Destined For Them (Story 3)✔

~1~

Penelope, with her wild, red hair was standing behind the register when we entered, the bell chiming, and when she noticed our arrival, her eyes lit up. She was beautiful, middle aged and childless. No husband that I knew of and she would often gush about the lovers she kept. "Caroline. I thought you would never come dear. Let me grab your dresses." She said and didn't wait for a reply as she left the retail floor and went to the back. 

"Mommy I want that!" When I looked over, Lydia was pointing up to a high shelf where a wedding tiara was placed. Four going on married? 

"Oh no, baby. I think that's just for girls who are getting married. I'm sorry." I explained. Or maybe the high school would purchase it for the homecoming queen. Lydia glared under long eyelashes at me then and crossed her arms. 

"Daddy will buy it for me." She huffed dramatically and I laughed. I highly doubted that but I wouldn't put anything past Sol Specter when it came to his daughter. Besides, didn't she have like ten plastic princess tiara's in her toy box at home? Pretty sure. Before I could reply, Penny came back with two boxes, tied with the boutiques red satin bows. She knew she didn't have to go to such lengths for me but I knew that she enjoyed it. 

"Here you are." She said, handing them over with a sniffle. "And I was wondering if you could open the shop tomorrow? I'm coming down with a cold and I don't want my germs in the atmosphere." She explained, as she clasped her hands behind her. I could tell by the way her nose was reddening at the end and she was starting to lose her voice. I wanted to argue that there were already germs in the 'atmosphere' but didn't bother. I didn't mind anyway. I had no plans for tomorrow and the shop only stayed open half a day on Saturday's.

"Of course I can. We have to run now. Maybe you should close early and try to get better quicker?" I suggested but I knew that hell would freeze over first. "Come on Lydia." 

"Bye Penny." She chirped up and skipped to where I was at the door.  

"Goodbye, little dove. Tell your Daddy happy birthday for me." Penelope called as we left the shop. Thankfully, there was no trouble getting Lydia or the boxes into the car and on the way home, I played music that we both sang to. I could already see my mother, as we pulled down the long drive, pulling her hair out in the middle of the house. She always felt under pressure while planning any event. 

I had told her to leave it all up to me but she had insisted. I'd only hired a caterer, let Lydia pick the cake and had went shopping for the decorations. When I reached the front of the house, I pulled past cars I didn't recognize and ended up in the garage. We still had a couple hours until everything started so when we made it into the house, I told Lydia to go play and went in search for my mother. 

~

"This one, Momma...It's sooo big and pretty." Lydia was pointing to a big pink bow that hung in her walk-in closet and was jumping around like someone had given her an entire Redbull thirty minutes prior. 

"Are you sure? It doesn't even match your dress." I crinkled my nose at her but when she nodded her head frantically I grabbed for it. Whatever rocked her bedazzled little boat, right? I leaned down then and clipped it in the ponytail she had insisted on twenty minutes ago. It definitely did not match the silver dress with white ruffles but I wasn't gonna argue with her. "There. Now, why don't you go find Daddy and tell him happy birthday? I think I heard him downstairs." 

And I'd had to peel him from my naked body an hour ago when he came home and found me in the shower. Afterwards, I had slipped into a robe and found Lydia down the hall in her bedroom, playing with her dolls. Getting the dress on her and then her white tights had been a chore, but we had managed. At the mention of her father now, her eyes beamed bright. "Okay!" She didn't waste a second and was out of her bedroom in a second.