Wedding Preparations - Chapter 9 of The Camera Doesn't Lie

Will Emma and Ash go through with the wedding, even though the girls' secret is at risk?


Two days before the wedding Emma's parents and brother arrived. But even though Melanie and Jake offered them a room at their house on the other side of the city the Gilbert's chose to stay down the road, in Sausalito.

Cleo spent what seemed like hours on the phone with her sister Kim, back home in the Gold Coast, trying to calm her down. Kim had been adamant that she accompany Elliot and his parents to California for the wedding, and neither Cleo's Dad nor their stepmom Sam had been able talk sense into her. After Don had forbidden her to go Kim had called to complain directly to Cleo. Finally Eliot had to get on the phone and tell her himself that she needed to wait for him to get back, ending the discussion.


The night before the wedding everyone gathered at Rowan and Paul's house for dinner. The Gilberts were introduced to all of Rowan's friends, and were able to greet all of Emma's friends from back home. Right after dessert everyone excused themselves even though it was still early, so that the bride and groom could get enough rest for the big day.


Emma noticed when the clock flipped over past midnight, indicating that the actual day for the wedding had finally arrived. Even though she and Ash had been engaged for longer than the rest Emma was still a little nervous. Unable to sleep, she tossed and turned on her bed until close to five in the morning. Giving up, Emma quietly tiptoed next door to Ash's room and found him wide-awake, sitting in his chair.

"Can't sleep?" Emma asked.

"Not a wink," Ash replied. "I want to marry you, Emma; I just can't believe the day is here!"

"Come on, let's go for a walk," Emma told him.

The two snuck out through the Grotto passage and walked to the overlook. The eastern sky was getting light and they could see all the way across the bay to Richmond and beyond. There had been some concern that the day would be foggy, but it looked like the marine layer had stayed away well to the west, leaving both the North Bay and the San Francisco peninsula clear and cloudless.

"So what do you want to do?" Emma asked Ash.


Emma had chosen Cleo to be her maid of honor due to having known her since they were just kids. When Cleo knocked on Emma's door to wake her up and help get her ready there was no answer. Finding the door unlocked she peeked in and found Emma's bed empty.

"Uh, oh, she's bolted," Cleo whispered to herself. "Should I tell Ash?"

Cleo decided to at least see how Ash was doing and knocked on his door. After not hearing any response and wondering whether Emma was inside she knocked harder. But as she did so the door swung open.

"Hello, Ash? Emma?" Cleo asked as she pushed her head through the door.

But the room was empty, and Ash's bed showed no sign that anyone had even slept in it.

"What's going on, Cleo?" Bella asked, yawning, from the doorway to her and Will's room down the hall. "Is it time to get up already?"

"Emma and Ash aren't here!" Cleo exclaimed.

"Oh no, did they elope after all?" Bella asked, instantly wide-awake.

"I hope not!" Cleo said. "Let's go tell Rowan!"

But as they started up the stairs they were met by a very amused-looking Rowan, who put a finger to her lips, shushing the two. Once Rowan was sure that Cleo and Bella would stay quiet she led them to the big window looking out into the back garden and pointed.

Cleo squinted into the bright morning sun and could see that Emma and Ash were sitting on the bench overlooking the bay. They weren't asleep as she could see Ash running his fingers through Emma's hair and as they watched Emma turned and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"See, nothing to worry about," Rowan said in a whisper. "We should let them enjoy the morning; it will be rushed soon enough."


After another half an hour or so Emma and Ash got off of the bench and seeing that people were up came in the back door.

"Morning you two," Rikki told them with a grin. "You had Cleo all worried."

"Huh?" Emma asked, confused.

"When she went to your room to wake you up you weren't there," Bella said with a smirk. "At first she thought you were in with Ash."

"Cleo!" Emma said, turning red.

"Well, you weren't in your room!" Cleo retorted. "And then neither of you were in Ash's room, so I thought, well…"

"What?" Ash asked.

"I thought you had decided to elope after all," Cleo said sheepishly.

"I admit that we did discuss it," Emma said, smiling at Ash. "But we couldn't let Rikki down."

"Besides, her mom would have killed her if we had," Ash said with a grin.

After apologizing for thinking that Emma and Ash had bolted Cleo grabbed Emma's hand.

"Okay, Ash, you need to get your stuff and stay upstairs!" Cleo told him. "As of this moment the basement is the bride's dressing room and you are not to go down there!"

Laughing Ash and Lewis, whom Ash had chosen to be his best man, went down to his room and got his wedding clothes and brought them up to the den, where Paul had indicated he could use as his own dressing room.

While Ash and Lewis were getting his things the Gilberts arrived at the door and Paul showed them in. Emma's mom burst into tears seeing Emma, although she was smiling.

"Mom!" Emma said, embarrassed.

"Shush, Emma!" Mrs. Gilbert said. "It's your wedding day and I'm allowed to cry."

"Your mom's been waiting for this for a long time now," Emma's dad told her. "I'll try to keep her from getting too emotional…"

"Neil!" Mrs. Gilbert exclaimed.

Emma's Dad winked at Emma and gave his daughter a kiss.

"It's true, Lisa," he told his wife.

"Ooh, you!" Emma's mom exclaimed, swatting Emma's dad with her purse, causing Emma to laugh.

"It's okay, Mom," Emma told her. "You can cry if you want."

"Thanks, Emma," Mrs. Gilbert told her, wiping a tear off of her cheek.


Once Ash and Lewis had come back out of the basement Emma, her mom, Cleo, and Rowan had gone down to Emma's room to help her get ready. The men and the rest of the women headed to their own rooms to get dressed and ready for the pre-wedding photo shoot. They were scheduled to meet Mr. Sanderson at the Palace at eleven, a couple of hours before the ceremony, for the staged photos. Due to the popularity of the Palace for weddings and that it was a public city park, they needed to be on time.

As Emma and her mom worked on Emma's hair, Cleo, Rikki, and Bella went upstairs to the guest room there to get ready. The women had already finished their baths early; Rowan had let them use their own big master bathroom as it had an oversized tub, perfect for stretching out one's tail. As Bella went back to put on her bridesmaid dress, Cleo took Rikki into the bathroom.

"I do not want to do this!" Rikki exclaimed, looking at herself in the mirror.

"Either this or stay away from Emma's wedding," Cleo told her. "If Sanderson recognizes you…"

"What color did you get for me?" Rikki asked, worried.

"Red," Cleo replied.

"No, no red hair dye!" Rikki exclaimed. "I remember what happened to Emma."

"This is different; it is only a temporary comb in," Cleo explained. "Just a quick rinse and I bet it's out of your hair before you can grow your tail."

Cleo finally talked Rikki into letting her proceed and after just a few minutes it was done. Since Sanderson had seen her only with her hair down, both before her transformation and after, Cleo then helped her put her hair up. The combination of different hair color and different hairstyle made Rikki look completely different.

"I think that will work," Cleo told her once everything was done.

"I sure hope so," Rikki replied.


After dressing in their pale blue bridesmaid dresses the three mermaids went downstairs and found everyone ready, except for Emma and her mom, who were fixing Emma's veil. Ash and Lewis were outfitted in black tuxedos and the rest of the wedding party was all dressed up in nice suits and dresses. While they waited for Emma to come up Mr. Gilbert helped Ash and Lewis with their boutonnieres.

The bridesmaids collected their bouquets, which consisted of white orchids and pale blue hydrangeas. Emma's bouquet was similar but larger, and Cleo made sure that it was in order.


When the time was right Emma came up the stairs in her beaded wedding dress and long train, her sheer white veil thrown back over her hair, which had been done up for the occasion. Ash's face broke into a silly grin when he saw her and he stood there speechless as she walked up to him.

"What do you think?" Emma asked him.

"Cool," he mumbled, still with a full grin.

"That's all you have to say?" Mrs. Gilbert asked.

"Yes, that's good enough for me," Emma said, giving his hand a squeeze. "You look very handsome."

"Oh, Emma, you look so wonderful!" Cleo gushed.

Mr. Gilbert beamed and kissed his daughter carefully on the cheek.

"You look lovely, Emma," he told her.

"Yeah, not bad, Emma," Elliot said.


Continued with Chapter 10, Wedding Photography

Time to put the plan in action. Will it work?