Chapter 37

She waited while Debbie did up what seemed like dozens of buttons on the back, finally she was given permission to open her eyes and the instant she did tears started to flow. Sam's hand went to her mouth at the tears continued to fall. She looked like a princess! Not something she ever really wanted to look like, but this just spoke to her heart.

"Oh Debbie! It's perfect! How did you know?!"

Debbie shrugged, "It's my job," she grinned. "So you like it?"

"Oh no, I love it!" The dress had a sweetheart neckline with long lace sleeves that buttoned at the wrist. The bodice nipped in tight at her waist with a deep V in the front before it belled out into a Scarlett O'Hara type skirt. "This dress has to be thousands of dollars. I didn't want to spend that much money."

"Because of your time crunch I've only been showing you dresses that are ready to be sold not ordered for months from now. I've also been keeping your price limit in mind."

"But this dress?"

"It was about five thousand. A very wealth not very nice woman ordered it and then when it came in she decided she hated it and went another direction. But the dress was already made. We've had it a while and a few people have tried it on. However, no one had bought and we've had to mark it down several times. I think you'll be pleased with what it is marked at now," Debbie said with a grin.

"Oh?" Sam responded, "How much is it?"

Debbie handed Sam the price tag Sam couldn't believe what she saw, $349.99! "Is this right?!" she gasped.

"Yes, I told you that we've had it awhile, but does that really matter if you love it?"

"No that doesn't make a difference to me at all. I guess now I just need a veil to go with it."

"So you'll take it?!" Debbie asked happily. "I'm so glad! It looks amazing on you. Let's find a veil for you. I have a waist length one that would really look fantastic. Once again Debbie was right, the veil was perfect and again well within her price range. She was very happy with her day of shopping and as she checked out she made sure that Debbie's supervisor knew just how great she'd been.

On the other side of town, AJ was putting the finishing touches on what he hoped Samantha would think was the perfect honeymoon. They would cruise to Hawaii, get off the ship then spend a week touring the islands, then back on the cruise ship to finish the trip.

A week before the wedding Sam moved in with AJ happily combining their lives. The weekend before that they received a fun surprise. AJ's sister had flown in for a couple of days to have the chance to meet Sam before the wedding.

Adel and Sam had gotten along famously. The two of them had spent the weekend teasing and tormenting AJ. He was glad that the two of them got along so well but not so happy about what they got up to! At the airport Adel hugged her brother and then she did the same to Sam as well as giving her a kiss on the cheek and advising Sam to 'keep AJ in line!' he couldn't even protest because he could see how pleased his fiancé was at being so accepted by her future sister-in-law.

Then it was the day before the wedding and AJ wanted to check in with Samantha to make sure everything was going well. "Samantha is there anything left to do? Anything I can take off of your plate?"

"Not at all, my love. Everything is in order and there is nothing else left to do but sit back and wait for tomorrow."

"You are amazing! I would have thought you'd be frantic with stress. Instead you are calm and relaxed, it's hard to believe."

"AJ, it's easy to be calm and relaxed when you are organized. I didn't want to be stressed out on our important day so I made sure everything was in order."

"How do you feel about seeing your father tomorrow?"

To be continued…