ANOTHER TIME: The bridal shoot

They never got real brides to model wedding dresses. Brides were too busy planning their weddings, stressing over every detail. And it was rare to find happily married women who were young enough to be on the rolodex of those men who handled models, so they didn't model wedding dresses, either. That meant it was mostly girls like Lacy. In their early twenties. That was the sweet spot. They didn't look like teens anymore, but women getting married usually wanted to look young, so the early twenties were perfect. That was what brought Lacy to the studio of Janice Miller one autumn afternoon.

Janice Evers was a photographer, magazine editor, and writer. She almost singlehandedly operated The Christian Woman's Bridal Magazine, or TCWBM, to its fans. It paired religious musings with tips on how to have the perfect wedding and where to get the perfect dress. Janice had hired Lacy plenty of times before, mostly for scenic shoots to set the mood for the magazine. Janice hadn't picked up on the fact that Lacy wasn't the paragon of the virtues she extolled in her magazine. But if she fired every model who had a body count and dabbled with partying and , she'd have no models left.

Lacy's dress today was just like her. That's to say, it was lacy. In keeping with modesty, the lacy covered her from the shoulderblades to her upper neck. It was also pleasantly form fitted to Lacy's rump, but that was a blind spot that the editor of TCWBM didn't seem to notice. There was another model there, Grace, that was wearing a more standard shiny white dress. At the start of the day, Grace had made a joke about bridal lingerie. Janice hadn't liked that much.

The woman behind the camera was in her 40's. She had started TCWBM at a young age, just after her own wedding. To guide young brides in the light of God. Now she was a quiet millionaire. Lacy had once been to her house for dinner. It was enormous. She kept in good shape, though it was hard to tell, since she usually wore frumpy sweaters. Janice always said she only exercised at her church's all-female gym. Her hair was brown, long, and wavy, and she wore it loose. She had full lips and a bright smile. It was no surprise that she was still married, and her husband Hank was her biggest supporter.

Hank worked as a sort of editor for the magazine, though he was more of a jack-of-all-trades and a gopher, doing whatever his wife asked of him. Today he was cleaning up their space, though he spent at least as much time smiling at the models and saying things like, "Shucks, don't you ladies look sweet."

Lacy did look sweet. She and Grace were fake-laughing and fake-smiling, but they were enjoying themselves for real.