Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Hours left until the wedding: 25
Miles left until Venice: 220
"Do you like living here?", she asked Alexandre, looking out of the window and to the snow-covered mountains. "Don't you feel uncomfortable with all the mountains watching you?"
He smiled. "That's what a lot of visitors say. But if you live here your entire life, like me, something feels…off without them. Do you understand?"
Mercedes needed to think about the hilly meadows back home in Lima. Nothing could compare to that place even though she couldn't wait to leave that hicktown once and for all back then.
"Yes", she said after a while. "It's your home. The place where your heart is. When Coralee and I were little, we fought so often, but nevertheless, that word is kind of enchanting, right? Home – that word alone sounds so homey."
For a while, they continued driving in silence until Sam finally said: "You are lucky because you know what 'home' is."
There went Mercedes' good temper.
She looked at him.
"In my life, I had fifteen different places I could call home. And none of them felt homey."
"And why is that?", Kurt asked.
"My dad was a musician. He had to go to places where he could find work. And we followed him."
"How romantic!" Mercedes sighed. She needed to think about her own dad, an accountant, and about their little house.
Kind of looking wistful, he smiled back. "It was, until he acted out his romantical feelings with a bassist from Oamaru and left mom who was forced to raise me and my younger siblings all by herself."
"That's bitter", Mercedes answered compassionately. "Poor you."
"Thanks."
"That's how it went with us as well.", she explained.
Sam looked at her and they exchanged sheepish smiles.
Again, it was silent. Until Mercedes spotted the train station plaque. She didn't know the language, but the drawing with the trains said what she needed to know.
"We arrived!", she exclaimed relievedly.
Alexandre drove to the parking and parked his van in front of the entrance. "Please wish your sister all the best from Alexandre", he said to Mercedes after he had stopped the vehicle.
Mercedes kissed the old man on the cheek while Sam and Kurt put all of the luggage and the dress out of the trunk.
"I will" She grinned. "And please wish Vanessa a great birthday from the weird strangers that kidnapped her grandpa."
"Nonsense!" Alexandre laughed. "I will quickly refuel before I drive back."
"Could we pay something for the gas?", Mercedes offered.
"Of course not", Alexandre answered her back. "It wasn't far away, and I did it with pleasure."
Mercedes felt sad when she needed to say goodbye to the old man.
"You don't meet friendly people like him every day, right?", she said when she looked after the van that drove away. "Without wanting a reward."
"I will send him a short letter", Kurt murmured. "Maybe with some discounter coupons for pieces of our next cruise collection."
Mercedes and Sam stopped in their tracks and stared at him.
"Why not?" Kurt seemed to be surprised when they shook their heads. "Okay, just flowers. Everyone likes flowers. I will send them to the post office, or rather tell Geneviève to do so."
"What counts is the good intention", Sam whispered to Mercedes. She giggled. Now that they got ahead, she didn't find Sam that bad anymore than a couple of hours ago.
They entered the building of the train station. It wasn't that spacious – a few shops on one side and a little coffeeshop on the other. And trains, of course. Mercedes looked at the display panel and checked her watch. "The train to Venice will depart in two hours. Hooray!"
She felt how her shoulders relaxed. Finally, they made it. Full of gratefulness, she blew the display panel a kiss. Until now, that trip had been kind of surreal but when she saw the word 'Venezia' in bright yellow letters, she would have loved to dance with joy.
On the other side of the building, they found seating places.
"I will go buy the tickets", Sam offered.
Mercedes wanted to retrieve her wallet, but Sam just shook his head. "It's okay. We will talk about this later. I don't even know the price."
"Thanks." Mercedes smiled when he crossed the building to go to the cue. "I will call Coralee and tell her everything", she said to Kurt. "Looks like we will make it to the wedding after all. She is probably going crazy because she doesn't know about our whereabouts."
"She wouldn't believe it if you told her everything", Kurt commented laconically. "Give my kind regards to her."
Mercedes found the phone in her purse and called Coralee who picked up immediately.
"Mercedes?", she asked. "Are you here now?"
"Almost", Mercedes said good temperedly. "I will be there in no time. How are you?"
"What do you think? I will marry tomorrow, my dress isn't here and I have no idea where it is now. I'm fine, thank you very much."
Mercedes smiled at the box to her feet. "Don't worry, your dress is on the way. We are only one train ride away."
She heard how Coralee sighed relievedly. "Thank god. I hope you didn't have more problems? Got arrested another time? Got kicked out of the state because of terroristic schemes?"
Mercedes decided not to tell her about the detours, the ride with the snowmobile and the tons of cow dung.
"It was kind of adventurous, but now, we settled things", she answered instead. "I cannot wait to see you."
"Wait until you see the dress!", Coralee gushed, adding distrustfully: "Have you already looked at it?"
"I would have loved to, but no, I haven't.", Mercedes answered truthfully. "Kurt wouldn't allow it."
"It's soooo special", Coralee gushed. "And you know what? That horrible delay increased my anticipation even more – I can't believe it's my dress!"
"I will tell Kurt" She turned to him. "Coralee is really looking forward to that dress."
"Kisses. Kisses and hugs", Kurt purred with his Parisian charm.
"Kisses and hugs from him", Mercedes whispered into her phone.
"Kisses and hugs back!", Coralee crooned.
"Kisses and hugs back", Mercedes repeated with an expressionless face expression and Kurt smiled at her.
"I will call you after we arrived", Mercedes said.
"Listen, Mercy, I'm sorry I was a bitch to you yesterday. That's so nice from you. And I was…nervous. The wedding is just…"
"It's okay", Mercedes muttered and suprisedly noticed that she meant it. "As soon as we are in Venice, I will call you, okay? And – yay- you are going to marry tomorrow!"
"Double yay!", Coralee squealed. "See you!"
With a smile, Mercedes hung up and closed her eyes. Everything was going to be alright.
"I want a hot bath and a cold cocktail", Kurt sighed.
"You have been so quiet today", Mercedes noticed and eyed Kurt who looked kind of down. "That trip is special, isn't it?"
Kurt nodded sadly. "I'm not good at those things. I can just watch helplessly while Sam is the great hero on the snowmobile."
"Oh, come on!" Mercedes patted his shoulder amicably. "Sam likes those things, obviously. But it's okay if you don't – neither do I. I would rather sit in a bathtub with a cocktail as well."
"Pardon?"
Mercedes and Kurt turned around. Sam was standing behind them, tickets in hand. "I would love baths and cocktails too."
Sheepishly, Mercedes looked down. "Oh, Sam, I'm sorry I hurt your feelings."
"She just tried cheering me up because I was no great help out there.", Kurt added.
Sam just shrugged and sat down. "Oh, forget it. We all had a bad day." He gave them their tickets. Mercedes who still felt kind of mean because of what she had said searched for another topic.
"You were just awesome, Sam. Thank you. Without you, we never would have come this far. And…I'm sorry I have been so mean to you because of the dress."
"Forget it. It's all snow under the bridge now." He looked at her, smiling, and pointed at the box. "Don't you want to see the dress?"
"Oh, I do", Mercedes sighed. She looked around in the building. It looked clean, and she bit her lower lip and looked at Kurt. Who smiled and nodded.
"I won't tell her", he promised.
"It won't touch the floor, okay?", Mercedes said conspiratorially
"Deal." Kurt smiled. "Just go on, you were waiting for that moment for so long."
Mercedes started opening the box by tearing down the glue strip and carefully opened the lid. She was trembling because of her excitement. "It still has to be in the dress bag and…oh!"
Kurt fully opened the lid and all of them stared into the box. A brown furry face was grinning at them goofily.
"Merde!"
The teddy bear Alexandre had bought for Vanessa was indeed giant. So giant he had packed it in the box that was as big as the box of the wedding dress.
"Mon Dieu", Kurt whispered, fanning himself with his ticket. "Please don't tell me it's not what I think it is."
Mercedes wondered whether fainting now and pretending she was comatose for the following three days would be the easiest solution.
"My dress", Kurt whined, dropped the lid and slumped down to the chair. "My beautiful dress!"
"He must have given Vanessa Coralee's dress!", Mercedes croaked. "That's a disaster!"
"Hang on" Sam jumped up and pointed at the exit. "Didn't Alexandre want to refuel his car? Maybe we could catch him in time."
"Watch over the suitcases!", Mercedes shouted to Kurt when Sam grabbed her hand and they started running towards the entrance. The security guys threw them a weird glance but let them out of the building with no comment. Maybe screaming couples rushed out of the building all the time.
"There!", Sam shouted once they were outside. "That's him, right?"
Mercedes looked at the direction and spotted Alexandre's van at the gas station. He was about to drive away.
"Alexandre!", she shouted, but he couldn't hear her because of the wind. So she let go of Sam's hand and started sprinting to the car.
She was flailing, but for some reason, Alexandre didn't see her. She sprinted closer to the car in the middle of the street, right in front of it.
"Mercedes!", Sam yelled.
Alexandre needed to brake with squealing tires. With widened eyes, Mercedes just stood there, not able to move when the vehicle stopped in front of her.
A few inches closer and the outcome wouldn't have been so nice. But Alexandre had already turned off the engine and was as pale as a ghost when he got out of the car and stumbled to Mercedes. He arrived at the same moment as Sam.
Mercedes swayed on her feet that were as soft as butter. "I…I'm so sorry", she stammered. "I didn't want to scare you, but…"
"Are you hurt?", Alexandre asked.
"No, I'm fine" Mercedes assured him even though her trembling body was telling them another story.
"I thought you were…" Shock was written all over Alexandre's face and he stepped back.
Mercedes was more worried about him than about herself. "We got Vanessa's teddybear."
"Excuse me?" Alexandre didn't understand.
"You must have given the teddy bear to us instead of the dress."
Five minutes later, Mercedes, Sam and Kurt plus their luggage and a giant teddy were in the van and speeding back to the house of Vanessa. Kurt seemed to be upset about the mix up. He had stayed unusually quiet and sent texts with his phone or worriedly stared out of the window, biting his lower lip.
Mercedes felt him. He was probably worrying about how he could tell Décoste after the wedding. It was probably not how things went at the designer service of Décoste usually.
During their ride, Alexandre apologized all the time and Mercedes assured him that nothing had happened. However, her heart was racing. What if the dress was already destroyed? Vanessa's parents must have noticed that something was wrong with the present of their daughter.
Finally, they stopped in front of Alexandre's family's house for the second time this day. Mercedes couldn't think clear anymore. That was a step back – they were at the same place where they had been one hour ago. No progress.
Disappointedly, she realized that Vanessa's mother didn't come storming out of the house with a closed box.
"Please, enter", Alexandre said to them. "We will get this right, I promise."
He retrieved the box with the teddy from the trunk. Not saying anything, they all walked to the house.
Vanessa's mother opened the door. She beamed at them and turned to Mercedes. "There you are again. I'm Penny, Alexandre's daughter in law."
"Oh!", Mercedes exclaimed, surprised by her perfect English. "Hello."
"I'm from Melbourne", Penny explained. "Didn't papa tell you?" She rolled her eyes. "He always forgets because I speak Italian day in day out. Did you come back to see the little dream?"
"Excuse me?", Mercedes asked, getting a bad premonition.
Penny turned to Alexandre. "She totally adores her present. You are too kind to her."
Mercedes' heart raced. Did she get that right?
"No, no!" Alexandre stepped one step back. "There was a mix up!"
Penny was visibly confused, and Mercedes started thinking. As long as she didn't take the dress out of the box, nothing happened…
"I'm a bride!", Vanessa squealed enthusiastically in English with a strong accent. Mercedes almost fainted when she spotted her. She was wearing Coralee's wedding dress that was way too big for her. To make matters worse, she was holding a big piece of chocolate cake in her right hand and danced around – a picture of overjoyed birthday joy.
"Mon dieu", Kurt gasped. "No, no, noo… "
He reeled back and looked as if he would faint any moment. With widened eyes, he stared at the dress, he looked by far more shocked than Mercedes.
"Let's play cops and robbers", Mercedes muttered and went to the girl. "Put your hands up!"
Insecure, the girl looked to her mother who had taken the cake out of her hands and retrieved a cloth, cleaning her daughter's fingers.
"I…I need fresh air", Kurt stammered. "That's…that's too much for me. I need to make phone calls…" He stumbled out of the room, retrieved his phone and muttered something in French.
Mercedes looked back to the dress. Luckily, there were no stains what made her sigh relievedly.
Alexandre brought his true present into the room. "My baby", he said an kneeled down in front of her. "That's your present. Your stupid little grandpa made a big mistake and the dress isn't for you."
"Oh!", Penny said.
"That's the wedding dress of my sister", Mercedes said quietly. "There was a mix up with the boxes."
Penny seemed to understand. "I was surprised about that unusual present", she whispered to Mercedes and went to her daughter.
"Darling", she said softly. "that's not your present. Yours is over there." She pointed at the other box of Alexandre.
"But I love that dress", Vanessa whined. "I am a princess! And can I have my cake back?"
Despite the chaos, Mercedes inspected the dress closer. Ivory satin, glitter and pearls, a deep cut out. Without a doubt, that dress was pretty. But it was not what Mercedes would have expected.
It was princess-like and opulent, a dress for a Hollywood star, but not for a smart girl from Ohio like Coralee. That dress was a statement. Mercedes shook her head. Oh boy- her sister had changed, that was clear. Or did Sergio change her? Tomorrow, Coralee would flash all of the paparazzi with her dress.
Well, so be it.
It was Coralee's big day and it was her decision. Mercedes just hoped she would recognize her sister in that dress.
"Vanessa?" Mercedes dared to come closer. "You look so pretty, and you are lucky you could try on that pretty dress. But we have to bring it to the owner, she is going to marry tomorrow. You know, that dress has been designed by a famous designer: Antoine Décoste."
This piece of information had no effect on the little girl. Or on her mother who looked at her confusedly. So Mercedes changed her tactics.
"Would you please put it off now? I can give you some birthday money for that. Oh, and look over there" – she pointed at the other box. "There's another present!"
Vanessa's lower lip started trembling. Seeking help, Mercedes turned to Sam who came over to the girl and kneeled down.
"Sweetie", he said softly. "You look beautiful in that dress. Like a real princess."
Vanessa beamed at him.
"But you know what? That dress has been sewed for a real princess. Can you imagine?"
Sam was surely speaking about Princess Coralee. Mercedes noticed his impertinent grin when he shortly turned around and needed to smile.
"A real princess", Sam said "who is going to marry tomorrow."
"In a castle?" Vanessa's eyes widened.
"I think so", Sam answered, questioningly looking over to Mercedes who shrugged. She didn't know it herself. "Don't you think she needs that dress?"
Vanessa was thinking about it.
"And I know that your grandpa has a great present for your over there who needs a lot of love and loves snuggling."
"Snuggling?" Vanessa looked at the box and went over to it, having difficulties because of the dress. Mercedes' breath caught.
"Oh, darling, that dress is hindering you", Sam said softly and scratched his head as if it was a big problem.
Vanessa frowned.
"I will just bring it to you", Alexandre suggested and put the box in front of his granddaughter. "Happy birthday, baby, that's your right present from me."
Vanessa solemnly opened the lid, spotted the bear and cheered with joy. Tears were running down her grandfather's cheeks. He quickly wiped them away when she hugged him. After that, she turned around, asking: "Can we have more cake now?"
Penny nodded eagerly. "I think so. I'm sure our guests would like to eat some cake as well after we freed you from that giant dress – and you will show them all your pink party dress."
"That would be great", Sam explained, getting up.
Mercedes checked her watch. They could still make it if they didn't stay too long…
But after they had sat down, they waited for a long time until Vanessa and Penny came back. Kurt was back and only a little relieved when Mercedes told him about the outcome. He still seemed to be somewhere else with his thoughts.
"Everything alright?", she asked him.
"We need to get away from here", he whispered back.
Mercedes and Sam exchanged glances. "We will see what we can do", Sam whispered because mother and daughter returned now, Vanessa was holding the teddy in her hands.
"I will call him Nathaniel", she declared. "Don't you think he looks like a Nathaniel?"
"Oh yes, he does", Mercedes agreed.
Vanessa nodded. "We should eat cake now."
They ate as fast as what was polite and pleaded Alexandre to bring them back to the train station. Mercedes and Penny had put the dress back into the dress bag neatly and after countless apologies and promises to send Vanessa a photo of the princess in her dress, they finally got away.
"It's not that late", Sam said when they came closer to the train station of Domodossola. "I will take a nap in the train, I'm tired out."
Mercedes was too hyped up to think about sleeping. What a day! She felt kind of nauseous because she had eaten cake in spite of having skipped lunch. But she forced herself to do some small talk with Alexandre because Kurt was still absentmindedly staring out of the window, scowling and not saying anything. Mercedes supposed that he was still shocked about the dress after he had to watch how Coralee's dress almost got ruined with chocolate cake, so she left him alone.
Alexandre apologized again when they said goodbye at the entrance of the train station.
"It's okay, really", Mercedes reassured him. "Without you, we never would have come this far. Thanks for everything. I will never forget you, Vanessa and your family. And if I have seen my sister in that dress tomorrow, I will let you know who looked prettier."
"Goodbye, my love" Alexandre kissed both of her cheeks. "I wish you and your sister all the best."
Kurt and Sam had put all of their things onto a baggage cart and had went ahead to the hall. Where they stared at the display panel with blank faces.
"It departed", Sam said when Mercedes walked over to them. "The train departed."
"Not funny, Sam."
Mercedes looked to Kurt who still looked pale and was staying silent.
"I'm serious."
"You are kidding me!", Mercedes shouted. "We checked the time. We still have half an hour."
Sam shook his head. "We were idiots. Just look" He pointed at the display panel. "We only looked at the arrivals, not at the departs. The train from Venice arrives in thirty minutes, the train to Venice left ten minutes ago. And the next one will drive tomorrow."
"That's my fault", Mercedes groaned. "I should have checked the time properly. I'm so sorry, guys."
"We all should have checked it", Sam answered her back quietly. "But I have no idea what to do now."
Kurt still stayed silent. He was busy typing in and sending texts. And Mercedes just could drop her bag and fight back her tears.
Another backlash...