Your mom

I laughed out loud and put the shirt on and grabbed some pants. I linked Cayden, “I’m going dress shopping.”

He replied, “Have fun and take Ghiza please.”

I snorted, “Fine.”

I walked outside the treehouse. I called, “Ghiza.” He materialized and I grabbed him, popping to mom.

Unsurprisingly, I found her with my dad. Rain snorted, “Shocking. They are always together.”

As much as they could be. It was something I loved about their relationship. They knew how to be apart, but they just loved being with each other.

My mom was nuzzled into my dad’s neck as he stared at her lovingly. I’d popped in on this exact scenario many times. I’d always wanted what they had and now, I had it myself with Cayden. My dad looked over first greeting, “Princess, you looked beautiful.”

He would’ve heard me pop in, and he could smell me.

I laughed, “That’s just clear bias. I’m wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt, that's says Bride . Mom insists I have to wear it.”

Mom sat up smiling, then said, “You do have to fucking wear it. I’ve been looking at Pinterest, this Instagram deal thing, and Google. One of the pack girls showed me Instagram. Did you know about this Instagram?”

I bit my lip knowing we’d all been trying to hide that from her.

My mom added, “I use fucking filters now.”

My dad smiled at her saying, “She does.”

My mom clapped, “Anyway, those things told me you need a special shirt to try on dresses. Are you ready? I’ve just got this feeling we will find THE dress today.”

My dad cleared his throat.

My mom sighed, “I see Ghiza with you, but he’s not the only one coming. Blade AND Serion are as well. Blade and Serion are already fucking there. At some point, when I was sleeping your dad talked to Cayden. It was decided Ghiza would be with us.”

Ghiza smiled at us adding, “I was told where to be myself.”

Of course he was.

I walked over and kissed my dad’s cheek. He squeezed my hand saying, “Have fun, Princess.”

I smiled, “I will.”

My mom grabbed me, and Ghiza touched my shoulder. She popped us away and we were in a hidden area where Blade and Serion were waiting.

I hugged Blade then Serion. Both were like Uncle’s to me at this point. Not for the first time I wished Blade had been with my mother her whole life. He would’ve eviscerated Fabian in a second. Nothing bad would’ve ever happened to her. He touched my shoulder as if he sensed my wish and I knew it was his wish too.

We walked around the corner, and I smiled thinking that it was truly amazing we could teleport. We just popped from Tennessee and now we were in Paris. We walked into the Metal Flaque Bridal Shop. Mom said, “Your dad called and rented the store out for the day.”

I laughed, “Of course he did.”

He’d done the same at the other dress shops where there had been dresses I’d wanted to try on. I knew that both my dad and Grandpa Titus moved mountains so every shop I went to was shut down. This one was a human shop my mom found, so I was certain they paid a lot for this to happen.

A woman walked right up to us with a plate of cheese and bread. Another woman walked up with champagne glasses. She smiled greeting, “Bonjour! Welcome Mrs. Conners and the Miss. Conners. I hear you will soon to be Mrs. Crawford.”

They certainly did their research.

I replied, “Yes, I will be. Thank you so much for having us.”

The woman dipped her head saying, “We have all the dresses from the pictures your mother sent ready in the dressing rooms for you to try on. We also have the dresses from your mother’s Pinterest board. She’s certainly…”

She trailed off.

“How do you say? Hmm.”

She tapped her chin, “Thorough?”

I nodded, “That she is.”

The woman beamed adding, “Feel free to peruse the dresses on the racks. I understand you want a ceremony and reception dress.”

I nodded explaining my vision, “I want a more risqué reception dress, but a traditional dress with some pizazz for the ceremony.”

My mom smiled brightly. She confided to me, “I really wish I had fucking thought of having two dresses when your dad and I got married. He’d have LOST it and gone all growly.”

I agreed, “He would’ve. He’ll probably be growling at mine.”

My mom snorted, “He absofuckinglutely will not! Not on my baby’s wedding day. I will have absolutely none of that happening. There can only be happy tears and smiles.”

I laughed because I knew she’d have her work cut out for her with that.

Rain groaned, “No joke. Thor is going to pout. I don’t like when dad pouts, but we should definitely look sexy.”

I happily replied, “We will.”

I’d find the right dresses for my vision. I saw the workers exchange looks and knew they’d heard about my dad. Most had, even if they were humans.

The looks on their faces told me they couldn’t imagine my dad being soft with me or my mom. I’d heard people talk about my dad all my life. People used to say he was cold, and still said that about him to this day. No one could deny his love for my mother if they saw them together though. Everyone that knew them said she’d tamed the big bad most powerful Alpha.

As far as me, well he’d always been a big teddy bear. I’d seen him when people crossed him though. He was fierce and I was proud of him. What people failed to see was a lot was that often it was my dad holding my mom back and calming her down a lot. He kept her from going nuclear on a lot of people.

Rain chimed in, “They probably don’t see it because mom is a master at composing herself and her emotions.”

She was. My siblings and I could feel her though, even though she had walls. We still felt her. My dad, especially when it involved him or me and my siblings, was the voice of reason. My mom preferred to go nuclear, and sometimes did. She had no tolerance for anyone messing with her family.

Honestly, I wanted to be just like her with my own kids. Cayden would have a time of it calming me down, just like my dad did, because I thought my mom was right. There were many times it was proven she should’ve gone off when she’d wanted to. I was going to learn from that and be stealthier about it.

Rain snorted, “Mom goes off and does stealthy all the time.”

She did but a lot of the times she tried to talk people into being on her side. I didn’t need that. I was just going to go off on my own if it was needed. Grammy Veronica often said sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. I was going to take that to heart.

I went into the first dressing room with all the dresses. Once the woman helped me into the dresses I didn’t bother to show my mom. They weren’t the dress. Eventually, I could sense the woman that was helping me was distressed, so I went out to show my mom.

My mom clapped saying, “You look stunning, Cass.”

I smiled somewhat forced saying, “I like it but….”

My mom interrupted, “But you’re not having your ‘this is the dress’ moment yet.”

I nodded loving that she just understood my feelings.

By the twentieth dress I tried on I was beginning to fear my dress wasn’t here. My mom said, “How about we take a break? Let’s have some lunch. Your dad organized catering for us. That man never misses a chance to spoil us.”

She smiled while the women working with us leaned in. It was clear as day how much my mom loved my dad in her tone and facial expression.

My mom waved, “He just never misses anything. I do so love that about him. He’s the fucking best.”

He was. The girls brought in Coq au vin. I smiled because it was a favorite of mine. They brought in a burgundy Pinot Noir to go with it. My mom told me encouragingly, “Your dress is here, I feel it.”

I sighed, “I just don’t know. Maybe this all was for nothing.”

My mom snorted, “Spending the day with my little girl is never for nothing. You’ve looked beautiful in everything. Plus, you’ve only looked at ceremony dresses.”

I acknowledged, “That’s true. We could still find the reception dress.”

My mom winked, “Go to the Pinterest dress room next. Your dress is in that room. I swear it to you. I’ve been picturing you in it since the day I pinned it. It’s fucking perfect.”

I laughed, “They do say that mother knows best.”

My mom sighed, “Sadly, you get bad fucking mom’s that ruin that saying. A mother doesn’t always know best, and it’s important you know that. Those good mom’s out there are doing the best we can every day, but being a mom is hard. Sometimes our decisions are clouded by what we know, experience, and there’s always a bit of that’s my kid in there.”

I laughed, “It’s bad eggs, mom. Not mom’s.”

My mom frowned, “Oh Jesus Christ. A bad egg? What is the yoke brown or something?”

I laughed, “No, but I’ll go to your Pinterest room next. What dress am I looking for?”

My mom evaded, “Just see if you like any of them.”

I smiled and walked into the room. Rain purred, “She doesn’t want to influence us. She’s the best.”

She was and I knew even if I didn’t like any of these dresses she wouldn’t care or be upset. My eyes danced over the dresses looking for any that caught my eye.

I gasped the second I saw it. It was perfect. The woman helping me nudged me saying, “Your mother insisted we have this dress here for you. It was flown directly from the designer. I don’t know how she got it to be honest. It’s not set to be shown until next spring.”

I replied, “That’s my mother for you.”

I touched the dress loving the feel of it. It was an A-line cut fitted white top with places of sheer material and the skirt was pale yellow tulle. My mom just knew dresses and who they suited better than anyone I’d ever met.

I put it on and teared up. The sales lady asked, “Is this the one?”

I nodded, “Yes.”

She smiled, “Then let’s go show your mom.”

We walked out and I already had tears of happiness running down my face. Cayden sent me all his love and excitement that I had found my dress.

My mom fanned her face then said, “Fuck it. If you can’t cry when your daughter looks every bit the Duchess and beautiful woman she is in her wedding dress, when can you?”

She started crying and Blade instantly handed her a tissue.

Serion spoke, “You look beautiful, Cassie.”

I blushed, “Thank you, Serion.”

I looked over tentatively asking, “Ghiza?”

I’d grown up with him and his opinion was important to me. I gasped when I saw him. I blurted out, “Are you crying?” He muttered, “No, I am not. I just have dust in my eyes.” I laughed, “Ok then.” He said, “It’s a beautiful dress made better by the young woman in it.”

My mom said, “Men. He’s fucking crying. I don’t know why he won’t admit that.”

I hugged my mom whispering, “I just don’t know how you do it. I love this dress. Let’s cut to the chase and you just tell me which room to see my reception dress.”

My mom laughed, “That’s no fun! Plus, we need to celebrate this moment. We need champagne then we have to do something called a hashtag about finding the fucking dress. The pack girls say it’s absolutely vital.”

I laughed, “Oh, mom.”

She asked, “What does that mean?”

I grinned, “That you are so you it’s amazing.” Rain chuckled in my head.

The women working in the store brought us more champagne and we toasted. My mom announced, “I can’t post a picture of you in the dress, so I am not certain how I hashtag this moment. Where can I go to say you found the fucking dress without a picture?”

Before anyone could stop them, the lady who’d been helping said, “That would be Twitter.”

Blade bit his lip.

My mom sighed, “Twitter? What’s that? UGH! Now, I have to get a damn twitter and twitter my thoughts.”

The woman laughed, “They are called tweets.”

I bit my lip knowing that was heading for trouble. My mom sighed, “For the love of god. FINE! I will find this Twitter to Tweet that we found the dress. Honestly, this is so damn absurd.”

The woman held up a sign for us to take a picture with that said we found the dress, but I subtly shook my head. This way would be more fun. Serion nudged me and pointed to a room. I smiled knowing why he was pointing me that way.

I stepped out of my wedding dress and looked around. In a second, I saw the perfect reception dress. I laughed telling the attendant, “She’s batting a thousand.”

My mom was muttering under her breath about a twitter handle. Rain was cackling in my head.

She said, “I just want to fucking tweet on the Twitter. Why do I need a fucking handle? Do I have to open the door to the Twitter?”

I managed not to laugh and get into the reception dress. My mom gave up, “I don’t understand this fucking bullshit. Unless someone helps me with the setup I can’t Tweet my thoughts. What utter bullshit. I reject this app. No wonder I wasn’t told about it. I’m going to block this entire annoyance from my goddamn mind.”

The woman helping me and I laughed. I turned around and looked at my dress in the mirror in the dressing room. It was perfect. It was both sparkly and sexy. I walked out and Ghiza choked, while Blade and Serion laughed.

I teased, “There’s no dust in your eyes this time, Ghiza?”

Ghiza groaned, “Aesir above, you and your mother just LIVE to make my life complicated.”

My mother snorted, “She looks afuckingmazing.”

She turned to me, “Baby, you look absolutely gorgeous! Cayden won’t know what hit him. I don’t quite understand that saying, but the pack girls told me what it meant. I feel it applies here even though you don’t plan to hit him with the dress.”

I smiled saying, “I know what you mean, and the pack girls helped you get the context correct.”

She grinned then Aiylee and Beagan walked into the store. I squealed, “I got both my dresses!”

My mom softly said. “Of course you did. My baby gets what her heart wants.”

She’d move heaven and earth to make that happen too.

Aiylee screamed, “OH MY GOD! LOOK AT YOU!”

Beagan gasped, “It’s stunning and sexy. It’s the reception dress, right?”

Aiylee grinned, “It should be the ceremony dress. I’m all for the reception dress being even riskier.”

Ghiza told her, “You stop talking right now.” She winked at him, “You adore me, and you know it.” He smiled at her.

I kissed my mom’s cheek and went back to get dressed in my regular clothes. It really had been a good day. I skipped back out and my mom grinned. She told me, “I can continue to celebrate with you guys, but if you just want to go with your cousins I understand. I won’t be upset with you either way.”

She really meant that. I asked, “What are we doing?”

Aiylee answered, “Getting a drink.”

I tugged my mom’s hand, “Come with us, please.” She smiled and nodded.

We made our way back to the place nearby where we’d popped in. Aiylee popped us to the Sky Bar. We floated on clouds to the bar and ordered our drinks. The clouds took us to our table then our servers came by.

My mom stayed until my dad practically yanked her to him in the bond so hard I felt it. I laughed, “I guess dad wants to see you.”

She grinned, “I can stay.”

I kissed her cheek, “Go on, mom. Thank you for everything today.”

She squeezed my hand, “Anytime, you’re my little girl.” She popped away.

Aiylee squealed, “YOU ARE GETTING MARRIED!”

I pointed out, “You’re already married.”

She made a fun face then agreed, “Yes, I am. It was a glorious ceremony planned by Aunt Haley, my mom, Lexi, and TeleTed.”

It had been quite extravagant and amazing.

She said, “But now it’s your turn.”

I winked, “Soon to be Bea’s.”

Beagan laughed, “I don’t know. They have their traditions.”

Aiylee scoffed, “Who cares? Talk to your mate and tell him you want a wedding and to marry you.” I reached across the table and squeezed Beagan’s hand.

I said, “JP isn’t anyone else. He loves you and Aiylee is right. Talk to JP if that’s what you want. You guys can discuss it.”She looked down admitting, “It would hurt if he said no.”

Aiylee jumped in, “Then I will place mean charms on his ass for hurting you.”

Someone sighed nearby.

She turned, “Yeah, I fucking cursed get over it. I’ll be the Queen around here one day I can say a curse word if I want.”

Several people looked amused before they looked away. She rolled her eyes, “Anyway…”

I jumped in, “It can be scary. I didn’t bring it up with Cayden, but he had the ring the whole time. He’d had it for a while.”

Aiylee huffed, “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me. I would’ve had that whole thing planned in a second.”

I grinned, “And we love that about you.”

She brushed fake lint off her shoulder.

I said, “I know it can be scary because they have their traditions, but Cayden is a full blooded Hackura and he bucked tradition. JP is a hybrid. I think the conversation will surprise you.”

She bit her lip, “He’s younger than me.”

Aiylee asked, “And? Exsis is older than me. Cayden is older than Cassie.”

I added, “My Grammy Veronica is older than Grandpa Titus.”

Aiylee snapped, “Yes! See? Age doesn’t matter to supernatural’s. I’m not saying drag him down the aisle, though I am not opposed to making such a plan, just talk to him.”

Beagan laughed, “You would, wouldn’t you?”

She snorted, “If you want him dragged down that aisle, I am your future Queen and cousin at your service.”

We all laughed knowing she was one thousand percent serious. Rain said, “She’s probably have him literally dragged by the Royal Fairy Guards.”

I amended, “While also using magic.”

We drank more and Beagan gathered her courage. She whispered, “I’m doing it.”

I opened a portal, and we left. She snapped herself into a sexy outfit and we practically shoved her through her door. A few minutes later Grimes came out shaking his head but smiling.

He asked, “Why is it always you three?”

I grinned, “Because we are fun.”

He snorted, “Well, whatever you’ve done my son is insanely happy.”

We heard something slam against the door before Beagan moaned.

Aiylee grinned, “I’m so good at this. At least I don’t have use magic to get him down the aisle because I was serious about that.”

I snorted, “I knew you were.”

Grimes raised an eyebrow. Aiylee said, “Well, let’s celebrate to our cousin’s happiness and yours.”

I grabbed her and popped her to the bar where the women danced on the bar.

She clapped, “I do so love this bar.”

We ordered shots and eventually ended up dancing on the bar together. We started working and dancing. Word spread around because the place was packed.

Someone paid for Aiylee and I to get water dumped on us. We did a routine we made up when we were little. I giggled with her as we ended it, and water was poured on us.

Cayden’s nearness slammed into me. I opened my eyes and saw his heated gaze on me. Exsis was next to him with a drink in his hand. I licked my lips and found the sugar.

I got it on my lips then crawled over to him. I grabbed him by the back of the neck and kissed him. His tongue licked the sugar off my lips and the bar went nuts. He tried to pull me off the bar, but I used a move he taught me to get out of his hold.

I spun around on my butt and put my leg up to get back on the bar and dance with Aiylee. I yelled, “I found my wedding dress today!”

The cheers went around the bar. I danced my ass off and saw more members of my family arrive. I sent them all my love.

Every single one of my uncles were here along with several of my cousins. My grandparents were even in the back. I smiled at them, loving that I lived here, and I knew they felt the same. Aunt Torvi got up on the bar with us which set off a chain of events.

I warned, “Aiylee, an orgy will definitely start.”

She winked, “Then I’ll just make out with my mate until I give in and let him have his wicked way with me. When I decide to do that, I’ll pop us to the treehouse I made here.”

I winked at her loving every second of this day.