The Bridal Shower and Special Gifts
"You complete me." Summer reads off the card.
"I definitely know that one. Jerry Maguire!" Abby calls out.
Summer nods. "Correct."
She reads from another card. "It wasn't over. It still isn't over."
Ana waves her hand. "Oooh, I know that one. The Notebook." She states in a matter of fact manner.
"Correct!" Summer says smiling.
Ana was having her bridal shower at Summer's home, and they were playing games in Summer's entertainment room. The current one they were playing was a guessing game, where the ladies guessed famous romantic movie quotes. They were almost finished with it. Summer reads a few more cards and then the game concludes.
Ana takes a bite of one of the sandwiches from the French bistro that had catered the party. When she's done eating it, she smiles. "That was fun. And this food is so good." She tells Summer. "That baguette sandwich with the truffle oil flavored chicken, goat cheese and avocado, was yummy."
"Yes, that catering from that bistro is awesome." Summer tells her smiling. "I knew you'd like this food."
"It is very good." Lily also tells Summer smiling. The ladies at the party agree and chat some more. Summer then gets up and claps her hands.
"Okay ladies." She says. "It's now time for us to give our bride to be the gifts we got her." The ladies in the room clap. Summer goes over to a table in the room with all the gifts stacked on it. She grabs some of the gifts with Sophia getting up to help her and they stack them on a smaller table near Ana.
"You ready to open them?" She asks Ana smiling at her. Ana puts her hands together. "Yes!" She exclaims excitedly.
"Okay." Summer reaches over and hands one of the gifts to Ana. Ana smiles and takes the wrapped box. She looks at it. "This one is from Rochelle." Ana looks at the pretty 29-year-old brunette with a pixie cut who was a friend of hers from Hamilton-Winters. Ana opens the box. Inside was a pretty white monogrammed cosmetic case with Ana's first initial on it. Ana smiles when she sees the gift. "Thank you, Rochelle." She tells her gratefully.
"You're welcome." Rochelle says.
"That is a lovely bag." Summer remarks smiling. Ana then grabs the next gift on the small table near her. It was a bigger box. She looks at the tag. "This one is from Lily." She says smiling at Lily who was sitting beside her. Ana opens the box and pulls out the gift.
"Oh, this is nice." She remarks looking at the marble cutting board. "And something Fen and I can definitely use. We are both foodies and look forward to cooking more after we're married." She informs the group of ladies. She rests the cutting board on her lap.
"And there is something else underneath it." Lily tells her smiling.
Ana reaches down and sees a five-piece stainless steel cheese cutter set underneath. "Oh, this is awesome." She says picking up the cutters.
"They are cheese cutters, which you and Fen can use when you want to cut up some gourmet cheese for yourselves or if you are entertaining." Lily says gesturing towards the knives with her hands.
"Thank you. And you know how much Fen loves cheese." Ana tells her laughing.
Lily laughs. "Yeah, I do. I know we once had a party and he was killing the gourmet cheese samples I had." The ladies in the room laugh.
Ana looks at Lily's gifts again.
"We will put them to good use. Thank you, Lily." She says and reaches over and hugs her. She puts those gifts back in a box and sets them aside.
Ana grabs another gift off the table and looks at it. "This one is from Sophia." She says reading the tag. She opens it up and pulls out a small box. "Oh…" She says. She opens up the box. "This is some top-rated perfume." She observes.
"It is. That perfume is from Paris and it's very coveted and it will have you smelling like the queen that you are." Sophia tells her, smiling as Ana puts the bottle of it to her nose and smells.
"This smells great... I love that fruity fragrance..." Ana gushes.
Ana smells the perfume again. She reaches over and hugs Sophia who is sitting on the other side of her. "Thank you."
She then grabs an envelope on the table. "From Elena." She opens the envelope and pulls out the two pieces of papers. She reads them. "Gift certificates for couples spa treatments." She smiles warmly at Elena. "Thank you, Elena. Fen and I will put these to good use." She gets up and hugs Elena.
"You're welcome." Elena tells her warmly.
Summer then goes with Sophia's help and grabs more gifts and puts them on the table closest to Ana. Ana continues to open her gifts. She picks up a larger box.
"This one is from Anastacia." She says looking in the room and smiling at her pretty 37-year-old Asian female co-worker and friend, who had fair skin, long dark hair and a kind smile.
Ana opens the box and smiles. "Oh, cool." She says carefully pulling out the French press coffee pot that Anastacia had gotten her. "Thank you, Anastacia."
"I know how much you and Fen love your coffee. And I thought you could put this machine to good use." Anastacia remarks thoughtfully.
"We can and we will, thank you." Ana says smiling at her. She carefully puts the coffee pot back in the box and puts its aside. There are a few gifts left to open. Ana picks up another gift.
"This is from mom." Ana announces to the group. She opens the box and picks up a note. She reads it. "To my baby girl, I'm sorry I couldn't be here, hope you love this gift. Love mom."
Ana looks down at the gift and sees the chain earrings with crystal studs. "Aw these are pretty." She says. "I will have to call her and thank her." Ana then opens a gift from Lauren who was away on a business trip. Lauren had gifted her a set of pretty silver bangle bracelets.
Ana sighs happily after she opens this gift and then addresses the group before she finishes opening the rest of her presents. "I really do appreciate all of these wonderful gifts guys." She tells them graciously. "They really are quite lovely, and they cover a range of needs and wants. From the wonderful gifts for the kitchen, the fabulous perfume, the gift certificates, the jewlery... they are all great." She thanks them.
"Now let's finish up the rest of them." Summer says smiling at her.
Next up Ana grabs a flat box. She looks at the tag. "This is from Abby." She says smiling.
Abby puts her hands together and gives Ana a mischievous look. "You said we were covering a variety of your needs. I hope uh…. Ahem…hope my gifts will help cover some specific needs as well."
Ana raises her eyebrows and then opens Abby's gifts. She removes some tissue paper and then looks down at one of the gifts.
"Oh…." Ana says looking down and picking up the first article of lingerie that Abby had gifted her. It was a lace deep v neck red teddy lingerie bodysuit.
"Ana you're about to marry a man you're deeply in love with." Abby says smiling at her brightly. "And these lingerie gifts will help you express that to him in a sexy and passionate way."
The ladies in the room make various expressions when they see the lingerie, from smiles, to raised eyebrows and amused faces.
Ana makes a face and then smiles. "Well...Thank you Abby." She says smiling. "I will… put it to use." She says laughing.
"There's one more underneath." Abby tells her. Ana reaches down and pulls out the last lingerie ensemble.
"Ohhh" Ana says picking it up. She holds it up looking at it.
"Now that is what you should wear on your wedding night." Abby instructs her. "It is what you call a bridal baby doll set." Abby says indicating to the very sheer white ensemble. It consisted of a very sheer, white top and matching sheer white bikini briefs."
Ana looks it over and raises her eyebrows. "It's like completely see-through." She remarks a bit amused as she looks at the lingerie.
Sophia looks at it closely as she sits beside Ana. "I mean like completely see through. Even the bikini briefs." She looks at Ana and then laughs. "Girl…." She says giving Ana an amused look of her own.
Abby smiles. "That's the point." She explains. "It barely leaves anything to the imagination... You wear that outfit for Fen on your wedding night or honeymoon. Exactly as it is." Abby instructs her. "He sees you in that and he will find you so irresistable… and your marriage will start off with a bang!" Abby exclaims.
The rest of the ladies make various amused faces and look at each other. And then the room erupts in laughter.
Abby claps her hands. "See you guys get it." She leans back smiling. "And you're a woman in love, about to be married and I was just trying to look out for those needs." She remarks slyly.
Summer presses a hand to her lips. "Maybe it's a good thing your mother and mother-in-law aren't here." She muses jokingly. The ladies laugh again.
"Well, I... will definitely put these to use." Ana tells Abby smiling.
"You do that." Abby says laughing. "Trust me you wear those for Fen especially the bridal one... and lets just say you will be very glad that you did."
"Thank you, Abby." Ana tells her and puts the lingerie back in the box it came in. Ana then reaches for the next gift. "This one is from Tyra." She says after she reads the tag.
Tyra makes a face and puts her hands on her laps and taps her legs. She moves her head to the side for a moment and looks at Ana smiling. "Well, that will be a hard act to follow." She jokes. The ladies laugh. Ana opens Tyra's gift. "Oh, this is lovely." She remarks pulling out the pretty green oversize throw blanket that Tyra had gotten her.
Trya gestures towards the blanet. "You can wrap up in that when you want to read a book on the couch, or cuddle up with Fen in it if you guys want to watch a movie." She suggests smiling.
"Or cuddle up with Fen after he gets you out of Abby's lingerie and you guys finish enjoying yourselves after that happens.." Summer interjects jokingly. " I mean... You could use something to cuddle in afterwards..." She states bluntly.
Ana makes a face and laughs. The rest of the ladies laugh as well. "You guys are a mess." Ana says laughing.
Summer smirks. "I'm just saying, that blanket can have multiple uses." She turns to look at the last couple of gifts. She picks up a flat one and gives it to Ana. Ana looks at it. "This one is from Mattie." She says smiling at Mattie. Ana opens the gift. She looks at it and smiles.
"It is a wooden travel scrapbook." Mattie informs her, indicating to the wooden scrapbook with the leather binding. "It's for you and Fen to put pictures from your honeymoon and other traveling you will do after you get married." Mattie informs her.
"I know you mentioned you guys wanted to do some traveling, now that Fen's latest tour is over and you may have some more downtime."
Ana looks at the scrapbook and smiles at the engraved title on it. "The adventures of Ana and Fen." She reads aloud. She turns to smile again at Mattie.
"Thank you, Mattie." She says graciously. "How thoughtful. And we will definitely put it to use, starting with our honeymoon." Ana gets up to hug Mattie and then sits back down.
"Okay and now you have one more gift to open." Summer tells her smiling. "Mine." Ana reaches for the box that is Summer's gift. She opens it up and sees some tissue paper inside.
"Be careful, they're fragile." Summer says smiling.
Ana pulls out Summer's gift. "Oh, Summer these are lovely." Ana says after she pulls out a Jupiter flute champagne glass. There is another one located in the box.
"Some of the best crystal champagne flute glasses around." Summer tells her. "For you and Fen to toast your new life together."
"Aw, Summer, thank you." Ana wraps the glasses back in the box, and puts it aside. She stands up and hugs Summer.
"Thank you so much for this gift and throwing me this lovely shower." Ana then turns and looks at everyone in the room. "Thank you all for attending and for your lovely gifts. I really do appreciate it."
The ladies smile and clap for Ana and they enjoy the rest of the shower together, Ana very grateful for their friendship and gifts. When the shower is over, she hugs and thanks all of the ladies. She sighs happily and thinks about how she is looking forward to using her gifts after she starts her new life with Fen.