June 2019 - mini update

Lucy Brown is 24, Mikayla Sims is 17.

Narrated by Lucy Brown


It was a hot day.



It was so hot, that I had had to tie up my hair, which is something I never do. I always let it run loose down my back and don't care about the wind messing it up, or the rain flattening it against the back of my head. But now the heat was almost intolerable. It's not very common here in Bristol Bay because of our geographical position – normally we get to encounter rather mild temperatures that do not vary too much around the year. This June has definitely been exceptional.


It was a hot day and I was 7 months pregnant. I was with Mikayla, Cody's little sister. She's 17 and is going to be one of my bridesmaids. I had invited her to go shopping with me, since we needed to find her a dress for the wedding.
“This is the shop I told you about”, she said suddenly as we were walking past a wide display window filled with mannequins.


“This one?” I asked her, trying to get a glimpse of the store without entering. I had been told by Cody that his little sister was very hard to please and I didn't want anything to go wrong. I had never been too fond of shopping and was even a little afraid of ruining it all for Mikayla.


As she started browsing trough the clothing racks, I tried to give her some space. It was my wedding, but I just wanted her to be happy.
“Can I wear a blue dress?” she wanted to know.
“Um, actually, all the decorations are going to be green and we've already picked out the dress for my other bridesmaid, Summer.” My intention was to sound as friendly as possible. I tried to remember what it was like to be 17, but I couldn't. It seemed like ancient history.


“But the dress doesn't have to be long”, I continued and Mikayla's face immediately lightened up.
“Could you maybe pull some strings and get me a designer dress for free? I know you used to do modeling before you got pregnant.”
I smiled at her enthusiasm, but unfortunately couldn't say yes. “I only did a few ads”, I told her, as she looked at me with her brown eyes wide open. “Lingerie and bathing suits.”


“It's still cool”, Mikayla said quickly. “I never knew you were a model, until Cody told me a few weeks ago. I bet you got invited to a whole bunch of cool parties.”
“Only a couple”, I told her. “It was nice for as long as it lasted, but it's not what I was meant to do with my life. I'm much more happy now, getting married to your brother and having these babies.”
“But you're still beautiful”, Mikayla continued.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
“I think I know the perfect dress”, she suddenly said. “I'll try it on.”


I waited for her outside the fitting rooms. It was nice and cool inside the clothing store, thanks to the effective air conditioning. I could feel the eyes of the shop assistant looking straight at me, but I couldn't even care less. I knew I was pregnant, too pregnant to be able to fit into the clothes they sold, but it didn't matter to me. I had left all that behind me. I wasn't a model anymore – I was going to me a mother.


My back was aching, but I knew it would be all worth it. It would be all worth it as soon as I held my little babies in my arms.


Then, Mikayla stepped out of the fitting room and was wearing a dress that was just the right shade of green.


“What do you think?” she asked me, grinning.
“It's perfect”, I told her, and really meant what I said.
“Can I wear the heels?” she continued.
“Of course”, I answered.
“I'm almost as tall as you are.”


The dress wasn't expensive, which really surprised me. After everything Cody had told me about his sister, I would've expected her to drag me to some of the most upscale boutiques in town. Her dress was even more inexpensive than the one we had found for Summer. As the dress hunting had only taken us about fifteen minutes, I decided to invite Mikayla for a coffee.


It was very nice to finally get to talk with her. She wanted to know a lot about modeling and the whole fashion industry, and I told her everything I knew. She also asked me if she was a little too short to become a model herself, and I told her that the height wasn't everything. It was the attitude that counted.


I could really feel Mikayla warming up to me. Little by little, she started telling me more and more about herself and her life.


She hadn't been on good terms with her dad ever since her parents got divorced. She had always lived with her mother, just like Cody, but unlike him, hadn't even set a foot in their dad's house. She had only met his new children very briefly, and wasn't very excited about meeting them again at the wedding.


Everything had always gone relatively well at home, until her mother's new boyfriend moved in with them. She's never liked him, even though he seems more than keen on being on good terms with her. But Carol, her mom, nowadays pays more attention to him than Mikayla.


That's how we started talking about how insecure Mikayla really was. She had always been tough, and didn't really care about what the others said to her. But still, she was only looking for acceptance.


And she told me about a boy. He was a lot older than her, but he seemed to be the only one on Earth who ever payed any attention to her. But he wasn't enough for her. She needed something more. Somebody else.


It had all been very unexpected. I hadn't been prepared, and I didn't know what to say. I took a deep breath, and looked her in the eyes.
“Would you like to go and see my wedding dress? No-one's ever seen it before.”


She looked at me firmly. “Not even Summer?”


“Not even Summer”, I promised, knowing that it meant a lot to her.


As we got back to the street, it had already gotten darker. It was now a lot more pleasant to be outside, since it wasn't so disturbingly hot anymore.


There was a big fountain on the garden of the bridal store. It was a beautiful fountain, gushing small amounts of sparkly water in the air. We paused for a while to just look at it, and to admire the starry sky above us. After a while, we entered the store.


Mikayla sat down to wait for me to get changed. There were just the two of us on the second floor of the store, so there was no need to turn on the lights.


As I finally got my huge dress on, I walked to Mikayla. She really was the first person to see the dress.


“You look beautiful”, she told me, admiringly.
“So do you”, I said.


Mikayla laughed a little. “Very funny”, she then said. “You're the one in the big, white dress.”


And suddenly, she bent down a little, and touched my belly. She had a bright smile on her face.
“I can't believe there are two little Codys inside”, she finally said.
“Me neither”, I laughed.


And then I hugged her, because I felt like she needed a hug – probably more than I had ever needed one.