Finding Home

Chapter Six

         She didn’t know how she’d gotten dragged into shopping and wedding planning, but suddenly she along with Becca, Kayla, Georgia, Laney and Lisa were at the Gwenview mall looking at dresses and other wedding related things.
         “I don’t want anything too fancy, Mom.  It’s in the barn for heaven’s sake,” Georgia practically whined as she stood near Laney looking over crystal vases.
         “What about blue, Deb?  A dark blue would look great on you,” Kayla offered, pawing through a rack of dresses.
         “Or green,” she continued.  “Ooh, this is pretty!”  She pulled out a shiny green halter gown.
         “No.”
         “Why not?”
         “No, Kayla.  Just no.”
         Becca laughed.  “Not everyone likes to be as bright as you, Kay.” 
         “Can’t I just wear black?” Deborah asked.  “I’ve got plenty of black dresses.”
         “That are for lawyering.”
         “Lawyering?” Becca and Deb asked in unison.
         “Thank God she’ll be teaching the future of America. What a relief to know they’ll be in good hands.”
         “Oh, shut up Becca,” Kayla said with a pout.  “What about this?”
         The dress was subdued, dark blue, with just a few hints of sparkle.  She shared a considering glance with Becca, who so far mirrored her tastes far more than Kayla.  “I’ll try it on.”
         “Good, good.”
         “While you’re at it, add this to the pile,” Lisa said, handing her a flowy brown dress that looked a little too revealing for Deborah’s tastes.
         “I don’t-”
         “You’ll try it on,” Lisa replied easily, flitting off to the next thing.
         “She never quits, does she?”
         “Never.  She is a robot.”
         Deborah followed Lisa to the dressing room, Becca and Kayla eagerly in tow.  Deborah tried to feel annoyed, but the truth was she’d never really had an experience like this.  Sure, she’d gone shopping with her mom on occasion, but nothing like this large female excursion.
         The dresses were not what Deborah herself would have picked out if she had been shopping alone.  Her usual wardrobe consisted of pieces that allowed her to blend into a crowd or power suits and business attire that were just a bit too rigid for a wedding.
         The shimmering blue and even the velvety brown seemed like they would indeed stand out in a crowd.  Not to mention the styles that dared plunge and cling where Deborah had never plunged or clung before.
         “I don’t know about these,” Deborah called from the fitting room, analyzing the dresses on the hanger.
         “Too bad.  We get to make the final judgment,” Kayla returned cheerfully.
         “Yes, so don’t take all day.  Try on the blue one first,” Lisa called.
         Deborah grumbled to herself, reluctantly undressing and hesitantly shimmying into the deep blue number.  She looked at herself in the mirror, pulling up at the plunging neckline.  She didn’t have a whole lot to show off in the way of cleavage, but the dress seemed to give her more than she wanted.
         “Come on,” Becca called just a little too eagerly.
         Deborah frowned and opened the fitting room door.  She shuffled a few steps out to where everyone could see and slumped her shoulders and crossed her arms across the image of a chest.
         “I can’t wear this,” she insisted.
         “It’s beautiful,” Lisa replied.  “Stand up straight, turn around,” she ordered firmly.  “Yes, a very nice color on you.”
“Looks gorgeous if I do say so myself,” Kayla added, congratulating herself on picking out the dress.
         “It’s so… so…”
         “Beautiful.  But, the thin little straps won’t do much.  I know Georgia says the barn will be warm enough, but we probably want to cover a pinch more skin.  Unless the other one is atrocious, then we could go with a shawl of some sort I suppose.”
         “Why do I have to dress up for a wedding in a barn?” Deborah replied as Lisa continued to scrutinize the dress.
         “Because regardless of the setting, it’s still a wedding.  It may have a bit of a rustic theme, but we will all look very nice.  Understood?”
         Deborah nodded.
         “Now, go try on my pick.  We’ll see how that looks.”
         On a laborious sigh, Deborah trudged back into the dressing room.  Exchanging the blue for the brown, she again scrutinized herself before venturing out to the intimidating onlookers.
         It fit well and really was quite pretty with its fluttery sleeves and knee length skirt with just a hint of poof to it.  The neckline was again an issue, but it didn’t make her chest look quite so well endowed… but didn’t make her look flat either.  Still, she didn’t want that much of her chest showing—no matter how proportionate it seemed.
         “Oh, that’s it,” Kayla said enthusiastically, practically clapping her hands in delight.
         Deborah looked at Lisa hoping for a less positive reaction that would earn her the right to wear one of her black dresses.
         “It is indeed,” Lisa agreed with her granddaughter.  “It’s stunning on you, Deborah.”
         “I’m not totally sure about this,” Deborah replied, fidgeting with the neckline.
         “It’s beautiful.  What’s not to be sure about?  You look like… like a movie star!”
         “That’s not at all the look I’m going for.  Besides, it’s a bit…” Deborah gestured to the chest area.  “Revealing.”
         Lisa laughed; giving Deborah’s shoulders a squeeze.  “Enjoy your youth and reveal a bit, dear.  Pretty soon you’ll have wasted that pretty little figure away and you’ll wish you’d dared to be more revealing.”
         “Grandma!” Becca exclaimed in shock.  “What’s gotten in to you?”
         Lisa grinned.  “That Florida lifestyle has loosened your Grandma up some.”
         “I guess so,” Kayla laughed.
         “In all serious, Deb,” Becca began as Deborah continued to fidget with the top of the dress.  “And as the most conservative of the bunch, it looks great on you and there will be women there showing off a lot more cleavage than yourself—including Kay.”
         “Hey!”
         Deborah wasn’t convinced, but looking at the three united Kapshaw women in front of her she doubted she’d have much luck arguing them out of it. 
         “I’m not going to be able to argue my way out of buying this dress, am I?”
         “No amount of law school will give you the skill required to out argue three Kapshaw women,” Lisa said, patting Deborah on the back.  “Although, you don’t seem much like a lawyer, dear.  What made you go in that career direction?”
         Deborah didn’t even notice as Lisa led her back to the dressing room.  “My Dad…” At the look on Lisa’s face, Deborah realized from now on she’d have to be a lot more careful using that term.  “My adoptive dad is a lawyer.”
         “Fascinating.  What does your mother do?”  Lisa motioned for Deborah to take off the dress and Deborah followed instruction without even thinking about it.
         “She’s a psychologist.  She has her own practice specifically geared toward couples.”
         “What accomplished parents.  I hope we can meet them sometime.”
         “I hope so too.”
         “Now, hand Grandma the dress, she’s buying,” Lisa said once Deborah was back into her own jeans and sweater.
         “Lisa, you don’t”-
         “No arguments.  I missed out on spoiling you as a child, well, I won’t miss out on spoiling you now.  Sit back and get used to it and hand me the dress.”
         Unable to argue with the sentiment behind it, Deborah handed the pretty brown dress on its hanger to Lisa.
         “There you are.  Force Deb into a dress, Grandma?”
         “Did you expect any different?  You and your mom finished?”
         Georgia glanced over her should to where her mother was marching over, anger clearly written across Laney’s face.  “Not exactly.”
         “What did you do now, girl,” Lisa muttered, shaking her head.
         “Georgia Lynn Kapshaw,” Laney seethed in a just barely controlled whisper.
         “I’m going outside for some air, Mom.  Just pick whatever, I don’t really give a crap.”  With that, Georgia hobbled toward the exit, temper written all over her face.
         “Her legs are bothering her, aren’t they?”
         Laney nodded, suddenly looking very weary.  “She and Josh are still fighting as well.  She’s just full of nerves and irritation.  What else is new?”
         “So, which one of my lovely granddaughters are going to go calm her down?”
         “Not me, I did it last time,” Becca replied.
         “She always threatens to kick my ass,” Kayla added with a pout.  “And you know she will.”
         All eyes turned to Deborah.
         “But… I… But I don’t even…” Deborah stuttered, backing away from the group.  What on Earth would she be able to say to calm Georgia down?
         “No excuses, dear,” Lisa said with a sweet smile.  “You gotta take the bad with the good when it comes to family.  Seems like it’s about your turn to take some of Georgie’s bad.”
         Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to worm her way out of it, Deborah gave in.  Slowly, she turned and walked in the direction Georgia had gone.
         She found Georgia sitting on a cement fence around a barren tree.  She was leaning over, rubbing the lower part of her legs.  Georgia looked up as Deb approached and offered a small smile.          
         “Wow, they sent you to deal with me?  I apologize.  That’s just cruel.  I can be pretty nasty.”
         “So I gathered,” Deb replied, taking a seat on the cold cement next to her.  “Legs bothering you?”
         “Yeah.”  Georgia shrugged.  “I’ve been a little harder on them than I should be lately.”
         “That why you and Josh are fighting or just coming down with some pre-wedding jitters?”  Deborah hoped that living with a woman who routinely counseled couples for the majority of her life would help her ease her way through this conversation without arousing Georgia’s temper.
         Georgia shrugged again.  “Maybe fighting is just the way we are.”
         “Could be.  You seemed pretty happy that night I first met you two.  I thought I was walking into some fairytale land.”
         Georgia chuckled.  “Well, I don’t know about fairies, but we are usually that… happy.  Or, at least we have been since we got back together.  Mainly.”
         “You know, lots of couples fight really close to the wedding.  It’s usually nerves and stress, nothing else.”
         “Yah, well, most couples don’t go on a honeymoon and then the second they come back the husband leaves for a month in Florida.”
         “Spring training, right?”
         “Yah.”
         “And that upsets you?”
         “No,” Georgia replied, frustrated.  “Yes… I don’t know.  I knew it would be like this, but the closer it gets… I don’t know, the more it bugs me.  I’ll be helping coach and get ready for the soccer season, but it’s not the same as playing.  I guess I’ll be busy and it won’t matter it’s just…”
         “Jealously?”
         Temper flared momentarily and Deborah realized she’d gotten a little too caught up in the conversation to stay objective.  Still, Georgia continued before Deborah could apologize.
         “I guess you’re right.  I missed all last season… thought I was over it.  But… the closer we get to his the harder it is.  I want to play and instead everyone is nagging at me to sit down, take it easy, not walk so much.”
         “That’s love and concern.”
         “I know damn well what it is.  It’s also irritating as hell.”
         “I’m sure it is.”
         Georgia sighed.  “I know I’m being a snotty bitch, I’m just tired and jealous and just at the end of my rope.  Everything was so much easier before we got engaged, before I got hurt.  Everything fit.”
         “So, why did you agree to marry him?”
         “I love him,” Georgia replied as if that were all the answer needed.
         “Plenty of people fall in love and don’t get married.”
         “Not in this family.”  Georgia laughed.  “You look at my parents, my aunts and uncles, even Ella and Paul—how could you possibly grow up watching them and not want to marry the person you love?”
         “I don’t know.”
         “I never thought I wanted it—the whole marriage thing.  But, once I met Josh I could see it—why people did it and what it was for.  It mattered.  Then… so much crap happened when I got hurt, losing him was worse than losing my career.  And, that was a big shock.”
         “I can’t even imagine.”
         Georgia sighed.  “You’ve got a knack for this, Deb.  Usually I’m stringing someone up by their toenails by now.”
         Deborah shrugged, knowing Georgia would hate it if she said she’d taken all her cues from her mother the therapist.  “Maybe you don’t know me well enough to string me up by my toenails yet.”
         Georgia laughed.  “Trust me, it doesn’t matter how long I know you—you get on my bad side I’m losing my temper.”
         “I’d say it seems like Josh makes a good fit, then.  He seems calm.”
         “Yah, yah.  He’s calm and cute and all the wonderful things in the world.  I suppose I should stop picking at him.”
         “I suppose.”
         “And at mom.  She’s just trying to help.”  Georgia groaned.  “I’m just not the girly girl she wants me to be, you know?  She can go be girly with Kay and Evie; I just want something simple.  I just want my family to be there and Josh’s family and I want it to mean something.  I don’t give one lick what the god damned vases look like.”
         “See and you almost made me feel wistful about getting married and then you made me totally glad I don’t plan on getting married.”
         “Oh, Deb, that’s the kiss of death my dear.  I believe you’ve just fated yourself to get married within the next… oh, year or so.”
         Deborah snorted.  “Yes, I have such an excellent track record with men.  I’m sure the perfect one will be knocking down my door any minute.”
         “Well…”
         “Don’t go there,” Deborah stopped her, holding up her hand.  “I know what you’re thinking and I don’t want to hear it.  My God you people gossip like crazy.”
         “Small town charm.”
         “Yah, charming.”
         “All right, let’s get back to it.  I am so ready for this to be over with… and to eat lunch.”
         Arm in arm, Deborah and Georgia walked back into the mall.