Mother of the Bride

by Marita Conlon-McKenna

  ‘Look, Amy,’ she called out, delighted, spinning around.

  The assistant went and got Ciara the same dress in a size ten and she dragged it on.

  ‘Yuk,’ she said, stepping out in front of the mirrors. ‘I feel like a birthday cake or a lampshade in this, and the colour is disgusting.’

  ‘But I really like it,’ admitted Jess, catching herself at all angles in the mirror.

  ‘What other colours does it come in?’ pressed Amy.

  ‘All the shades we have are on the rail here, but we can order different sizes in if they are out of stock,’ said Maggie, the helpful assistant, passing Ciara another pretty chiffon dress with shoestring straps, a cinched-in waist, and a lovely full above-the-knee skirt in navy.

  ‘She’s not wearing that colour,’ said Amy.

  ‘Forget the colour, we are looking for a style of dress first,’ Maggie explained patiently.

  Ciara and Jess must have tried on at least fifteen dresses. Jess still liked the layered one, and tried it in another colour: a cool sage green which looked totally different.

  ‘Oh, Jess, that looks really well on you, too,’ remarked Helen.

  Amy frowned, looking doubtful.

  ‘What a lot of brides do now,’ Maggie suggested, ‘if they have a problem getting a style to suit all their bridesmaids, is to buy different style dresses in the range but in the same colour and material. Here’s a chart with the full colour range.’

  Jess understood what she was getting at straight away. She grabbed a dress with a lovely short skirt and straight bodice in the same sage-green colour she had on for Ciara to try.

  The two of them laughed as they studied each other in the green, not sure it really worked.

  ‘I think if you had three or four bridesmaids or more it would be a great idea,’ said Amy. ‘But with two it just highlights the differences between them.’

  Little and bloody large! thought Jess.

  The shop was beginning to fill up, and Maggie excused herself as she went to see to another bride and her mother.

  ‘I just don’t know what to do!’ screamed Amy, panicking.

  ‘Why don’t you take the catalogue and all of you study it at home?’ suggested Helen. ‘The girls have tried on most of the styles, even if they are not in the colours that you like. We’ve less than an hour if you want to get over to that other place you had on your list before it closes.’

  The massive Wedding Warehouse, with its proclaimed range of bridal dresses and accessories for every type of wedding, proved a massive disappointment. The bridesmaid dresses were mostly full-length with sequins and beads, in shiny materials and colours like baby pink and turquoise and red. ‘Yuk’, they all agreed, high-tailing it out of there.

  As Jess drove home at 9.30, promising herself a lovely long hot soak in the bath, she couldn’t believe that she had agreed to give up another precious Saturday to go and search for dresses again with Amy. She had to be mad!

  Chapter Twenty-five

  Helen was cooking a simple pasta dinner with tomatoes, basil and baby courgettes when Ciara walked in. Her long dark hair looked dirty, its heavy black dye giving it a sooty appearance. Her pale face was accentuated by black kohl eyeliner, and despite the warm weather she was wearing black leggings tucked into chunky black biker boots. Her fingernails were painted black, and every finger was covered in silver jewellery.

  Helen bit her tongue and said nothing.

  Ciara was a good kid and had gone straight to work from college. She was doing extra shifts trying to raise money for an eight-week trip to Thailand in the summer before she started her final year.

  ‘I wish Amy would get off my case!’ Ciara complained angrily, grabbing a glass of water and sitting down to pick at the bowl of salad on the table. ‘She’s turned into a Bridezilla! I don’t see why I have to go and look at stupid dresses again this Saturday. I’m meant to be working, and Henry says that if I can’t do my normal shift, then I have to do the Sunday plus a late night on Thursday. It’s so unfair. I’m going to miss a big music session in Whale. I’ve helped set it up and I won’t even get to see the band. Why does Amy have to ruin my life?’

  ‘Why do you two fight so much?’ asked Helen, weary with it all.

  ‘Because Amy wants me to look like a nerd for her wedding, that’s why. I told her I didn’t want to be a bridesmaid!’ Ciara said. ‘She says that I have to, because I’m her sister. You saw the dresses, Mum. They’re awful. If Amy thinks I’m going to wear a vile pink dress for her wedding she can think again!’

  ‘Ciara, she’s just trying to find a bridesmaid dress that both of you like. Most brides just choose a dress and tell all their bridesmaids that’s what they have to wear. When your dad and I were at your Cousin Shay’s wedding last July in Cork, the bridesmaids had hideous brown dresses. No way was Joanne, the bride, having other girls upstage her. So you don’t realize how good Amy is to let you and Jess have your pick.’

  ‘I’m not wearing any of them. They’re not my style.’

  ‘Is it too much for Amy to ask her only sister to support her on her wedding day?’ Helen said angrily. ‘To tidy herself up and wear a pretty dress for a few hours instead of jeans or leggings and biker boots?’

  Ciara refused to answer. Instead she fiddled with her phone, pretending to read a text. Eventually she met her mother’s gaze. ‘Mum, you know how much I hate dressing up and putting on fake tan like all the other girls, and wearing high heels and pretending to be someone that I’m not. Why should I do it just because my sister is getting married?’

  ‘It is only one day,’ reminded Helen sadly. ‘One special family day! But if it is going against your principles to be nice and kind and supportive of your sister for a single day – then maybe you are right and it is better if you withdraw from being a bridesmaid. Jess is a good friend, and Amy will have her as her bridesmaid, and maybe one of the other girls will step in for you. Amy will be disappointed and very hurt, so you need to think about it, Ciara. You can be a bridesmaid or you can just be a guest like lots of other people at your sister’s wedding. But I am telling you, you will not go to the wedding dressed like you are attending some grunge festival! Do you hear me?’

  Ciara stormed out of the kitchen and off upstairs. Her door banged shut and the noise of some God-awful music filled the house.

  Helen wondered how two sisters could be so different. The same parents, the same upbringing and education, and yet Amy and Ciara were absolute opposites. No one would think they were related, let alone sisters! They’d sparked off each other ever since they were little, Ronan acting as an easy-going buffer between the two of them. Sometimes she thought that Ciara, instead of trying to copy her big sibling, like most little sisters did, had decided just to be totally different! Helen had grown up with three brothers, and although they were great fun and had always been there for her, she had longed for a sister, dreamed of having one. She envied her women friends who were so connected with theirs. And here were her girls, despite being sisters, totally at odds with each other – over, of all things, a dress!

  Poor Barney had been skulking under the kitchen table during the row. He looked up at her, ever hopeful of a walk. She turned off the cooker. She wasn’t hungry now, she’d eat later. She had to get away from the noise upstairs. Helen clipped on the dog’s lead, slipped on her walking shoes and grabbed her keys. An hour’s walk in the fresh air would calm her down and hopefully do them both good.

  ‘Come on, fellah, let’s get out of here!’ she said.

  Chapter Twenty-six

  Amy was exhausted and had to drag herself out of bed on Saturday morning. She had been to the launch of a new vodka and cranberry drink they were promoting last night, and everyone had stayed on in Krystle afterwards. She had fallen into a taxi at two thirty and crept into the apartment.

  Dan was in a bit of a mood with her and had got up early and gone for a jog, as he was in training for a charity marathon he was undertaking in three weeks’ time. Sweaty
in his tracksuit, he sat in the kitchen, making breakfast.

  ‘Do you want some?’ he asked as he started to put some bacon on to cook.

  ‘No, I’m meeting Ciara and Jess and Mum in half an hour,’ Amy explained. ‘I’ve no time for a big breakfast this morning.’

  Grabbing a slice of toast and some juice, she raced to get ready.

  ‘Why won’t you have a proper Saturday breakfast with me?’ he complained. ‘Text them and tell them you’ll meet them later.’

  Amy stopped for a second, torn, but thinking of the task ahead made her resolute.

  ‘Dan, I’ve got to go. You’ve no idea what it’s like trying to get bridesmaid dresses to suit two very different people. Mum phoned last night and said Ciara was in a right strop about it. God, I don’t know how girls that have five or six bridesmaids manage! You guys are lucky: you just go into Blacktie and rent a suit for the day and pick out the colour tie you want!’

  ‘Sure!’ Dan said, gulping down a huge glass of fresh orange juice.

  Amy searched around the room for her pink Filofax, and shoved it into her leather shoulder bag. She didn’t know what she’d do if she lost it.

  ‘See you later!’ she called, grabbing her keys.

  ‘Don’t forget Liam and that new girl he’s dating, Jade, and Jeremy and Grace are coming here for supper tonight,’ Dan reminded her. ‘I told them to be here around eight.’

  ‘Shit! I totally forgot,’ Amy said, suddenly remembering the long arranged meal. With so much else on her mind, tonight’s dinner had slipped from her radar.

  ‘Dan, would you mind giving the place a hoover?’ she pleaded. ‘And do you think you could organize the food?’

  ‘I’m watching a rugby match down in the club this afternoon with the lads,’ he said. ‘Why can’t you do it?’

  ‘I told you, I’m meeting the others again to look for dresses. You know what a nightmare that is. Can you not just go down to the supermarket before you go to the match and get some chicken and a few bottles of wine and some beer? You could make that green Thai chicken dish with noodles. I’ll make a nice salad and pick up some kind of tart thing in town for dessert.’

  ‘OK, OK,’ he reluctantly agreed, burying his head in the Saturday sports section of the paper.

  Amy knew it wasn’t fair, and that he was annoyed she hadn’t remembered and organized things. But Dan was a good cook, and often surprised her with new dishes. He was much more adventurous in his cuisine than she was.

  ‘Thanks,’ she said, rushing over to kiss him goodbye.

  * * *

  ‘Where’s Mum?’ asked Amy when she spotted Ciara walking across from the bus stop on Dawson Street on her own.

  ‘I don’t know, I was at a party last night so I stayed at a friend’s house. But I’m sure Mum will be along soon.’ Ciara yawned, not mentioning the row Helen had told Amy about.

  Ciara was hungover, looked like the wreck of the Hesperus, and admitted she had been out till nearly four in the morning. She made it quite clear that she thought she should be back in bed instead of parading around bridal boutiques.

  ‘We’d all like to be back in bed,’ muttered Amy, feeling decidedly rough herself.

  Jess arrived a few minutes late and was yawning, too.

  ‘Sorry, but I stayed up late watching Sleepless in Seattle. I love that movie, but why they have to show it at one o’clock in the morning is beyond me!’

  ‘OK, girls, let’s get some dresses!’ yelled Amy, trying to be positive. ‘There’re two wedding shops close by. I had a look at them at lunchtime yesterday.’

  They started off in Trousseau, a beautiful French wedding shop off Wicklow Street; it carried a small range of dresses for bridesmaids and flower girls that coordinated with its pretty bridal dresses and accessories.

  ‘The sizes are all French, too, and really tiny,’ worried Jess as Amy passed her an apple-green dress with a white bow. Ciara disappeared behind the strawberry-printed curtain and pulled on her one.

  ‘This isn’t too bad,’ she said, standing in front of the dressing room in her bare feet. ‘I suppose it’s kind of funky.’

  Amy actually liked it, too, and held her breath as Jess appeared in her one.

  ‘It’s tiny, Amy,’ protested Jess, all hot and flustered, the dress stretched to its limit on her curvy figure. ‘I know it’s lovely but I feel I’m going to explode in it.’

  Amy, looking at her friend, who resembled a big green apple with a white ribbon tied around her middle, had to reluctantly agree. They went to try on another dress . . .

  Helen texted to find out where they were and appeared a few minutes later.

  ‘Sorry I’m late,’ she apologized, ‘but there was fierce traffic in Donnybrook on the way in. Ciara OK?’

  ‘She’s a bit hungover but at least she turned up,’ said Amy.

  Helen and Amy watched as the girls stepped out in another dress Amy liked: a loose-fitting rose top with a tiered, flouncy skirt.

  ‘Boring,’ said Ciara loudly. It looked anaemic on Ciara and not much better on Jess.

  God, is this torture never to end? thought Amy. We’ll never find anything that suits them both. She’d been at plenty of weddings over the past three years where the bridesmaids had certainly not looked their best, and had always put it down to a deliberate ploy by the bride not to be outshone. But now, seeing the sheer impossibility of finding something that looked good on both her sister and her best friend, and beginning to reach desperation point, Amy could totally understand the dilemma. Juliet’s, the more traditional bridal shop down the street, had only very formal bridal wear, with stiff, shiny taffeta dresses and long jewel-coloured silk ones with halter necks or corset tops.

  ‘There must be somewhere else we can try,’ begged Jess, desperation in her voice.

  ‘I feel awful,’ Ciara said, running into the newsagent’s to buy a litre bottle of water.

  Disaster, thought Amy, having visions of dragging the girls to London or Belfast if they didn’t find something soon.

  They were walking back up South William Street when Amy suddenly remembered Belle. It wasn’t a wedding shop, but it did a great line in party and cocktail wear, and last year she had got an amazing black dress there to wear at a big charity ball that Dan’s firm was sponsoring.

  ‘What about trying here?’ she suggested.

  Ciara and Jess’s faces suddenly brightened up as they pushed in the door of the shop.

  ‘You two see if there is anything you like,’ Amy said, collapsing on the sofa beside her mother.

  Ciara strode off in one direction while Jess looked at the designer wear.

  Amy resisted the urge to interfere, and couldn’t believe it when the two of them started to go around the rails together looking at stuff.

  ‘I’m going to try these on, Jess,’ called her sister.

  ‘Are they together?’ asked the model-like blonde assistant.

  ‘Yes, we’re trying to find dresses for a wedding.’

  ‘Well, I have just got a new range of evening wear in from Milan, and some fresh stock from two young designers I carry only came in yesterday. It’s literally just gone out on the floor.’

  ‘You own the place?’

  ‘Yes.’ Mia Anderson smiled and introduced herself. ‘I tend to stock the kind of things I like to buy, and hope the customers will like them, too.’

  Amy held her breath as Ciara and Jess flitted in and out of the small fitting room with piles of dresses. Dear God, she thought, please let them find something that suits both of them!

  Mia Anderson was endlessly patient, and Amy couldn’t believe it when she disappeared to the stockroom and reappeared with even more dresses over her arm for Jess and Ciara. Jess came out wearing a vivid fuchsia-coloured cocktail dress. With a corset-style top cinching in to a narrow waist and a classic knee-length skirt in a satin material it showed off her curves while skimming her figure. The shape was perfect on her.

  ‘Ciara, will you try on that style too?�
�� pleaded Amy, not believing it when Ciara appeared in the same dress looking equally good.

  ‘Oh, that dress is gorgeous on you both.’ Helen O’Connor beamed.

  ‘I love it!’ Jess enthused. ‘When I saw it on the hanger I didn’t think it was something I would even put on me but it makes me feel pretty and sexy and feminine.’

  Ciara was less enthusiastic. ‘OK, it’s a great shape and style and I like the material but I hate this colour,’ she said stubbornly. ‘I told you that I’m not wearing pink.’

  ‘But I love the dresses,’ Amy said. ‘They are the first ones I’ve seen that look good on both of you. Honestly, Ciara, you know they do!’

  Ciara stood there, pouting.

  ‘Would you like to try them in another colour?’ asked Mia quietly. ‘They come in a purple shade. Do you want to see what it looks like?’

  Amy held her breath as Jess disappeared back into the fitting room. Reappearing a few minutes later wearing the same dress in purple, Jess looked absolutely gorgeous. The bright crocus colour made her eyes sparkle and showed off her skin tones and hair. The dress was so stylish and elegant, and hit her legs and waist and figure in exactly the right spot.

  ‘Is there one for Ciara?’ Amy asked, worried.

  ‘There’s none on the rails in her size but I’ll check the stockroom again,’ offered Mia, disappearing.

  Amy tried not to get her hopes up.

  ‘I found one,’ Mia called out a few minutes later. Laughing, she passed the dress in to Ciara.

  Ciara emerged from behind the curtain and stood in the centre of the shop. With her long dark hair and slim figure the dress looked amazing. The colour was such a contrast from the pink. It looked edgy and different on Ciara, and emphasized her long legs and tiny waist.

  ‘Wow!’ said Amy. ‘You look great.’

  ‘Walk up and down!’ ordered Helen O’Connor. ‘I want to see what you will both look like going up the aisle in those dresses.’

  Amy watched in disbelief as her two bridesmaids walked in perfect unison in the matching dresses. They looked gorgeous and slightly edgy. It wasn’t the usual boring bridesmaid look.