Riley wasn't sure what a flower girl was, but it sounded like a lot of trouble, and it was the reason she was sitting by herself in a change room while Mia stood outside talking to another lady and picking out dresses for Riley to try on. Riley loved playing dress-up as much as any girl, but her patience had worn out. She wanted to go home.
The door opened and Mia walked in. She was carrying an armful of dresses for Riley. Some were so puffy they took up most of the space in the small change room. Riley let out a sigh so Mia would know she was bored.
"Just try on a few more. I promise we'll find the right one soon."
"Do I have to be the flower girl?" Riley stood up and held her hands in the air so Mia could put the dress over her head. "It sounds really boring."
"You're my daughter, Riley. I want you to be a part of my wedding," it wasn't the wedding Mia always had in mind. Her dreams involved getting married and then starting a family, but she had learned to adapt.
"Your wedding?" Riley had picked up on a few of the tricks and slips of the wedding talk. She wasn't exactly thrilled with all the wedding plans, but from time to time her parents started to bicker over the silliest things. One night, Mia and Kevin had stopped talking to each other until after Riley went to bed because of the dinner options. Riley wasn't sure who had won that fight, but it had been more entertaining than her bedtime story.
She also picked up on the few things that bothered Kevin. The most prominent was Mia mistakenly referring to the weddings as her wedding. Riley noticed Kevin always corrected Mia when she made that slip-up and so she started to do it too.
"Our wedding," Mia sighed. It meant nothing. She had spent so long without her prince charming that there was no "our wedding". Kevin was very important to her, and she wanted him to have his special night too, but old habits did die hard.
"I want to stay with Auntie Lauren when you get married."
"Auntie Lauren is invited to the wedding," Mia zipped up the dress and smiled brightly at her daughter, "You look…"
"Adorable, I know," Riley rolled her eyes, "Just get it off. Something's riding up my bum. Can I stay with Uncle Jay Jay and Uncle Tonio?"
"They're coming to the wedding too."
"Who isn't?"
"No one you know," Mia picked out another dress, "Alright, this one is pink. Does that give it any points?"
"One point. But I still no want to be the flower girl. Why do you and Kevin have to get married?"
"We love each other, Riley. We want to celebrate that love with all our friends and family. Especially our daughter."
"That's me," Riley groaned, "but…"
"Arms up."
"Why are you getting married on Balentime's Day?"
"It's romantic. You'll understand when you're older."
"But…"
"I know it seems like a chore now, but the wedding's going to be very fun. We're going to have a party, and there will be games. You'll see your cousin Terran, all your aunts and uncles, and even your grandparents. And there will be cake!"
"Birthday cake?" Riley's eyes lit up. "You getted me birthday cake?"
"Wedding cake, but it's basically just birthday cake, only a lot fancier."
"Cake for you and Kevin?"
Mia straightened out Riley's dress and then knelt before her daughter. She placed her hands on Riley's arms, "I know you don't get it. I know this is very boring to you and it's taking up a lot of my time."
"All your time," Riley sighed. "You don't even know…"
"I do know, Riley."
"But I…"
"Kevin and I are always going to be your parents. I will always be your mother. This wedding isn't going to change that. It's going to make us all better."
"But Mia…"
"This dress is perfect," Mia said, "Do you like it, Riley?"
"More than the other ones," Riley sighed. She wasted no time with Mia getting the dress off and getting back into her regular clothes. Mia seemed very happy as she carefully carried the dress and took Riley's hand. She told the lady waiting outside the change room that they had found their dress and they were ready to pay. As they walked to the cash register, Riley glanced out of the store. In the mall, across the way, there was the toy store.
Riley then looked around. Every store they had visited had been littered with pink and red hearts and Riley knew what time of year it was. She turned and looked up at Mia. She tugged on her mother's hand.
"Mia, I know what I want for…"
"Sobo's great with hair. Why don't we stop by her place and we can think of what to do with your little curls?" Mia suggested to Riley as she laid the dress on the counter to pay. "I know I'm going to be the bride, but you're going to be so adorable, all eyes might be on you, Riles."
"But, Mia…"
"And shoes, you need to pick out a pair of shoes."
Riley pulled her hand away from Mia's and crossed her arms, "Mia!"
"I'll let you decide what kind of flowers you want to hold. Anything you want, Riley, I promise."
Riley shook her head. Mia wasn't listening. Mia wasn't paying any attention at all. Riley glanced over her shoulder to the toy store and decided to take matters into her own hands.
Mia paid for the dress and thanked the lady who had helped her with a big smile. Delicately, she picked up the dress, collected her things from the counter, and looked down for Riley.
Her daughter was gone.
"Riley?" Mia's heart was pounding out of her chest. She looked around the store, hoping Riley had just gotten distracted by the glittering and sparkling dresses, but her daughter was nowhere to be found. "Riley!"
-Samurai-
"Toast?" a plate of dry toast appeared right under Emily's nose and she gagged. She pushed it away, shook her head, walked to the couch, curled up into a ball and groaned loudly.
"I feel like shit!"
"I thought for sure toast was safe," James sighed. He tore the toast into little pieces and fed it to Terran and Storm. He turned back to Emily, "Is there anything you can stomach?"
"Just a baby. And only barely."
"What hurts?"
"It would be inappropriate to talk about it to my brother in-law. Where are Mike and Serena?"
"At school, Em. And Mike left a very detailed list of what I need to do while he's gone," James snatched up a paper from the counter and unfolded it, revealing a long length of paper with notes from James that stretched from the very top to the bottom – on both sides. "He's going to be a worrier."
"Is getting this baby out of me now on that list?"
"Nope."
"Then you suck."
"Reminding you to take your vitamins is on here, though," James said and pointed to a bottle of vitamins Mike had brought home from the pharmacy, "You want a healthy baby, don't you?"
Emily got up from the couch, took a vitamin, and stuck it up James' nose. Terran giggled and Storm turned her head to the side. Emily glared at James.
James pinched his other nostril shut and blew the vitamin into his hand, "Joke's on you, because you still have to take it."
He gave the vitamin to Emily and got her a glass of water. Emily shook her head.
"Joke's still on you. I'm pregnant, so can whine, and mope, and blame you for everything, and you can't say or do otherwise because you're the in-law," Emily put the vitamin in her mouth and washed it down with water, "Ew… okay, you get to laugh a bit. That tasted like boogers."
-Samurai-
Motherhood was never smooth, but Mia never imagined herself being the mom who raced around the mall frantically searching for her missing child. Yet here she was.
She had left the dress shop in a panic, searched all the nearby stores, asked as many people as she could, and finally asked someone who had seen a girl matching Riley's description. This little girl had gone to the toy store, so Mia did the same.
She found Riley in one of the aisle, climbing up the shelves by herself to reach a toy. Mia dropped her dress and her purse and raced to Riley, snatching her up before she could fall.
"What the hell were you thinking?" Mia hugged her daughter tight, "Riley, we talked about this! No running off."
Now higher because she was in Mia's arms, Riley could reach the toy she wanted with ease. She plucked a Cinderella Barbie from the hook and showed it to Mia.
"I want this!"
"Riley, I told you, we're not shopping for toys today."
"But Mia…!"
"No. You're not getting a toy. Especially after running off by yourself like that. Do you know how worried sick I was? What if something had happened to you?"
Mia ripped the Barbie from Riley's hands, tossed it back on the shelve and set Riley on the ground. She took her hand and pulled her away, "Honestly, Riley, we've talked about this. I know dress shopping isn't your favourite thing to do, but…" Mia felt a pull on her hand. She looked down to see Riley had stopped walking.
"Mommy always buyed me a present for my birthday! Mommy promised to let me choose my present. I want Cindyella! Not a dress or stupid wedding!"
"Riley…" Mia gulped and hated herself for having to ask this question. It hadn't crossed her mind until now, "When is your birthday?"
Riley shrugged her shoulders, "I'm no sure, but mommy said when hearts come out it's my birthday."
"Did mommy say anything else?"
"I'm the specialist Balentime's present ever."
"And you wanted Cinderella?"
Riley nodded her head. Mia took the toy from the shelf and gave it, as well as some money to Riley, "Be a big girl, Riley, and go pay for this yourself."
Riley hugged the doll to her chest and raced to the front of the store. Mia picked up the dress and her purse from the floor and it felt like she dropped her heart. She had been so busy with Riley's adoption and wedding, it had never even crossed her mind that Riley did have a birthday. Only a few weeks into motherhood and Mia had already technically forgotten her daughter's first birthday.
Worse than that, if Riley's clues were reliable even in the slightest, her birthday fell on Valentine's day – the day Mia and Kevin wanted to get married.