Hey guys! So we introduce some new characters in this chapter, and they'll play an important role later on. Please enjoy, favorite, comment, it akes my day! Thanks!
Emma Milton stepped out of the dressing room of a posh wedding gown shop, swathed in layers of white taffeta and squeezed into a bodice that was as shiny as a disco ball, "What do you think of this one?" she asked.
Natasha Romanova flicked her red hair over her shoulder and surveyed Emma. "You look like a cupcake" she replied, smiling.
Emma snorted, "I know, right. Just add sprinkles"
Natasha said, "Yeah not really your style. Next!"
Emma laughed and plunged back into the pile of gown waiting in her dressing room.
Natasha called to her from the waiting room, "So how goes the wedding planning?"
Inside the overstuffed dressing room Emma blindly grabbed the dress closest to her, her hand closing around the silky number, and she replied as she shimmied into it, "Pretty good, Steve kinda just gets confused and puts on his serious face if he sits with the planner for more than two hours so I've taken the reins"
Natasha laughed and replied, "Yeah that's usually what happens. But you have good taste, I'm trusting the bridesmaids dresses aren't going to be atrocious"
"No, I promise they won't be, I'm told lavender flatters everyone. Besides you'll look great in anything" Emma said. She'd asked Natasha to be a bridesmaid, and Natasha had accepted, asking why Emma had taken so long to ask.
Emma walked into the main waiting room, fumbling with the last few buttons at the back of the dress.
Natasha's face was incredulous, her eyes going wide when she saw Emma. When Emma caught the look on her face she said, "Oh no, what's wrong? Is it terrible?"
"No! No, it's…well it's fantastic. Here, come see" Natasha replied, guiding Emma over to the large section of mirrors.
It was a miracle dress, it had to be, Emma had never looked like this before. The gown was cream silk, with cap sleeves and a plunging sweetheart neckline. Shiny stones embroidered it's waistline in a thin jeweled belt. It caressed it's way down over her torso to drape across her hips, concealing her toes in a waterfall of creamy fabric and then swept out behind her in a short train.
It was stunning; it enhanced her eyes, her hair, her skin. Emma smiled and said in a soft voice, "Wow. This is the one, huh?"
Natasha grinned back, "Oh yeah, this is the one"
Emma paced back and forth in the break room of the small bar where she, luckily, still worked. She'd had to start taking more time off, and she was starting to wonder why her boss, a middle aged woman with white blond hair named Sheryl, hadn't fired her yet. Then again Emma had always been a loyal, hardworking employee, so Sheryl couldn't really complain.
But losing her job was not the reason of her nervousness today. She was meeting her dad here at the bar; she had asked him to come so they could talk. She was going to ask him to walk her down the aisle.
Emma and her father had not spoken in five years, not after Emma's mother died. Emma's mother, Avery Milton, had possessed some of Emma's abilities, passing them onto her daughter. Emma and her mother had been incredibly close, bonding over their shared abilities.
She suspected that sometime's Emma reminded him of her mother and that it was too painful for him.
She didn't blame him for that, everyone has different ways of dealing with their grief, for Emma it had been pushing her abilities down inside of her, but she missed her father, and she wanted him there on the most important day of her life.
She heard a noise near the door and turned to see her father. They locked eyes and a tidal wave of emotions crashed inside of her. Relief, nervousness, love, happiness.
Ned Milton was a large man, with dirty blonde, once coppery hair that age had peppered with grey and laughing blue eyes. Looking at him, it was easy to see where Emma got her looks. Everything except the eyes. Those were her mother's.
Her father smiled at her and immediately locked her into a bear hug, like he used to do when she was younger.
"Emma," He said, immediately launching into apologies, a sad smile on his face "It's been so long. After your mother I..I didn't know how to go on. I'm sorry…"
"Dad, it's alright, I didn't ask you to come here so I could hear an apology." Emma replied. She pulled out a chair and gestured for him to sit with her. "Dad, I met a guy…His name is Steve Rogers"
She had imagined telling her father this a hundred times, but now she couldn't find the words. Her father knew about her and her mother's powers, but he didn't really understand, especially when it came to men, or the lack thereof.
"He's incredible, everything I've ever wanted." She continued, "We're engaged, and I want you to meet him."
Her father gave her a smile that reached his eyes and suddenly she felt like she was just a little girl again. He replied, "Emma, I'm so happy for you! Could I walk you down the aisle?"
"Yes! Of course, that's what I was going to ask you, but I didn't know if you would show…" Emma replied, looking down as her words trailed off.
Her father sighed and took Emma's hands, "Em, I'm so sorry that you feel that way. After your mother died, I felt as if a part of me was missing, lost. I couldn't bear to see you or your sister because you both reminded me of her."
Emma replied, "Dad, we would've been there for you, helped you through what you were feeling, 'cause we were feeling the exact same things."
"I know, I know, grief was clouding my judgments. I wasn't thinking logically…" He said.
Emma squeezed her dads hands, "You're here now, that's what matters. Like mom used to say; Family is forever."
Her father smiled a sad, bittersweet smile, "Family is forever. Speaking of, when's Lucy supposed to get here?"
The younger Milton child had a habit of being chronically late. Emma's sister was flying in from LA tomorrow, and Emma was going to meet her at the airport.
"Her flight gets in at 8:00 tomorrow night. Hopefully she'll be on it." Emma replied, standing, "I have to get back to work now, but maybe you could come to dinner at my townhouse tonight?"
Her father drew himself up to his full 6'4 height squared his shoulders, which had the effect of making him look like a big, fluffy lion, and said, "Of course, pumpkin. So, when do I get to meet this Steve Rogers?"