The mother-of-the-bride

Cathy and Kirsten were sitting having a coffee in the small lounge that adjoined the reception area of the hotel where Kirsten was staying. Even though they had never met before they were enjoying one another's company. Kirsten could see that Cathy was obviously a good and resourceful friend of Marissa's and she was happy that Cathy had asked for her help. She couldn't help but feel a little guilty that they hadn't included the maid of honour in the discussions but also knew that Marissa was probably right when she'd told Cathy that Summer would only confuse things even more. And with the wedding tomorrow that was the last thing that they needed. Time was of the essence.

They were making headway with Cathy's list and had already dealt with a number of things when they were disturbed by the arrival of new guests to the hotel. They both looked up and came face to face with none other than Julie. Cathy knew Julie from her previous visits with Marissa when she had been Marissa's manager but she gathered from Marissa that she and her mother had had a falling out over something but she had no idea what. Kirsten of course knew exactly what ... and was somewhat surprised that Julie was even there. She had thought that Marissa may have decided to go ahead and have the event without her.

"Kirsten." The still attractive red head nodded ... waiting to see what sort of reception she would get. She had to wonder if everyone knew about what she had done to Ryan and Marissa.

"Julie." Kirsten acknowledged her once close friend. She didn't feel that she needed to pretend to be happy to see her. As far as Kirsten was concerned she'd lost that privilege when she'd caused Ryan and Marissa to split up in the first place.

"Cathy." Julie greeted the younger woman seated at the table.

"Julie." Cathy responded.

"Um It's good to see you both." Julie stated obviously feeling awkward. She moved a little to one side as the attractive man in his fifties that she had entered with came to stand beside her. Julie waited a moment and then introduced him. "I'd like you to meet my fiancé Dan. Dan this is Cathy, a friend of Marissa's and this is Kirsten, a …" Julie was stuck for words. How did she explain where Kirsten fitted into all this?

Kirsten rose to her feet and offered her hand. "I'm Ryan's mother." She replied simply.

Julie was surprised. She'd never really thought about Kirsten in that way … always thinking that Ryan was more of an unwanted house guest that the Cohen's hadn't been able to get rid of. But Kirsten's words put that theory to rest well and truly. The love and pride in Kirsten's voice was obvious.

Dan nodded. "It's nice to meet you. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to meeting him. He seems like quite an exceptional young man."

Kirsten beamed. She'd been expecting to have to defend Ryan thinking that Julie would have spread her biased impressions of Ryan to Dan but Dan's response was a delightful surprise. Of course she had no idea that Dan had approached Ryan for help personally with regards to Julie and that they had made a connection albeit over the phone. "I think so. But I can't take the credit for it. It's all him."

"Well I can't wait to finally meet him." Dan replied.

"I assure you that we're all looking forward to FINALLY being able to catch up with Mr AND Mrs Atwood." Kirsten said emphasising Marissa's new name as she glared at Julie almost daring her to make a derogatory remark. She knew that without Julie's interference this wedding would have probably taken place years ago.

Julie gulped. She could sense that Kirsten was looking for a fight but she wouldn't be getting it from Julie, She knew that if she put one foot out of line then Marissa would never forgive her.

"So are we." Julie stated meekly.

Dan looked at Julie puzzled. He still had no idea exactly what had happened between her and Marissa but she'd been very excited all the way here and now that they were finally here, she seemed to have retreated into her shell. There was obviously more to all of this than he knew. "I'll just go and check in." he said to Julie indicating the reception counter. "You stay here with your … friends." He said with little conviction. From the looks that the other two women were giving Julie he wasn't so sure.

Julie stood frozen to the spot as Dan moved away and headed for the counter on other side of the large foyer.

Kirsten and Cathy looked at one another not knowing whether to continue or not. They both knew that Marissa would have serious reservations about her mother having anything to do with the wedding plans.

Julie looked at them both. "Please don't let me stop you from what ever you were doing."

Cathy looked at Kirsten and noticed her give a small nod to continue so Cathy looked at the next thing on the list. "That brings us to the decorations for the church. I'm not sure what Marissa would want on the ends of the pews? We can either go for large bows either with or without bells or horse shoes or … we could stick to just flowers. What do you think that she'd prefer?" Cathy asked Kirsten.

Julie looked horrified. "You mean that all this hasn't been arranged yet?"

Kirsten noticed Cathy about to explode. She had done an amazing job of pulling a wedding together in less than a week with very little guidance from Marissa and no help from anyone and here Julie was about to start to question her about her plans or lack there of. Kirsten jumped in straight away and tried to explain. "Marissa had been going to sort out the final details when she got here but they won't be here until tomorrow so we have to just make our best guess about what she'd like."

"She's not here yet. But how …?"

"It appears that Ryan decided that he wanted to stay the night in the Italian Lakes district and Marissa couldn't very well tell him that they didn't have the time or she would have given away the surprise. He thinks that he is coming here for a work project of his and he doesn't need to be here until Monday so she couldn't rush things. But he has promised her that they'll be here in time for dinner tomorrow night."

As the knowledge sunk in Julie realised just how hard this must have been for Cathy. "I apologise. I hadn't realised."

Cathy nodded … happy that Julie had backed off. "That's okay but it still doesn't help me to know what to do as far as the decorations go."

"Um…" Julie started and both Cathy and Kirsten looked at her. "Could … I mean would … do you think …"

"Out with it Julie." Kirsten started. "What's on your mind?"

"I was wondering … do you think that maybe I could do the decorations?" she asked and looked at them hopefully. "I know that Marissa has probably said that she doesn't want me to have anything to do with it … but she is my only daughter. I had always hoped that I would be the one organising this whole shebang …"

Kirsten couldn't help herself as the doubts crept in. "Even if it was to Ryan?" she asked.

Julie smarted as if she'd been hit.

Cathy looked surprised. So obviously Julie hadn't liked Ryan for some reason. She decided that some time in the future that she would have to ask Marissa about exactly what the history was between them all but that didn't help right now.

"Even if it was to Ryan." Julie replied hesitantly. "Let me do this one thing. Marissa need never know that I had anything to do with it. You know that I will make sure that it's beautiful. I would never want anything else for Marissa."

"And Ryan." Kirsten added.

"And Ryan." Julie agreed.

Cathy and Kirsten exchanged looks. Kirsten shrugged "She is a great decorator and she certainly has style and it's one less things that we have to worry about."

Cathy was all for having one less thing to do. "Okay." She looked at Julie. "Will you still want all the flowers that I've ordered?"

"I'd like to visit the church first and then I'll let you know." Julie replied the smile on her face the first genuine smile that she'd had in weeks. "And thank you both. You don't know just what this means to me."

"Mess this up and you may not live to regret it." Kirsten said. "Because I will hunt you down."

"I promise I won't." Julie responded. "Can I ask what the colour theme is?"

"Well Summer is wearing sage green and Emily is wearing a soft pink dress with a green sash that matches Summer's dress." Kirsten explained.

Julie looked at Kirsten surprised. Who was Emily? "Is Emily Seth and Summer's child?" she asked.

Kirsten frowned realising that Julie had no idea. "No Emily's the little girl that Ryan and Marissa fostered when her mother was injured in hospital."

"Marissa fostered a child?" Julie asked incredulously realising just how much of Marissa's life she had missed out on in just the last few months.

Kirsten smiled. "Yes."

"But she has no idea how to …" Julie started only to be cut off by Kirsten.

"I assure you she's a natural and she's going to make a wonderful mother one day. You should have seen her with Emily. She was so nurturing and loving. They have a very special bond." Kirsten explained.

Julie nodded. The thought that so much already had happened in Marissa's life that she hadn't been a part of made her even more determined to somehow fix what she had broken between them. She had no intention of doing anything that would make her miss out on Marissa's future. And decorating the church would be just the beginning.