My Southern Belle

70

"Oh this one is so pretty Chloe." My mama said picking up a puffy white dress. I made a face and kept walking

"What about this one?" Mrs. Dexter said. "Cara and I like this one." It was okay. It was a strapless dress with a lot of lace and some rhinestones on the top

"Alright Jessie and Alana, its looks like you two are my only hope. Can yall see if you can find me one dress each?"

They both nodded their heads and darted off. Now, as you might already know, Carter was missing which could be a bad thing or a terrible thing in some cases

Even the lady that was my consultant, Velvet, couldn't find a dress that I liked. Then Alana came with a pretty mermaid dress with glitter and sparkles. I felt really pretty in it but I felt like it was too much glitter. Like I was shining and shimmering everywhere and that's just not me.

"Here auntie Chloe!" Jessie said basically dragging another dress to me along with Alana trying to keep it off the floor. "I picked this one out."

Yeah, it was blue. Very pretty but I wanted a white dress. I know I wasn't having the most traditional wedding but it's my mama's request and I have no problem with it.

"Well I'm ready to give up. We've been here for 3 hours.' I said

"Don't worry something will pop up." Cara said and I swear as soon as she said it Carter came from nowhere with the most gorgeous dress I've ever seen.

"Here mama, I took it from some lady who was going to put it on but I couldn't let her buy it. I think you would look very pretty in it and so would mom." It kills me that he does all the wrong stuff for the right reasons.

"Well umm, thank you Carter but taking things from people-"

"Isn't right. Yeah I know. Now go put it on." He said interrupting me

I raised my eyebrow but just let it go. I went to the back and put the dress on and instantly fell in love. It was beautiful mermaid dress with a sweetheart neckline and a low back. It had sequins and I just loved it. When I walked out the dressing room to show everyone, they loved it too.

"Hey kid, my mama totally looks better in that dress than your aunt does." Carter said to a little boy I'm guessing he met while on his journey to find this dress. I wanted to tell him to be nice but I enjoyed the compliment too much.

"Carter, this is beautiful but how much does this cost?"

"That one costs $5000." Velvet said

"Well I guess I have to keep looking because I'm only spending $3000."

"Don't worry about it. We'll cover the difference." My mama said

"Really? You know y'all don't have to."

"We know that. However, you are my daughter-in-law and I'll do anything to make sure your special day is the best day ever." Mrs. Dexter said. Almost instantly I felt the tears and Carter was there with tissue. I guess I cry a lot and he knows what triggers my tears.

"So, is this the dress?" Velvet said

"Yes. Its the dress." I said trying to hold back tears

"Yay!" Everyone screamed causing everyone to look at us.

Then it all started to feel almost real. Like before it hadn't dawned on me that I was actually getting married but standing in this dress, brought me into reality

(Val's POV)

"It would look better with suspenders." My dad said. He said that about everything I put on

"Dad, no."

"Why? I wear suspenders and I look rather dashing if I do say so myself."

"Thank dad but I'll let you rock that look and I'll find something else to look 'dashing' in."

"A vest. A nice vest." Vinnie said

"A grey one. It looks better with your shoes instead of the black one we saw earlier." David chimmed in. Daniel was somewhere flirting with the girl from the front desk.

"Take this bowtie, I looks good with the shoes." Calvin threw one at me. I put it all one and to my surprise I actually liked it. Like really liked it.

"You look wedding ready." Mr. Ellison said

"Jacob. Joshua. How do I look? Do you like it?" I said looking their way. They did nothing but smile. "I'm taking that as a yes." DJ was sleeping so he's opinion would have to wait

"Can we go now? I'm starving." Vinnie asked

"Yeah I guess so. This was a lot quicker than I thought." I said

We left and went to a diner Calvin said he loved. About 2 hours later Chloe texed me and told me she finally found the dress.

"Chloe said she's just now buying her dress." I said

"Really? I'm glad I didn't go with them." Mr. Ellison said before taking another bite of his burger

"Well can we go now? I would like to see my fiancé."

"Do we have to? You may want to see your fiancé but I'm not in a hurry to see my wife." My dad said. "She's going to talk my head off about her three hour shopping trip and make the story last longer than the trip."

"Yes we have to go. You've done all your site seeing and tours over the last two days so you have nowhere to go. Let's go." My dad rolled his eyes but got up with the rest of us. Calvin paid the bill and we left.

When I got home all of the kids that were with Chloe were all asleep on the couch. They must have had a long day

"Hey honey." Chloe said wrapping her arms around my neck and kissing me

"Hey gorgeous. How was it?"

"Frustrating. After three hours your son found a dress for me that I really love. I can't wait for you to see it."

"I'm sure whatever it is you'll look beautiful." She smiled and I kissed her on the forehead and then her lips

"So what about you? Did everything go well?"

"Yeah we were there for little over an hour and then went out to lunch."

"Well im glad that went well. I'm extremely tired though. Can you hold down the fort while I take a nap?"

"Yes ma'am." She laughed and kissed me one more time before leaving me downstairs.

In the end I needed up falling asleep in the chair between the twins cribs. I woke up to DJ poking me

"Auntie Val?"

"Yes DJ?" I said with my eyes still closed

"Look what I did."

"What did you do?"

"Its a surprise." He said looking at me. I looked down to see him with markers and I prayed that he didn't write on anything.

I got up and he led me to Carter's room. I was looking around for the paper I thought he drew on. I didn't even see Biscuit who was now blue, green, and red.

"David!" I called

"What's wrong?" He said walking in Carters room.

"Your kid colored my dog." It was clear he was trying not to laugh.

"Okay I'm sorry. DJ, what did I say about markers?"

"Don't write on walls, floors, or furniture."

"So you forgot animals?" I asked

"I didn't think I would have to include that." I rolled my eyes and took the markers from DJ and spent the next 30 minutes giving the dog a bath. I hope the rest of their stay will be less hectic and messy.