“OhmyGod,” Ann whispered as she saw that the gown was in her size. “Pau…Mom, Mom, look!”
“Oh!” Paula agreed. “Oh Ann, that, is you.”
“Ma’am, where, where can I try this on?” Ann excitedly asked and the girl woodenly dragged her carcass off of the plush stool and opened the fitting room.
“Holy cow; I, I look gorgeous!” Ann whooped a moment later.
“Because you ARE gorgeous,” Paula assured Ann, nodding with approval as Ann modeled the lacy dress.
“You know what? That, that really does look good,” the salesgirl agreed.
Ann also found a baby blue bustier with matching thong panties in her size. She and Paula wondered what color stockings to get and finally agreed on nude stockings with sandalfoot.
“Now, go sit down, out of the way while I find just the right dress,” Paula teased.
“Out of… Did you just tell me…” Ann screeched and Paula laughed happily.
On a clearance rack, Paula found a smart looking gray dress. She also got a bustier with matching thong panties in a pale pink color. She grabbed a pair of smoky stockings with the line up the back.
In the morning, Paula, Grandmother, Haralson and Bramley and Ann met up at the Full -Moon Diner. Three times during the breakfast, Bramley ordered Haralson to shut up; she did not care that he could have made everything on their plates and could have made it better.
Paula and Grandmother were fast friends. And both Paula and Ann were slightly amused, slightly mystified by Haralson’s apparent interest in Paula MacIntosh.
“He does know I’m old enough to be his mother, right?” Paula whispered to Ann.
“Maybe he wants you to be his Mommy,” Ann teased.
Paula whispered to Grandmother what Ann was suggesting and Grandmother squealed in delight. The two older women whispered back and forth, making one another squeal and giggle.
“Ready, Sweetheart?” Bramley smiled at Ann.
“Mm hmm,” Haralson agreed, sipping the last sip of his overpriced tomato juice.
“Uh, I uh, Haralson, I kind of meant Ann,” Bramley said, voice low.
“Oh. Oh! I uh, oh! I, I used to be ‘Sweetheart,'” Haralson said, large brown eyes threatening tears.
“I know,” Bramley said, gently clutching Haralson’s hand.
The two cars made their way to Judge Roberts Airport and parked in long-term parking. Paula took charge; it seemed Bramley and Ann and Haralson were stymied how to handle suitcases and garment bags. She continued her role of den mother as she found the right airline’s counter, organized what needed to go into the luggage and what they would carry on to the flight.
“I would have done that,” Brandmother hugged, perturbed at her own lack of knowledge and lack of action.
“Then you can do it on the return flight,” Paula assured the Asian-American woman.
Upon landing in Las Vegas, Paula waited for the beat of ten before again assuming the role of den mother and herding her troop through the maze to the line of taxicabs waiting.
“So, what hotel?” Paula asked Bramley.
“Well, the wedding is at…” Bramley said.
Looking up the wedding chapel, Paula used that address to coordinate which hotel would be closest. Using her cell phone she checked availability and secured three rooms. Haralson suggested they would only need two rooms but a hard look from Paula and a gentle head shake from Bramley stifled his objections.
“Okay, Ann and I will take room twenty four twelve,” Paula said.
“But, I thought we’d…” Bramley started.
“You two are not married yet,” Paula said, helping Haralson put all the luggage into one cab’s trunk. “Tomorrow night? Grandmother and I will take Room twenty twenty one and you two will have twenty four twelve for your honeymoon suite.”
“Okay,” Bramley giggled happily, kissing Ann.
“But, come on. Let’s get checked in so I can hit a few blackjack tables,” Paula enthused, telling the first driver which hotel they were heading to.
“Your mom sure is bossy,” Bramley teased as she and Ann and Haralson crowded into the second cab.
“Uh? Thank God,” Ann said, defensively. “She wasn’t? We’d still be at Judge Roberts, trying to figure out how to get here.”
“I am teasing you,” Bramley defended. “Don’t be so thin-skinned.”
“Don’t tell me how I should feel,” Ann yelled, startling Bramley and Haralson.
The cab driver heard nothing, saw nothing said nothing as he followed the first cab to the hotel/casino. A silent Bramley paid the man then hurried to pay the first cab driver, only to find that Grandmother had already paid for their fare.
“What is wrong?” Paula demanded as they stood on the covered walkway in front of the hotel.
“Nothing,” Ann snapped.
“Ann,” Paula said gently.
“Bad enough when she teases me and makes fun of me,” Ann burst into tears. “But when she started making fun of you I was like ‘do I really want to marry this woman?'”
“Let’s get checked into our rooms, then we’ll meet down here in thirty minutes,” Paula ordered Bramley, Grandmother, and Haralson.
In their hotel room, Paula made Ann wash her face. She also suggested that Ann might want to pee and Ann realized, she did need to pee.
“Now, you two. Hold hands. Don’t say it,” Paula said when they were again in the lobby. “I don’t want to hear that you don’t feel like holding hands. You two hold hands. Now. Now, out the door, two blocks south, then one block east.”
“What? Where’s, where’s that?” Bramley asked.
“Don’t worry about it. Just do it,” Paula snapped.
In silence, in the desert heat, Bramley and a scowling Ann marched, leading the group. Ann could hear Paula and Grandmother quietly chatting behind them but could not hear the words. She kept her eyes focused directly in front of them, even though she could feel Bramley’s eyes boring into the side of her face.
“There. Right there,” Paula said, directing them to stop in front of a bakery.
Inside, Paula ordered five slices of wedding cake and five cups of coffee. The smiling girl asked who the lucky couple was and Paula pointed to the two combatants that were standing, still silently holding hands.
“”No, no, hold on,” Paula demanded when Bramley moved to cut a wedge of the cake. “Aren’t you supposed to feed each other?”
“I’m sorry, Ann,” Bramley whispered, dark eyes shiny.
“I am too,” Ann responded, her own eyes shiny.
Softly, the two girls kissed. Then, they did feed one another a bite of the decadently rich wedding cake. This was followed by a second kiss.
“Now that we got that taken care of…” Paula said, carrying the five plates and two of the cups to the counter. “…Momma’s got some money to lose.”
Haralson, being twenty one, offered to escort Paula. With an amused smirk, Grandmother also insisted on being escorted. Ann and Bramley again held hands as the quintet returned to the hotel.
In the hotel room she was sharing with Grandmother, Bramley poured Ann and herself a drink from the minibar. Seeing the prices the hotel was charging them for these drinks, Ann vowed this would be her one and only drink. Bramley assured Ann that they could very easily afford the paltry sum of money. Ann saw that she would most likely have to be the responsible one in their marriage. Looking at the exotic beauty sitting with her on the small loveseat, Ann smiled; she would be the responsible one. Softly, she kissed her wife-to-be on the lips.