Tate (14 page)

“Can you even believe any of this?” she asked excitedly.

“I can NOT,” I replied, with a big chuckle.

“I can’t wait to meet your Maisie,” she said as we drove.

Your Maisie.
I liked the sound of that. I loved the way it sounded when Andy said it, but for Mama to use the same term made me happy. I wanted her to be my Maisie. Mama and I’d had many conversations about her. I couldn’t wait for them to finally meet.

Mama and I were already sitting at the table talking when Maisie rounded the corner. Distracted, she slipped her coat off, already talking when I rose to greet her.

“Hey,” I said, with a chuckle. “Slow down.”

“I can’t! I’m excited. The dresses are almost done! No more…” She saw Mama and stopped.

“Maisie, this is my mama, Fay Morrow.”

“Oh my goodness!” She laughed and leaned to kiss Mama’s cheek. “I’m so happy to meet you. I had no idea!”

She gave me scolding glance as Mama said, “I wanted to surprise you!”

“Well, you succeeded! I am sufficiently surprised!” She sat down and turned to Mama. “If I’d have walked in and Tate wasn’t sitting here with you, I’d have known you were his mama. You have the same smile.”

“I feel like I know you. I’ve heard an awful lot about you,” Mama said.

“Don’t believe any of it,” Maisie laughed, easily.

We enjoyed a nice meal, and the conversation about fashion, fabric, and the talk around town between Maisie and Mama kept a smile on my face. Maisie was a wealth of information. I realized as I listened that Maisie was a quiet sponge, taking in and absorbing everything she heard from her customers. Mama slipped in funny stories about me, and Maisie would laugh along with her.

“If I’d have known you were coming, we could have designed a dress for you.”

“Oh, I found the prettiest thing at Macy’s in Oklahoma City. I love it, but next time,” she said with a wink. “Did you make your dress?”

“Oh no!” Maisie replied, and quickly added, “I bought mine at a dress shop in town. Even if I made myself a cotton sack someone would complain that I made my dress better than theirs!”

“She’s not joking. You should have heard Ami Woodson talking to Maisie about her dress.”

“I had to make five for her because she’ll have wardrobe changes and she couldn’t make up her mind,” Maisie explained.

“She seems so sweet.” Mama said. As I rolled my eyes, Maisie kicked me lightly.

“I made dresses for several of the country singers. Dina May, Ami, Bart Stewart’s wife…”

“What about Dina May’s dress?” Mama asked.

“She was easy,” Maisie laughed. She leaned toward Mama and whispered, like it was the biggest secret of all time, “Butter yellow Chantilly lace.”

“Oh! With her dark complexion, it will be beautiful!”

Finally, I noticed how late it was. Maisie had almost an hour drive home, so I called our evening to an end. “Maisie lives on the other side of town, Mama. I’m gonna walk her to her car so she can get home before it’s too late. I’ll be right back.”

Maisie rose, went to Mama, and hugged her. “I’m so glad to meet you.”

“Me too, little one.”

“Oh my goodness! Did Tate tell you to call me that?” Maisie laughed.

“No, you’re just little,” Mama chuckled. “Littler than me!”

“That’s what Carlene Duncan calls her, too,” I added.

“Oh, the Queen! I love her!”

“You’ll meet her tomorrow night,” I said.

“What a nice surprise!” Maisie said as we walked to her SUV.

“
You
are a surprise. You two started talking and I couldn’t find the off button,” I laughed.

“She’s easy to talk to.”

“I don’t want you to go home.”

“I can’t go home with you,” she said, and squeezed my hand. “I don’t want to go home, but I’m sure your mama wouldn’t think well of me. Plus, tomorrow will be crazy, and then I have to get ready. I’ll see you when you pick me up.”

“I can still wish you were with me. We’ll be there at 5:30, all gussied up, waiting for you.” As she stepped into the SUV, I leaned closer. She turned toward me and I whispered in her ear. “I’ll be hugging pillows tonight, missing you beside me.”

“Go. Your mama’s in there alone.”

“Call me when you get home, please.”

“Wait!” she called out as I started to walk away. “I forgot! I need to give you this.”

She handed me a box. “Don’t open it until you get dressed, and I won’t be offended at all if you don’t wear it. I did it because Carlene told me I had to.”

I took the box. I knew it was a vest. “I will wear whatever it is proudly because it came from these fingers.” I took her hand and started to nibble on them.

“Go!” The giggle that escaped was an adorable snort that went straight to my heart.

An hour and a half later, Mama was already asleep. My phone rang and I saw that it was Maisie.

“I got in a few minutes ago, but I had to pee.”

“Nice,” I laughed. “Pack a bag for tomorrow night. You’re staying at my place. I’ll sleep on the sofa. But there’s no way you’re going home alone after this shindig. I think I have to open this box.”

“Why?” she asked, pleasure in her voice.

“Because I know what it is and I want to see it. Can I? Please?” I begged.

“Go ahead.”

“It’s purple and sparkly! IT’S PERFECT! I love it,” I said, and I meant it. That vest was one of the greatest gifts I’d ever received. It was classic, but I saw music notes stitched into the sparkles with the same color thread.

“Hey! I have an idea!”

“What?” she asked, and I could hear merriment in her voice.

“You know that Naked Cowboy guy in New York City?”

“Stop!” she roared.

“Good night, sweet Maisie. I can’t wait ‘til tomorrow.”

“Me too.”

***

Maisie

With the last adjustments and hems done, Dion sent me home. “Go! You need to dazzle tonight! I’ll be watching for you!”

I showered and though I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping with Tate tonight, I slipped into sexy panties that I got for the occasion. I sprayed a light mist of the Pink Sugar that he liked in all the right places. I looked at the dress and sighed. My brain was a whirl of emotions – my relationship with Tate, attending such an event with him, Blake, the memories…

Finally, I stepped into the dress. It was pretty - strapless, nice lines, no rhinestones, no sparkles. It had a full skirt, but nothing about it said ‘Wow’. It was kind of nondescript.
Perfect
, I thought, but I knew the lavender with my dark hair
was
perfect. I slipped off the teardrop necklace that Blake had given me. I’d chosen a multi-strand necklace of pearls, each strand different shapes and sizes that tied with a white satin ribbon, to go with the dress. Leaving my hair down, I scrunched some curls into it. I added pearl stud earrings, and decided I was ready. I looked in the mirror once more. The reflection surprised me -
You look happy,
I thought. And then my heart was racing again. The ringing of my phone brought me back to now, leaving the memories of then behind.

“We’re about ten minutes out.”

“I’m waiting.”

“It’ll be fine, Maisie.” His voice was reassuring.

“I know.”

At last, I saw the limo pull up and Tate get out. He came to the door and when I opened it, he let out a loud wolf-whistle. “Wow! Look at you!” He took my hand and had me twirl to see all of me.

“Look at
you
!” I said. “You are incredibly handsome.”

“Beautiful. That’s what you are, Maisie Bolden - beautiful.” He leaned to whisper in my ear. “Wait ‘til you see what I’m wearing under here!”

“Too bad you can’t see what I’m wearing under here,” I teased.

“Oh! You little vamp!” He laughed, as he took my hand and grabbed my bag.

When the limo dropped us off, we walked the red carpet toward the revelry ahead. It was something I’d only ever watched on TV to see my dresses pass by, as the reporters would talk to the stars and ask whose design they were wearing. I’d heard my name many times. Fay Morrow was beautiful in her pastel green satin dress, her reddish blonde hair styled in a short bob. She didn’t look the sixty-six years that she’d told me she was.

I proudly saw Ami talking to a national television personality. She was wearing the royal blue dress I’d designed. She looked fabulous. It was her favorite dress all along, but I knew she was presenting and had a performance during the show. I wondered which of the dresses she’d chosen for those wardrobe changes. Her signature curls - the blonde ringlets that others tried to emulate, but never quite got right - bounced this way and that as she spoke animatedly to the interviewer.

“She’s so pretty,” Fay commented.

She spotted Tate and waltzed her way toward us. “Well, hello, Mr. Morrow,” she said, pretty much ignoring that I existed.

“Ami. This is my mother, Fay Morrow, and you know my girlfriend, Maisie.”

GIRLFRIEND?
WHAT?
The word screamed in my brain over and over.
Girlfriend. Girlfriend. Girlfriend.
Like a stuck recording, I just kept hearing it again.
Girlfriend. Girlfriend. Girlfriend.
Finally, I realized that one of the repetitions was Ami saying it.

“Girlfriend? My goodness! How did this happen?” she asked, flipping the blonde curls over her shoulder. “And so fast. I’m just… I’m just so shocked.”

Tate getting pissed, and Fay just stood there with her mouth hanging open. “She’s a beautiful woman, looks and heart,” he said, and gave my hand a squeeze.

“Well, congratulations, Maisie. I’m just so…” The look on her face was covetous. She wanted him. “Surprised…”

“I was surprised, too,” Tate said. “She put up a fight, but persistence paid off. I snagged a gem that no one else was looking for.”

OH. MY. GOD. What in the hell just happened? I’m standing right here and I can’t believe it. None of it.

“I guess you won’t have to keep hiding behind that sewing machine of yours, sewing for the stars any more. You can climb from behind your fortress and see the world, Maisie.” She flipped the hair once more and started to walk away.

“I’ll be there for your fitting next Tuesday,” I said, with a fake smile. “Just wait until you see what we’ve come up with this time. I think you’ll love it.”

“I’ll be anxious. I have the prettiest dress tonight.” And even though I designed it, it pissed me off.

“Well ain’t she just Little Suzy Friggin’ Sunshine,” Fay said. “You see her on the talk shows like Ellen and the likes, and she seems so nice. She’s actually a bitch, isn’t she?”

I saw Tate watching me. I thought hard because I still felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. I slipped my hand from Tate’s to hold his arm, possessively. He’d just told me that I was his. I was reeling and terrified at the same time. “She’s just jealous. She wants this big ‘ol hunk of cowboy and he picked me.”

I saw relief wash over Tate’s face. And then I heard that voice. A voice I loved.

“Maisie Bolden! Gawd! Look at you!” Carlene yelled over the crowd as she made her way toward us. “You are gorgeous!” She said it so loud that people turned our way to look. Audra had just arrived. She was standing with Ami, and they looked too.

“Carlene, this is Tate’s mama, Fay.”

“Welcome to Nashville!” she said, air kissing Fay on the cheeks. “Did I see Ami Woodson walk away from here with her panties twisted?”

“She did,” Tate said. “She wants me and I told her that I have a girlfriend.”

“She doesn’t wear panties,” I chirped.

“Lovely!” Carlene laughed out loud. “I love this story! Open up that jacket, Mr. Morrow, and let me see that vest.”

As he did, I saw flashes of light from cameras all around us. “Now turn around and let me see the back of yours,” he told her.

She was wearing black palazzo pants and a sheer white chiffon blouse. The front of the vest had rhinestone roses on it and the back was red shimmering fabric with roses stitched into it. It was stunning, even if I said so myself.

“I love all of your vests,” Fay said.

“Compliments of this lovely little woman,” Carlene replied, draping her arm around my shoulder to give me a squeeze.

“You make The Queen’s vests?” she asked.

“Since I was fifteen.” I saw Andy and Marco walking our way. “They’re here!”

Andy walked straight over to me and gave me a big hug. I noticed Ami watching, and the jealousy that her face displayed made me deliriously happy.

“You look beautiful!” Andy announced.

“So do you,” I replied, and he showed off a pair of brand new cowboy boots, leaving us all laughing. “For when we walk on stage, because I know we will!” he declared.