All is Found - Chapter 52: Chapter 52

Alone in a Room shot to number one on the charts and has been holding steady since its release two weeks ago. For the moment I haven't been working on music, I've shifted my focus to the wedding planning. It's coming up faster than I thought it would and now we only have a few more details to finish hammering out.
All the invitations have gone out. The menu is set. The cake is ordered. Photographer and DJ are set. Flowers have been chosen. Hotels on the grounds have been blocked out for us. Security has been hired. Honeymoon is booked. RSVPs are back in and it looks like everyone we invited to the wedding is attending. The minister has been hired and all the paperwork is filed. Really the only thing left to do is find a wedding dress.
Today I'm going wedding dress shopping with Pat, Nikki and Alyssa. At first I didn't know if I would want to get married in a dress or a suit. I still haven't made up my mind but I feel like going dress shopping today will help me make a choice. Thea has already gone dress shopping and she said that she found her dress. Now I feel like I have a ton of pressure on me to find what I want on the first trip because we are a month out from the wedding.
The last time I spoke to Alyssa about the albums success she asked me how the wedding planning is going. When I told her about going shopping for a dress she told me she was booking a flight out to Salem to come with me. She arrived two days ago and we made plans to go into Boston to shop.
Onto today. Before we leave for Boston, I wanted to ask Pat if he would give me away. Since Asher isn't here anymore and my father could be dead for all I know, I want him to do it. He has been the closest thing to a father figure to me for most of my life and I want him to be the one to walk me down the aisle. So I left Nikki and Alyssa to finish getting ready and walked next door to his house.
I knocked on his door before trying the handle to find it was unlocked and let myself inside. Pat was standing in front of the mirror fixing his pocket square in his sport coat.
"There she is, are you excited?" Pat asked and turned to face me.
"I'm excited but I also know that today is going to be long. But before we go I wanted to talk to you about something." I said and watched as Pat went back to the kitchen to collect his wallet.
"What's up hon?" Pat asked and looked up to face me.
"With the wedding approaching fast I wanted to ask if you would give me away. Asher's gone and it wouldn't be right if there was anybody else standing by my side in that moment." I said and played with the engagement ring on my finger.
"It would be my honor to give you away Ashlyn." Pat said.
I looked up when he put his hand on top of mine and saw proud tears pooling in his eyes. I gave him a smile and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Alright, alright, let's get a move on before we both end up in a puddle of tears." Pat said and pulled away from me.
Pat gave me a kiss on the cheek before pulling me out of his house. We met Nikki and Alyssa on my porch and hopped into my truck. The ride into Boston wasn't bad and soon enough we pulled up to Kleinfeld Bridal. Alyssa set us up an appointment in a private part of the shop to avoid any fans who might take a picture of the dress.
When we walked in a woman named Michelle showed us to the suite and asked me some questions with what I was looking for. I told her I wanted something simple. I didn't want to spend a fortune on a dress and only wear it once. I gave her a few more details and she took some measurements before leaving us alone to go pull some dresses.
Michelle returned about 10 minutes later with five different dresses. I looked at all of them first and then picked two out of the five to actually try on. Nikki gave me a hand putting them on. Since the shooting I've been self-conscious about my stomach. The scar is healing slowly but it's still an angry red line across most of the left side of my stomach that I don't really want people to see. Since Nikki helped me clean the wound when we got home from the hospital, she is really one of the few people I feel comfortable around.
When I walked out of the dressing room both Alyssa and Pat vetoed the dress right away. I gave Michelle a few more ideas and she left to get some more dresses while Nikki helped me try on the second dress. The second dress was better but it wasn't the one. While we were waiting for Michelle to come back I took a seat in the dress and sipped on some water.
"Before it gets any closer to the wedding I wanted to tell you guys that I've decided that I don't want to have a maid of honor." I said.
"What?" Pat said and looked horrified.
"Can I finish my train of thought?" I asked him. He held up his hands in surrender and I continued.
"I don't want to have a maid of honor because the only person who could fill that spot would have been my sister." I said and looked up at the ceiling to try and keep the tears at bay. "Thea and I have talked about keeping the bridal party small so Alyssa and Nikita will you be my bridesmaids?"
"I thought you'd never ask!" Nikki said and jumped off her chair to hug me.
"It will be an honor to stand by your side on your special day Ash." Alyssa said and gave me a hug when Nikki let go of me.
"We are so throwing you a bachelorette party." Nikki said and giggled to herself.
"Hey, nothing crazy and try to avoid alcohol, I'm still not allowed to drink." I said trying to rein in her wild ideas.
Before we could talk anymore about it Michelle came back into the suite with a few more dresses in hand. I took a look at all of them and felt better about this selection of dresses Michelle picked. I picked up the dress I liked the most and pulled Nikki into the dressing room to help me into.
The dress has simple skinny straps holding it up. The bust is a white lacy pattern and from the belly button down are a few layers of tool. There is a high slit that comes up to the mid-thigh on my left leg. I took breath when I looked in the mirror and spun around in a circle to check out the back. The dress is a perfect fit. I ran my hands over bottom of the dress and turned to look back at Alyssa, Nikki and Pat.
"I think this is it." I said and gave them a shy smile.
"You look like a princess Ash." Nikki said.
"You look like an angel." Pat said just above a whisper.
I turned around too look in the mirror again. I looked over every detail of the dress. Just when I looked up I saw my mom in the mirror. She gave me a watery smile and I turned around. As I turned to face the room again she was gone. I felt my chest deflate and I looked at Michelle.
"I'll take it." I said.
Nikki helped me out of the dress and Michelle got it package up in a garment bag. With a pair of heals I won't need the dress to be tailored so I'm taking it home with me now. Well I'm going to leave the dress at Pat's house because I don't want Thea to see it.
After we were done shopping we went to have a late lunch in Boston before returning home. When we got back to my house Thea was home from work to my surprise. This week was the first week that Thea was cleared to return to desk work only. She is making a lot of progress and her doctors are really impressed at how quickly she has recovered. Thea probably could be cleared for active duty again before the wedding but she thought it would be best just to stay sidelined until after the honeymoon. If she went back to work full time right now it would be dumb because she just started to take two weeks off again.
"How'd it go?" Thea asked as I wrapped my arms around her waist.
"Good, found my dress, Pat is walking me down the aisle and Alyssa and Nikki are now my bridesmaids." I said and smiled.
"Sounds like you had a productive day so far." Thea said started playing with the baby hairs at the base of my neck.
"It was a good day and now it's even better now that you are home." I said and leaned in to give Thea a kiss.
"Ew seriously, every time I come around a corner of this house you guys are always making out." Nikki said and brushed past Thea and I to make her way into the kitchen.
"Sorry Nikki." Thea said as I put my head down in Thea's neck.
"Don't bother apologizing because it's going to keep happening." I said in Thea's ear.
"Thea did you pick your bridesmaids yet?" Nikki asked and came back into the living room.
"Yea, I asked Lindsey and Malia when we went dress shopping last week." Thea said as she started to sway us back and forth as Stop Draggin' My Heart Around started to play on the record player.
"Are you guys going to make us wear ridiculous bridesmaids dresses?" Nikki asked and layed out on the couch with her guitar as Alyssa went upstairs.
"Maybe." Thea and I said at the same time and giggled.
Nikki didn't say anything else as Thea and I gently swayed to the end of the song. After the song ended Thea broke apart from me and turned the record off and put it away. Nikki continued playing random cords and it peaked my interest. I recorded her for a few minutes before she stopped playing.
"What was that Nikki?" I asked as Thea took a seat on the couch.
"Nothing just a random thought." She said and sat up on the couch.
"I think I have an idea." I said and nodded to go upstairs. Nikki hopped off the couch and went upstairs as I leaned over the couch to give Thea a kiss on the cheek.
"I'm going to go work for a little if you need me okay." I said.
"I saw that look in your eye when Nikki was playing, go babe." Thea said and gave me a kiss on my cheek.
When I got upstairs Nikki was already sitting in front of the computer starting up a new file and I picked up a guitar. Once Nikki got it set up she started showing me what she was playing and after a few minutes I had it down. I had Nikki continue as I put my guitar down and started to construct a beat over it. I didn't have an idea yet for lyrics but it will come.
I saved the file and took a look at the new whiteboard I have hanging on the wall. After I finished Alone in a Room I didn't want to erase the board so I just bought a new one. So far I only have one song done for the album. I don't know how many songs this one is going to be yet. I don't think it's going to be another15 though. That was a lot for the last album this one I doubt will be this long. I still have a lot of work to do on this album but the songs will come. I have a few practically written already it's just developing them into complete songs.
As I listened to the beat for a few more minutes I wrote the word You on the top of the whiteboard and sat back to look at it for a moment.
"Album name?" Nikki asked looking up from her phone.
"Maybe." I said and flipped to a new page in my notebook and wrote a lyric that started to get stuck in my head. You're the sun to the moon, you're my ocean painted blue, you, I'm nothing without you, (Without you, without you).