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“No,” Sofia tells her, thankfully saving me from having to tell her such. “Those are all far too gaudy and will overshadow the dress.” She strolls past an angry looking Anna, and looks through the rack. After a few moments, she comes back with a veil, a hair piece, and some pearl earrings. “I think your hair will show off the dress more, and let you have a beautiful veil and show off that face of yours,” Sofia tells me. “You have lovely hair, but we don’t want you to hide behind it either.”
“Okay, I think that sounds good,” I tell her with a smile. “I don’t have an eye for this kind of thing, so this works great.”
“Alright, dear, then you get out of this dress, and we’ll get you all dolled up.” She glances at her watch and then winks at me. “And you should only be a bit fashionably late. At least enough to have Nico on his toes.”
“What about you?” I ask Sofia curiously. She looks at me in question. “I want you to stand up with me, so you need a dress too.”
Sofia looks shocked at that. “Darling, that’s not—”
“Yes it is,” I say firmly. “You’re the closest thing I’ve had to a friend, and I really want to have someone stand up with me. And I want that to be you.” I look at Nora, and I see the approval in her eyes. “Do you have any suggestions for her?”
“I did bring a few in case you wanted something not so traditional.” She looks at Sofia. “So you my dear go and pick out what you like. Anna, you can help her.” Anna looks like she wants to argue, but nods and follows Sofia back to the dresses.
It takes a few minutes before Sofia finds a dress that she loves. It’s a dark burgundy, halter dress with a keyhole cut-out in the front as well as an open back, a nipped waist, and a long straight skirt, with a slit along the side that gives a nice hint of leg when she walks.
Thankfully Sofia is good with make-up and hair, because we’re only a bit late when she finishes mine and gets to work on her own. I stare at myself in the mirror, shocked at myself. “Wow,” I breathe.
Sofia stops and looks at me. “Is that a good wow, or a bad one?” she asks carefully.
I give her an emotional smile. “A good one. I never thought I could look so pretty.” She has done my eyes up with black liner, winging it out and smoky eye shadow, and also adding some false eyelashes to give them a bit of length, but not too thick that it looks out of place. My lips are a soft neutral, and just a small touch of blush to my skin to give it a bit of color. She pulled my hair back into a low bun, placing a diamond hair piece over the top of the bun so that it could easily attach to the veil.
“You’re beautiful, Gia,” she tells me with a warm smile. “Your family are idiots for not seeing it. But their loss is our gain,” she adds with a wink as she finishes pinning up her hair in a simple updo and then puts on a fresh coat of dark lipstick and touches up her mascara. She looks exotic and sultry, but not over the top. “Now, let’s hurry up and get you dressed so we don’t keep your man waiting too long.”
Sofia is dressed in her gown, and then she and Nora are helping me into mine. I have to lose the bra, but thankfully Nora has put some cups into the dress with some support to keep me from embarrassing myself. I crouch a bit as she and Sofia fiddle with the veil, and then I finally get a good look at myself in the full length of the mirror, and I can’t help but gasp at the sight.
The veil Sofia chose is longer, and flows down past the end of my train, but not too much. There are matching lace appliques along the edge that compliment my dress, but also don’t hide or overshadow it. In my ears are simple pearl earrings that match the ones on the back of the dress. Tears burn my eyes and I blink them furiously back. God, I never thought this was possible, and here I am only moments away from walking down to marry Nico.
And for some reason, I instantly think of my mother. She’s not the one here with me for this moment. She’s dead, and she never wanted me anyway. I was an annoyance to her, so I can’t even think she’d be here for this if it was another life and I was marrying someone else. Hell, they’d probably have brought me up some hideous dress, and left me to figure it all out on my own.
Nora steps forward and fixes my veil and train. “You look beautiful, dear. And don’t let anything bring you terrible thoughts. This is a happy day, and I’m going to share some advice that my mother told me when I married my husband. When you love someone, you don’t let anything else interfere with that. Especially on the day that signifies the start of a new chapter. Let go of all the anger, hurt or pain you’re holding in your heart, and focus on the new life you’re going to build. Nico is much like my husband. He’s the kind that may not know how to say the right words, but when it comes to making you happy, he’ll move heaven and earth to do it. So smile, and remember that and don’t worry about anything else today. Marry the man you love, and enjoy your moment.”
And that is exactly what I’m going to do. I thank her, hugging her and telling her how much I appreciate her helping me find this beautiful dress, and then I take the bouquet of burgundy and white silk flowers that she pulls out of nowhere, and head for the door.
Sofia follows behind me, but I stop when I walk out and see Pietro and Alessio both standing there, with Davide standing with them not far away. Both Caruso men look at me and beam as they take me in. I blush and try not to squirm. Davide gives me a nod of approval, before turning away and saying something quietly into whatever mic he has on him. “You look beautiful,cara mia,” Pietro says softly, taking my hand and raising it to his lips. “I don’t want to be presumptuous, but I would greatly appreciate the chance to walk you down the aisle,” he tells me. I look at him in surprise. “I know I’m not your father, but I feel strongly that a woman should be walked down the aisle by someone who has her best interests at heart, and someone who wants her to be happy.”
“I…Yes, thank you,” I manage to get out past the lump in my throat. “I figured I’d just have to walk down by myself.”
“I’m just here as a bodyguard,” Alessio tells me as he steps forward to lightly kiss my cheek. He gives me a warm smile and reaches into his pocket. “And to give you this as a wedding present.” He shows me a jewelry box and opens it to reveal a beautiful pearl necklace and bracelet. “Consider it your something new.”
“Wow, thank you, Alessio,” I say softly, as Sofia takes both and puts them on me. “They’re beautiful.” I reach out and hug him quickly, feeling so many different emotions that I have to blink back more tears. God, I’m never this emotional.
Alessio smiles at me and turns to Sofia. “Sofia, I know you’re pissed at me, but I hope you’ll forgive me,” he says sincerely. “I was an overprotective ass, and I ran my mouth once again.” He pulls out another box and opens it to reveal a beautiful ruby bracelet. “I know you’re not swayed with pretty things,” he continues when she just stares at him, “but I promise I won’t get involved in your love life again unless I feel you are in danger.”
She stares at him and then huffs out a sigh. “Fine,” she agrees. “But none of you are off the hook, and I’m going to make your lives hell the first chance I get.” She holds out her arm for him to put the bracelet on her wrist.
“Of course,” Alessio chuckles. “Oh, and just so we’re clear, I bought this before all of this. But your man isn’t going to be happy seeing it. I think he’s jealous,” he adds with a wicked smile.
Sofia rolls her eyes. “I don’t have time to get into that, but I’m going to kick your ass later. Now, we have a wedding to get to, or Nico is going to come storming up here and it’s going to mess up our plans for a big reveal.”
“Yes, he was chomping at the bit,” Pietro agrees with a chuckle. He holds out his arm. “Shall we,cara mia?”
I loop my arm through his, and take a deep breath. It’s time to get married.
CHAPTER34
Nico
Two Hours Earlier
