I brought the dress over and stood behind my sisters, who were pointing at another dress. Evie’s lips were turned down. She was not enjoying herself, and today was supposed to be all about fun. However, when you’ve looked at a hundred dresses, tried on ten and nothing has caught your eye, I could imagine it would feel daunting and frustrating. I wasn’t trying anything on, and it wasn’t my wedding day, but I was already in need of a stiff drink and a burger.
“Ladies...” I tried to interrupt.
“Just give it a try, Evie, come on,” Suda Kaye encouraged, pushing a dress in front of her.
Evie shook her head. “If I hate it on the hanger, I’m going to hate it on me.”
Suda Kaye groaned. “You don’t know that until you try it on,” she bit out through clenched teeth.
“Guys!” I spoke up and both of them turned their heads.
Evie’s eyes settled on the dress that I held up and instantly widened, softened, then filled with tears. She reached her arms out, one to take the hanger and the other to hold the dress by the waist and inspect it closer up.
“My goodness, I’ve never seen anything more beautiful,” she whispered.
Suda Kaye grinned huge, came over to my side and put her arm around my shoulders, hugging me close. “Our baby sister is about to save the day methinks.” She wrapped her other arm around my chest and leaned her head on my shoulder. Her hair smelled of cherries and I committed it to memory, never wanting to forget this moment.
“I’m going to try this on right now.” Evie held the gown aloft as though it were priceless.
I swirled around to face my sister and put both of my hands up in the air. Suda Kaye high-fived me with both of hers. “Should we say a little prayer?” I joked.
“Good idea!” she agreed.
Suda Kaye interlaced our fingers and tugged me closer. Then she pressed her forehead to mine and closed her eyes. I did the same, not knowing what to do, but followed her lead.
“Momma, if you can make this dress be the one, we’d be eternally grateful. Evie deserves to feel like a queen on her wedding day and the dress is the most important part. So help us out, will ya?” she spoke in a whisper, but I found it funny and chuckled.
“Yeah, what she said!” I added and Suda Kaye giggled.
“Thanks, Mom. We miss you and love you,” she added. “Amen.”
“You pray to Catori?” I asked when she was finished.
She nodded avidly. “All the time. She’s hanging around us, so I know she’s listening, guiding us along the way. Probably why we found out about you, actually.”
I stepped back and crossed my arms over my chest protectively. “What do you mean?”
“In our culture, when a member of the tribe passes, they are set to rest on our lands. Then a fire is built to help guide the spirit to its final resting place. Mom was adamant she did not want her spirit to move on. Not yet. Only Toko knows when the time is right.” She shrugged as if this wasn’t a big deal.
“You’re basically telling me that our mother’s spirit has not left this earth even though she’s been dead for over a decade?”
She nodded as if this information was all the same to her.
“I’m not sure I like this.” I felt uncertain and a little weirded out.
Suda Kaye smiled. “Relax. It’s not like she’s watching you in the shower or when you masturbate or have sex.” She made a gagging noise. “But I know Mom pretty well and she’d watch over all of us when we need it. She’s why I’m back in Colorado and ended my wandering.”
“What do you mean?”
“One of the letters. The one on my twenty-eighth birthday last year told me to go home. From the second I landed to every step I took after I felt her close. Her essence seems to be carried in the breeze. And ever since I came home, I’ve never been happier. We lost Adam, but we gained you. More happiness.”
“And how would I know what the feeling of her essence is if I didn’t know her in person?”
She smiled softly. “You’ll know. You’ll feel it. Either way, that’s why I pray to her. I figure if she’s hanging around, making sure her girls are happy, safe and protected, she’d want to nudge us in the right direction.”
Before I could continue the discussion Evie came out.
The woman was a vision.
A golden goddess. She wore the dress as though she were an angel walking on a cloud, not a woman trying on a cocktail dress.
Suda Kaye covered her mouth with both hands and stared at Evie. “Oh, my God. Sissy, you look magical.”
Evie swished the bottom skirt layers from side to side and stepped up on the riser. My eyes could barely handle the beauty before them. This was it. The most perfect dress for a stunning woman.
Tears fell down Evie’s cheeks and she tried to blot them with her knuckles. “This is the one. I’m going to marry the man I’ve loved my entire life in this dress and become his wife.” She smiled so huge even as more tears poured down her cheeks.
Suda Kaye bounced up and down and raced up onto the riser and pulled Evie into her arms. The two of them burst into happy tears while I watched. Then Evie turned her head, opened her arm and said, “Baby sis, get over here!”
My heart exploded with love and acceptance. The sensation of belonging was so acute it flooded through my veins as I stepped up on the riser and was embraced by these two amazing women. Tears shimmered in my eyes as I was held by my sisters.
My sisters.
They were no longer two women I was getting to know. They were people I now loved, cared for and adored in a way I hadn’t felt for anyone other than Jasper. I wanted to be a part of their lives forever and knew in that moment, forevermore, I would be. These ladies had been through so much growing up. Having a mother and father who’d rarely been present. Living their early adult years separated from one another and going through the painful yet necessary process of finding and rebuilding their lives together. Expanding that to include the men in their lives. And now me.
Since the first day we met I never got the feeling they didn’t want me in their lives, and that had only been proven through the love they showed me this past week. It was as if I was always a missing part of this duo, now a trio, and I couldn’t have been more pleased.
“I love you both,” I whispered where our heads were pressed together.
Blonde. Brunette. Redhead.
Three sisters.
United for life.
Committed to the sisterhood we were building.
“I love you, too, Isabeau.” Evie lifted her head and cupped my cheek.