After she sent the text, she helped Beth zip up the long red bridesmaid gown she’d chosen. All of Jessica’s bridesmaids would wear the same color but because each member of her bridal party was unique, she hadn’t forced them all to get the same dress. They’d picked gowns they liked, that she hoped they could wear again. She wasn’t sure how Sed would feel about the sexy dresses his little sisters had chosen, but she wasn’t going to tell them they couldn’t wear them. They were grown women, not the girls in pigtails he still thought of them as. Jessica had had enough angst thrown in her direction over the decision when her mother had found out that the bridesmaids weren’t going to be dressed as clones. Mom had thrown a huge fit about them looking like a mismatched group of beggars. Jessica had ultimately won that battle, however. And though they were all dressed differently, the deep red color made them look harmonious enough. She liked that they didn’t all look exactly the same.
Jessica was pacing by the time Aggie returned over half an hour later with the corset. What if she was too fat to get into the contraption? And why hadn’t Sed texted her back? And was her mother still harassing Sed’s mom? She hadn’t returned yet. And why was Malcolm crying again? She needed the baby to be in a good mood today. Or at the very least, asleep.
“Did you really make this, Aggie?” Beth said in breathless awe as she rubbed her hand over the pale pink orchids embroidered into the leather of the white corset.
“Yeah.”
“Where did you learn to sew like this? It’s gorgeous.”
“Grandma taught me.”
Beth chuckled. “Yeah, she tried to teach me too, but I ended up pricking all my fingers and never finished anything. I guess you had a natural talent.”
Aggie bit her lip. “No, I just persisted because I wanted an excuse to sit with her. She was always too busy to slow down, except when she was sewing.”
“Oh,” Beth said and she smiled, no longer looking terrified of her own cousin.
Jessica tried not to gloat. She slipped out of her dress, with Beth holding it up, and then stepped toward Aggie.
“This was supposed to be your wedding gift by the way,” Aggie said to Jessica. “I had to dig through hundreds of gifts in the reception hall to find it and then the caterer thought I was trying to steal it.”
“Sorry you had to go through so much trouble due to my unquenchable cravings for rocky road ice cream,” Jessica said, poking at her belly that was not all baby. Most of it was her.
Aggie wrapped the corset around her.
“I didn’t mind,” Aggie said, cinching the lacings at Jessica’s back. “Too tight?” she asked, concern in her voice.
“No,” Jessica said. She felt very tall for some reason. If the corset didn’t make her a bit thinner, at the very least it gave her fantastic posture. “You can tighten it more.”
“You have me worried about the baby now,” Aggie said.
“He’s about the size of my thumb at the moment. Doesn’t take up much room.”
“Can you get enough air, though?”
Jessica nodded. “I’m fine. Really.”
“You look sexy as hell in that thing,” Beth said. “I almost wish I was a lesbian. Will you embroider one for me, Aggie? Not that I have a man to wear it for, but I can wear it while I study. Maybe it would help me think.”
Aggie chuckled. ”Of course, hon. And maybe you’ll meet someone at the reception. There are at least ten thousand people coming, judging by the size of that reception hall.”
“Only five hundred,” Jessica said, rolling her eyes. She would never in a million years figure out how her mother had found five hundred people to attend the reception, much less RSVP that they were coming. Jessica didn’t know five hundred people. Maybe they were all Sed’s acquaintances. She hadn’t recognized many of the names on the guest list. At least she and Sed had gotten the final say on the guest list for the wedding, though her mother had kept sneaking people onto that as well.
She slipped her dress back up over her shoulders, closed her eyes and held her breath as Aggie zipped it. The gown zipped with ease. Jessica released a sigh of relief. She turned and hugged Aggie before bursting into tears.
Aggie hugged her tightly and patted her back. “Don’t cry, kitten,” she said. “You’ll ruin your make-up and then we’ll have to listen to your mother bitch some more.”
Jessica laughed. More of a huff. It turned out that laughing was a chore when one was cinched tight into a corset. Maybe that’s why Aggie didn’t laugh very often. At least she hadn’t been very joyful when she’d been acclimating Jessica to the stripper world in Vegas. Aggie laughed a lot more now that she was with Jace, and she still wore corsets.
Wiping at her tears, Jessica drew away from Aggie and plastered a smile on her face. “I owe you one, Aggie.”
“I’ll be getting married soon enough,” she said. “I’m sure you’ll help me out of a disaster or two.”
Jessica lit up. This was the first time she’d heard Aggie actually mention her wedding, though she’d been engaged to Jace for almost a year. “Have you picked a date?”
She shook her head, straight black bangs dancing across her forehead. The woman had the most flawless white skin. She must never go out in the sun.
“We’re waiting for a location to speak to us. There are things you just know are right, you know?”
Jessica nodded.
“So we’ll get married when and where it feels right,” Aggie said. “No rush. It’s not like we’re planning on having kids anytime soon.”