CONRAD FISHER

the dress.

And she stopped talking. She knew, if these two were up to something, they were going to finish what they wanted to. Furthermore, she knew that she had better be with them and not be getting in the way. So, she was helping them with all her strength.

Finally, they could see what was inside the thing that could kill them in case it fell. Too many clothes, best clothes, only seconds later Sara realized what exactly was in front of them.

"Clothes for a debutant ball," she whispered, Francis and Theo nodded. "It means..."

"My grandparents' suits, I suppose," the Haden boy confirmed. "To think, my whole life I wondered who were they. My whole life, I tried to imagine how people who raised my dad, the best person I've ever known, lived. And now, I can see...everything. I've never seen their pictures before, either. Insane!"

Sara knew about Theo's urge to learn about his family. For seventeen years there were only the two of them, he couldn't meet even his own mother, he felt different. Different in a bad way, he felt incomplete.

Edwards and Campbells wanted so bad to fill the hole in the boyish heart, Judith's mother became his grandmother too, at least, she tried, but deeply inside he was still hurt.

Not because he didn't have them, because he knew nothing about them, Erik was horrified by that topic. Their arguments always were about Erik's past, about his unwillingness to talk about their family.

Maybe, it was stupid, but Theo had never considered himself a too smart boy. He was an ordinary boy with the father he loved with his entire heart, wanting to learn something about him, not about his friends or work, him. He wanted to see the world with his eyes, to feel why he turned out to be the person he was.

And now, only after Erik's death the biggest wish, secret and fear in the boyish life slowly was coming true. It had always been about Theo's father, not about him or his grandparents who were completely strangers for him.

"Sara?" Francis watched how his daughter's eyes lighten up, she was looking at one point, at one single object in the wardrobe.

If she could, she would laugh. Definitely. She spent the day with her mother, mothers of her boyfriend and best friend, with the girl who fancied her date, looking for the dress. The wedding dress for a stupid tradition Cousins had. She kept telling the four of them that they needed to be into something else, to think about weather, for example, to distract themselves from hundreds of white dresses.

And there she was, stuck with the idea of 'the dress' in her head, unable to look away from clothes Theo's grandmother wore years ago. It was perfect for her. White dress with the ivory corset, strewn with golden sparkles all over the translucent skirt. Maybe, not too traditional, but she didn't care. If Mrs. Haden was allowed to wear that, why wasn't she?

"Judy, what'd you do to her? She can't talk!"

The woman who decided to visit the others chuckled. "She's stunned," she said. "Our girl found it."

"It?" Theo and Francis asked in unison.

Sara shook her head in agreement. "The dress." she turned to her best friend. "We have to wear it, T."

"We?"

"The suit's for you. You didn't think I'll go to the ball without you, right?" he smiled. "Con is my escort and you're my family. If I wear this, you do, too."

All of them knew that Theodore Haden would never say 'no' to Sara Edwards, especially, when she was suggesting something he wanted to do by himself, either.

Of course, he would gladly try on his grandfather's suit, of course, he was sure that his grandmother's dress was perfect for Sara.

"We're the cheesiest family being," Francis mumbled, taking Judith by arm and guiding her upstairs.