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I waited too long to start my family. Even if Liliana and I have already conceived a child by now, they would grow up to be old enough in another thirty years. I need someone who can run the business now, in case anything should happen to me. After all, I need there to be a clear line of what happens in that case, so that my assets aren’t stripped one by one to bad debts as the business fails. I need it to continue to thrive so that Liliana will always be taken care of.
But all of that is a consideration for another time. Right now, Henri is waiting for me to go with him to the altar, to be married.
“Yes,” I tell him, taking a breath to try to quell the shaking I feel at my core. I wonder if nerves are the right word for it. Excitement, maybe. I’m about to do the most important thing I will ever do, and I know it in my bones. This is a day I will remember for the rest of my life, down to the most minute detail.
I walk out into the church and look around to see my friends and family gathered on one side of the pews. On the other is everyone who has come for Liliana, minus the bridal party. They’re all ready and waiting for us. I smile at many familiar faces, including some of the people who helped me along the way to becoming who I am. Cousins, business partners, friends that I’ve kept in touch with since we were at business school together.
I stand next to Henri, who is taking good care of our rings, and try not to look at my watch. I’m sure I can’t bear to know whether she’s late or if it’s still early, and I have much longer to wait. I don’t quite know what to do with myself. I have never been flustered in my life, and yet here I am, all elbows and thumbs, suddenly forgetting how a normal human man is supposed to hold his arms when he stands.
It feels as though I’ve barely had enough time to center myself, to prepare, when the organist takes her seat at her instrument. She sets her hands to the keys with a moment of graze solemnity and then begins to play the Wedding March.
I look up, ready to see my beautiful bride come down the aisle towards me.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Liliana
“I just want to talk to you for a moment,” Mom says, and I can’t help but want to roll my eyes and groan.
We’ve managed to get so close. My hair and makeup are done, and I’m wearing my gorgeous wedding gown. I’m ready. But now here we are, and it seems like I’m going to fall at the last hurdle. My own mother is about to try to talk me out of this.
“Alright,” I sigh, gesturing to the makeup artist and hairdresser who have been ministering to us all morning. “Thank you so much, ladies. If you could just give us a minute?”
They file out of the room with dimpled smiles. I feel like I’m slowly getting used to this thing of telling people what to do. It doesn’t come naturally to me, but it does seem to be something that comes along with having money. I had a shock the first morning that I came downstairs to find Nico’s cleaner wiping down the kitchen surfaces, and since then it’s all been a learning curve.
“Darling,” Mom says, reaching for my hand. I turn to face her, taking her in. She’s made up beautifully, wearing a pale lavender dress with a matching short jacket that makes her a truly elegant mother of the bride. She protested a great deal when she saw the price tag on the outfit, but Nico insisted on buying it for her.
“I’m ready for this, Mom,” I tell her, trying to cut off any last-minute objection she might have.
“Well, just hear me out,” she says. “Because it’s alright if you’re not. And I want you to know that there are so many options here. If you don’t feel like you want to go through with this today, that doesn’t mean it will never happen. I’m sure Nico would be very accommodating if you wanted to push it back a while.”
“I don’t want to,” I assure her.
“Just think about it for me, please?” Mom sighs, looking at me with love. “You’re my only daughter, and I always want what’s best for you. That’s who I’m concerned about – you, not anyone else. Nico has proven himself to be a very nice man, but if I had to choose between hurting his feelings or yours, I’d push him off a cliff soon as I would look at him.”
