Ellie had a strange sense of déjà vu as she pushed Maddie's stroller through Nordstrom. She'd done this before. With Ethan, in fact. Though it was Marshalls in Arlington, Virginia instead of Nordstrom in San Jose, California. She'd never been one for much shopping when she was out in the field as a young paleobotanist, and when she'd let her career take a backseat to being a mom, she was too busy and happy being with her kids to bother dressing up much. Clean and comfortable was all she bothered with when it came to clothes for a long time. But being a fulltime professor now meant she didn't have to worry about getting too dirty most of the time. And since she had gotten relatively famous in some circles, she'd started getting paid accordingly. Which led to shopping at Macy's and Nordstrom instead of just Marshalls and Old Navy. Though she still loved a classic pair of Old Navy jeans. In fact, maybe they could stop by there later, since this mall did have an Old Navy…

"Hey how about this?"

She turned to see Charlie pointing at a mannequin wearing what Ellie would describe as a red satin bustier with a bit more fabric that went about three inches below public nudity.

"How about I try it on and you tell me what you think?" she challenged.

"Mom, no one needs to see that," Charlie laughed.

"I agree. So stop making insane suggestions and help me!"

Though internally, she did think that if she did try and wear something like that for Allen, he might keel over due to the speed with which the blood rushed from his brain to his groin. And that reminded her, she did need to figure out what she was going to wear for the wedding night.

"Keep an eye out, guys. You know what kind of clothes I wear. Find some stuff that looks like me," Ellie instructed.

"Mom, don't you want like a real wedding dress?" Ethan asked.

"Not at all," she answered. "Your grandmother helped me pick out a beautiful gown when I married your dad, and it was great, but Alan and I aren't really traditional and we don't want a big to-do of a wedding. He's not wearing a suit and tie, and I'm not wearing a wedding dress. Heck, I'm not even going to wear white."

"Wait, really?" Ethan seemed confused by that.

Ellie just shrugged. "I just want a nice dress to get married in. That's all." Inside the stroller, Maddie made a little gurgling sound, causing Ellie to chuckle. "Maddie, tell your daddy and your Uncle Charlie to find Nana a nice dress."

The boys did actually focus and make serious suggestions. Ellie was quick to dismiss quite a few things right off the bat. Nothing too short because this was still a wedding and it was October. Nothing too long because the wedding was outside at a winery. Nothing with a full skirt because that just wasn't Ellie. Nothing too low cut in the front or back because Ellie was well aware of her age and the fact that her children and granddaughter would be at this wedding. Nothing too bright or too dark because it was a fall wedding but still a joyful occasion.

In the end, they came up with a few really nice options for Ellie to try on. The first was a pale green shift dress with cap sleeves and some very pretty beading. It fit really nicely, and Ellie felt good in it. She came out to the waiting area where the boys sat with the stroller.

"That's pretty," Ethan said simply. He wasn't the most verbose boy in the world.

Charlie had more to say. "Yeah, I like that one. It's a little fancy though. Like I know it's a wedding, but the sparkle is kinda over the top for a winery with like ten people."

Ellie took that point well. And besides, the dress didn't feel quite right. For all that she was a scientist and looked to cold, hard data and logical reasoning for most everything, there were some things in life that were just a gut feeling.

On to the second dress. This one had longer sleeves and had a flowy skirt that landed at her knees. The fabric was beige chiffon and had a watercolor floral pattern. It didn't feel like a wedding dress. Not that any of them actually were wedding dresses, but Ellie almost wanted to buy this one to wear out to a Stanford faculty event or something. That wasn't the feeling she wanted to get from her wedding dress. She almost didn't walk out to show the boys, but decided she had to.

"Alright, what do we think of this one?" she asked.

Charlie lit up. "Oh I really like that one."

But Ethan shook his head. "That's not the one."

"Why not?" Charlie protested.

Ethan suppressed a small smile. "Because Mom doesn't love it."

"Well, you're right about that," Ellie confessed.

"Okay, next one," Charlie said with a shrug.

The next dress was a silk sheath dress that was a gray-blue, and for some hideous reason, Ellie couldn't even get it up over her hips. She barely had hips at all, and if a dress in her size wasn't going to fit on her narrow hips, it wasn't even worth trying. She took it off and put it in the pile of rejects.

There were two more dresses for her to try. One was teal linen with pockets, which she liked the idea of, but looking at it in front of her, it just seemed too casual.

She decided to try on the other dress first. It was a mermaid silhouette of sky-blue lace. Boat neck with puffy elbow-length sleeves. When Ellie zipped herself up in it, she was amazed that it fit absolutely perfectly. Smooth over her bodice and hips, flaring out at her knees and reaching to her ankles. Ellie didn't realize she was already smiling until she saw herself in the mirror.

When she went out to show Ethan and Charlie, she didn't say a word and tried to keep her face as neutral as possible. She wanted their genuine reactions.

Since she'd taken longer, rejecting the silk dress and then putting this one on, Charlie was distracted and playing with Maddie as Ethan watched them protectively. He looked up first when Ellie came out. And he immediately smiled. "Oh yeah," he said.

Charlie looked over and his face broke into a beaming grin. "Mom, please tell me you like that one."

Ellie laughed, "I do like this one."

"Good, because it's perfect," Charlie insisted.

Ethan chuckled, causing Ellie to ask what was so funny.

"I can just picture the look on Alan's face when he sees you in that."

Something bloomed in Ellie's chest at Ethan's words. "Yeah?"

Ethan nodded. "I know how he looks at you when you don't notice sometimes."

"Hell, even I've seen it," Charlie added. "Mom, the Dinosaur Man's got it bad for you."

"Well I've got it pretty bad for him, too," Ellie replied.

"Yeah, we know," Ethan answered flatly.

Poor Ethan had witnessed too much of Ellie and Alan's romantic life in living with them for a year and a half. And Charlie had come to visit for three weeks for the wedding, both the planning and the event itself. Two days ago, the three men were all watching something on tv when Ellie came over to Alan's chair and sat on his lap and started kissing his neck. She'd thought that the boys were watching the movie, but Charlie's protests in revulsion proved otherwise. Ethan had just rolled his eyes and told Charlie that he'd gotten used to it. Ellie had apologized but she really hadn't wanted to. She didn't ever want to apologize for adoring the gorgeous, sexy man she was going to marry next week. She still felt like she had a lot of time to make up for with Alan. Too many years when she hadn't gotten to kiss him and touch him each and every day.

"Mom, did you hear me?"

Ellie blinked. She'd been staring off into space and thinking about Alan and hadn't even noticed that Charlie was talking. "Sorry, what?"

"I said let's buy that dress and go to the food court. I want to get a pretzel and boba," Charlie said.

In case she needed reminding that her son was twenty-four, that was a pretty good indicator. "Okay, fine. But don't spoil your dinner. Alan is cooking tonight."

Ethan looked panicked. "Alan is cooking?"

"Yes," she answered firmly. "He's been helping me for long enough that he sort of knows what he's doing. He said he'd take care of dinner tonight."

"Sort of knows what he's doing?" Charlie repeated in concern.

"Wait, he's going to cook or he's going to take care of dinner?" Ethan asked to clarify.

"Take care of dinner. So he's cooking," Ellie told them.

Ethan laughed. "Alan's either going to grill hot dogs or he's going to order pizza. We don't have to worry."

Ellie just rolled her eyes and went back in the dressing room to change back into her clothes. She wasn't going to say that Ethan was right, but he probably was. That didn't matter right now.

What mattered was that Ellie had found the dress she was going to wear to marry Alan. It was ten days away, and she couldn't wait. It was all coming together. Her dream was going to come true.