Jed's hands trembled as he dialed the phone. He took a few shaky breaths as it rang on the other end. But no one picked up. He frowned and hung up. Checking his watch, he noticed that it was almost three. Abbey had an appointment with the seamstress at two for the final fitting of her dress. She must still be there, and if no one was picking up at her house, her mother and sister were probably there with her. He would call back later. Jed went into his bedroom and took a book of medieval history off the shelf. He needed something to distract him. He knew he wouldn't be able to calm down until he spoke to Abbey.

Abbey was doing her best to stay calm as well. She had been a wreck for two days. On Tuesday, Jed had received his draft notice. She had driven back to her parents' house on Wednesday, when Jed had gone into the draft office. They had spoken that night, and he said that the office hadn't been able to be much help. They were going to look into his issue—mainly that he was getting married and moving to London before the date he had been requested to report to the draft board. Jed had been told that he would receive more information the next day.

But now she was at the seamstress with her mother, her sister, her former roommate Millie, and her three aunts. She hadn't told her family why she had been so moody and quiet lately. She hadn't wanted anyone to worry until they knew anything for sure.

"Come on, Abbey, time to get you into that dress!" Millie announced happily. She and Kate had tried on their dresses first—powder blue tea-length silk gowns with a white ribbon around the empire waist. Millie, pale and blonde, looked gorgeous in the color. Kate, being of much darker coloring, didn't take as well to the dress, but it fit her very nicely.

So now it was Abbey's turn to try on her wedding dress. She had decided to wear her mother's gown from when her parents had gotten married in 1944. Since Abbey had the antique engagement ring from Jed's grandmother, she thought the older, more traditional style of the 1940s dress would match well. It had needed quite a lot of work when Abbey first tried it on over spring break. But now the seamstress had finished the alterations and it was time for the final fitting.

Millie came into the dressing room, doing her duty as maid of honor. Abbey took a few slow, deep breaths as she got undressed and stepped into the yards and yards of structured silk and lace. She pulled her arms into the long sleeves and Millie began doing up the dozens of tiny buttons in the back.

"I have something I want to tell you," Millie said casually.

"Oh yeah? And what's that?" Abbey asked, trying to keep her internal anxiety out of her voice.

"Dave proposed."

Abbey whipped around, yanking dangerously out Millie's hands. "He did!? When?!" This exciting news had pushed her worry right out of her head.

Millie grinned and lifted her left hand. "Our last night in Indiana. I've been engaged for three days now. I would have told you sooner, but I wanted to tell you in person."

"This is the most wonderful news. I'm so happy for you, Millie." She gave her friend a hug. "Have you set a date yet?"

Millie shook her head and went back to doing up Abbey's buttons. "No, I think we're going to wait until after I finish medical school. I can't imagine planning a wedding while I'm busy killing myself in all those classes. And we need time to get settled in California. Dave is starting his work at the ad agency in San Francisco next month, so he's already rented us a small apartment outside the city. We're actually moving in right after your wedding this weekend."

Abbey smiled. "So what you're saying is you're waiting until Jed and I come back to the country so I can be your matron of honor?"

"That wasn't my main concern, but yes, you have to be my matron of honor, so we'll wait for two years for you to get back from London." Millie patted Abbey on the shoulder. "All done. Let's go out and show you off."

Now that the moment had come, Abbey was a little nervous to see herself in the dress. She walked out of the changing room into the main shop area. Millie walked behind her, carrying the long train.

"Abbey, you look beautiful," her Aunt Frances said softly with a big smile. Aunt Frances was her mother's oldest sister, but she had never married. She lived in a house in the middle of the woods in Maine, and Abbey had loved visiting her home when she was a child. Aunt Frances had long graying hair and long fingernails that were always painted pale pink, and she always seemed to show up behind you without warning. Abbey was always a little afraid of her, despite how kind and sweet she always was.

Aunt Betty quickly put away her flask and turned to look at the bride-to-be. "That dress is twenty-three years old and still looks perfect. And you, Miss Abigail, are stunning. I would kill for that hair of yours."

Abbey tried not to laugh at her drunken aunt's slurring. Aunt Betty was always a lot of fun, especially when she was between husbands. Abbey's mother, Louise, always said that Betty never got enough love as a child, being the middle of three sisters, so she tried too hard as an adult to make up for it. It was Aunt Betty who had given Abbey her first drink of hard liquor when Abbey was only fourteen, and it was Aunt Betty who had inspired Abbey's rebellion as a teenager. But that wasn't very relevant at the moment.

Cynthia, sister to Abbey's father, stood back from the rest of the group. She scrutinized the dress and gave a curt nod. "That should do very nicely. Yes, Louise, the dress has held up very well. You did a fine job of preserving it." Abbey and her mother both grinned widely. Aunt Cynthia was never very free with her approval. She had married rich and had inherited her husband's businesses. She may have been cold and critical, but Abbey always admired how capable she was at everything she did. Any compliment from Cynthia was high praise indeed, something Abbey and Louise recognized.

Louise came to stand beside her daughter and looked into the mirror at their reflection. "They've done a wonderful job. It fits you perfectly. Do you like it?"

Abbey looked at herself in the mirror. Even without the veil, she looked like a bride. And for the first time, she really felt like one. In all her excitement to get married, she hadn't actually given much thought to the wedding itself. She had allowed her mother and Mrs. Bartlet to do most of the planning. Abbey just wanted to get married and start her life as Jed's wife. But now, looking at herself in her wedding dress, the enormity of it all started to sink in.

With tears in her eyes, she nodded. She didn't trust herself to say anything, lest she start crying. This was not the group to cry in front of. Louise and Millie wouldn't have minded, but Aunt Frances would probably start crying as well. Aunt Betty and Kate would tease her, and Aunt Cynthia would have just frowned disapprovingly.

"Alright, I think everything fits fine, and it looks beautiful on you. We've been here for over an hour already. Let's get home so I can start cooking dinner." Louise moved the train out of the way so Abbey could get dressed again.

Millie joined Abbey in the dressing room to undo all the buttons. "Are you okay?" she asked quietly.

"I'm getting married," Abbey replied simply.

"Yes, you are. To a man you love more than anything. You are about to start the rest of your life. And it's going to be wonderful," Millie assured her.

Abbey nodded. "I know. I just…I don't know. It all seems so real, now that I've put on the dress."

"Well now you can take the dress off and it doesn't have to be real again until Sunday. You've got two more days to be fictitious and abstract," she joked.

With a slight chuckle, Abbey got dressed again in her usual clothing. She and her family all went back to the Barrington home, and Millie went back to the hotel to see her new fiancé. In the car, Abbey was in front seat with Kate sitting behind her. Kate leaned forward and whispered in Abbey's ear. "You looked really pretty in that dress, and I'm really glad you and Jed are getting married."

Abbey was shocked that her too-cool-for-everything seventeen year old sister had said something so sincere to her. She turned around to face Kate, but the teenager had returned to her usual sullen aloofness and stared out the window with a scowl. Abbey turned back around and smiled to herself.

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent keeping all of the aunts happy. Kate had been chosen to help their mother in the kitchen, leaving Abbey to keep Aunt Betty from drinking too much and keep Aunt Frances from making Aunt Cynthia too uncomfortable with her lack of personal boundaries.

"Abigail, you and your husband are moving to London, is that right?" Aunt Cynthia asked, scooting down the sofa from Aunt Frances, who kept inching closer for some reason.

Abbey nodded. "Yes, Jed's going to be getting his Masters at the London School of Economics."

"And what will you be doing while he's in school?" Aunt Cynthia asked sharply.

Abbey was slightly taken aback. "I don't really know yet. I'm sure I'll get a job somewhere, just to keep from getting bored. Jed's grandfather is very wealthy and he's graciously offered to cover our expenses while we're abroad. Jed's trust fund doesn't kick in until he's twenty-five, but we'll be back in the United States by then, so it won't be much help while we're in England," she explained.

"Oh thank god he's rich. The rich ones are always so much more fun. So much easier to deal with," Aunt Betty chimed in. She turned to see her older sister about an inch from Cynthia's shoulder. "Frances!" she barked, "Go help Louise and Kate in the kitchen." Aunt Frances frowned but did as she was asked. After she left, Betty turned back to Cynthia. "She likes women," she said simply.

Cynthia's green eyes went wide. "Excuse me?"

Betty waved a hand. "Don't worry about it. She's curious but harmless. It comes from living all alone in the woods. I'd visit more often but I hate the smell of trees."

Abbey sat back and shoved her hand over her mouth to keep from laughing. She couldn't wait for Jed to meet her family. Jed would find it just as amusing as she did, she was sure. And hopefully it would make him less self-conscious about his own odd family.

Over the next few hours, Abbey was far too distracted by her family to think about anything else. It wasn't until she was in bed later that night that she remembered that she still hadn't heard from Jed about the draft board. There was a chance that they hadn't gotten back to him yet. But even so, she hadn't spoken to him all day, and she didn't like that at all. The closer their wedding was, the harder it was to be without him, or even to go a whole day without hearing his voice.

As if in answer to her thoughts, the phone rang. She picked up the extension beside her bed after the first ring, hoping it wouldn't wake anyone. "Hello?"

"There you are! I've tried to call you all day!"

Abbey got into bed with the phone and grinned. "I had my dress fitting at two, and we got home at quarter to four."

"I called around three."

"That's not all day," she pointed out."

Jed chuckled. "That's fair. So how does the dress fit?" he asked. He sat down on his bed as he listened to her voice. His heart felt like it had been pounding all day, and it was finally calming down now that he got to talk to Abbey.

On the other end, Abbey paused momentarily before answering. "Uh it's fine. Fits perfectly, actually. Millie got practice doing up all the buttons in the back. Dave proposed to her, by the way."

"Oh that's great! He told me he was going to. I'm glad he went through with it. Did they decide on a date?"

"They're going to wait until we come back."

"Really?" Jed asked in surprise. He and Abbey were close to Dave and Millie, but he hadn't realized they were that close.

Abbey laughed. "No, but they are waiting until Millie finishes at Stanford. Too much stress to plan a wedding while in medical school. And you know Millie. She likes to do things big."

An awkward silence filled the phone call. Abbey wanted to ask if he had heard from the draft board, but she didn't know if she should be the one to bring it up.

Jed had waited for hours to talk to her and tell her that he had heard from the draft board, but he wasn't quite sure how to start it. Perhaps just starting would be the best way to go. "I got a call today. About the draft."

"Yeah?" Abbey clenched the phone tightly, afraid her sweaty palms would make it slip out of her hand.

"Due to my enrollment in a foreign institution of higher education, they've agreed to defer my draft."

"Oh thank God!" Abbey cried. Her whole body was buzzing from relief. She blinked away tears. "I was so worried," she admitted.

"So was I. I'm just glad it worked out. And we'll be in London for two years. By the time we get back, the war will probably be over!"

"We can only hope." Abbey let out a deep breath. She was still feeling a little shaky. "We're free to start our lives. We're going to get married and you're going to get your degree and the whole world is open to us. I didn't really realize that until it was almost taken away."

"I know what you mean. These last two days have been awful. And not having you with me has made it even worse. I gotta say, honey, Sunday cannot come too soon. I can't wait any longer to marry you."

Abbey felt like she was about to explode from happiness. "I feel the same way. I just love you so much." She tried to stifle a yawn, but she didn't quite catch in time.

"It's late. I'll let you go to sleep. We'll see each other tomorrow. I'll be driving separately because we'll take my car to Boston after the wedding, so I'll be at your house around lunchtime, if that's okay?"

"The sooner, the better, babe."

"Alright, I'll see you tomorrow. I love you, Abbey."

"I love you, Jed. Goodnight."