TITLE: Vows and Promises
PART: 23/?
AUTHOR: Susan
E-MAIL: lilichild@aol.com
ARCHIVE: Past editions can be found at my site,
http://www.geocities.com/suechru/er/fics or at The Lounge,
http://www.neoxer.com/fic/vows.html
DISCLAIMER: It's a complete and utter waste of your time to sue, I am VERY
broke these days
NOTE: Thanks for all who've been reading and encouraging me... I swear this
will all come together eventually. 


SEATTLE

"What do you think?" Carol asked turning around slowly. 
"White? You're wearing white, oy, you have children already" Helen Hathaway
remarked, the disapproval evident in her voice. 
Carol stood before a three-way mirror in the small bridal shop.  With every
dress she tried on, she could see her mother frown in distaste threefold in the
mirror behind her.
"So what if she wears white, as long as it's not the same dress she was going
to marry Tag in" 
"THANK YOU, Susan" Carol said, turning to face her friend.  She was so
grateful that her friend had arranged to come in the same weekend her mother
came to help plan the wedding.  Susan's presence... well, it made this
experience less of a nightmare.   Carol remembered the FIRST time she went
dress shopping with her mother for the almost marriage to Tag.  Her mother's
taste differed greatly from what Carol wanted to wear.
"Why CAN'T she wear it? It's a perfectly good dress!" Helen didn't see the
point in spending money for a dress when Carol had already BOUGHT a wedding
dress.   So what if the marriage had never happened? The dress was still new
and it had been expensive at the time. 
"Mom, I'd rather be married in a grass skirt and wool sweater than have to
wear that dress again.  I should have burned it years ago" Carol wrinkled her
nose in distaste.  Sure, the dress looked fine, but the memories associated
with it... besides that dress was bad luck wasn't it?  She and Doug didn't need
anymore bad luck, they'd certainly come through enough in their relationship.
Hell, their wedding was a day that so many people would have thought would
never happen, including Carol herself.  No, she thought, we don't need any bad
luck in the least.  
"A grass skirt!" Helen exclaimed "Well at least a grass skirt will be cheaper
than these dresses! You're a parent now, Carol.  You shouldn't be wasting money
on a wedding dress"
"Ma, I'm not going to get married again.  I waited all these years.  Doug and
I are doing it right"  Carol selected another dress off the rack "What do you
think about this?"
"Too much lace, you'll look like a doily" Susan responded.  She was trying to
keep the peace and change the subject at the same time. 
She tried not to feel pangs of envy as she looked at all the beautiful dresses
on the rack.  You can't have a wedding if you don't have a boyfriend, she
reminded herself firmly, and the guys you've been dating recently aren't
marriage material. 
Carol considered that.  "Yeah, you're right.  Maybe something simpler?"
"Perhaps something cheaper" Helen quipped.  She couldn't understand for the
life of her why her daughter would insist on spending hundreds or thousands of
dollars on a dress.   Couldn't Carol ever be practical?  This was like that
horrible house she bought all over again.  The house that Carol had a nightmare
of a time selling when she moved to Seattle. 
"Ma" Carol warned.  Suddenly her attention was caught by a dress on other side
of the room.  "Oh! I LIKE this one."
Susan looked up from the pile of dresses she was pouring through.  "Wow, that
IS a nice one, try it on" She urged
Carol headed to the dressing room and emerged a few minutes later in the gown.
 She stepped in front of the large mirror and stared at her reflection.    She
turned, Susan was grinning. 
"Well?" Carol prompted. 
"You look amazing.  That's the dress" Susan confirmed Carol's thoughts.   
Helen spoke up then "Well, I still don't see why you NEED a dress, but if you
must, well, you do look very nice" She stepped closer to her daughter and took
a look at the price tag dangling from the dress.  She took a sharp breath. 
"You can't afford that"
"Ma, it's okay" Carol assured her mother.  She was so tired of being told what
she could and couldn't afford and how to spend her money.  Yes, she knew her
mother had faced the depression and lived through hard times but did she always
have to be so frugal?
Helen reached into her purse and pulled out a credit card.  "Here" she said,
offering the card to her daughter "charge it"
"Ma, NO" Carol refused "I already told you that Doug and I want to pay for the
wedding ourselves"
"You said yourself that you don't plan to get married again, let me buy you
the dress" Helen insisted. 
Susan watched with amusement as the two women argued back and forth.  What a
silly arguement to have but both were so bullheaded that they wouldn't give and
compromise.  Like mother, like daughter, she thought. 
"Carol, she's not going to back down" Susan finally interjected. 
"Ma, I can support myself." Carol stated.  She hated when her mother did this.
 She was an adult, not some child who needed her mommy to save her.
"It's not about supporting yourself, Carol" Helen said, her tone more gentle
"Use my card"
In that tone of voice and what was not said, Carol discovered what the TRUE
meaning of her mother offering her card was.  Helen had never been overly
emotional, but sometimes, she really surprised her.  She blinked back tears.
"Okay, mom, thanks" she said, giving her mother a hug.  "I'm paying for lunch
though"
"No, you're not" Helen asserted. 
Here we go again, Susan thought to herself.   
~ Susan (lilichild@aol.com)
Proud to be Head of the International Society of Carterholics Anonymous
http://www.geocities.com/suechru/er/carterholic
"Why do you chose your pain if you only knew how much I love you" - Sister
Hazel  <HONK>