April 22nd 2020

Chapter 113
Their Transformation Into a Bride

For as long as Maya had lived in Texas, and for as long as her mother had worked at the theater, she had known that the place was always a prime spot for candy around Halloween. It was Siobhan's favorite holiday, because of course, as a theater person, she could appreciate the 'call to transformation.' Every year, all through October, her mother would share in that extra candy with her, and now that she worked at the theater herself, Maya naturally found herself partaking. Her treat of choice tended to be the lollipops, and she was absently rolling one around so that it clatter at her teeth while she worked, when her mother walked into the office and sat across from her. Maya turned her eyes up, waiting to know what her mother needed. There was a strange look on her face, not bad, more like 'I did a thing.'

"Mom?" Maya raised her eyebrow, having disengaged her lollipop. The two of them had always had this dynamic about them, where Maya could be more imposing than her mother, which would more or less turn Katy into 'the child' in the scenario. This had become less of a thing over the years they had spent in Texas, but right now… Her mother looked like she was about to get grounded.

"For the record, I would like to say that I was not snooping, there was just a mix up, and when I saw it I didn't even know what it was that I was seeing, except Ilsa got this look on her face and then I just… figured it out…"

Maya closed her eyes, understanding now. She had been keeping her wedding dress out here, because no matter how little of a snoop Lucas or even Sam could be, she didn't want to take the chance that either one of them would accidentally find it. And now, this was exactly what had happened, only with her mother instead.

"When you say you saw it…" she slowly asked.

"Oh, only a little, from the side where it was hanging," Katy replied at once.

"Right…" Maya sat there for a few beats, considering her options as her mother remained in limbo. Finally, she picked up her phone, typing up a message which was soon sent off. Within a minute, she had her replies, and she looked back to her mother. "Got any plans for lunch?"

It had never been the intention for this dress to remain in hiding for as long as it would still need to be, but then there had been the delay by a whole year, and so there it would have to stay. Everyone who worked at the theater, anyone who was in any position to potentially come upon it was aware of its existence, and its presence, but that was all. Maya had been just a bit concerned that someone would find it and any number of things could go wrong, but she'd put that aside… until today. Now her mother had seen it, seen part of it, and it would be easy to just put the incident behind them, leave it at that until July, but… but wouldn't it be fun just to say to hell with it and just… show them?

So, she'd put out the call, easily predicting that the response would be favorable, with how so many of them had been giving her the general impression that she had robbed them of an experience by making her own dress instead of going into a shop to try on dress after dress for them to look at and tell her if they liked it or not. Her mother especially – not to be outdone by Melinda Friar – had given the impression that she had envisioned, after all those times Maya had joined her in watching those wedding dress shows, to have that experience with her. She was her firstborn, the first of her children to get married… So, more than anyone else, she had decided to do this for her, to finally show her dress in all its splendor.

As lunch time rolled around, they started to arrive. Lucas' mother, to no one's surprise, was the first to arrive, a half hour before anyone else. She was soon joined by Riley, Nadine, Rosa, and Rebecca, and – thanks to Skype – by Sophie, Chiara, and Isadora, and Abigail, Luna, and Elizabeth Hart. There were plenty more she could have called in right about now, but she'd known they wouldn't have been able to make it, and anyway… she wanted to keep some of the surprises for the day she'd walk down the aisle.

Ilsa had come along to help her get changed. She kept on apologizing about Katy seeing the dress, saying she should have acted quicker before she saw it, or simply not reacted as she'd done, which would more or less guarantee she'd figure out what she was seeing. Maya countered this string of apologies with insistence that she didn't need to be sorry, but it wouldn't change anything, so she focused on getting the dress on.

She didn't have her shoes picked out yet, so she'd just have to barefoot it. Accessories were also a 'to be determined,' along with… well, pretty much everything. The only thing that was a lock was the dress. She didn't know how she'd want her makeup by then, and she didn't know what her hair would be like by then. At the moment, it was somewhere about halfway down her back, even more so if she'd straighten it instead of leaving it wavy as it was. The wedding wasn't for another eight months, so who knew? She might cut it, might not… For the time being, she pulled it into a tall ponytail and let it swish down her back, where it brushed against her skin.

Much as it had not been planned for her to put on the dress today, or any other day until somewhere in May or June of the coming year, now that she was wearing it again, it took her back to the first time she had put it on when it had been completed. At the time, she had still been supposed to get married the previous July, and she could just remember how it had filled her with this bit of thrill. It was finally happening, she was going to marry the man she loved, the man she had loved since he'd been the boy she loved. To see herself in that moment, she had cried, and she had really started to understand why all those brides on those shows would start to cry when they saw themselves in The Dress.

With her impromptu party gathered in the storage/fitting room where the dress had been stored away before being discovered, they had assembled something as close to what Maya would see when she thought about the shows, and the dress salons. Ilsa, Denise, and Lily had helped her, all of them amused by their own bit of staging, at the heart of the theater. It had certainly amused her guests, too, especially the mothers of the bride and groom. They were all sitting there now, with Katy, Riley and Nadine in charge of the phones that connected them to their friends in Tucson, Houston and New York, talking amongst themselves while Ilsa helped her get ready.

"You are all set now," Ilsa declared, as Maya looked at her reflection in the mirror mounted behind the curtain that kept them both hidden from sight. "I go now and look surprised."

"They know you helped make it," Maya chuckled, turning to look at the woman. "You can't be surprised, you have to be proud. It's exactly what I had in mind, you did amazing work." Ilsa could barely contain her smile, so she simply nodded, briefly cupping Maya's face in her hands before clearing her throat, stopping herself from getting teary eyed.

"I will stand outside, waiting for your signal," she nodded, stepping away.

If she allowed this beat, standing on her own, to last much longer, she knew she would get stuck somewhere in her own head, thinking about whether this person would like her dress, if that person would think any part of it needed to be different. So she did not wait, and she told Ilsa to pull back the curtain.

The shift of light had her blinking for a moment, but then there were all friends and family here, looking back at her, and she took a breath, taking in their reactions. It was a mix of surprised sounds, and stolen voices, as they processed the reveal and really took in the various details of the dress. Maya had to pull up the skirt enough that she might step forward on her bare feet without tripping. She walked up closer so they could really see the front, the back, the sides…

Rosa had that look like 'I'm not much for dresses but this is a real good one.' Riley, Nadine, and Rebecca, who had been her friends the longest out of the ones in the room, all looked like they could barely contain themselves with how much they loved it. On the phones, she could just see her stepmother, aunt, and grandmother talking amongst themselves while never looking away from the screen where they could see her, and you would think they were right here in the room for how emotional they looked. On the next screen, there was Isadora, with Ada in her arms, observing with those curious eyes of hers and an appreciative smile. On the third phone, Sophie and Chiara filled the whole screen with how close they were to their screen and each other, ear to ear and looking like they would have loved nothing more than to be out in Austin with them. If it hadn't been so short notice, they could have driven out to Austin, but that didn't seem to bother them one bit.

As was to be expected, the two mothers in the room, hers and Lucas', were to be the most reactive in their own ways. She would have been lying if she said the one she'd been most worried about was anyone but Melinda Friar. It wasn't that she had previously been in any way critical of her choices in clothes or anything of the type, but she had been looking forward to this so much, with Maya being her one and only daughter in this life, thanks to her being about to marry her only son, but she was also just so… Melinda… and she expected some kind of critique.

Instead, she got shining tears, and a smile to challenge all smiles. To anyone else, it could have looked so comical, but to Maya it was everything she could ever want. Lucas' mother had taken her on like a daughter, yes, for even more years, she'd say, than the two of them had been a couple. The same could be said of Thomas Friar. She took this as an honor, and she cherished it.

Her mother, though… Next to Lucas, next to her father, her mother was the one she had been anticipating showing her dress to the most. It was everything, it was those nights watching the bride shows, yes, but also all those years in New York just the two of them, and coming to Texas, and finding more and more love within one another than that girl just arriving in Austin all those years ago could have imagined. Looking at her mother, she could just see the reel of her entire life, from this moment down to the very first time she had moved within the young mother's belly, just running on a rapid loop through her mind's eye. There were no words, but she could see it all anyway, and she was happy for this day, this revelation. July could not come fast enough.

TO BE CONTINUED

See you tomorrow! - mooners