Maura POV

This morning you left before I woke up. I took the day off… I'm going to pick out my wedding dress today. I didn't think the preparations would require such an effort, but you're really giving me all the help you can: I had proposed to contact a wedding planner, but I agreed with you when you said that we could have done without, since we wanted to have a simple ceremony. And so we found ourselves in a race against time. Fortunately, it didn't take any special effort to get permission to get married on the beach on Cape Cod.

I really wanted to get married on the beach... after all, the first time I thought about our future was by the beach, that day in Santa Monica.

I didn't dare hope that one day it would actually happen, that you would actually want me to be your wife. I lay here, turning between these sheets, so light, while I touch the folds your body has left on the fabric. The room smells of you, of me, of our love, while I stand here, gazing at the ceiling, dreaming, just enjoying the moment.

I hear voices downstairs, it must be your mother, but I realize she's not alone. My manners dictate that I must make myself presentable, go downstairs and do the honors. I take just a moment, to hug your pillow and breathe in your scent one more time, before my sense of duty finally takes over.

I walk down the stairs and the scene I see leaves me a little perplexed: I never thought to see Hope and Costance chat kindly. My birth mother and the woman who raised me. In the same room. Having civil relations. I had told them that today I would have the dress fitting, but knowing that they are both very busy women and at an anti-intrusiveness safe distance, I never thought they would seriously come to help me with the choice of dress. I should never have pretended to be sorry that I didn't have them with me today.

Ok, I'm already feeling anxious: each of those two women is able to generate in me a high sense of perennial inadequacy, Constance in primis… ok, I don't know if I'll be able to get through the day still sane. As I greet them, as luck would have it, your mother looks at me and immediately grasps the need I have for caffeine quickly in order to start my day. Or rather to deal with it! I watch them, in silence, like a scholar with his anthropological project, curious to see which bends it will take. In all of this, the fact that your mother is the presence in this room that reassures me… is saying a lot.

Jane POV

Korsak and I work at the evidence locker today. It seems like a quiet day. I hear the sound of an incoming call coming from my phone and I imagine it's you wanting to berate me for leaving without waking up.

- For years I practically lived without a mother, today I even have 3 at my complete disposal.

- Good morning to you too, my love… but, why are you whispering?

- I'm calling you from the bathroom...they're in the kitchen, talking about train length, bodice type and fabrics.

- I told you you didn't need to let them know when you had the dress fitting, but you wouldn't listen.

- What do I do now, Jane?

- Arm yourself with patience and face the day. Come on, we know very well that you already know how you want your dress to be… tell the salesgirl as soon as you arrive at the boutique and you'll see that you'll do in a flash! And tell her to limit the number of dresses to try on so the agony will be over soon. You're going to be beautiful anyway

- Ah, you're just saying that because you know I can't drag you there with me… okay, I guess I have to go, this is taking too long even considering it's me. I love you, good job!

- Thanks, let me know how it goes. I love you, too, Maura!

I end the call and, for the first time, in my head I see the image of you, in a white dress, on the beach, ready to say yes to me. It takes Korsak a second to wake me up from that daydream.

"If I were you I'd start to worry that she would convince those 3 women to show up for your dress fitting too," he tells me, laughing it off.

"Ah, but I don't have this problem… I already got the dress!"

I strut my stuff, knowing I avoided what could have been a very, very unpleasant day. You, on the other hand... well, you asked for it.

"Your mother didn't say anything..." he replies surprised.

"Because I went alone. Problem solved!"

You're stunned to hear me say that. Oh, yes, I conveniently avoided the problem. It took me exactly 45 minutes, stolen from a lunch break, to choose the perfect dress to marry the perfect woman. You know they're all gonna be looking at her anyway. And who could blame them?

"One thing I haven't sorted out yet, though, out of the ones I had to do for my part of the preparations," I say mumbling, deliberately in a slightly embarrassed, confused way as I set aside the evidence for a moment.

He looks up at me and the way his glasses rest right on the tip of his nose almost makes me laugh. "I should ask you something...I'd like ytbmbm" I say speeding up the last words.

"I didn't understand anything you said" "

I said, I'd like yutobembstmn" even worse than before. In fact, his face becomes even more puzzled.

"Spell it better Jane, I'm not getting it!"

"I SAID...I'd like you to be my best man"

His gaze looks like that of a proud father.

He stands up, and straight, as if standing at attention, decisively, despite the emotion his eyes give off, he answers me:

"It would be an honor Jane"

I shrug, almost as if to let him know I'd like a hug, and he understands right off the bat. Since my father left for Florida, totally cutting ties with us, I found in Korsak that father figure I needed from time to time. He has always been there, as a partner in service, as a friend...he's the person I wanted by my sideon the most important day of my life.

Maura POV

I try to follow your advice, in fact as soon as we arrive at the store I take the saleswoman aside, explaining that I actually already had a clear idea of my dress, and that I didn't intend to make that agony last too long, promising her a big tip if she managed to make me find what I was looking for. She prepares me a roundup of five dresses, all very beautiful, but they don't convince me... the fabrics, the necklets, nothing seems suitable to me: it just has to be perfect.

I will put up with my 2-mothers-plus-one longer if it helps to find the right dress. The saleswoman is making me a few more outfits as I'm trying to get rid of the last one, which seems to have stuck to my skin. I hear Constance's voice, asking me to come into the dressing room. I tell her to come in, hoping she can help me with my dress.

"Oh Maura...let me help you."

Funny, it's not like her to be considerate. And leaving Angela and Hope to come help me.

"The third one wasn't bad, what do you say?"

"No, Mom... the fabric..."

"Maura, I have to ask... are you sure about what you're doing?"

She didn't really ask me that question, please. "What do you mean?" I ask her and I cannot fail to convey a certain acidity in my words.

"I mean, I was wondering if you are sure you want to marry Jane..."

"Mom, please. You're not serious?"

"Maura doesn't seem to be talking nonsense... and I don't say that because she's a woman, just to be clear, but..."

Obviously that is not the point: almost half of her staff are homosexual and the other half just have to admit it. But if that's not the case, then I'm not sure where he's going with this.

"What kind of life can she offer you, Maura? She is a policewoman, she has come to live in your house, we all know that the income of those who do her job is limited... you have always loved luxury, vices..."

I'm speechless to hear what he's saying.

"Are you worried Jane would marry me for the money? You don't really think that, I hope."

"I just wonder what life can she offer you… Maura, you have always dreamed of getting married in Santorini, just to give you an example"

"I was 12 years old and if that's the case I also dreamed of marrying Edmond Locard… then you grow up and realize that it doesn't matter where and how but who you marry"

She seems not to understand, I realize that maybe he can't or won't do it. She just doesn't care… like she never really cared about me.

"I won't force you to stay here, and if you don't think that's right, well, I'll spare you... because you were never there when I really needed it. I got shot, and you didn't even find time to come see me. I don't even know why you came here today, in all honesty."

"I would still have come to town to do an inspection for an installation", she replies, as if it were a reason in her defence. She didn't find time for me...it just happened.

"Well, then I guess I shouldn't keep you any longer. And you can also free up your agenda for next week's weekend… I don't want you at the wedding" "I just warned you… but if that's what you want, go ahead! It's your life... don't come crying to me then", she tells me as she goes away. I understand that because I hear her saying goodbye to both Hope and Angela.

"Crying at your place? You were never there when I needed it", I say to myself, as if thinking it wasn't enough for me.

"Maura, are you all right?" It's Hope calling me from outside the large dressing room.

She knows me so she won't come in, she stays there on the other side of the curtain, knowing the last thing I need to calm down is to see her.

"Yes, yes, everything is fine... now passes" It's amazing how, in spite of everything, my mother is more her than the woman who raised me.

"Ok... I'll leave you alone. The saleswoman is bringing you a dress I think you'll like."

"Okay, thank you...mom", I say to her before I get back to my thoughts. I'm wearing that dress, and as soon as I see myself with it, I know it's the one.

The fabric is light, like your touch, the texture like I imagined, not to mention the neckline… I don't know if you'll approve because you'll have to be good for a while and avoid leaving me hot sex marks, which could then be embarrassing and hard to cover up. I walk out of the dressing room and feel like I'm wearing this dress as if it is absolutely mine, as if I was meant to choose this one. I look at Hope and your mother looking for approval...Angela in a moment runs to hug me, but stops just before she does: she rightly doesn't want to risk ruining the dress but her opinion seems clear to me.

Without taking anything away from your mother is another opinion that matters to me now… Hope looks at me, with shiny eyes. "You're wonderful", she manages to tell me, sitting there with a composure, which in my attentive eyes lets shine the emotion she feels to see me in this dress. I turn to the clerk.

"Definitely I will buy this one!"

Another item on the checklist. And the wedding day is coming!