Gemma let me know that it would be best to go shopping at noon, since Brian takes a nap around that time.
Niall decided to take today and tomorrow off which I'm grateful for because he offered to watch Stephen while I went shopping. It's for the best because I know he would hate to do that with the ladies. Niall also called Louis and got him to leave work so they could have a boys' day.
Conveniently, Niall had a tape measure in his house so I could take Stephen's measurements and he wouldn't have to step foot in a store.
Louis showed up and we told Stephen about the boys' day over breakfast. He was very excited which was cute to see. They refused to tell me their plan, but promised that my son would be safe. At this point I had no choice but to trust them, so I did.
Before I left, Niall pulled me aside. "Here," he hands me his credit card, "take it, buy whatever dress you want. Don't worry about the price."
I give him a dry laugh, "You're crazy if you think I'm taking that. No way in hell. I can pay for my dress and my son's tux myself."
"Please, Morgan, I'm forcing you to come with me, it's the least I can do."
Shaking my head, I hand back his car that he shoved into my hand. "I am staying at your house for almost a week, I don't need this, but thank you so much."
Both of us go back to the kitchen and see Louis fake wrestling Stephen over the last sausage link. While those two are tangled up, I walk over and eat it myself causing Niall to let out a loud laugh.
I got picked up at noon to go shopping. Mary and Anne left the front seat open for me, not that it matters where I sit.
"What are you thinking?" Gemma starts the conversation
"What do you mean?"
She rolls her eyes. "For your dress? Color? Style? Sleeve length?"
I bite my lip because I haven't thought of it. "Um I'm not too sure. I just thought I'd see something and know that was the dress, you know?"
Mary and Anne groan in the backseat. "Morgan, you have to at least have a picture of something in your mind." Mary says.
"Well I know it has to be long. I would also prefer it not to be too form fitting, but I'm not sure about that. Would a dark green or red be too tacky during Christmas time?"
It looks like Gemma, her mom and grandmother are thinking about it for a while. "Typically, I would say yes, but since Harry sticks to a red, gold and white theme, dark green might be okay."
I nod my head taking in the information, just getting more nervous about the dress. I'm hoping to find one in my size that looks nice on me. Too much to hope for, honestly. Maybe I'm just being a pessimist.
We all get out of the car and walk into the store. As soon as we get past the doors, we're greeted by two women, around 35, a little older than Gemma. They usher us to the racks with my size and length specification.
Despite me needing a bigger size than considered average, there are at least a hundred dresses that are on this rack. I start to feel myself get overwhelmed, but suck it up and start going through them. Looking through all the different colors, I pick out two that I like and place them over my arm. Within thirty seconds, one of the workers takes it and brings it to a dressing room.
Gemma, Anne and Mary have been handing the consultants dresses for 30 minutes now which means there are many more dresses than I picked out in the changing room.
When I feel that we have been through the whole rack, I get their attention and tell them come over so they can judge the dresses.
Trying on dress after dress keeps getting more frustrating because nothing fits right or the color is wrong. I have three dresses to try on before I lose my mind. There's a maroon one, a black one and a green one. Gemma said that the maroon would look good, regardless if people think it's tacky or not.
I take a deep breath before trying the maroon one on, figuring I can rule that one out first because of the color. It's a long dress with a slit up the leg. The bodice of it is a large bow, but not overwhelmingly so. It is somewhat fitted, but not tight enough to make me uncomfortable. The sleeves are small and draped slightly above the elbow.
Stepping out to show Mary, Anne and Gemma, they give me a look that says 'almost.' They don't hate it, but they don't love it. I don't love it either.
Next, I try on the black one. This dress is off the shoulder and long. Like the maroon one, it has a slit up the leg. I like this style because it reminds me of the dress I wore on my super fancy date with Harry. Looking in the mirror, I realize it's a lot more fitted than the one I just tried on.
This one is much better than the maroon one, but black happens to be my favorite color to wear. It goes with everything and is very slimming. However, I don't feel that this is the dress I should be wearing.
I get a much better reaction out of this one, and I tell the girls I have one more to try on. I'm not surprised that they aren't trying dresses on because they've had this planned forever, but I do wish someone else was showing off their dresses. It would take the attention off me.
Finally, I put the green dress on. This one is a V-neck to off the shoulder. It also has crystal straps kind of like a tank top. The dress is the most fitted one that I thought I would hate it. Turns out it's the opposite. I love this dress. I keep looking at myself in the mirror and break out into a huge smile. Biting my lip to hide my smile, I open the curtain.
All of their heads snap to look at me and I can tell they love it.
"It's perfect!" Anne says at the same time Mary says, "You look so beautiful!"
"This is the one." I state, showing them my big smile.
"Both Niall and Harry are going to die seeing you in this." Gemma gives me a wink and I shake my head at her.
We go to the cash register, and I ask about a tux for Stephen. She tells me they have one that will fit him nicely, but I have to buy it, not rent it. I agree because who knows what events my dad will force us to go to in the future.
I checkout, pay for everything and we leave. The time is now 3:30 which means it took us three and a half hours to find one dress. I hate shopping unless it's to relieve stress. This trip induced stress.
The ladies drop me off at Niall's after grabbing a quick something to eat. I'm not surprised to see all three boys asleep on the couch. Stephen isn't one for naps, but looking at the other two's attire, they obviously went to the soccer field and ran around for the three and a half hours I was gone.
I chuckle but put blankets over them. Stephen is curled up on top of Louis so I take a few quick photos. How did all of these guys get so good with children? It honestly melts my heart. I give my son a kiss on the head and go back to my designated room.
Within a half an hour, I hear them awake and moving around the living room. Niall pokes his head into my room. "I thought you were here! Where's the dress?"
"In the closet." I nod my head towards it. "And no, you can't see it before tomorrow night. I want it to be a surprise."
He gives me a sad face and puppy dog eyes, pleading with me to show him. "Can you at least tell me the color? I want to match my tie to it."
I laugh, "What is this? Prom? You do not need to match me."
"But I want to."
Letting out a sigh of defeat, I tell him dark green. "Stephen's tux is black but has a dark green vest and bowtie. It's so cute!"
"Morgan!" Louis comes in a jumps on the bed closely followed by Stephen.
I groan when they land. "Didn't you just wake up from a nap? How do you both have energy?"
"The nap." Stephen sassed me.
In response, I grab him and start to tickle him. He releases loud giggles, making all of us adults smile.
"Movie time?" He asks when he gets his breath back.
Looking at the clock, I decide we have time for a movie before we go to dinner. I would take us sightseeing again, but I know none of them would want to do anything but lay around. We had a busy day yesterday and an even busier one tomorrow.
We all take spots on the couch, Stephen on my lap in the middle and Louis and Niall on our sides.
After watching my personal favorite, Big Hero 6, we all get ready to go.
"You were crying during the movie." Louis starts to poke fun at me.
"You weren't? Those first ten to fifteen minutes get me every time." I embrace it. The movie is really sad the few minutes so I do, in fact, cry every time I watch it.
Niall drives to dinner. The boys were kind enough to pay for Stephen and I. Of course I fought, I hate being paid for, but Niall slipped his card to the waitress when I went to the bathroom.
Louis says goodbye after dinner and then goes home. Niall, Stephen and I pick another movie to watch and have our ice cream. Niall and I still had some left over and Stephen was excited for his sundae.
After that movie is over, Niall pulls out Pictionary. My son is smart, but damn, he can't draw. He gets that from me. Turns out none of us can actually draw so the game is just filled with laughs. We play until it's time for Stephen to go to bed.
I decide to just put him to bed and let him take a bath in the morning so he's all clean for the ball.
Niall and I lay down on the couch facing each other, my legs on top of his.
"Are you excited for tomorrow?"
I give him a small shrug, "I guess, but I'm not ready to see Harry after the incident at the hospital."
"What happened?" He asks and I realize I haven't told him. All the talking last night and it didn't come up.
"Basically he just came up to Stephen and I and said stuff about how he was hurt that I left. I don't think he even saw Stephen? He definitely didn't acknowledge him. I really think that is what pissed me off the most. Harry was too mad to notice the child holding my hand." I roll my eyes.
Niall follows in suit, "He's been an ass ever since you left so it doesn't surprise me."
"I gathered. The worst thing is, even though he yelled at me, it was nice to hear his voice. It made me so happy and it shouldn't have. Obviously I'm angry he screamed in front of my son, but something about him just interacting with me made me realize how I felt. Still feel." I continue to rant on.
Now off that topic, we decide to talk about other things, such as Niall's love life. He says he doesn't want to tell me what's going on in it, but to me that means that there's a girl. I interrogate him on why he didn't take her to the ball instead of me and he just said something about it not being that far along.
The fact that Niall has found a nice girl after searching for so long makes me smile. He used to tell me about all the dates he went on, yet it never got further than that.
After a few more hours of talking and joking, we finally go to bed.
My alarm wakes me up in the morning. I decided to get a jump on the day and go see Brian before the Christmas Party.
"Good morning, Brian." I hand him a hot black coffee while I sip on my own Starbucks drink.
"Morgan!" He gives me a big smile. "How are you, darling?" He takes the coffee from me and takes a large sip.
I sit down next to the bed in the chair. The planning of being the first one here worked. "I am doing just fine. How are you doing? The real version, not the version you say in front of a five-year-old."
"You're just like your son: smart."
Letting out a small chuckle, I respond, "He had to get it from one parent, and let me just say it's definitely not his father."
"I can tell. But I am getting better by the day. Hurt like a bitch when I fell, but I am slowly recovering. The surgery on Tuesday went well, so there is no need to worry." He put his hand on top of mine.
Our conversation continues on just about life. I tell him about the horses and my house. This is the first time I actually opened up to him about my family and our money. Before this we just spoke about Stephen.
"Are we ever going to have a conversation about you and that grandson of mine?"
My drink suddenly goes up my nose and I cry out in pain. Brian laughs at this. "You totally caught me off guard. I don't think that's a conversation I want to have."
"Too bad, so talk."
I roll my eyes, both of us knowing I won't say no to him. "Fine, if you must know." I say jokingly. "Outside the hospital the other day, we had a fight. He didn't acknowledge Stephen; I think he didn't even see him which is weird because he was in the waiting room too. But as I told Niall, it felt kind of good. And I guess by him yelling at me, it was the communication I've wanted over the past month and a half."
Brian sits up in his bed. "Not really the communication you wanted though."
"Not ideal, but at least he spoke to me. For the past month and a half, I was working on my son and I's relationship. Sure, on the off time I thought about Harry, but I genuinely thought I was over it. When he yelled at me, it brought all of these feelings back. My brothers and this other guy's words in my head came out."
"What feelings?" He asks, very intrigued in where I'm going.
I sit back in my chair, thinking hard about what I want to say and how I want to say it. "I never stopped liking your grandson. Not that I call it love, I don't think I've ever been in love for real, but something is there. I firmly believe, after our time apart, that we didn't have enough time for ourselves. We were finally figuring it out when I left."
"You don't love him?"
"I don't know, maybe I'll find out soon." I shrug.
With that, I get a smile in return.
A few moments of silence pass. "I think you're right. You two need time. And I think given that time, you two will end up together."
As he says that I get butterflies in my stomach. That is the thing I would hope for.
Looking at the clock, I realize it's getting later in the day. I have an appointment to get my hair, nails and makeup done.
"I hate to leave you, but I believe your beautiful wife, daughter and granddaughter will be stopping by. Do you need anything before I leave?"
"Just a quick hug, my love."
I obviously comply, giving him a big hug and a kiss on the cheek.
"Please make sure to take and send me lots of pictures! I'm stuck here, but I want to see all you gorgeous ladies."
"Will do, see ya later, Mr. Selley." I wink as I walk out of his room, hearing him laugh loudly.
Now, it's time to get ready and go to the Christmas Ball.