Free For Better or Worse by Jennifer Johnson

felt excitement race through his veins. “Ready to be your big brother? You bet.”

    Kelly looked at her daughters. The girls’ green dresses fit beautifully and complemented the frame and personality of each one. Candy’s deep green silk taffeta dress hinted at the eleven-year-old’s budding shape but still allowed her to look like a girl. Brittany’s knee-length silk spaghetti-strap dress accented her long, slender features in beauty and innocence. And Zoey—as much as Kelly didn’t like the darker hair color, she couldn’t help but admit the mixture of dark hair, light skin, and emerald green made the teenager look stunningly beautiful. The dress they’d chosen for Zoey was fashionable, but still hid the curves of her oldest daughter.
    Kelly shook her head.
It was only a few years ago that I didn’t have to worry about their clothes revealing too much
. Her mind drifted to the night two weeks before when she and Harold had stopped Zoey from meeting a boy at his house. Kelly purposefully shook the thought away. Today was her wedding day. She wanted to focus on Harold, and the life they’d share together.
    “I have a present for each of you.” Kelly pulled three small boxes from her bag.
    Candy clapped. “Oh, I can’t wait. I love presents.”
    Brittany moved closer, eyeing the boxes, but Zoey stayed across the room from them. Kelly knew she wasn’t thrilled with the wedding, but her oldest had been moping since Christmas Eve, and Kelly wished she’d snap out of it, just for today at least.
    “Each of you is wearing a beautiful dress, individual, as if made especially for you.” Kelly smiled at her girls. She and Tim had made beautiful children, and each of them held such wonderful, unique qualities to place at God’s feet for service. “But I wanted you to have one thing that’s the same. I hope you like them.”
    She handed boxes to Candy and Brittany, then walked over to Zoey and handed the last one to her. At the same time, the girls opened their gifts. Kelly watched as Brittany allowed the slight gold chain to drape her fingertips. The small diamond pendant hung from the chain.
    “It’s so dainty,” Brittany said.
    “So pretty,” Candy added.
    “I’m afraid I’ll break it.” Brittany said. “You know how I am.”
    Kelly laughed. Yes, she knew her middle daughter. The girl would lose her head if it were not attached to her body, and she was just as fortunate her feet were attached as often as she tripped over them. “You’ll be fine. Here, let me put it on you.”
    Amidst thank-yous from her younger girls, Kelly put the necklaces around Brittany’s and then Candy’s neck. She walked toward Zoey to help her with the necklace, but her oldest already had the necklace on. Kelly gazed at her daughters. They were so big, so grown up. The years had gone by too fast. After inhaling a deep breath, she glanced down at the sweatshirt and T-shirt and jeans she still wore. “Okay, one of you go get your grandma. We gotta get my dress on me. She was waiting for me to give you your presents before she came back in here.”
    Candy giggled. “I’ll get her.”
    Kelly walked toward the garment bag protecting her wedding gown. She’d forced herself not to look at it for the past several weeks as she yearned for the day to arrive. She started to unzip the bag, but the zipper stuck. She zipped it back up just a bit to be sure the zipper was lined up right. She unzipped it again; this time a piece of the antique white fabric caught. Kelly gasped. “Oh no.”
    She tried to gently pull the fabric away from the zipper’s teeth, but the metal seemed more determined to bite into her beautiful dress. Anxiety welled within her, and her hands started to shake. “No. No. No.”
    Tears pooled in her eyes as she tried not to tug on the zipper or the fabric too hard.
    “Here, Mom, let me help.” Zoey stood beside her. She nudged Kelly out of the way, then gently and quickly released her dress from