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They critiqued my hair, the way I dressed, my posture, and I’d spent more than my fair share of family events being grilled and interrogated about my past, present, and future. I’d stretched the truth a little in these departments but figured it wouldn’t be enough to have the church burn down around me when I stepped inside.
As we walked the small path between the cottage and the church, I wasn’t quite sure what people meant when they talked about getting cold feet before a wedding because mine were hot.
Sweaty.
Burning like the pits of hell.
We hurried up the front stairs and through the open doorway into a tiny foyer. There were two heavy wooden doors in front of me, the sounds of hushed voices and faint organ music playing on the other side.
Once again, I gripped the flowers in my hand tightly as the women around me primped, pulled, and plucked at my dress, erasing every imperfection until they deemed it flawless, and finally took a step back to admire their handiwork.
A loud creak startled me, the two doors suddenly easing open to reveal a church full of guests, the pews packed with family and friends—mind you, only a few of them were mine. I was fine with that because the idea of having my mother here gave me instant heart palpitations, and I was glad it was one less thing I had to worry about.
This day was already going to take the cake.
I didn’t need them here eating it too.
“And… go bridesmaids,” the wedding planner ordered, shoving Jade and a couple of friends of mine from college out into the church.
A moment later, the music changed, and a few hundred pairs of eyes were suddenly focused on me.
Chad and his groomsmen were waiting at the altar, and I took a deep breath, ready to follow the bridesmaids down the aisle toward him. I forced myself to stare over his head at the beautiful stained-glass window illuminating the spot where I was about to stand. This moment was so different from the wedding day I’d imagined, and it was all I could do to keep the tears at bay.
The music softened into silence as I reached the end of the aisle. I passed my flowers to Jade and finally turned to stand before my fiancé. He looked as petrified as I did, and for a split second, I wondered if I was even going to be able to do this.
To get out the words I needed to say.
But then I saw Chad glance over my shoulder at Jade, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smile for a brief second.
And that was all the convincing I needed.
“Can I borrow this for a minute,” I whispered to the celebrant. He paused, his mouth open, about to speak into the microphone he was holding. “I won’t be a moment, I swear.”
“What are you doing?” Chad whispered under his breath. He grabbed hold of my hand, his fingers tightening around it almost painfully as the celebrant reluctantly passed me the mic, his eyes skipping between us. “Valen…”
For someone who was usually so calm and relaxed, I didn’t expect the flare of anger to spark in his eyes, but I had to push past it and carry on.
Pushing my shoulders back, I pulled free from his death grip so I could hold the mic with both hands and turned to face our guests. “Hi—” I jerked back when the echo of my voice came screaming back at me. The young guy behind the tech desk at the back of the church waved out and gave me a thumbs up, quickly letting me know it was fixed.
Jade reached over, a deeply etched frown on her face as she tugged at my dress. “Valen, what are you—”
“Hello, everyone,” I tried again, this time with a much more pleasant sound coming from the speakers. “I know you’re all wondering what’s going on… usually, speeches aren’t until after the ceremony. But I wanted to take a moment to thank someone special for making this day one I’ll always remember.”
Jade’s worried frown seemed to slip away the moment I turned to her, not so concerned about my interruption, especially now she could see it was going to be a special moment between the two of us.
Unforgettable, in fact.
“As many of you know, Jade and I have been friends since we were in high school,” I explained, fighting the tears that had begun to burn at the back of my throat. I couldn’t let them win, not until I’d said what needed to be said. “She helped me choose this dress. She organized almost every single detail of this wedding from the flowers to the music…” I paused, then continued with my next thought, “Oh! And she even helped Chad pick out the ring he proposed to me with.”
Jade stared at me, her lip quivering and a few stray tears finally slipping down onto her cheeks. A little dramatic, but she’d always had a flare for it.
A wave of awws even moved through the crowd.
Probably because the crowd was full of her family and her friends.
It was sweet really. She hadn’t wanted me to stand up here and have only a handful of guests there for me while Chad’s side was full of a never-ending number of brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins—that Catholic lifestyle coming in strong. So, she convinced her whole family to attend to fill my side to even things out.
At the time, I’d insisted these people didn’t want to witness some stranger get married, but now, Jade’s control over the guest list and Chad’s excessively religious family were two factors that would make this moment so…
