"Gosh, I can't get over how small everything looks around here," Mallory said, driving along the streets of Hudson with Lisa.
It was a sleepy weekday in the town, and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. The only thing that would have surprised anyone today would have been the news of Mallory Wells and Jake Anderson getting married, but since they wanted to keep it under wraps and only invite the people from Heartland, the town folk went on with their every day life, and no one suspected a thing.
Mallory leaned back and glanced at Lisa, who was driving. "I keep wondering if it's always been this small or if they just replaced everything with miniature buildings to make me look big."
Lisa smiled because of Mallory's commentary, but she also knew the feeling very well, being a world traveler herself. "Yeah, that's what happens when you go and see the world," she replied, steering her car in front of a clothing store. "But I hope that's not a bad thing. We wouldn't want you to stay away just because this place is smaller than the grand cities of Europe."
"Oh, no, I will come back; I guarantee that. I missed this place while I was away, and now coming back here has only made it worse-in a good way. I don't wanna stay away for that long again. I'd forgotten how nice and simple everything is here," Mallory said, unbuckling her seat belt.
"Do I sense you still rethinking this marriage thing...?" Lisa asked carefully. She'd had a feeling that Mallory had some doubts about her changing relationship status, and Lisa wanted to offer help or at least be someone who Mallory could talk to.
"This time I'm sure. Like, really sure. No more backing down," Mallory stated, opening the door and stepping out of the car. "Speaking of not being sure... I never thought I'd see you and Jack marry. I thought you were fine with not being married; isn't that what you said once upon a time?"
"Well, yes, I do admit I didn't expect to be married again, either," Lisa replied, also stepping out and walking to the street after she'd locked her car. "But it just felt so right when Jack popped the question. We'd been apart for a while before that, and then things just fell into place... I guess it was more about Jack feeling ready than me feeling ready. I was ready to marry him years ago."
"I kind of know the feeling," Mallory admitted, seeing some similarities in her situation with Jack and Lisa's. She and Jake had been apart for a while too before he had proposed to her, but unlike Lisa, Mallory hadn't known what to say. That's why she'd come to Heartland in the first place. "It's funny that I was always the one giving Jack relationship advice when I was living here, yet I ended up being as clueless as him in the end," she said, smiling a little.
"It's easy to give advice; it's another thing to follow it," Lisa said, walking toward the clothing store and opening the door for Mallory.
"Couldn't agree with you more," Mallory said, stepping inside.
While looking for clothes to wear for her wedding, Mallory got to thinking about wedding dresses. Amy'd had a beautiful one-based on the pictures-but Mallory felt like going for something much more low-key.
If someone had asked her years ago what her dream wedding dress would look like, she would have described something close to Amy's, but now she'd grown out most of her childhood dreams and wasn't raiding a wedding dress store because she no longer felt like having the same kind of wedding she'd dreamed about when she was a little girl. She was much more casual about relationship things these days; not everything had to be out of a fairy tale to feel right.
"So... what kind of wedding dress did you have?" Mallory asked Lisa when she was helping her pick out a white jacket so she wouldn't get cold during the ceremony, which was going to be held in the Heartland barn.
"Well, to tell you the truth, I didn't have a typical dress," Lisa said, looking at Mallory. There was a nostalgic smile on her face as she recalled the winter evening she'd married Jack. "I had a lovely white jacket with some faux fur on the sleeves and a hat to match. And I guess my black knee-high boots didn't exactly scream traditional either," she chuckled a little.
"Lisa Stillman," Mallory said with an impressed tone, "sounds like you were a total rockstar bride!"
It made Lisa laugh, as she was wondering what kind of imagery Mallory now had stuck in her head. "Well, I probably wouldn't go as far as say that, but... I guess I still rocked that outfit," she admitted, then crinkled her nose as she realized she'd said something a bit cheeky.
"Way to go!" Mallory applauded. "I'd love to see some pictures of that when we get back to Heartland."
"Well, unfortunately, I have none. It was only me and Jack in front of that justice of the peace-oh, and Tim. We didn't exactly invite him, but he found us anyway..." Lisa told her.
"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Mallory muttered as she was going through the dresses on the rack.
"But... it ended up being nice," Lisa admitted, even if one wouldn't necessarily think that Tim Fleming crashing a wedding would be a good thing. "He was our witness, and then later we got to celebrate with the rest of the family, so... it was a win-win, really; not much hassle during the ceremony, but we didn't end up leaving the family out either."
"Yeah, I heard about that." Mallory recalled being invited to a wedding reception two years ago, but she hadn't been able to make it back then as she'd just started a new job and couldn't afford to take a holiday right away. "I like that approach; it's kind of like we're doing it now. Just a few people, very simple, but elegant," she added.
"Speaking of elegant... what do you think of this?" Lisa showed her a white coat with sharp cuts and a fitting form. "I think this would look good on you."
Mallory took a look at it. She was glad Lisa had a good eye for fashion as it made the whole thing a lot easier. "Looks great! Let me try it on." She reached out to take it from Lisa.
As Mallory was trying on her clothes-a white dress and white coat-Lisa stayed behind the curtain and went through the bouquet order that they were going to pick up before they returned to Heartland. Thankfully, Amy had white shoes that she'd promised to lend to Mallory, as they were the same size, so that was one less thing to worry about.
"So... you're settled here in Hudson, then?" Mallory continued the conversation and the catching up, even though they weren't face to face. "Do you still have Fairfield?"
"I do still have Fairfield, so nothing has really changed, except I'm married now," Lisa confirmed. "But while I do stay at Heartland a lot, I don't know if I've necessarily settled there in a way you probably think I have. I do stay at Fairfield at times too, but I still travel a lot. Heartland is my home, but so is Fairfield-and the world, if you will."
It got Mallory to thinking about her own situation with Jake. "And that works for you?"
"Absolutely. Jack and I, we have an understanding," Lisa replied, putting her phone away. "He has his life here at Hudson, and I have mine in France, or wherever it is that life takes me. But we're still just as much together as we would be if I was at Heartland-it doesn't change a thing. I know it's been hard for some people to understand," she said, thinking back to the arguments with her Aunt Evelyn, for one. "But it works for us, so... nothing else should matter."
Lisa's words gave Mallory a new kind of confidence. If Jack Bartlett could make it work with Lisa Stillman, then she and Jake would be okay.
Pulling the curtain aside, Mallory stepped in front of Lisa to do a little twirl. "So... what do you think?" she asked, doing a few poses for her.
Lisa's eyes lit up. "I love it. Absolutely love it. You look so beautiful, I might cry!" she said, laughing out of embarrassment as she was looking at the beautiful young lady before her.
"I guess we've found it then," Mallory continued, pleased with the outfit and Lisa's reaction. "I can't believe I'm going to get married..." she said as she took one last look at the outfit she was going to get married in through a mirror.
Lisa got up and walked behind her to admire the look as well. She placed her hands on Mallory's shoulders and the younger woman looked at her in the reflection. "Believe it, because it's happening. In two hours, to be exact!"