Flying in from Europe to be in a wedding pushes on the edges of predictability. Aurelle's last exam was a tight forty-eight hours before the music started, and only twenty after having her wisdom teeth pulled. Taking time zones into account, plus the detail of a Taylor Swift concert in between, contributed to a tight fit. But she is young, and could pivot from a mouth full of gauze, to studying, to belting out choruses, to catching a plane before gliding down the aisle.  She landed a cushy two hours before the rehearsal dinner. No worries there. International flights are reliable, and customs agents obliging. Never mind traffic on Friday afternoon. 

 

But I had forgotten to aim my nervousness in the direction of the bridesmaids' dresses. They were, we all assumed, on the third floor, having been ordered five months ago when the twins were home for Christmas. The first dress did not quite fit, so Aurelle exchanged it for one that would come in a few weeks. But no one was really paying attention to whether it did, in fact, arrive. 

 

Hope came from France a few days ahead of her sister. When she went hunting for the two ruby dresses in the closet, there was only one. Hmm. 

 

No one who actually lives here could recall if a package came last January, and if it had where it was now. Hope is facile with internet shopping, and explored both the tracking information, and the availability of another dress. 

 

There was no chance that a new one could be here by Saturday. 

 

I fell into anxiety about the circumstances. Why had I not checked six weeks ago? Where might I have stashed it? I called on my latent Easter basket finding skills, as I poked under piles and opened cupboards. To calm myself, I turned to a pair of prom pants I had agreed to hem. I needed to succeed at something. 

 

Once I had heard of a scheme in which identical twins entered a race as one person, and halfway through traded places. They had double the energy. It was devious but it made me laugh. My imagination wandered to scenarios in which one daughter would walk up the aisle, scoot through the basement where she would toss the dress to her sister, who would pull it on and gracefully join the tail end of the bridal party. 

 

It seemed far-fetched. 

 

Hope was not defeated. She found the same dress on eBay from a young lady whose festivities are over. The price was ridiculously low, so much so that Hope bought three from different sellers just to be sure. They arrived in sequence amidst the kerfuffle, replacing the absence of a second dress with several options. There were even a few spare minutes to shorten the hem.