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She thought she looked pretty. It was a really funny thought. As she looked at her reflection, the subtle makeup on her face, the way that her hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders, the way the dress flowed with her movements, she thought she looked like a bride should.

She had never felt like being pretty mattered. If anything, it was dangerous. Because it attracted notice.

She had only ever really cared one other time. That other time was when she had dressed up to lose her virginity. The night that had gotten her into this mess.

All of it was actually about Adonis. Even though she hadn’t intended to be with him that night, it had been about her rage that he had left. That deep feeling of loneliness and abandonment. Her inability to process what her life was going to look like without him.

This moment was about him too. However much she had wanted it to be about her.

Are you in love with him?

She really didn’t want to be. How twisted was that?

She didn’t want to be in love with him. He was one of the only men she had ever known. Really the only one that she had ever known that she wasn’t related to. At least, known well. She wanted her life to be different. Expansive. Meet other people. Be normal. Be normal. Except she had gone and gotten pregnant with his baby.

And she couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. And nobody else really seemed to matter in quite the same way that he did.

Why? She wanted to rage against that. Against everything. She didn’t want to be in love with him, because it would only get her hurt. Being in love with a husband who didn’t want to be a real husband to her? Loving the father of her child while living in the same house with him and trying to raise a family?

It would be stupid. She couldn’t afford to feel any more than he did. She couldn’t. She wanted to rage and scream at the pretty girl in the mirror. What good was being a beautiful bride for a man who wouldn’t even care? Who wouldn’t touch her?

This was when she really wished she had some bridesmaids or something. Someone to rally around her. Someone to give her support.

Someone to make this feel okay.

Nothing felt okay. There also wasn’t another choice. There wasn’t.

The door to the suite opened. “Are you ready?”

It was Alex. She turned to face him, and his face did something she had never seen it do before. It softened. She was almost sure she saw a sheen of emotion in his eyes.

“Well, you look perfect,” he said.

“Alex…”

“I want you to be happy. If this isn’t going to make you happy, we can leave.”

“You said that a lot of people were here.”

“They are. But I don’t care. It doesn’t matter to me if there are a lot of people here. It doesn’t matter if it makes them happy. It doesn’t even really matter to me if Adonis is happy. Not if it’s at your expense.”

“It’s a little late for all that.”

“No. It’s not too late. If there’s a better decision to make, then I want to make it.”

“I just mean…this is what I want.”

“You don’t look very happy.”

“I don’t know if it makes me happy. But it’s what I want. I want to try this with him. I want to raise our child together. I want… That’s what I want.”

“Maybe it’ll be great,” he said.

“Maybe,” she said.

He gripped her arm, and she let him lead her from the room. She wanted to believe that everything would be great. Or at least okay.

Are you in love with him?