Chapter 26

Chelsea stared back at herself as she looked in the tall floor to ceiling mirror.  The very white satin wedding dressed poofed out around her as the bustier top clung tightly to her upper body.  The lady around her fidgeted with the bottom of the dress as Anne, Kristin, and Denise praised the wedding uniform.  She saw the looks on their faces and sighed.

“I don’t like it.” She told them.

“What? Anne lightly gasped.

“How come?” Denise asked.

“It’s looks…” She looked back at herself, at the dress and frowned.  “It looks like it’s eating me.”  Kristin started to giggle and it made Chelsea smile.  “I don’t like the bottom part, don’t like the satin, I want something softer.”

“So you’ll probably want an A line its slimmer from the waist down and for fabric we have dresses from a Tulle material.” The dress maiden told her. 

“Ok” Chelsea nodded.  She went behind the changing wall and got out of the dress and put on the robe they gave her before walking back out to the small viewing room.

“You certainly know what you’re looking for.” Anne said jokingly.

“I kind of do.” She replied with a shrug and her mind went back to the night on the bus and AJ’s nightmare.

When the woman came back she handed Chelsea the new dresses and she went back and started to change again.  There was one large mirror behind the wall so she could see what she looked like first.  She turned around and as her eyes scanned the dress a small smile came across her face.  The white Tulle dress hung tight to her upper body, strapless, loosely bunched, the pieces of the material wrapped around the dropped waistline and fell down the back with the rest of the dress.  The garment hung close yet loose down her legs and just covered her feet. Chelsea started to giggle to herself a little excitedly as she found the dress she pictured when AJ described what he saw to her.  Well maybe it wasn’t the exact dress, this one was better. 

“If you don’t like this one…” Kristin sighed as both Anne and Denise smiled brightly.

“No, I think I like this one.” Chelsea smiled.

“Really?” The woman said.

“Yeah.” She nodded as she looked at herself in the three sided mirror.  “Definitely”  

“So where did Chelsea and them go?” Nick asked as him and AJ walked out of the restaurant.

“She went to New York with Ma, Anne and Kristin.” AJ told him as they stopped at the valet. “They’re coming back today, soon actually.” He said looking at his watch.

“Wedding stuff?” Nick asked.

“The dress.” AJ said as he raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, I see” Nick nodded back with a light smile.  “I guess it is almost that time.”

“Couple of more months.” AJ smiled.

“Were Jerald and Tim pissed you guys decided to get married so soon?” Nick asked.

“So soon? The wedding is in May.” AJ lightly laughed.  “And it’s small, in Cali, it’s not taking two years to plan.”

“I know, I’m just asking.” Nick replied at AJ getting a little defensive.

“Sorry, just tired of explaining.” AJ sighed.

“So I take it that’s a yes?” Nick said.

“Yeah but not from those two, she hasn’t seen or talked to them since Jerald showed up at our house New Years Eve night.” AJ told him. Nick looked at him confused.  “Kevin’s been a little pushy on the fact he wants us to wait.”

“Why?” Nick asked.

“Because of Nadia.” AJ told him as they reached AJ’s new Porsche.  “He thinks she’s using the wedding as a distraction and we should just take our time, see if we find out anything more but of course he harps on me not her.”

“How are things going with the Shrink?” Nick asked.

“Nothing new.” AJ said shaking his head.  “But the Doctor told her it would most likely be like that, she could remember during a session, or when she’s at home.” He said as he opened the door.  “Hypnotism is more like jarring the memory; some memories are easier to get out than others.”  AJ stopped and then sighed.  “But on the plus side her headaches have gotten better.”

“That’s good.” Nick said nodding.

“They don’t drop her like they use too, still pretty painful from what I can tell but she’s not so out of it when she goes through them, her Doctor even lowered her medication.” AJ told him.

“Well man it’s not like you can rush finding anything out on Nadia, so why put everything else on hold, and worry about it when or if it happens.” Nick said as AJ fidgeted with his keys.

“Yeah, that’s what Chelsea and I think.” AJ replied.  “Anyways dude, my lady has been gone for three days and she should be on her way or home by now so…” AJ said nodding to his car.

“Nympho” Nick sighed shaking his head.  “I’ll see ya at Chels’s Birthday party, thanks for dinner.”  AJ waved goodbye to him and climbed into his car.  As he drove home he began to run over the things he needed to do tomorrow for Chelsea’s birthday party and this one was a special one, her first one since she had been back.  Hard to believe she had been back for a year now but he was finally starting to get use to seeing her face again.  He smiled when he thought about the other things he had gotten use to seeing again, what a woman she had grown to become.

When he pulled into the drive way his heart fluttered and his stomach flopped when he saw the lights were on.  He got out of the car and headed to the door.  When he walked inside he was greeted by hyper dogs.  Showing his boys some love he stood and the door, wrestling with them a little bit.

“Chels?” He shouted as he stood up and headed down the hall.

“In the kitchen.” She replied and he smiled at her voice.

When he walked into the room he saw her standing at the island shaking up a salad, she put the container down and smiled as he walked over to her.  Without saying a word he took her in his arms and kissed her.  She gently placed her hands on the side of his neck as the couple made up for three days apart.

“I missed you.” He said as they pulled away.

“I missed you too.” She replied with a light smile.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” He asked as he continued to hold her.

“Yep.” She replied with a nod.

He raised an eyebrow. “Really? Is it here?”

“No, it needs to be altered a little bit; they’ll send it when it’s done.” She told him.

“Aww I wanted to see it.” He pouted as he let go of her waist.

“You can’t.” She replied looking at him with shock.  “You know the rules.”

AJ rolled his eyes as he sat down at the counter.  “So how broke am I?”

“Haha” Chelsea replied and he giggled.  “So what did you do when I was gone?”

“Hung out with Kevin, hung out with Nick, went to Tyler’s played some poker.”

“Did you win?” She asked.

“No”

“Shocking.” She sighed as she opened the fridge door.

“Hey” AJ pouted.  She pouted back as she kissed his temple.  “So how’s Ma?”

“She’s good; we actually went out for lunch together while Anne and Kristin went shopping.” She told him as she sat down at the island ready to eat her salad.

“Well good, I’m glad my two favorite ladies are getting along so well.” AJ said with a smile.

“So what time are we having dinner tomorrow?” Chelsea asked as AJ pulled a leaf of lettuce from her bowl.

“Seven.” He told her.  “I gotta go check emails; I’ll be in my office.” He told as he leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.  She lightly smiled with a mouth full of food as he walked out of the room. 

AJ sat at his computer typing out an email to Chris.  The sound of water running in the kitchen made him stop his fingers and listen.  He lightly smiled; it was nice having someone in there, slowly starting to live the life he had hoped for, one that started even before the thought of just wanting to be married, a life with her.  It’s funny the way Tim and Jerald acted you’d think they thought Chelsea and AJ wanted to get married at sixteen but that wasn’t it at all.  Sure he thought about it and she thought about it and yeah they did talk about it a couple of times but it didn’t mean they were planning it. They could just feel there was something special between them and the only ones who could find out what it was were them.  Now knowing they had a child together he found a new kind of love for her, a new kind of adoration for her as the mother of his child, even if they didn’t know who or where she was.

“Alex?” He heard her holler from the kitchen and it broke him from his thoughts.

“Yeah sweetheart?” He shouted back. When she didn’t say anything he took that as a sign and quickly got up from his desk.  He sprinted into the kitchen and found her sitting on the floor, leaning back against the cabinet.  “Chels?” He said as he knelt down beside her.

“I’m ok.” She said quietly as she placed her hand on his arm.  “Just need to sit until it passes.” 

“Do you want your meds?” He asked and she nodded.  AJ stood up and went to the cupboard where they were kept when the couple was home.  He grabbed a glass of water and then handed her the medication. 

Chelsea sat there for a moment with her eyes closed as he held her hand.  “Help me too the couch?” She asked.

“Of course.” He told her with a light smile.  Carefully he helped her stand up and he wrapped his arm behind her, around her waist.  They walked slowly into the living room and he helped her lie down on the sofa.  “Do you need a cloth?” He asked her as he sat on the edge of the couch, still holding her hand.

“No I’m ok.” She told him with a light smile.  “Just need to relax right now.”

“Oh they came to measure the pool for the cover for the wedding; they’ll be back in a couple of weeks to see if it fits and make adjustments.” He told her as he sat beside her.

“Good.” She replied with a light smile her eyes still closed.  “We still need to find some flowers.” She told him.

“We can do that some time this week.” He replied.  “How about I kick the dogs outside for a little bit and you take a nap?”

“Sounds good.” She replied and he could tell her pill was kicking in.  AJ stood up and pulled the blanket that sat on the back of the couch over her.  He leaned down and gently kissed her lips.  “Love you.” He whispered to her as he pulled away.

“Love you too.” She replied with a soft smile.