AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And it wasn’t even about me needing to marry Orion, not anymore.
Today’s sorrow was about not having my mother next to me, at what was supposed to be one of the most beautiful moments in my life.
The wedding preparations, choosing a dress, the day itself. Announcing pregnancies, giving birth… getting to see her hold her grandbabies.
All those should-be incredible high points … out of reach for me.
Snatched from my grasp way too soon.
“Ms. Stark?”
I looked up from my hands to see the smiling sales associate standing in the doorway. “Yes?”
“If you’ll follow me, we have your fitting suite ready for you.”
Fitting suite?
Fancy.
“Thank you,” I said, pushing up from my seat so she could lead me through the expansive store. Needing to get away fromNectar, I’d arrived for my appointment about fifteen minutes early, so I wasn’t taken aback about them not quite being ready for me yet. I answered a few questions about my style and measurements so they could pull a few preliminary options for me, then sat and patiently waited for myactualappointment time.
As soon as I crossed the threshold for myfitting suite,the short wait made even more sense.
The tears I hadn’t been able to gather welled up in my eyes as soon as I saw the trio of smiling women waiting for me. I hadn’t talked to Morgan, Alexis,ormy Aunt Lucy about this appointment, thinking it was better to get it over with sans fanfare with the absence of my mother beingsoacute.
But seeing them… I’d never felt such relief before.
“I’ll leave you all for a moment while I go grab a few dresses I think you’ll like,” the sales associate said as they stood to greet me. “And then we can get started.”
“What are y’all doing here?” I breathed as soon as she was gone, trying valiantly to keep myself from breaking into sobs. The actual tears were already front and center.
“Orion’s assistant called and let us know,” Alexis answered, dabbing my face with a tissue she snagged from a box on a nearby side table. “She knew you shouldn’t do this alone, but that you probably wouldn’t say anything.”
I shook my head, accepting hugs from each one of them, the tightest coming from my auntie.
“A weddingthis fast, baby girl?” she said, keeping her arms around me as she met my gaze. “Does this man have you knocked up?”
“No.” I laughed, shaking my head as I accepted another tissue, this time from Morgan. “This is his doing. Ceremony in Sugar Valley.”
“Oh, we know,” Morgan chimed. “Ol’ girl filled us in on all the details, arranged transportation and all. Asked us if we wanted to go byhelicopter.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course they did.”
“At least they offeredsomething,” Aunt Lucy scolded as she finally let me go. “Were you just gonna run off to Sugar Valley to get married and then go on a honeymoon and not say anything?”
“No,” I denied. “I was going to say something!”
“In time for us to be there for you?” Alexis asked and… I couldn’t answer.
“Exactly as I thought,trash.” Morgan laughed. “But we aren’t about to make this little shut down you’re trying to pull easy on you. Hoe you’re stuck with us. Sorry, Ms. Lucy,” she immediately added, seeing my auntie’s face. “But Nala knows what’s up.”
“I do,” I confirmed. “And I… I appreciate y’all. More than you know,” I said, trying to choke back another wave of emotion.
I failed.
But by the time the sales associate was back with the first dresses for me to try on, I’d managed to pull myself together.
Which was good because we all hated the first few options, several of which I didn’t even leave the dressing room to show my little crew. With some feedback, she was able to pull a whole other round of dresses, some of which were better than others.
