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“She’s with Ashley checking on things in the church,” I reply. “Teenagers.” I shrug.
Her three kids race by – the oldest one in a beautiful pink tulle dress with flowers in her hair, the other two in a miniature version – as Ianna yells at them to settle down. “Tell me teenagers are easier,” she sighs, exasperated. I can tell it’s been a stressful morning for her already.
“I lucked out in the teenager department,” I admit, “but I think she’s an anomaly.”
“Don’t say that,” Ianna laughs as she smooths the wrinkles out of her pink strapless dress. She stops fussing with her hair and stares at me through the mirror’s reflection, her face softening. “You look beautiful in pink,” she says. “I can’t believe you're forty. You and your sister defy time,” she says sweetly.
Looking at myself in the mirror over Ianna’s shoulder, I must admit the dress is beautiful, even if it’s pink. On the outside I’m a forty-three-year-old mom with a few more lines around her eyes, a few stretch marks, and scars inside and out, but I still feel like the twenty-year-old girl who fell in love with the wrong person.
“We need a picture,” Ianna says, gathering everyone together.
Ianna smiles at me, snaking her arm around my waist and making sure I get in the picture. She hasn’t asked why I’m in here and not with Beth which I appreciate more than she’ll ever know. Beth and I never had a big family, and all of this is overwhelming. All we had was each other, and I guess I never knew what I was missing, but I’m not marrying into Laura’s family; Beth is.
“I should go check on Beth,” I tell Ianna, slipping out of her grasp and gathering the bottom of my dress so I don’t trip on the ends. My heels have caught on the material more than once already.
“Wait!” Laura shouts, rushing over and giving me a hug. “Thank you,” she says, but I don't know why.
“It’s going to be a beautiful wedding,” I reassure her.
Before leaving the room, I watch as Ianna walks over to Laura, looking at her with so much love and happiness my stomach feels like it’s in knots.
In the lobby of the church, guests are still entering and taking their seats. Noelle meets me in front of Beth’s dressing room to wait until everyone gets seated. Wearing a beautiful blue dress that flares at the waist, she definitely looks older than her seventeen years.
Inside the small dressing room, there are only a few bridesmaids. Beth is wearing a beautiful white silk strapless dress that pushes her breasts up and cinches at the waist. The skirt is made of tulle and fans out behind her, covering the floor like a waterfall. Seeing it on her in the bridal shop was one thing, but seeing her in it at the church just minutes from getting married takes my breath away for more reasons than I’m willing to admit.
“You look,” I start to say but get choked up. Even after everything, I’m still happy for her. “Stunning,” I finish.
Beth smiles at me, barely able to contain her nervous excitement. “Thanks,” she says, and I can tell she might want to say something else, but now is not the time to get into it. “It wasn’t like this the first time,” she admits, turning to look at herself in the mirror one last time.
“Because this is the real thing,” I say looking over her shoulder, seeing all the differences between us, but all of the similarities too.
“Where’s Dad?” Beth asks, pinching her eyebrows together.
“Shit,” I say.
“Are you serious, Lake?”
“I’m joking, Beth. He needed to sit down so I left him with Georgie in one of the church pews.”
“Now I’m even more worried,” Beth says, her eyes wide, and planting her hands on her hips.
I nudge Noelle. “Go check on your grandpa,” I whisper to her.
Noelle leaves us to enter the church while we gather outside the doors waiting for the music to start when Laura arrives. Her dad, Marius, is holding her arm, and I’m guessing this is the first time they have seen each other in their wedding dresses because they both tear up.
“Makeup, oh no,ruina,” Florina fusses, shoving tissues at them.
The doors open, and my dad and Noelle approach us. He looks so handsome in his tux. He takes one look at Beth and his eyes tear up. Florina shoves tissues at him too.
“Look at you, Beth,” he says, giving her a kiss on the cheek while holding onto her with shaky hands. “Your mom would have been so happy for you,” he whispers into her ear.
My sister looks absolutely radiant, like a piece of glass sharp enough to cut through anything. Ianna wrangles the wedding party to stand together for a group photo. I take my place in the middle of the group as the music inside the church starts up.
In the melee of the crowd, I feel someone next to me, a hand lightly touching the small of my back, and a thumb gently brushing across the material of my dress. It feels like an electric pulse is humming through my body, excitement rising from the depths of my belly, and I turn my head slightly, raising my eyes to meet his, and the scent of his cologne filling the space between us.
His freshly shaven jaw, slicked back hair, and tailored suit – meant to give the illusion of a gentleman on the surface – does little to hide the smoldering musician with the dirty mouth underneath. His brown eyes peer down at me, his lip pulling up at the corner with a hint of a smile, causes me to swallow hard, while his hand on my back slowly moves up. When his fingers make contact with my bare skin, it’s like a live wire coursing through me. My lip’s part while the camera flashes again and the group disperses, pulling us apart.
It’s as if I was just on the teacups at Disneyland when the ride stops, and I have to find something that’s not moving or I’d fall over. Grabbing my bouquet of pink and white roses from the table, we line up in front of the door, the bridesmaids entering first while both Beth and Laura wait at the back to walk down the aisle together.
