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Rose and Lily continue to praise the dress and then switch to my hair. The praise is sweet, but the attention is a lot.
This isn’t just about me. Today is all about me and Garrison. Our love, our future—and that notion eases me every few minutes.
Daisy pulls back from applying a shimmery soft rose color to my eyelid. “Alright, we’re nearing the end of this magical moment.” She looks to her sisters. “Can you two make sure that everyone is seated?”
“Yes, on it!” Lily hops up from the plush armchair like she was given life-or-death instructions. They all wear different styles of a tulle dress in the same powder blue color.
I kind of want to ask if my mom and little sister made it, but I’m too scared of the answer. A part of me already knows what to expect anyway.
Rose stands. “We’ll text you updates. Keep your phone on.” She shoots Daisy a look. This morning, Daisy came in with a dead battery and had to plug in her phone. Rose—who wants this whole thing to go off without a hitch—was practically hyperventilating.
But I knew who I chose as my maid of honor. In this moment, I need Daisy’s carefree attitude, not Rose’s perfect planning. Daisy’s energy is the only thing that will calm me down.
“Maid of honor phone is at seventy-five percent charge.” Daisy picks up her phone and waves it playfully. “We’re clear for takeoff, Rose.”
Rose sucks in a tight breath and then looks to me one final time. “It’s going to be perfect, Willow. And if anyone fucks this day up for you, I will murder them myself.”
A smile spreads over my face. “Thanks, Rose.” Her confidence swims towards me, but I feel my anxiety manifesting itself as a barrier, unwilling to let it touch me.
As soon as Lily and Rose leave, Daisy returns to my eyelids. “Close.” She bops my nose with the hard end of the makeup brush.
My smile grows and I shut my eyes, truly relaxing now.
“They can be a lot,” Daisy says. “But they mean well.”
“They’re amazing. Really. I’m the one freaking out.”
“It’s a big day. You can have as many freak-out sessions as you want.”
I try and blow out a measured breath, but pressure still sinks heavy on my chest. It’s not even anxiety or fear about marrying Garrison. The idea of spending the rest of my life with him brings only love and happiness to my heart.
It’s just…this day.
The wedding. An event where all eyes are on me. Us, they’ll be on us. I remember what Garrison told me yesterday—as the pre-panic wedding jitters took hold.
“It’s not just you out there,” Garrison said. “It’ll be us. I’ll be right next to you, and no one in the crowd will be thinking anything other than look at those cute kids getting married—because most of them are either babies and aren’t paying attention or they’re way older than us. Like ancient farts.”
I laughed. “My brothers were talking about how they found gray hairs on their heads the other day.”
“See, they’re going to need walkers soon.”
I smiled more. “Canes and hip replacements.”
“Coffin fittings.”
“Lo’s would be black and green. For Slytherin.”
“Naturally.”
We were grinning before he hugged me and kissed me, and nothing seemed scary anymore. Even if Lo and Ryke aren’t that much older than us (six and seven years respectively), they do still see me as their little sister, and they love me a ton—I know they’re not going to sit there and judge me if I trip or if I stammer out my vows. They wouldn’t care.
Neither would Connor, Daisy, Lily, or Rose.
Still, as the ceremony nears, my pulse hasn’t slowed.
“Should we have eloped?” I regret the question as soon as I say it. I shouldn’t taint the beauty of today with second-guessing, but then again, only Daisy is here.
She’s quick to say, “You and Garrison already banished that idea. You wanted the celebration of it all with the ceremony as a cherry on top.”
We considered eloping once. To just express our love to ourselves. Quietly, softly. That still seems peaceful. I think I could’ve been happy with that too.
But ultimately, we wanted this. The special ceremony where we declare our love in front of the people we love most. There aren’t many people in attendance. It’s an intimate gathering. Skipping to the party or just doing an elopement dinner sounds great—but I’m afraid I’ll always feel like I missed a part.
The part where I express how much I love Garrison. Publicly. I’ve surprised myself by how much I’ve wanted that, and maybe it’s the romantic in me who likes traditional weddings. And I know I’m quiet. I know I don’t need to scream for him to ever feel or hear my love. I know I can whisper, and to him, that whisper is a bellow from the mountaintops.
