Hey everyone! I know just wait till the end of this week and I'll have time to do longer chapters. School gets in the way! Here's chapter four. Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in the U.S!
It had been a week since Will had proposed. Ashley was happy and floating around the large house. Helen had decided to let them pick a room to share after they were married. Helen had spent the week dealing with the United Nations representatives and they only succeeded in pissing her off. Today was again the Family day and Ashley had decided to take her mom to the spa.
Helen and Ashley were currently the happiest women in Old City. They were being pampered and were generally enjoying spending time together. They sat in a steam room just listening to the sounds of the world around them. "Mom, I have no idea how to plan a wedding, I don't even know what I want." Ashley said, looking over at her mother who was currently sprawled across a bench wrapped in her towel, head resting on her forearms. Helen looked up and smiled at her daughter.
"Ashley, most women don't know what they want for their wedding. I thought I did, and then it actually came to planning it. I remember feeling quite overwhelmed for the first month or two of the engagement." Helen informed Ashley. She thought back to when she was planning her wedding. She figured things were about the same. "The question you may want to start off with is 'What kind of wedding do I want?' that may help you start, we can look at color schemes, decide where you want it if you haven't thought of that yet, and last but very importantly, pick out your dress, and the people involved in the ceremony. Keep in mind this has to be discussed with Will, except for the dress, only me and your maid of Honor and bridesmaids should know about that, until the wedding day. You also need to pick a date." Helen said, sitting up and looking at her child. During the course of the small speech that her mother had started, Ashley started to think that perhaps she should hire her mother as a wedding planner, she barely had the whole 'I'm engaged' part down.
"Mom, would you mind helping me plan, and you know take care of everything?" Ashley asked. Helen smiled; she figured her daughter would need help from someone. She nodded and scooted down the bench towards Ashley. Helen wrapped her arms around her only child and placed a kiss on her temple.
"I will help you plan your wedding darling; I'd be more than happy too. How do you feel about meeting up with Will for lunch and beginning the planning, starting with your wedding date so we have a time frame hmm?" Ashley smiled at her mother and kissed her cheek, nodding.
They sat for a few more minutes before getting ready to leave. Ashley called Will and asked if he wanted lunch before the girls had practice that evening, giving them all enough time to spend the afternoon beginning the planning for what Will had dubbed 'Ashley's Dream'.
At the restaurant the trio sat at a booth with their drinks whilst looking at the menus. "Mom, we need a budget for the wedding. I don't want to spend too mu-" Ashley was stopped mid-sentence by her mother's hand.
"Ashley, you will get whatever you want for the wedding, even if you wanted Nirvana as the band I would do my best to make it happen, though we have no hope for Guns N Roses." Helen smiled, having already decided that her daughter would have everything perfect for her wedding, even if Helen had to jump the moon for it. Will nodded in agreement casually putting an arm around Ashley's shoulders and squeezing gently.
Ashley left for the bathroom whilst waiting for the food leaving Will at the table with Helen. Will was suddenly nervous, being alone with his future Mother-in-Law. Helen looked at Will noticing how he was shifting uncomfortably in his seat without Ashley for protection. She smiled gently at her future son-in-law. "Will is there a reason you are so uncomfortable being alone with me now?" she took a sip of her Sierra Mist and looked at her protégé.
"You are going to be my mother-in-law, I haven't had a mother figure since I was eight, and you are you, so yeah, I'm a little uncomfortable. I don't know what to call you really; you are my mentor, and the mother of my future wife." William looked at Helen assessing her body language. She was sitting comfortably in her booth, which was situated where she could assess the entire room. Helen smiled at Will and leaned forward resting her hands on the table separating them.
"You can call me what you want Will, if you want to call me 'Mum' that is fine, you can call me what you called me when you were eight, or what you call me now, or 'Helen' is fine as well. I won't force you to call me something you aren't comfortable with. I quite like the idea of having you for a son, you are good for Ashley, and I won't deny that. You make her happy and I certainly want her to be happy, to have a family, and children that I could spoil. I want her to have a chance at a somewhat normal life. Did she tell you that she dropped college to come home after I had been put in a coma?" Will shook his head. He had known that she had dropped college, but he hadn't known it was for Helen. "I tried my best to give her a normal life, and every time I asked her what she wanted to do, she wanted to work with me, she excelled in her studies as a child. I sent her and Henry both to a private school here in the city until they entered high school. They begged me every year to be homeschooled; I gave in when they decided they both wanted to work for me." Helen said. Will looked at Helen and thought about what she had said over the last few minutes.
"Mom, that's gonna take a bit to get used to." Will smiled as Ashley came back to sit down.
"So Mom, Will, I was thinking a spring wedding, outside in the gardens?" Ashley looked between her fiancée and her mother. Helen pulled out a planner from her purse and started writing notes at the same time Will nodded his assent to the spring wedding. And so the planning began just as their food arrived.
A/N okay so this is a little bit of a bonding chapter, and I kicked of the wedding planning. Let me know what you think. you know you want to press the button down there… Happy Holidays everyone!