Hi there! If anyone read chapter 4 of Ever After, you'll know about the little incident that's going on with my laptop. If not, I'll explain; all 18 documents I had(4 were for this story) have been wiped. Well, my whole laptop won't turn on, so I'm using my mum's. So major sorry, and I feel awful for the extremely long author's note! Also, this is when they have been dating for 7 months.

The sparkly, navy blue dress in the shop window of the new French boutique, Rideaux en Boeuf. Melinda could hardly take her eyes away, and Andrea had to physically pull her away.

"It is lovely," She said, smiling at Melinda's scowl, "But do you really need it? Really, really really need it?"

"Yes," Melinda said, giving her best friend a playful shove, "I need it. But I haven't got my purse."

"Come back tomorrow morning," Andrea suggested, and she shrugged. "Now lets go to work. We're already late."

However, Melinda had not noticed Jim sat on a bench, sipping his coffee, and skimming through the morning paper. He had glimpsed up to see Melinda looking at a dress, and he had decided that he would buy it for her as a surprise. How that would make her happy. Jim entered the boutique, feeling rather embarrassed at being surrounded by women.

"Can I help you?" The shop assistant asked, her French accent clear.

"Yes; I was hoping to purchase that dress in the window," he said, pointing to the royal blue dress.

"A fine choice, Monsieur. Shall I wrap it up?"

"Please," he said, gratefully, and handed her the money.

"Well, whoever you bought this for is a lucky lady. Au revoir."

"Au revoir," he replied, and waved at her happily.

GW

When Melinda arrived home from a tiring day, she was surprised to find a huge box on her porch. She opened her front door with her key, and brought the box in. 'I wonder what this could be,' she pondered, as she cut through the cardboard. She took out tissue paper, and unwrapped it. It was the dress, ripped to shreds.

"Well. Not happy now, are we, Melinda?" A soft, yet chilling voice asked, and Melinda turned round.

"I knew this was you, Poppy," Melinda said, struggling not to cry. "How could you?"

"I was going to play fair," The beautiful ghost shrugged, "But you still haven't got away from Jim like I asked in the first place."

"We make each other happy!" Melinda shouted, and Poppy came face to face with her.

"You think you do, little girly. But if you saw what Jim and I had, you would see your so called love was nothing!" With that, Melinda was left cradling the dress.

A knocking at the door woke Melinda up, and she yawned, stretching sleepily.

"Morning," Jim smiled, and kissed her forehead, "Did you get any surprises?"

"Just a few," Melinda said, trying not to tell him what had happened to the dress he had obviously bought her.

"Lets see it on you," He said, and Melinda, ever the prepared one, smoothly offered him a drink. But he had replied, "Just a quick one, and then I'll have to go-after seeing the dress, of course."

So Melinda trudged up the stairs, and put the dress on. She was surprised it wasn't ripped.

"It would look better on me," Poppy said, snottily, before disappearing. Suddenly, a rush of water came from the kitchen. Melinda ran down the stairs, where Jim was trying to get it under control.

"It was so sudden!" he shouted, over the rushing noise.

"Stop it!" Melinda shouted, looking over to where Poppy was stood. 'That's a powerful ghost,' her mind told her.

"As you wish," Poppy smiled, and the tap gave a glug and the water poured over the floor. Then, she was gone.

"Are you ok?" Jim asked, absolutely soaked. "That dress looks stunning, Mel. Truly. I'll have to take you to dinner so you can show it off."

"I'm paying for dinner, Jim. You payed for this," Melinda said, and dabbed at him with a tea towel. Jim looked into her eyes, and kissed her lovingly.

"You're the best thing that's happened to me lately," He said, shyly. "Mel… I love you."

"Oh, Jim! I love you too!" She exclaimed, and leapt into his arms. He spun her around, and kissed her again.

"Thank God I found you," He whispered into her ear. Melinda didn't say anything; she simply tightened her grip.

Well, my lovelies, that was Chapter 3! Expect updates regularly.

~Olivia xx~