Chapter 163

Soon it was August 12th, four days before the wedding and Karen still hadn’t found a dress she liked. There were a couple she liked and could decide on if she didn’t find one in the next two days.

Karen was sitting at the kitchen table looking at Bridal magazines when Sidney came in "maybe that whole walking down the aisle naked isn’t a bad idea."

"Baby, you’ll find a dress that you like. My mom said she saved the best store for last and her friend owns it. Trust me, you’ll find it today."

"Huh, and here I thought you would jump at the chance to make the naked decision final."

"I would but when I joked about it to my mom, she didn’t like it to well."

"I guess I’ll just have to find another time to be naked and walk around then."

"Can I join you?" he said leaning into to kiss her.

"You could but you know what happens when we both are naked at the same time."

"My favorite time with you. Ok, I need to go and will see you when you get back."

"Wait, where you going without me?" she said almost whining.

"I just have a few errands to run."

"Does any of it have to do with me?"

"It deals with the wedding…so it all deals with you baby."

"I love you."

"I love you too baby. Hope you find your dress today and I’ll see you later."

"Ok." Sidney kissed her before he left and Karen gave up on the magazine and went to get ready. A half hour later, Trina was at the house and she and Karen went to her friend’s shop to look for a dress.

"I think you’ll like the dresses at my friend’s shop. She has some beautiful ones that you might not find anywhere else."

"I hope so I haven’t found anything I really like yet."

"What are you looking for exactly?"

"Something spectacular that would blow Sidney away" she said looking out the window.

Trina smiled at her "you sound like me when I was about to marry Troy."

"It’s weird knowing he doesn’t care what I look like yet I want to wow him."

"We all want to do that for the man in our lives. Thank you for letting this wedding happen Karen, it means the world to the family."

"Well it means the world to me to have you guys as my family too." Soon, they pulled up to the quaint little dress shop and went in.

"Ruth" Trina said hugging her friend "this is my daughter-in-law Karen."

"Don’t you mean future daughter-in-law?"

Trina smiled at Karen "sorry, must have jumped the gun. Karen this is one of my good friends Ruth Henderson."

"It’s nice to meet you Ruth."

"You too dear, so, what can I help you find today?"

"I have no idea" she said laughing. "Can I just look around and see if anything jumps out at me?"

"Sure, go ahead."

Karen took her time and looked around. She didn’t see anything at first and was about to give up when she saw it…the dress that took her breath away and knew it would do the same to Sidney.

"Oh my god, this is the dress" she said getting the attention of Trina and Ruth.

"Did you find one Karen?" Trina asked walking up to her and seeing the dress she was holding "that is beautiful."

"And it’s my size. I am going to try it on." Karen went into the fitting room and put the dress on. She came out, had Trina zip it up and Karen looked into the mirror. "This is it" she said getting teary eyed "this is the dress to marry Sid in."

"And it looks absolutely gorgeous on you too" Ruth said looking to see if anything needed altered or fixed. "It’s a perfect fit too and that never happens."

"What do you think Trina?"

"You look beautiful and Sidney will be speechless when he sees you."

"Thanks mom" she said with a smile. They made sure the dress fit perfectly and Karen could move and breathe in it without any problems. She paid for the dress and took it home hiding it so Sidney wouldn’t peek at it.

An hour later, Sidney came home and yelled for Karen "BABY? WHERE ARE YOU?"

"I’m in the kitchen, you don’t have TO YELL" she said coming out.

"Sorry" he started to laugh "wasn’t sure where you were. Close your eyes I have a surprise for you."

"I will only close my eyes because I love you." Karen stood there and shut her eyes and waited for him to tell her to open them. She heard a commotion but kept them close. Sidney walked up to her and stood behind her.

"What is the one thing you want more than anything right now?" he whispered into her ear.

"I’m not responding to that with my eyes closed."

"Then open them and see your surprise."

Karen opened her eyes and saw her three best friends standing in front of her "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" she yelled running over to hug them. "How are you guys here?"

"Well that man of yours is very charming and sent us plane tickets to come up for a few days" Sheril said.

Karen looked at Sidney "did he tell you why he picked this weekend?"

"No, not really" Diane said.

"Um, Sid and I are getting married this weekend." The three girls all screamed and hugged Karen again. Sidney smiled and told her he was going to run out and bring back dinner so they could catch up. They were all talking when Karen decided to tell them some news.

"Guys, I’m not planning on having bridesmaids on Saturday. Since we’re already married, I didn’t feel the need. I hope you guys don’t mind just being guests of the bride."

The girls looked at each other before Karen heard "woooohoooo!!!!" "Hallelujah" "Yes, yes, yes." She just busted out laughing and hugged her friends.

"So what does your dress look like?"

Karen was about to answer when she heard the front door open "I’ll tell you later."

Sidney emerged with take out Chinese and another surprise "baby, look who I found walking around outside."

Karen looked and smiled when she saw Max standing in the doorway. She got up and hugged him "did you come just for me?"

"Well you and that beautiful woman sitting on the floor who is obviously IGNORING ME." Karen just laughed waiting for Natalie to look over. When she did, she got off the floor and Karen stepped out of the way or she would have gotten ran over. "Bout time you realized I was here."

"Sorry, I didn’t know you were coming" she said getting out of his arms then hitting him in the stomach "why didn’t you ask me to come with you?"

"Ouch, I couldn’t come with you when I was coming to surprise you."

"I guess I could forgive you" she said finding his lips and giving him the most passionate kiss.

"Oh god, get a room you two" Sheril said throwing a pillow at them.

"And ya’ll thought Sid and I were bad" Karen added. "I’m going to go eat before my appetite is ruined." The rest walked into the kitchen and got the food out on the table. A few minutes later, Max and Natalie joined them and got all stares when entering the room.

"What, had to work up a hunger for food" Natalie said.

"I’m sure Max has a different hunger now" Karen whispered to her to make her blush when she looked over at Max sitting beside Sidney as they started to eat.

The next day came and went as Sidney and Karen were having their rightful bachelor/bachelorette parties. Max was taking Sidney out to meet up with some of his friends and Karen had her girls with her for some fun. While Sidney was getting ready, Karen and the girls had already started their party.

As Sidney came down the steps, he saw headlights pull up to the house and smiled. He made sure Karen wasn’t watching him and went to the door, opening it and silencing the visitors. They quietly walked inside and went to the doorway of the living room.

"Hope there is enough alcohol to last the night."

Karen looked to who said that and screamed at the sight of four more best friends. There stood Liz, Stacie, Samantha, and Kasey all with smiles as Karen got up and ran over to hug them all.

"How are you guys here?" They all pointed to Sidney who just stood there with a smile.

"Apparently he said we needed to come up this weekend for a surprise with you" Liz said.

"So what’s the surprise Kiki?" Kasey asked.

"Sid and I are getting married this weekend" she said holding up her hand with the diamond on it. Karen hadn’t mentioned it to any of them they were engaged and knew it was a shock to them.

"Are you serious?" Liz looked at her with disbelief before she smiled "bout damn time girl."

"Thanks girl" she said hugging her. "So did the guys come with you too?"

"Actually, they are waiting for me to pick them up at the hotel and then they’re going out with us" Sidney said coming up behind her.

"That was sweet of you to do all this."

"I just wanted you to have your friends here" he said kissing her. Sidney smelled the alcohol on her breath "baby, promise me you and the girls will stay at the house tonight."

"Whatcha mean?" she said with her eyes wide and smiling.

"You’ve already started drinking" Sidney said looking at her.

Karen shook her head no, then changed it to yes "Sheril found your blender and all the alcohol."

Sidney couldn’t hold in his laugh "baby, you need to listen to me for a minute."

"You are too sexy for your own good stud" she ignored him, kissing his neck "you sure you don’t want to combine our parties and stay here with me? I can make it worth your while."

"Karen" he said stepping back from her to make her look at him "I want you to stay here. No leaving the house and driving anywhere. You can go out back and by the dock but please stay here. I know how you girls get and I want you safe."

"I promise we will stay near the house stud."

"I love you."

"I love you too and if I have to stay near the house…you have to stay away from the strippers."

"You have nothing to worry about baby. Besides, if I want to see a beautiful woman take her clothes off, I’ll just come home to you."

"You come home to me and I will strip for you anyway" she said before kissing him.

"I hate to break up this lovefest but can we go while the night is still young." They kept kissing "guys, come on, you can do this later." When Max still didn’t get a response, "I am giving you guys five more seconds before I go get the hose." Sidney and Karen both held up their hand and counted down the fingers from 5 to none, breaking the kiss.

"Chill Max, I only needed five more seconds" Sidney said before letting Karen go and walking towards the door with Max following behind. Karen stood there laughing before rejoining the girls.