I was utterly pleased when Lydia asked me to help her at choosing her wedding dress. A task I liked to fulfill just too much, for I could remember how it was with me back then. I too had married very young and wasn't regretting it to this day. I wished for the same bliss for my daughter. All doubts I had had because of Davis Baker before were now gone. The 'bad boy' of High School had become a responsible young man, who took his duty as father and future husband very seriously. I wouldn't have wanted to trust my daughter to any other man. So he also took care of his little son, while we headed out to choose a wedding dress for Lydia. Brooke came with us. As a fashion designer and owner of 'Clothes Over Bros' and 'Baker Man' she was positively predestined for helping Lydia at choosing the best dress. Two weeks had passed, since she had told me about her pregnancy. And she appeared to be even more nervous than back when she had told me about it. We had entered the bridal shop and a saleswoman ministered to Lydia right away to show several dresses to her, as I spoke to Brooke. "What's wrong?" I asked, looking at her with a worried expression.

"What do you mean?" With slightly shaking fingers she moved a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You seem to lack in concentration and absent," I stated. "Is it because of the baby?"

"Shush!" she hissed at me. "Not so loud! I don't want Lydia to hear it."

I grabbed for her arm and pulled her over to a suite. "You promised me to tell your family." I looked at her reproachfully. "That was two weeks ago, Brooke! How long are you gonna wait?"

Quietly sighing, she leaned back. "Julian will come back tomorrow," she said shortly. "I wanted to tell him first."

I nodded. "Yeah, I understand that, but you do that. You can't wait any longer with it."

"I don't mean to." She put a hand on her stomach. "This morning I had to discover for the first time that I can't close the zipper of my pants anymore." She sighed in frustration. "And all my shirts also became tighter. Even if I wanted, I couldn't postpone it any longer."

I turned my attention towards Lydia and the saleswoman, who were approaching us. "Did you find something nice?" I asked with a smile.

Lydia nodded. Her eyes were bright. "All dresses are beautiful. I just can't decide." She looked at Brooke. "Maybe you have a look at the dresses and tell me which would suit my type best."

Brooke rose and I followed her slowly. Maybe it was good that she was distracted from her pondering a little. Brooke and I were about the same age and I imagined how it would be for me if I was pregnant again and had to tell Nathan.

"I short-listed four dresses," Lydia said and pointed at the wedding dresses separately hanging on a stand.

"Best you try on all of them," Brooke suggested. "Afterwards you can chose the one you like best."

"Okay." Lydia took one of the dresses from the stand and went with it into the changing cubicle.

Brooke thoughtfully looked after her for a moment, before she turned back to me. "Are you aware that the wedding is in three months?" she asked and lifted her eyebrows meaningfully.

"Yeah, why?" I asked confusedly, for I knew the date of course.

"I'll be six months pregnant then."

"Oh," I blurted, for I couldn't come up with anything more witty. I hadn't even thought about that. Brooke would have to wear a maternity dress to the wedding where probably all of the Tree Hill citizens would participate. At the latest then there would be no doubts about her condition anymore; everyone would see that she was pregnant.

"We'll go again to buy a dress for you," I offered.

"I can imagine how they'll bad-mouth me!" she exclaimed sarcastically. "Just like they did with Lydia, when she got pregnant with 17."

"Just don't listen to their chatter! Peyton, Lucas, Nathan, and I and your whole family got your back! And those who'll gossip are probably all just jealous."

Brooke made a thin smile. "I'm not even sure if the whole family will have my back," she sighed. "My mom and dad will probably not be that excited and Sylvia will get a heart attack!"

"They always have something to complain about anyway," I said, rolling my eyes.

"And what about Julian?" She asked me quietly. "What if he doesn't want the baby?"

"Is that the reason you're so nervous?" I dug deeper. "You're afraid to tell Julian, because you fear he doesn't want the baby?"

She nodded slowly. "I had two weeks of time to think about it. Just now that the kids are older, we could have had a little more time for ourselves again. Maybe we could have made a trip together to bring us closer to each other again."

"Do you and Julian have any problems?" I asked carefully, for her indication assumed it.

"Well…" She quietly sighed and then shrugged. "You know how things are. He is in L.A. or wherever else in the world to shoot movies, I'm at home with the kids or at the store. We barely even saw each other those past couple of months. And that's bad for any marriage."

"I'm sorry!" I said honestly and put my hand on her arm. "I had no idea."

"It's okay." She forced herself to a smile. "Julian and I have practically known each other our whole lives. So it's only natural that feelings change."

I would have liked to respond anything to that, but Lydia emerged from the changing cubicle right then and proudly presented her wedding dress to us. My eyes teared up, as I looked at my little girl. "Oh Lydia, it's just perfect!" I said and walked around her. The white wedding dress of pure silk was strapless, shaped tightly around the waist and expired in a wide swinging skirt that reached down to right above the knees.

"That's the one, isn't it?" She turned to and fro in front of the mirror, happily laughing. "It's simple and still elegant. Just like I wanted it."

"Then take it." Brooke was smiling. "If your heart tells you it's the one, then you should take it. I also think that the cut is just brilliant for your body shape."

Lydia touched her waist. "I had doubts at first about if it's not too tight, because I still have a little baby fat on the hips. But it fits really great."

I did a quick look at Brooke, who had winced a bit by the words 'baby fat'. Not long and her belly would become round as well.

"Now I need a veil and fitting shoes to it," Lydia said and turned about her own axis a last time. "What do you think, mom, should I take high heels or rather ballerinas?"

"Something more comfortable definitely," Brooke intervened. "You'll be on your feet half the day. And you'll probably want to dance as well."

"I can show you something there," the saleswoman offered, who had backed off discretely the whole time. Lydia walked off with her and I turned back to Brooke. "You know you can come to me at all times, when something bothers you, don't you?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I know that," she said. "You saw all the highs and lows. Apart from Julian and the kids, you're the most important person in my life. And nothing's ever gonna change about that."

I spontaneously embraced my friend. I hoped she and Julian would find a way to solve their problems. Just now it was important that they stuck together. Lydia returned with the saleswoman. She was carrying a shoebox.

"I took pearly half-high strappy sandals," she said and proudly showed them to us. "They fit the dress well. I changed my mind about the veil, I'll take a flower crown instead," she added as well.

"So you have everything?" I asked.

Lydia nodded and turned to the saleswoman then. "I'll need the wedding dress in three months. Are you gonna get the changes done in time?"

"I'll look at the calendar right away," the saleswoman said, about to go. But Brooke held her back.

"I can do it," she offered her help. "I'm a fashion designer," she explained to the saleswoman.

"Well then…" She smiled. "Then I'll hand you the dress right away; just like the shoes and the headdress."

We all followed her to the pay desk and I payed. Nathan and I had already decided before that we would pay for our daughter's wedding dress and accessory. The costs for the wedding party would be split between Brooke and me. With the wrapped in a suit bag wedding dress and the fitting shoes and headdress we then made our way back home again.