Rachel stared at herself wearing her wedding dress. It was long, flowy with lace sleeves. It wasn’t the big princess dress she always imagined she’d be wearing. It was different, but she liked it very much. Valerie had picked her dress up and demanded she tried it on so her sister could admire it. Then Maddison showed up without notice and backed her sister up, is even more demanding than Valerie. They were all in her bedroom, admiring the dress.
“It’s perfect,” Valerie told her.
Maddison took in the dress, but the woman didn’t look as smitten by the dress as her sister was. She figured Maddison preferred a more in your face kind of dress. The kind of dress she would have worn if she married Declan instead of Ethan. As she glided her fingers over the soft fabric she couldn’t help but smile. She didn’t regret changing her mind the last minute and going for the more refined dress than the princess dress. This dress fitted the new Rachel.
“I think it’s perfect too.” Rachel agreed, “It fits the new me.”
“The new you?” Maddison asked curiously.
“The old Rachel was over the top and very dramatic.” Her sister laughed, “The new Rachel is the one who is marrying Ethan.”
“Exactly.” Rachel turned to look at her sister, “Now I need to get out of this dress. The guys are coming home any minute now. I’m sure Ava will be cranky because she needs to be fed, bathed and put to bed.”
Rachel frowned when she noticed her sister wasn’t paying attention to her at all. It reminded her of Ryan who completely ignored her as well. She unconsciously stepped back when Valerie approached her and grabbed her hands in hers.
“You’re wearing a ring,” Valerie stated.
“She’s been wearing that since last week,” Maddison informed her sister.
Valerie looked taken back by that, squeezing her hands tightly in the process. It was almost so tight it hurt, but she couldn’t pull away from her sister when she looked so undone by the fact that she didn’t notice the ring.
“We haven’t seen each other an entire week?” Valerie asked, “What happened?”
“We saw each other briefly, you were occupied with work. I didn’t want to bother you if you noticed I would have told you about it. But you know the VIP account in Boston needed to get rescued and then you were going on and on about fixing your department and being on top of things.” She narrowed her eyes at her sister, “Did you even try?” She asked, “With Gabriel I mean.”
Valerie pulled away then, looking flustered and ready to dash out of the room to escape the questioning.
“Things were insane at the office.” Her sister muttered.
Rachel sighed, “You have a problem, Valerie Starr.”
Valerie didn’t even defend herself as she tiredly agreed, “You’re right. I really do.”
Maddison looked confused and bored, “I don’t know what this is all about and I don’t care. Need help to get out of that dress?”
“I’d appreciate it.”
Maddison unzipped her dress, the girls gave her some privacy to change while they headed to the living room. She could hear Maddison and Valerie discuss more mundane things like new books and movies. Her sister wasn’t on top of those things anymore though. She was on top of the latest advertisement campaigns and she knew all about the best restaurants and hotels in town. Valerie’s eclectic fashion sense didn’t change either. But some people might find her sister quite boring to talk to.
Rachel quickly changed into her pair of jeans and soft gray sweater. She ran her fingers through her hair to fix it a little and put her dress away. She put on some fluffy socks to be as comfortable as possible and then joined the girls in the living room.
“We should order in.” She suggested.
“I’d like some sushi,” Maddison muttered, sounding quite unsure about that.
“Sushi?” Rachel asked to confirm that.
“Indian food sounds great too.” Maddison continued.
Valerie laughed, “It sounds like you’re undecided. So can I make the decision instead?”
Maddison got more comfortable on the couch and gestured for Valerie to carry on, “Sure.”
“Thai food.”
Maddison grinned from ear to ear, “Yes, some spicy food does sound great.”
Rachel was about to pick up her phone to look for places nearby who delivered, but Valerie beat her to it.
“I got it, you can prepare Ava’s drab food.”
Rachel rolled her eyes when Maddison agreed with Valerie, the two of them bonding over the fact that Ava ate disgusting looking food. The girl couldn’t eat solid food yet, but apparently, her aunts were brushing that off and continued making fun of the food Ava did eat. Rachel let them continue and headed to the kitchen to prepare Ava a healthy drab as Valerie called it.
***
Rachel watched as Ethan messed around with Ava, forgotten about his work. His laptop was pushed away at his side, while he was laying on his stomach and watching Ava trying to scoot around the bed. Approaching father and daughter, she took a seat beside Evan’s laptop carefully closing it and putting it on his bedside table.
“She’s a huge distraction, she isn’t?”
Ethan glanced over his shoulder, his eyes glittering with amusement. The soft smile playing on his lips made her melt right then and there for him. She kept her emotions at bay though. It was father and daughter time, she should let them bond a little.
“Yes, but that’s a given, right?” He placed his hand on Ava’s back, giving her another encouraging pat, “You can do it, show your aunt Valerie that you’re more than just a cute little girl.”
Rachel laughed, “Valerie has so many issues.”
Ethan sighed, “So many.”
“I hate to say this, but Gabriel is so much more reliable.”