PART 2
On our wedding day, Lily was thrilled. She wore her pink flower-girl dress and carried a little basket filled with petals. Before the ceremony, she needed to wait in a small room near the aisle. Patricia volunteered to stay with her.
Something inside me hesitated. Before leaving, I looked directly at Patricia.
“Her dress stays on.”
She gave me an offended smile. “Obviously.”
Ten minutes later, the ceremony music began. I waited behind the church doors. Then they opened. A murmur moved through the guests. And my heart dropped.
Lily was standing at the start of the aisle wearing a GRAY TRACKSUIT. Long sleeves. Long pants. Her pink dress was gone. Her flower basket trembled in her hands.
“Mommy…”
I rushed toward her. “What happened?”
Tears filled Lily’s eyes. “Grandma Patricia made me change.”
Derek immediately came down from the altar. “She did WHAT?”
Then Patricia appeared carrying Lily’s pink dress.
“Please,” she said. “Don’t make a scene.”
I stared at her. “You changed my daughter five minutes before my wedding?”
Patricia sighed. “I solved a problem.”
“What problem?” Derek demanded.
She glanced at Lily. Then she finally said it. “I looked at the rehearsal photographs. Her spots draw attention.”
Lily pressed herself against me. Patricia lowered her voice. But not enough.
“They ruin the photos.”
Everything inside me went cold. I took the pink dress from her hands.
“You’re right about one thing.”
Patricia raised her eyebrows.
“Photographs last.”
I brought Lily back into the room and helped her change into the dress she loved. When we came back out, Derek crouched beside her.
“Ready, flower girl?”
Lily wiped her eyes. “Even like this?”
He looked directly at her uncovered arms. “Exactly like this.”
Her smile returned.
The ceremony went ahead. But afterward, while guests congratulated us, I watched Patricia carefully posing for the photographer and correcting the angle of her bouquet.
That was when I got an idea. I found the venue coordinator, Vanessa.
“Can I change something about tonight?”
She looked at her schedule. “How much?”
I glanced at Patricia. “Just one thing.”
By the time the reception began, Patricia had fully recovered. She walked around greeting relatives, fixing flowers, and reminding the photographer that her “good side” was the left one.
Then Vanessa quietly approached me. “Patricia wants individual portraits in the garden before the family photos.”
Of course she did. I looked outside. Then at the clock.
“When do the sprinklers come on?”
Vanessa’s eyebrows rose. “In about eight minutes.”
I smiled. “Don’t warn her.”
A few minutes later, Patricia walked into the garden with the photographer. Through the glass doors, I watched her pose beside the roses. She adjusted her dress. Smoothed her hair. Checked the pictures.
Then—
The sprinklers exploded to life.
“CLAIRE!”
Patricia came storming back inside completely soaked. Her carefully styled hair was plastered against one side of her face. Her pale-blue dress clung to her shoulders. Water dripped from her earrings. And every step she took made one shoe squeak.
Squeak. Squeak. Squeak.
“Not. One. Word,” she warned.
Derek immediately turned away because he was laughing too hard.
Patricia pointed at me. “You knew about those sprinklers!”
I tried to look innocent. “You asked for garden portraits.”
Then the photographer hurried inside. “Family pictures in five minutes.”
Patricia stared at him in horror. “I can’t take pictures like THIS!” She touched her ruined hair. “My dress is soaked!”
I looked across the room. Lily stood beside Derek in her pink dress. Her vitiligo was completely visible. Then I looked back at Patricia.
“You still look like yourself.”
She understood immediately. “Don’t make this about Lily.”
I answered calmly. “You already did.”
