* Wedding preparations meeting - part 2 *
"Ok... so... we can fix it." Jo started as she looked at Meg's wedding dress on the floor while her eldest sister was still in the arms of her fiancé's, trying to calm down as much as possible. Meg just shook her head.
"No, we can't. We don't have time, plus it'll be the same. It won't be any lose." Meg said. She sounded tired and a bit disappointed
"I'm so sorry, Meg. I... I didn't want to ruin your dress, but... you were practically chocking and..." John apologized before Meg placed her hand on his cheek and cut him in, smiling.
"It's alright, John. Really. You saved me. Besides, better today than tomorrow during the wedding." she said.
"So... your dress is ruined? Absolutely ruined?" Amy asked, still shocked for what had just happened.
"Well, we can't fix it on time for the wedding, and even if we did, it'll be the same. It'll still make me feel like chocking." Meg said. Amy just looked at her.
"So... now what?" the eldest of the Marches asked dramatically. Meg just sighed.
"Now... now I change my clothes back and... go home." she just said. Everybody looked at her, shocked. Go home? What did that even mean?
"You ARE home." Jo retorted.
"No, Jo. This is not my home. I mean, I know I can always come back, but it doesn't feel like my home anymore. My home is where I live with John and Rosie." Meg explained. Jo just nodded.
"So, no wedding, mommy?" Rose asked, sadly, as she looked down. Meg tilted her daughter's head up and looked at her in the eye, lovingly.
"Of course there's going to be a wedding, sweetheart. But mommy's just going home to get a new dress, ok? I'll be out of here for 30 minutes, an hour at the most." Meg told her with a kind smile on her face.
"You have a new dress?" Amy asked, shocked. Meg sighed.
"No, I don't have a new dress. I'm just getting the white one that I have in my wardrobe." she explained her sister.
"But that's not suitable for a wed..." Amy started before Meg cut her in.
"Amy, it's my freaking wedding, ok? I think I can wear whatever I want. I can even go nude if it pleases me because IT'S. MY FREAKING. WEDDING! Am I clear?" Meg snapped, glancing at her sister. Amy took aback just as much as Beth and Jo, even Rose. Nobody expected Meg to react like that. It wasn't like her to change to a foul mood in a matter of seconds. So Amy just nodded, quietly. "Now, if you excuse me, I need to change my clothes." Meg continued as she broke off John's embrace and walked to her bed where her clothes were. John left the room and went back downstairs while the girls changed their clothes in silence. When Meg was finished, she just went downstairs. Jo followed her.
"Let me go with you! We can have a good talk and I can help you with..." Jo started before her sister cut her in.
"No, Jo. YOU stay here. There's still plenty of things to do. I'll see you in a while." Meg said as she grabbed her car keys and walked to the front door.
"But I..." Jo started again before being interrupted by John this time.
"Leave her. If there's something I've learnt in the past year is that, when she gets in that mood, she needs to be left alone. She needs her space." he explained. Jo didn't want to admit it, but he was right. Meg didn't get mad often, but when she did, it was better not to bee around her much. Jo remembered that from when they were kids.
Meg got to her apartment rather quick for being a Saturday. Streets were usually more jammed, especially at the beginning of the Summer. but that Saturday was quite slow, even slower than most. As soon as she walked in their three-bedroom place, her cell phone rang. She only picked it up because John's name and picture appeared on the screen.
"You got home alright?" he asked. Meg smiled. John always looked after her, no matter what mood she was in.
"Just walked in." she said, walking through the living room.
"Great! Can you do me a big favour?" he asked. Meg took aback a little, but agreed.
"Sure. What is it?" she asked as she walked in their room and she went straight to her side of the wardrobe to get her white, sleeveless dress. He sighed.
"I was about to try on my suit, but I realized I got the wrong one." he said. Meg sighed.
"John! I thought you checked everything before we left!" she exclaimed, sternly. She could picture John blushing at her telling-off and smiling sheepishly.
"I thought I did, but between our really early rise and the rush of everything, I seemed to have taken the wrong one. Can you, please, go to my side and check?" he asked. Meg sighed and walked to his side of the wardrobe and opened it.
"Ok. Which one is it again?" she asked looking through shirts
"It's in a big, white cover hanged behind the shirts." he said. She put her phone between her ear and her shoulder and looked for it. When she finally found it, she took it our and laid it on the bed. It was quite big and large. but then again, John was taller and broader than her. "Have you found it?" he asked.
"Yes." she answered, still examining the cover.
"Good. Can you please open it so we're sure?" he asked. She unzipped the cover and gasped in surprise. It wasn't John's suit what she found inside. She took it out to discover the white, Disney-style wedding dress that she had tried on a couple of months ago. The 'Belle dress', as Rose called it. "Guess what? I already found my suit." he said and she could hear him smiling on the other end.
"How did you... when did you... why, John? You didn't have to..." she started, astonished. She actually had no words to say or describe what she was feeling in that moment.
"The day you went to see Aunt March. Rosie told me about that dress and what you looked like in it. And I wanted to get you a present for tomorrow, so... I was going to go and pick it up later on and give it to you as a surprise tonight. We thought you'd look beautiful in it on the reception." he explained. Meg could feel her eyes welling with tears and she was smiling.
"It's... It's so beautiful." she said as tears ran through her face.
"You are." he said. She just smiled and sniffed. "Now, hurry back. I want to spend some time with my bride." he said. She put the dress back in the hang and zipped the cover. She hung up the phone and went to the bathroom to check if they hadn't forgotten anything for the night. As she opened the drawer of the cupboard, she saw it. She contemplated and hesitated for a few minutes. She thought about the past months. She thought about Rose. She thought about John. She looked at her reflection in the mirror, then looked back at the inside of the drawer and sighed.
She was back in her childhood home half hour later and quickly took the dress back to her old bedroom. Then, she went back downstairs and asked for John. His mother told her he was at the Laurences' helping with the lights in the garden. Meg didn't hesitate a second and went next door. She walked straight to the backyard, opened the fence and walked in the Laurences' garden. A large table was already set near the kitchen's door. There was a big gazebo covered in daisies and red roses (which were Meg's favorites) and a red carpet that led to it. White chairs were at both sides of the carpet, adorned with daisies and lilies. John was standing on a ladder as he hung a string of big, rose-shaped lights, helped by his brother and Laurie. The boys looked at her as soon as they noticed her standing there. John looked at her too and smiled, but his smile started to fade away when he saw her face. She looked serious, and worried. Even scared, he noticed.
"We need to talk, John." she just said. Laurie and Brandon looked at each other, then at John. Did she discover something about him while she was at their apartment? Was she going to call off the wedding? Or was there something more that was needed to be talked about? John went down the ladder and stood next to her, then took her hand and walked her inside the Laurences' house. Yes. They needed to talk.