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“It creates more anticipation,” she had said before pointing out, that, really, we ought to not see each other at all before the ceremony if we went with tradition.
But nothing about our wedding is traditional.
At least I’ve never been to a wedding that has the wedding feast before the actual wedding and is timed to exchange vows just a few minutes before midnight.
Hence it’s right up my alley… and Rhia’s too… and Tiero’s—he’s unconventional—and Lex’s… and most definitely Claudette’s.
Around nine thirty, Rhia announces it’s time for everyone to get ready.
Despite Claudette’s protests, Tiero makes his way over to me and takes me into his arms.
Home.
That’s the dominant feeling overwhelming me as I snuggle deeper into his embrace.
Gualtiero Leandro De Marco is my home… my comfort… my safety.
My heart is overflowing with love for this man as I stare up into his hazel-brown eyes, letting them swallow me up whole.
“Not long now before you are irrefutably mine,” he whispers as his lips grace mine.
Grinning from ear to ear, I shake my head, amused. “I already am.”
For a man to love you so much, he wants to claim you in every imaginable way possible, it’s hot as hell.
“I want to imprint myself onto your soul,” he rasps, his voice full of need and emotion.
“You’ve donethatalready too. You not only imprinted yourself, youarepart of my soul!”
He kisses me gently then, communicating through the touch of our lips just how much I mean to him.
But before we can get carried away—and let’s be honest, we would have—Claudette pulls on my arm, until I have to take a step back.
Tiero growls in response, sounding somewhat like a wild beast… a very displeased one. Yep, and the daggers he’s shooting at our friend would disintegrate a weaker opponent.
But lucky for us all, Claudette is unfazed and smiles brightly at him. This woman is fearless.
“No more,” she declares. “He can’t see you now until the wedding.”
Directing her next words at Tiero, she says, “I think you’ll survive a couple of hours without her.”
So with a wave of my fingers, I let my friends drag me to Claudette’s room. It’s where us girls will get ready, while Tiero will get changed in our room, and Lex in the guest bedroom.
When I enter Claudette’s lair, Rhia is pouring sparkling apple juice into champagne flutes. Handing us each a glass, she raises hers for a toast.
“The countdown to the new year and the ‘I dos’ has begun. Here is to Ella, our blushing bride, the most romantic and probably coldest wedding of the century, to amazing friendships, laughter and an incredibly happy new year.”
“Cheers to that,” Claudette and I say, lifting our glasses and clinking them together with Rhia’s.
“Oh… and to a safe arrival of peanut. May she wrap her father around her little finger with just one look,” Claudette adds after her first sip.
“And to Rhia’s proposal to Lex. That man will be swept off his feet, not knowing what hit him,” I say, smirking at my best friend.
“Hear, hear,” Rhia laughs, clinking her glass against mine.
Life is good. And it’s about to get even better.
It’s just after eleven o’clock when Rhia and I step outside our ‘Second Dawn’ cottage.
