Gabby, Miranda and Ayesha were waiting in turn for Opal to do their hair and make-up. They were all looking pretty in their pink bridesmaid's dresses and all very excited as well. Opal was currently attempting to style Gabby's hair into two neat French plaits but it wasn't easy as the little girl just couldn't sit still.

Bianca had been doing her best to keep her youngest daughter distracted, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She turned to see Marissa in her green bridesmaid's dress.

"You look beautiful." Bianca gasped.

"And you will too when you get ready." said Marissa. "I'll take over here. Kendall is laying out your dress as we speak." She kissed Bianca's cheek as motivation. "Now stop lolly-gagging and get dressed!"

"Lolly-gagging?" said Bianca with a smirk; amused by her girlfriend's turn of phrase

"Yeah mommy!" cried Miranda, waiting for her turn on the make-up chair. "I want to see your dress."

"Yeah!" cried Gabby, clapping and bouncing excitedly.

"Whoa, whoa… sit still." pleaded Opal. "I'm almost done."

….

When Bianca entered the other room she found Kendall dressed and ready, looking as beautiful as Marissa had in their mother's choice of bridesmaid's dress. Bianca sighed; she really was the last to get ready.

Kendall had laid out her sister's gown just as Marissa described and was now putting out the unfortunately flat green silk slipper that she would have to wear with her brace.

"So," said Kendall giving her sister a grin. "Have you worked out your speech yet?"

"We're doing that?" asked Bianca. When their mother and Jackson got married the last time, under the banyan trees in Florida, all of their children had taken a turn to say a few words before their parent's exchanged their vows.

"It's traditional." said Kendall with a grin.

"You know most people don't have traditions for their parent's weddings."

"Well I think it's nice. It's a good way to celebrate." said Kendall brightly. "So have you got a speech?"

"I've got something worked out." said Bianca.

Kendall held her sister by the shoulders to look her in the eye.

"You're not going ruin this for mom?"

"No… I wouldn't do that. Like I said I've worked something out."

Kendall looked from Bianca to the dress on the bed.

"So shall we get dressed?"

"I can manage." said Bianca.

"I'm sure you can, but big sisters are allowed to fuss. I'm sure it written down in the unwritten rules somewhere."

"You can't write down unwritten rules." said Bianca with a laugh.

"True." said Kendall.

"I can get myself dressed." said Bianca. "I'm not that useless."

"I never said you were." said Kendall holding her hands up in surrender. "I'll give you a minute if you want. I wanted to go and take pictures of your little angels any way…"

"Good." said Bianca.

"…But I'll be back soon."

Bianca wanted to playfully kick her sister out of the door, but had to settle on hobbling over to where her green dress lay. One thing you couldn't deny about Erica Kane was her good taste in clothes. The fabric was exquisitely soft and the design, elegant and simple.

Bianca pulled off her sun dress and then sat down on the bed. She pulled the gown on over her head and smoothed down the skirt. The only difficult part of the dress was the fastenings, a row of silk buttons down the back. Stretching behind she couldn't reach all of them.

Just then she heard the door open behind her. Kendall had obviously come back just as she said she would.

"I take it back." said Bianca. "I need your help."

"Of course." said a voice Bianca wasn't expecting.

Bianca turned round suddenly.

"Mom?"

…

Erica Kane was standing in the doorway wearing the most astounding bridal gown. The bodice was dotted in tiny embroidered and beaded flowers, her skirt a cascade of white silk.

"Wow." was all Bianca could manage.

"Do you want my help?" Erica asked stepping closer to help with the buttons.

Bianca wasn't in the position to say no, so instead she pulled her hair to one side to allow her mother access to her back.

"What's that?" Erica asked noticing the bracelet on Bianca's wrist as she pulled her hair aside. "Is it new?"

"Marissa gave it to me last night." explained Bianca, as her mother fastened the buttons of her gown.

"She has good taste."

"I know." said Bianca. The words left her mouth a little more accusatory than she had intended.

Erica secured the last button and then tapped her daughter's hand to let her know she was done and she could let down her hair.

"I am sorry." said Erica stepping round to where Bianca could see her properly.

"I know… You keep saying…"

"And I will say it every day until you believe me."

"And if I believe you this time?" said Bianca. "How long will it be before you interfere again: in my life, in Kendall's? You can never leave well enough alone."

"I'm your mother." said Erica. "I just want to see you happy."

"I am happy." said Bianca. "This is what happy looks like these days. I'm sorry if it's not what you're expecting."

Erica's eyes dropped to Bianca's left leg without her meaning to.

Bianca pulled the skirt down to cover her brace.

"I'm sorry about that too." Erica said. "You don't think, every day, that I don't wonder what would have happened if I'd gone to the police with those threatening letters. The shooting might never have happened… The nightmare of the last two years might never have happened…"

"It wasn't all a nightmare." Bianca said.

"You have Marissa." said Erica, nodding in understand. "But I am sorry."

"Thank you…" said Bianca and for a second Erica thought that she had finally made her peace. And then Bianca added. "…for helping with the dress."

Erica looked into her daughter's eyes. Maybe there was still hope.

"I want to do something for you and Marissa." said Erica. "I talked to Jack and he agrees…"

"We don't need anything from you, mom."

"I know. But I want to give you a gift just the same. An offering of peace. What you do with it is up to you."

…

Once the bridesmaids were ready, Opal had her camera in hand as she directed them all to stand together: Erica in the centre; Gabby, Miranda and Ayesha in their pink dresses in the front; Kendal and Camilla on the left; Bianca and Marissa on the right.

"Should we have our flowers?" Camilla asked. She'd been delighted to be included as a bridesmaid.

"That would certainly be an idea." said Opal turning to the large florist's box on the table. "Your bouquets are just here…"

They all queued to collect their flowers. Opal had made the bouquets with a combination of orchids, lilies and broad leaves. Bianca faltered though; she couldn't hold flowers and her crutches.

"Oh, I made something special for you." said Opal noticing her pause. She hurried to the curtains in the corner of the room. She did a grand reveal of a pair of hot pink crutches wrapped in lime green ribbon, festooned with the same lilies, orchids and leaves as the bouquets.

Bianca had never seen anything more hideously gaudy in her entire life.

She fixed a wide Cheshire grin for Opal's sake.

"They're lovely." she said.

She noticed Marissa across the room supress a laugh.

"Well try them out." said Opal, bringing them forward to Bianca to take. Obediently Bianca dropped her sensible black crutches and replaced them with Opal's creations. They were a lot lower than she was used to and the flowers got in the way of the grips.

"Wonderful." said Opal, delighted.

"They might need a bit of adjustment." said Bianca, she couldn't quite straighten her back anymore and she wasn't sure she would be able to walk very far like this.

"Of course, but you're alright for the photograph."

"Sure." said Bianca. Only she wasn't and had to resort to using her black crutches to get herself back to the corner to stand with the others. Only then could she stand with the floral ones again.

As they lined up for the pose Marissa reached back and gave Bianca's hand a sympathetic squeeze.

"Don't worry." she whispered. "We'llwe fix them."'

…

Adjusting the pink crutches the three notches needed meant destroying most of Opal's work. So Marissa and Bianca took one each to redecorate them, a little more tastefully this time. Bianca has stripped off most of the flowers and was tying a few small blooms under the handle using a length of the green ribbon. She was just realising she didn't have enough hands to hold the flowers and tie the knot when a finger appeared at just the right moment.

It was Kendall.

"Thanks." said Bianca.

"Unwritten rules of older sisters, remember." said Kendall smiling as Bianca tied her bow.

"There that's better." said Bianca, standing her crutch up to make sure the flowers didn't slip.

"Lovely." said Kendall in agreement.

Bianca then felt her sister watching her with an obvious question on her lips.

"What?" she asked.

"Well, I was wondering if mom had a chance to speak to you yet."

Bianca gave her sister a funny look.

"You know about that?" she said suspiciously. Then a new thought filled her head. "Wait, did you set me up? Did you send mom in to help me dress?"

"I do. And I did." said Kendall. "And..?"

Kendall raised her brows expectantly

"And I'm thinking about it." answered Bianca.

Kendall nudged her in the ribs.

"Only thinking?"

Bianca gave a snort.

"Planning maybe?"

…