See You at the Altar – Chapter 2

Author's Notes: refer to first chapter

Disclaimer: refer to first chapter

She hurried to catch up with the other ladies, and they all went down the hallway talking with one another. A few minutes later they arrived at the room where the closet was located. Linda opened up the closet and showed the rest of them what was in there. There were several white robes and beautiful flowing gowns—some were white and the others were different shades of blue, green, yellow, purple, and pink. Melissa's eyes went wide with awe. "Oh, those are all so pretty." As she was gazing at each dress, she came to a white one that was absolutely gorgeous. It had a scoop neck with beaded sleeves and beaded trim on the skirt and flowed down to the ground. Taking it off the rack, Missy said, "Linda, look at this one."

"Oh, Melissa, that is so pretty, and it looks pretty close to the right size."

Chloe gave a squeal of excitement. "That'll be perfect for you, Melissa." The other girls gave their hearty approval as well.

"I guess this is the first one I'm trying on." Missy turned to TJ and said, "Hey, when I get my shirt off, the Colonel wanted you to look at my back. He took the dressing off because he said it looked pretty good. He just wants to make sure it doesn't need another one."

"I can do that," said TJ. Melissa nodded and stripped down to her bra and panties. TJ looked at her back and said, "This looks fine. You don't need another dressing. The rest of the bruising should be gone in a couple of days."

"Thanks TJ."

Linda walked around and looked at Missy's back as well. "Melissa, what in the world happened to you?" Missy, TJ, and Chloe gazed at each other not knowing what to say. "You don't have to say if you don't want to."

"That's all right, Linda. Do you remember when Colonel Telford was here the other day?"

"Yes, I do."

"Well, he doesn't like Everett a whole lot, and I kinda got in the middle."

"Ok, do I need to use the stones to go back to Earth and pummel him for you?"

Everyone burst out laughing. When TJ was able to talk again, she said, "Linda, there are a whole lot of Marines in line ahead of you."

Linda nodded in satisfaction. "Just wanted to make sure he didn't need lessons from me on how you're supposed to treat a pregnant woman. Let's get back to the task at hand. How about you try on this dress?"

Linda and TJ helped Melissa slip the dress on over her head. It glided over her body and flowed to the ground. Everyone looked at it in awe as Chloe said, "Melissa, you look like a princess. It's perfect."

Missy said with a huge smile, "I feel like a princess." At that moment, the door chimed startling all of them. "Who is it?"

"It's Mac, Melissa. I have the radio that the Colonel wanted you to have."

"Ok, come on in."

Mac walked in and noticed all the girls admiring the dress Melissa had on. "Wow, Melissa, that dress looks really nice on you!"

As Missy grinned and nodded her thanks, TJ put her hands on her hips and said, "Jim McDonald, you cannot say anything to anyone!"

"Whoa, whoa. I'm not planning to, TJ, for two reasons. One, I don't want to be in trouble with you, and two, I want to see the Colonel's face when she walks down the aisle and be the one to remind him to breathe." He pantomimed a zipper across his lips. "So, my lips are sealed."

Linda remarked, "You and I are kindred spirits, Lieutenant. Anything else?"

Mac thought for a second and then said, "Yes, Sergeant Harper wants to see Melissa when she's done here. He and Eli are talking to the Colonel now. Twenty people have already brought their IPODS over."

"All right, she'll be over there in a little while," said Linda. Mac nodded and left the room. She then turned back to Missy and asked, "Is that the dress you want?"

Melissa nodded eagerly while Linda and Alaina held a quick consultation. Linda then said, "Actually, we don't have to do a whole lot to this. Take a couple of inches off the bottom…"

Alaina added, "We should add an extra panel in the front as well, and I'm wondering if there's something with enough material to make something for her hair."

"Well, for her hair, I was hoping we could find material that would match the dresses that the bridesmaids are going to wear, and make a ribbon for her hair and a sash for her dress. See where it could be gathered in at the waist?"

"I do."

Linda started giving directions to the group. "Ok, Chloe and TJ, I want you to start looking in the closet for something that you can wear. Marla and Jessie, we need to pin Melissa's dress to the right length." Bending down to the floor with her bag of pins, she said, "I think we want it right above her ankles so start pinning it like this." Once she had showed them, the other girls got it right away and started with the task. Linda then asked Melissa, "What are you going to do about shoes?"

Ruefully grinning at her, Missy replied, "I don't know. My feet have been swelling in my boots. Actually, Everett wanted me to ask TJ about that too."

When she heard her name, TJ came over from the closet and took a look. "You know, Melissa, the best thing would be to find a bigger pair of shoes. What size do you normally wear?"

"I wear a size 9."

"Then a size 10 would probably be what you need, but I don't know any female on board with feet that big."

Jessie gazed up from the floor. "I do, ma'am. And I have an extra pair of sneakers that I would be willing to let you use for the rest of your pregnancy."

Melissa smiled warmly at the young airman. "You would have my everlasting gratitude if you could do that, and please call me Melissa."

"Ok, Melissa, I'll get them when we're done here." The girls continued to work on getting Melissa's dress pinned.

Meanwhile, Everett was in one of the smaller control rooms talking with Mike and Eli. He had been able to help them eliminate the songs off the IPODS that weren't country. Mike then said, "Alright, Sir, we were thinking during the reception that we would let each of you have a chance to do a dedication. You know a song that tells how you feel about Dr. Mitchell."

Ev thought for a moment and asked, "Where is that IPOD that Reynolds brought in?"

"It's right here," said Eli who handed it to him.

"Start up the first song; I think that's the one I want." Eli started the song which happened to be Trace Adkins' "All I Ask for Anymore". The three of them listened to it, and Ev thought to himself, 'This is so perfect.' When it got to the chorus, he started singing, "But when I bow my head tonight—there'll be no me, myself, and I—just watch my wife and kids please Lord—that's all I ask for anymore." He continued singing putting his feelings and emotions into it as the song continued. Once it was done, Mike said, "Sir that was good! You have to sing that to her during the reception."

"I agree with him," said Eli.

"Alright, I'll do it," said Everett. "Glad it didn't sound totally ridiculous.

Mike said, "Nope sure didn't. I used to DJ on the side. We had people doing karaoke that sounded a whole lot worse."

"Cool! Let's keep going through these songs. I think I'll let Missy decide on the one that we'll use in place of the wedding march."

In the meantime, Marla and Jessie had finished pinning Melissa's dress, and she had carefully stepped out of it putting her other clothes back on. Chloe and TJ had also found dresses which they had both tried on. Chloe's was a short sleeve blue dress with detailing at the collar and a full skirt while TJ's was a sleeveless blue dress with detailing at the waist and neckline and a full skirt as well. Melissa said, "I like both of those. What do you girls think?"

Chloe said, "I like this one a lot. It's a bit long, but I guess Linda can fix that."

"That's not a problem. We're going to use the extra material for Melissa's ribbon and sash," said Linda.

TJ added, "Mine's a little long too, but otherwise it's perfect."

"You two are going to look gorgeous, just like the bride," commented Linda. "Ok, Marla and Jessie, start pinning those dresses." While they were working on that, Linda and Alaina consulted with Melissa. Linda said, "I think we can have these dresses done by Friday. What do you think, Alaina?"

"Today's Sunday. Oh, we can have it done by Friday, easy."

"Ok, Melissa, how would you like to have the wedding on Saturday?"

Missy's eyes lit up as she thought of how long she had been waiting for this day. "Linda that would be perfect. I can't begin to tell you how much all of this means to me. I've loved Ev for a long time and to finally be married will be wonderful."

"Like I said earlier, I am thrilled to be able to do it." She raised her voice so the other girls could hear. "We have set a date for this wedding. It's going to be on Saturday. We'll have final fittings on the dresses on Thursday just in case we need to make any corrections on Friday. Melissa, why don't you go ahead and let the Colonel know about our decision?"

"I think I'll do that." Missy picked up the radio and turned it to the channel she and Ev normally used. "Mitchell to Young."

"Young here. What's up, Missy?"

"Well, Linda and Alaina have figured out what they need to do with the dresses and when they'll finish up, and they said Saturday would be a good day for the wedding. Is that ok with you?"

"Mike and Eli are both agreeing with me. They'll have all the music sorted by then, and you know that is definitely ok with me, Babe." Missy could hear the smile in his voice as he continued, "You about done there?"

"Yep. What do you need?"

"Mike and Eli would like to see you, and then apparently, you're in hot demand. Dr. Rush and Dr. Park would like to consult you on a translation."

"Well, I need to make a stop after I leave here. Where should I go first?"

"You know the small control room that's closest to our quarters. Go there first."

"Ok, see you in a few. Mitchell out."

"Young out."

Melissa then turned to Linda and said, "I need to go."

"That's fine. Alaina and I are going to get started on this right away."

The rest of the girls which included Chloe, TJ, Jessie, Marla, and Melissa headed out of the room and back towards the main crew quarters hall. Jessie said, "Melissa, if you have time to stop by my room, I can go ahead and get you the shoes."

"That would be great, Jessie!" They reached her room a minute later, and she found the extra shoes in her duffel and gave them to Melissa. "Oh, I would love to put them on now. Can I get one of you to help me with these boot laces?"

"I'd be glad to, Melissa," said TJ bending down to undo the boots. When they would not loosen right away, she said, "Ok, I have to have a chat with the Colonel about his knots." That sent the rest of the girls into giggles. She was finally able to loosen the knots. "There, I'm glad these other shoes are Velcro."

"Thanks TJ." Melissa slipped the other shoes onto her feet and pressed the Velcro fastening down. "Oh, these feel wonderful! Thanks so much, Jessie."

"You're welcome, Melissa." The girls got up and headed out of the room. "Listen, Marla and I have KP duty. We'll talk to you later."

"That sounds good. Jessie, please let me know if you need any help with the decorations."

"We will." Jessie and Marla turned left at the next corridor and headed towards the Mess while Melissa, Chloe, and TJ kept going straight. They passed by Melissa and Ev's quarters, and TJ and Chloe both asked, "Aren't you going to drop off the boots?"

"Nope," said Melissa shaking her head with an amused grin. "I'm gonna have some fun with the Colonel. Want to come and watch? I could really use your input on the music.

"Sure," said TJ, "this ought to be fun." The three of them walked to the small control room reaching it a few minutes later.