The Tyrant's Wife

309 Wedding preparations(3)

Although they had already given Nathaniel a date and venue through Natalie, they had to make it more convincing. So she decided to take the afternoon off every day for the next few days so she would go wedding shopping.

Hence when she picked Rosaly up from school the following afternoon, she had the most exciting news.

“We are going shopping for a flower girl dress!” She announced soon after Rosaly entered the car.

The girl looked up at her with her eyes wide in disbelief. “Really?”

“Really,” Zaria assured her. “And the best part? You get to choose which dress you want.”

That was the icing on the cake. For the rest of the drive, Rosaly could barely keep still. It was a good thing that Zaria already had flower girl dress suggestions saved on her phone for her to look through on their way.

When they finally arrived at the bridal boutique, Rosaly couldn’t keep her eyes off the rows of gowns lining the windows.

Her eyes went wide in awe. “They look beautiful. Zaria, I want a blue one, just like Elena.”

It took a while for Zaria to realize she was talking about a character from one of her favorite Disney animation series, ‘Elena of Avalor’. She chuckled. “I’m pretty sure her sister Isabella is the one who wears a blue dress.”

.....

“I want one like Isabella’s.” She corrected herself, her excitement not dimming. When she saw a golden princess dress on the rack near the entrance, her eyes lit up. She peeked up at Zaria uncertainly.

A salesgirl walked over to them. “Hi, welcome to Sam Bridal. Is there anything specific you would like to check out?”

“Flower girl dresses. We can just take a look at what you have.”

The young woman crouched to Rosaly’s level. “For this little beauty, we have dozens of clothes. What’s your favorite color, sweetheart?”

Rosaly started to say blue, but then she remembered all the things she loved that were not blue. She looked to Zaria for help.

Understanding her, Zaria answered, “she doesn’t have one. Anything that’s glittery or has some lace will please her.”

The salesgirl smiled and showed them to a lounge to sit, then she brought magazines for them to flip through as she went to find dresses in Rosaly’s size.

Since she loved everything that sparkled, there was a lot for Rosaly to admire in the magazine, ranging from rings to necklaces and tiaras.

When she got to the end of it, she looked up at Zaria. “Zaria, are you marrying daddy?”

She hadn’t known Rosaly for very long but she was pretty sure the girl knew what the proposal meant. She set her magazine aside and pulled her closer. “What do you really want to ask, sweetie?”

Rosaly shook her head timidly, then she changed her mind and asked anyway, with her face flushing. “Can I call you mommy after the wedding?”

She was a little confused. “We talked about this, didn’t we? You can call me whatever makes you comfortable. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

Rosaly bit her lip nervously. “But my friends say a step mommy is not really a mommy. I want you to be my real mommy, Zaria.”

Zaria swallowed. Angela just joined the chat. It was difficult to talk about this without hurting her feelings.

To her relief, the sales assistant returned. She had what looked like enough dresses to start their own little girl dresses boutique on a rack.

“Your daughter is quite cute. There isn’t a single dress I picked up that I don’t think will look good on her.”

Zaria smiled but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. It was easy for an outsider to assume she was Rosaly’s mother based on how close they were—not that she minded it. She just didn’t want to tread on boundaries. She didn’t want to make it sound like Rosaly should forget who her biological mother was. Angela was, after all, the one who birthed her and brought her up for most of her life.

Besides, if Angela were to try to amend her custody, it would be confusing for her to call two women ‘mommy’ without understanding exactly what was going on.

She decided to think about that later.

“Honey, pick what you like and try it on, okay? It doesn’t have to be just one.” She instructed.

Rosaly was relieved that she didn’t have to leave behind the dresses she liked just because only one was needed. She found three she couldn’t the best out of, and they all made her look like the cutest flower girl. What started out as shopping for one dress ended in Zaria buying her two tiaras to go with the dresses, shoes, tiny sling bags, and a flower girl basket. She ended up wearing one of the tiaras on their way back home.

Once they were in the car, Zaria figured they couldn’t postpone the topic about Angela anymore.

“Honey, a stepmother is, in fact, a real mother. Your friends are yet to learn that but they will see for themselves soon enough.”

Rosaly looked relieved. “Will you still love me?”

Zaria pulled her over for a hug. “Always.”

She was not just saying it to placate Rosaly. She didn’t know when it happened but she loved Rosaly as much as she would if she was her own daughter. Now that she had voiced her concerns, she couldn’t help realizing that her friends were partially true.

If she and Desmond were to split up, she would lose every right to be close to Rosaly—and it gnawed at her insides. Of course, she hoped nothing of the sort would ever happen, but not everything was black or white. There were shades of gray and she couldn’t be certain which shade of gray was bound to cause their downfall. So, on the drive back home, she made the decision she had thought about for a while but had not made any conclusion on.

…..

“I want to adopt Rosaly.” She told Desmond later that night when Rosaly went to sleep.

He was sitting on the bed with a book in hand, which he set aside to face her. Her words didn’t make any sense. “What do you mean?”

“I mean I want Rosaly to be my daughter legally.”

“No.”

Her brows knitted. He hadn’t even flinched. It was as though there wasn’t possibly any other answer when it came to whether or not she could be Rosaly’s legal mother.

She sat on the bed so she would be closer to him. “Why not?”

He frowned, as though he couldn’t believe it was a topic for discussion. “Rosaly is my daughter and you are going to be my wife. You don’t need to adopt her to be her mother. You will be her mother as soon as our marriage is legal.”

“Stepmother.” She corrected him. “It holds no water legally.”

“It does because you will be my wife.” He took her hand. “Why are we having this conversation, anyway?”

She explained Rosaly’s concern and the realization it had brought. “If she sees the adoption documents, she will be assured once and for all that I will never leave her.”

What he said next left her speechless. “I cannot give you grounds to take my daughter away if you ever leave me.”