Candy woke up in the most joyful mood. She impatiently jumped off the bed, ran to the window and opened the shutters.
Tender sunshine of expiring summer gently heated her cheeks, and birds sang their songs.
Today she will go to choose a wedding dress together with her best friends!
The girl pressed her hands to her chest and spun around the room.
A perfect dress that every girl dreams of in the depths of the soul.
A dress, in which her beloved will see her for the first time to say the most important oaths in the church.
Together forever!
"It's so great, it's so great that Annie and Patty will go with me today!" Said Miss White, getting dressed hastily. "Annie always knows what is fashionable now and what suits me more, and Patty always has her own special opinion, which she will tactfully express! I will be fine with them!"
Brushing her hair, she went into the living room and absently picked up an orange, which was laying among the others on a platter on the table.
The girl laid down her hairbrush and brought the orange to her face, breathing in its scent.
"How wonderful it smells... Just like my mom used to smell, I remember exactly..." She said thoughtfully.
Suddenly she felt sad. Candy sank into a chair and breathed in the smell of an orange again.
For some reason, this scent reminded her of her mother. The smell of freshness, summer, children's happiness... Sweet dreams about parents before bedtime. About soft mother's and reliable father's hands...
If her mother were here today, it would be she who choose a perfect wedding dress.
Worrying and bothering, she would help girls in the store pin the fabric higher or lower; she would argue about the style, frills and jewelry.
The feeling of loneliness always attacks unexpectedly, and now it has possessed the girl again like a monster from nightmares.
"I'd like my parents to be with me on that day... I'd like them to see that I've grown up and be happy for me today. Just be around. But I'm alone."
Of course, it was not true. She had a loved man, friends, girlfriends... Two mothers from Pony's House, children, and so many acquaintances who wished her happiness and goodness!
She had no family. There were no people of her own blood. And then, when she couldn't share her happiness with her beloved one, Candy truly realized her solitude.
In early childhood - then she chased these thoughts away - before going to bed, she imagined if her real parents would suddenly enter the Pony's House. She did not need them to say sorry for leaving her in the snow at the shelter door, or even taking her with them.
She just wanted to see them. To remember their faces, to feel their touch at least once...
Only the smell of oranges reminded her of her mother...
Some vague feeling of anxiety did not leave the girl. She will soon enter the Legan family. Alone.
If something will go wrong, in case of any quarrels, resentments or misunderstandings, she will be alone. She will not have any relatives behind her back.
Why does she think about it?
Everything will be all right! They will be happy. Moreover, Neil said that they would live together. Yes, probably, it would be right. Aunt Elroy always scared her. And Mrs. Legan still does not love her as her own daughter.
They will live together, and this will be their little paradise on earth. That will be so!
Candy stood up resolutely, put an orange on the table and left the room.