Weddings, weddings, weddings. Weddings were a big part of Miranda Bennett's life these days, in no small part due to the sheer number of her relatives who were choosing to tie the knot in increasingly interesting ways. But for once, the next couple she was catering to were leaning more toward tradition and timing, offering her plenty of time to make sure they looked their best on their big day. Gabi was the one who showed up on Miranda's doorstep, gently pushing open the door to call out, "Hello' Anyone home?"

Miranda was especially excited about this wedding, seeing how Gabi was her niece - the only daughter of Miranda's only brother. It didn't much matter to Miranda that Gabrielle had actually been adopted. She was as much a Granger as anyone else who lived at Maple Grove. "In here, Gabi!" she called back from somewhere inside the house. "I'm changing the baby!"

"What for, a new sewing machine?" Gabi asked, closing the door behind her. A few years ago, a joke like that would never have left her lips. Now the mother of soon to be three year old twin boys, they came far more easily to her lips. She followed the gurgling to the right room, smiling at the sight of her aunt engaged in baby wrestling. "Hello."

To her credit, Miranda was getting good at baby wrestling, but then, for her, it was just a matter of rekindling old skills. For Rufus, it was something entirely different. "Hi! Sorry. Little Troublemaker here just couldn't wait to poop any longer," she said with a laugh, knowing Gabi, of all people, would understand that your life was never really your own, so long as you had a child to tend to.

"Oh, don't worry about it," Gabi assured her, waving a hand as she moved closer. "Hey there, Ro-ro. You being a good girl for Momma Miri?" She gently tweaked the baby girl's nose, smiling at the giggle she got in return.

"She's gonna have a birthday soon," Miranda said, as she scooped the baby up from the changing table. "Say night-night to Auntie Gabi," she added. "It's time for a nap."

"We'll have to have a party," Gabi suggested softly, using her fingertip to drop a kiss onto Ro's round cheek as the baby girl cooed and cuddled into Miranda. Raising her eyes to her aunt, her smile relaxed. "I'll go and put a pot on, you do what?s gotta be done."

"Make yourself comfortable. I won't be long!" Miranda promised. "Rufus won't be back for a while. I sent him on an errand," she informed her niece before starting toward the nursery to put her daughter down for a nap.

"All right." Stepping out of the way, Gabi let Miranda go and do her thing, making her own way to the kitchen. It said a lot for how often she visited this house that she knew her way around so well. Well enough to clean up the splat of half-chewed banana on the floor before she started to make the tea, anyway.

Miranda wasn't gone too long, and when she finally returned, she had brought an armful of sketches and photos along with her, which promised ideas for gowns. She set the pile down on the table with a sigh of breath. "Ro usually naps for an hour or so, so we should have plenty of time to look these over." And even if the little girl woke before that, it was easy enough to keep her happy.

"Oh, good grief." Gabi laughed at the pile of sketches and photographs as she set the teapot and cups on the table. "How long have you been working on this" We only got engaged six months ago."

"About that," she said, sorting through the pile to find her own personal favorites, which happened to be sketches of her own creations. "This would be lovely for a summer wedding," she said, passing along a sketch or two. Some were formal, some not so formal, but it was up to Gabi to narrow down what it was she was aiming for. "It won't take long to put it together once we know what you want."

"We decided on June," Gabi told her, settling down into a seat beside her aunt. "Eventually. We were gonna go with March, but Dom and Elle were a bit more eager to get it all official, and this way we get to celebrate the boys' third birthday first. Anyway, that's why I'm here, To get designs settled so you have lots of time."

"Oh, DomSchom," Miranda said with a dismissive chuckle. "June is the perfect time of year for a wedding. Why do you think so many couples get married then?" she said with a grin, as she shoved the pile of designs toward her niece. "Take a look through those and pick out a few you like," she told her as she poured them both a cup of tea and stirred a little milk and sugar into her own.

Blushing, Gabi bent her head over the pile as she laughed softly, admiring the skill in each sketch as she considered them. "We finally managed to decide who we're going to ask to be a part of the wedding party last night, too," she offered, sipping her tea as she scanned the designs in front of her, setting one or two aside to look at again as she went. "I've already spoken to Leilani - she's just not comfortable to do it, so she wants to sit with Humphrey instead."

"Poor girl. Is she still so very shy then?" Miranda asked of the young woman Cian had claimed for his bride. She sipped at her own tea, reaching over to interject her own opinion on gowns with a tap of fingers at one in particular. "Set that one aside. You would look gorgeous in that."

"Yes, ma'am." The sketch slipped onto the thin pile that was growing as Gabi looked through the designs. "I don't think it's so much that she's shy," she said thoughtfully. "I mean, I'm shy, and I still stood up with Beth when she asked me. I think it's more that, well, the formality is so far removed from what Lani knows and is comfortable with' I don't know. I just want her to be herself on my wedding day, and she thinks she can do that best by being with Humphrey during the ceremony. So that's where she'll be."

"It is kind of cute how taken she is with Humphrey," Miranda remarked with a grin. "Do you remember how grumpy he was a few years ago before everyone started having babies?" She chuckled at the memory of it. Despite his grumpiness, Humphrey was a big softie - even more so these days with all the small ones around.

Gabi's smile was the familiarly soft, shy curve it had always been, though it was seen more often than not these days. "He was never grumpy with me," she murmured softly. "But I guess I needed him not to be." She glanced at Miranda, biting her lip. "The boys want to be in the wedding," she warned her aunt. "We were talking about bridesmaids, and they wanted to know what boys do at weddings, and decided that because there are two rings, they should both be ring bearers. So ....no flower girl, but two ringbearers."

Miranda laughed at the thought of her nephews insisting on being in the wedding. "Well, that's better than dressing one as a girl," she teased. "So, who are you going to ask then?" Presuming Leilani was out.

Laughing her quiet laugh, Gabi wrapped her hands around her cup as she considered her aunt. "I'm going to ask Beth to stand up with me," she told Miranda with a knowing smile. "I figure I did it for her, she should do it for me. And she's not in Rhy'Din enough. She and Jase should come and spend a week and just be family before the big day."

"Well, that's easily remedied," Miranda said with a conspiratorial grin. "We just plan the bachelor and bachelorette parties a week before and cram that week full of obligations they can't ignore."

"You didn't really think I'd leave you out, did you?" Gabi's shy smile was shining as she turned her eyes back to the sketches she had set aside to look at again. "Oh ....I don't want Beth, Kaylee and Lisbeth in different dresses. So ....well, you know where Kaylee's scars are. Besides, modest would suit all of them, wouldn't it?"

Miranda dabbed at her tears before they made a mess of her mascara as Gabi turned her attention back to the sketches. "Hmm, good point. How about something like this?" she asked, as she picked through the pile of sketches and photos for something that might fit Gabi's request. She came up with three different choices, all slightly different. "We want something pretty ....something that will compliment but not outshine the bride."

"I would choose three women who are all different shapes, wouldn't I ..." Poring over the sketches Miranda produced, Gabi bit her lip thoughtfully. "I like the cross-over bodice, or bustline, or whatever it's called," she said, indicating the photograph. "But I'd rather have short sleeves that are loose, not fitted" And a skirt like this one." She indicated another sketch. "You know, flowing, not too heavy for hot weather. Does that make any sense?"

"Well ..." Miranda couldn't help but smirk, knowing it was her own daughter who'd be the main problem. "Beth is the one that's top heavy," she pointed out, though she'd never say that to her face. "So, we want something that won't emphasize the bust too much." She grabbed her sketchpad and pencils and started sketching out a completely new design based on what Gabi was telling her. "Cap sleeves or flutter sleeves, you think?"

"Slightly longer than cap sleeves, I think." Gabi considered this for a moment, and shrugged her cardigan off. "Like this," she tugged at her t-shirt sleeve. "But not close fitting, you know" And maybe sheer, if that would work."

"Okay," Miranda muttered as she quickly made a rough sketch of a dress that captured all the elements Gabi had been describing. After a few minutes of sketching, she turned the pad to Gabi for her opinion. "How's this?"

Leaning over to inspect the sketch, Gabi bit her lip again. She'd never been very good at expressing her wants, but her father, George, and Cian had impressed on her that this was her wedding day. She was entitled to ask for things to be a certain way, and no one was going to be upset with her over it. "Is there a way to make it, you know, layered?" she asked hesitantly. "Not one heavy fabric with a lighter one on top, I mean like layers of light material. Does that make any sense?"

"Yes, of course," Miranda said, adding a few details to the sketch that made the skirt look like it was made up of thin layers that flowed airily without looking too heavy. "Something like that maybe?"

"Exactly like that!" Gabi beamed happily. She hadn't thought it would be this easy, but then, Miranda was an excellent designer. "What color, do you think" They're all brunettes, but between Lisbeth's olive skin and Kaylee's porcelain, I don't think a lighter shade would suit all of them."

"Hmm, something in a jewel shade, maybe. Blue or violet," Miranda mused aloud, flipping through photos of other dresses to find the colors she had in mind. Not red - red was too bold for a summer wedding, something in a cooler shade, but bright and vivid.

"Not blue." Gabi shook her head with a smile. "Don't get me wrong, I like blue, but I wear it virtually everyday. It's too ordinary a color for a special day, I guess. Wait, turn that page back again?" She touched the photograph that had caught her eye. "Something like that' Like a dark amethyst, or a grape?"

"Agreed," Miranda replied, pausing to compare a couple of shades of violet. "Which do you prefer?" she asked, not wanting to lead her either way. This wasn't about what Miranda wanted, but Gabi.

"I kinda like that one," Gabi admitted shyly, touching the appropriate picture. "Richer, you know" And they wouldn't have to just put it away, they could keep it as a formal dress for other occasions." She just couldn't put that practical side of herself away, even for her own wedding.

"I like that shade, too," Miranda agreed. "It reminds me of spring flowers," she said, setting aside her sketch, along with the photo of the dress in the shade Gabi had chosen. "Now, for the bridal gown," she said with a smile. "If you want to come by the shop, you could try a few on and see what you like, but I drew up a few sketches I think might suit you," she said, as she flipped through her notebook to show her a few more sketches.

"Like wild violets," Gabi mused softly, blinking as Miranda drew her attention to the wedding dress itself. She blushed, knowing this one was going to have to be about her more than making someone else look pretty for a day. "I can come by," she nodded in agreement. "But I like the way you think, I thought I'd see what you've been playing with before you get me down to my underwear."

"Yes, exactly!" Miranda replied with a smile. She chuckled a little at Gabi's remark about underwear, but refrained from reminding her that was something George should be striving for. She wasn't sure if Gabi and George had consummated their relationship yet, and she wasn't about to ask, knowing George was even more old-fashioned than Humphrey, coming from a different time and place - one that was quite different from the modern world. "Does anything catch your eye?"

They were related, however. Gabi knew exactly what Miranda was wondering, but she wasn't going to confirm or deny. Gordon knew she and George had shared a bedroom on numerous occasions, but he'd never made much of it. Scooting closer to look at the sketches, she studied them thoughtfully. "I like those sleeves," she said finally. "Is that sheer to the elbow with the drape opaque?"

"Yes," Miranda replied, taking up her pencil to sketch a bit of lace. "I was thinking about adding a little embellishment to the sheer part, like this ....not enough to cover the sleeve, but just enhance it," she said, as she sketched a light floral pattern.

"That's pretty." Gabi smiled faintly, feeling awkward about this whole dress designing deal purely because it was for her. "I'm not really into showing off boobs and legs and all sorts, you know" But I know you won't let me wear something shapeless." She laughed, studying the other sketches. "That bodice is lovely. Would it suit me, do you think?"

"Sweetheart, you want to look like a princess on your wedding day. You want to look graceful and elegant, not trashy. Too many women think it's attractive to have their boobs hanging out, when really less is more. You want to enhance and entice, not let it all hang out." She smiled at Gabi's question, confident together they could create the perfect wedding gown for her special day. "I think so. You can try on a few similar gowns at the shop and see what you think, but I think it would be very flattering for your figure."

"I want George to like it," Gabi said softly. It really was as simple as that; she wasn't so concerned with whether or not she looked beautiful, she just wanted George to like the way she looked on the day she became his wife. "Should I come down to the shop, then?"