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There was another brief silence, but by now, I had arrived at the closed-off dressing room and was certain that it was best to just wait outside to not intrude on such a charged moment.
Although as I looked around the cordless but classy wedding store hallway, I couldn’t help but feel like I was eavesdropping. It was going to be very hard to explain if I got caught, but that awkwardness felt better to me than heading in right now.
“First of all, not every girl wants this… and it deeply upsets me that I can’t even have a say at the end of the day in my own wedding. It’s been this way ever since I was a child… I never had a say in anything concerning me and my life choices and now even in?—”
“You had a say in dating Ronny,” the response came. “Which was against all of our approval. And you had a say in getting married or not to him. We didn’t interfere. In fact, we haven’t interfered in anything you did since you got into college, but on this matter, you’ll have to listen to Drake.”
“Drake, that betrayer,” she scoffed.
“You aren’t really saying that about him, are you?” The woman asked. “He’s always been on your side more than anyone else.”
"If he’s always been on my side, then why isn’t that the case now? Why is he deferring to you and what you want? It’s strange to me that he’s even doing this because Drake answers to no one. He’s your puppet; he runs this company, so it just makes me wonder what you are currently holding over him to make him turn against me in this way.”
A long tense silence followed, and it gave me the time I needed to mark that name Drake in my head. He sounded like a total domineering and upsetting prick.
On Aurora’s behalf, right then, I decided that I didn’t like him, but more than anything, as I listened even more, I realized that things weren’t as easy for her. So just as I began to hear footsteps approaching from around the corner, I straightened and knocked and started to walk in. I would be on her side and try to support her as much as was needed. I promised myself just as I eventually met the women present in the dressing room.
There were four women present. Two were the staff of the bridal shop, one dressed in a suit as the attendant while the other, who was sifting through the dresses that had just arrived on the rack, seemed much more elderly and almost matronly. But the sleekness of her grey hair back in a bun and the heavy string of pearl beads around her neck, as well as the hard line in the corners of her lips, almost made me think she was in charge of everyone present. She immediately frowned at me upon my entrance, but I turned to meet the two other women seated in the seating area and dressed gorgeously.
Aurora was the last to notice me because she had lowered her gaze to her phone, but the second woman seated, whom I couldn’t help but notice had the same sleek shiny jet-black hair as she did, looked quite frail. Though I had expected to see a domineering and unfeeling woman given the responses she had just been giving to Aurora, I couldn’t help but notice that my heart moved slightly at seeing her. She seemed sad and exhausted, but as her eyes landed on me, I couldn’t decide whether or not she was unkind.
“Is she one of yours, Madelyn?” she asked with a light smile. However, before I could respond, the woman behind spoke up. Her voice was softer than I had expected, but her words were sharper than anything else I’d ever heard.
“Absolutely not. Excuse me, what are you doing here, and what hole did you crawl out of?”
I was just about to introduce myself and say hello to Aurora when I heard her words, and I couldn’t help but turn around to gaze at her in shock. She too seemed to realize what she had just said, but as she took in my baggy ripped jeans and the graphic tee I had tucked into them, I almost couldn’t blame her. I definitely looked like I had crawled out of some pauper's hole and intruded on some high-class gathering. But I was still irritated at her rudeness and made sure that she understood this.
“Please leave immediately,” she said. “This is not the general area. This is a private dressing roo?—”
Aurora cut her off.
“Please calm down, Madelyn, you don’t have to be rude,” Aurora said. “I invited her over to capture this moment or whatever this is now. No offense to you, Evelyn, it's just that I thought this would be a special time, but all my enthusiasm has gone down the drain.”
I could understand more than she knew, so I ensured to wear my loveliest smile and then headed over to her. Rather than a handshake, I pulled her into an embrace, and although she remained stiff for a moment as though it was unexpected for her, she eventually relaxed into my arms and hugged me back.
“You heard?” she asked, and although I briefly hesitated since I hadn’t exactly planned to hear her, I nodded and admitted the truth. She sighed then, and after a little while, she pulled away.
“I’ll not just be your photographer,” I told her, low enough that hopefully she was the only one that heard. “I’ll also be on your side, so whatever you need help or support for beyond the photographs, I’ll be there for you.”
Tears slightly misted her eyes at my words, and then she hugged me once again. “Thank you,” she said, and a few seconds later her mom's voice filtered through.
“Is this a friend of yours, Rory?” she asked, and Aurora finally released me and turned towards her.
“Yes, she is,” she replied.
“She's my photographer, Evelyn. Evelyn, this is my mom.”
I held out my hand for a handshake, and although there was a slight delay as her gaze lowered to it, she eventually accepted it. However, her gaze immediately went to her daughter.
“I thought Victoria was going to handle the photographer. Wasn’t she working in collaboration with Henry Vaughn from Vogue?”
“I don’t know about that, and I don’t care either about whatever Victoria has planned. We were just talking about how I have no say whatsoever in my own wedding, but she is non-negotiable. I’ve followed her work for years, and I want to work with her.”
At this, all eyes turned on me, and for the first time in a very long time, I felt very self-conscious, judged, and out of place.
Firstly, I hadn’t expected this wedding to be in such an expensive bridal house in the middle of Manhattan. I had some brides tell me that just passing here gave them anxiety due to the
prices, and I wouldn’t have pegged Aurora for being from wealth after speaking with her, but now… I could believe it. She had talked about a small church, though, with stained windows, and I started to wonder now if this wasn't the actual ceremony she wanted me to take photos of but just a few prior moments before.
