Eduardo's Arc

Chapter 102 of 115

The coat hung finished on its hook. Eduardo had clothes now, but Kiersten had none. She needed a dress. One morning she set down her tea and said the word plainly. "My mother has my dress." She did not look at him when she said it. "And I need her blessing." Eduardo knew the shape of that wound. Kiersten had told him once. Her mother, Jessica, had warned her against him years ago, called him a man who would hollow her out. When Kiersten chose Eduardo anyway, she sent her mother one word and went silent. They had not spoken since. Now the dress sat in that silent house, and so did the blessing. "I'll drive you," Eduardo said. He did not offer to speak for her. He had learned that much. The house was small and low, built for quiet, a wide window glowing beside the door. Kiersten knocked. Jessica opened it. Her curly hair had gone grayer. Her tired eyes went straight to Eduardo, then back to her daughter. "You came," Jessica said. Her voice stayed low. "You came." "I'm getting married," Kiersten said. "I want my dress." Jessica did not move from the doorway. She studied Eduardo for a long moment. He stood still and let her look. He did not charm her or explain himself. He had spent a year learning to stop performing. "They told me he changed," Jessica said. "The feed store man. Others." She looked at Kiersten. "I didn't believe it. I scrubbed my counters raw not believing it." "He changed," Kiersten said. "I'd feel the ending coming. I don't." Jessica held the door. Eduardo saw the fear in her, the same fear he had carried, the fear of watching love turn to control. He spoke once. "You were right to warn her," he said. "I was that man. I'm not asking you to forget it." Jessica blinked. She had braced for a fight and gotten none. The fight went out of her shoulders. She stepped back and let them in. She brought the dress from a back room. It flowed over her arms, pale and soft, stitched with green vines and small moons and scattered stars. Kiersten took it and held it against herself. Her hands were steady. "It was mine," Jessica said. "Now it's yours." She touched her daughter's face. "That's the blessing. The dress is the blessing." Kiersten did not cry. She folded the dress with care. At the door she stopped. "Come to the chapel," she said. "Sit in front." Jessica pressed her lips thin. She nodded once. In the truck the dress lay across Kiersten's lap. The silence between her and Eduardo was easy now. But Eduardo watched her fold and unfold the hem. Her mother would come to the wedding. And a mother who came to watch would also watch him, close, for any sign he had lied.