“Julia,” Paula said, her expression showing concern, “where is your wedding day smile.”
“Hi,” Vicki said, introducing herself to Paula. “I’m Julia’s friend, Vicki.”
“I’m Paula, Margaret’s mother.”
“And I’m Margaret. We’ve met,” Margaret said.
“Yes. Maybe no champagne this time,” Vicki joked.
As Vicki offered to help with the boxes, all three women carried the bounty to the kitchen table. It was then that I saw the bows and dried floral arrangements, realizing the boxes contained the decorations I’d never seen.
Still wearing her coat, Paula came my way. Her small hand landed on my back, rubbing in a circle.
Before she could speak, I did. “I don’t know about the decorations. I’m not…”
Paula leaned close, the wrinkles on her face were more pronounced as she stared at me. “May I show you something?”
Swallowing my growing emotions, I nodded. Vicki and Margaret watched as Paula and I exited the kitchen. It was as Paula led me back through the mud room that I remembered Margaret’s odd text message.The decision is yours. Don’t be upset. It’s from Mom’s heart.There was no way my scrambled mind could decipher the strange wording.
Paula’s hand was cool as she reached for mine and we came to a stop at the door to the garage. Sunlight saturated the area, bringing warmth despite the outside chill.
“Bruce was a wonderful man.”
Her husband.
Okay.
She went on. “Not always. Oh, he was never mean or anything like that. It was that over our forty-three years of marriage, we had bright sunny days.” She looked out the windows. “And we had cloudy days. It’s funny when you look back on that time you spent together, you remember both. For different reasons. The sunny days bring a smile to your face. The cloudy days, they’re the ones that when you look back, you see what they really were. They were the glue, the trials and tribulations that brought you closer to one another. Anyone can love in sunshine, Julia. It takes loving in the black of night and under those storm clouds, that’s what makes a marriage strong.”
It wasn’t noon, and this day had all been too much.
I couldn’t stop the tears if I tried. Lowering my chin to my chest, I closed my eyes, causing more tears to fall.
Paula reached for my chin, lifting it until I was seeing her face through blurred vision. “Child, you and Mr. Sherman, you’ve had storm clouds. You’ve also had sunshine. But it’s those storm clouds that make you closer, that make you reach for one another in the dark of night. You love him. We see that.”
Everyone had told me that they saw the way Van loved me. More tears came at Paula’s declaration. She saw the way I loved him.
I did.
Paula went on, “You love him in a way that’s special. I admit that I worried one day he’d settle for a woman who was as interested in his money as him or maybe more so. That’s not you.”
I shook my head, still in her grasp.
Her hand trembled. “Margaret didn’t want what I’m about to show you. And with only a grandson, I should have thrown it away or donated it years ago. It’s colored a little and if I’d planned this out, I would have had it cleaned. It was cleaned, but over fifty years ago. That’s a long time.”
My tears turned to sobs as I fought to breathe. “What-what are you going to show me?”
It’s coming from her heart.
Paula released my chin and opened the door to the garage. The box she lifted from the floor was large and white. I hurried to take it from her.
“I haven’t even taken it out of the box. Margaret had to get it down for me. It was in the top of a closet. It hasn’t seen daylight in half a century and may not be presentable.”
Although the box was almost as big as Paula, it wasn’t heavy. I read the top. In gold scroll letters:Wedding dress. Looking at Paula, I tried to swallow, barely being able to articulate the words. “You’re offering me your wedding dress?”
She nodded with a grin. “We care for Mr. Sherman, and the one thing I’ve prayed for is for him to be happy. Not more money or a bigger house.”
More.