AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It was the most beautiful thing she’d ever seen. And even then, the ring couldn’t touch the words that went with it. The man she loved had just promised her everything she’d ever wanted. Not just love, but a lifetime of companionship. Of feeling important, never cast aside when work and other priorities interfered.
“Yes,” she whispered through the tears that suddenly started streaming down her cheeks. “I will marry you.”
Ian slipped the ring onto her hand with fingers that shook almost imperceptibly. With it placed snugly, he stood and scooped her into his arms. He smiled a wide, contented smile before leaning in to capture her lips with his own.
Bree melted into him, the world suddenly feeling more right than it had in a very long time. Being in his arms, knowing she was an integral part of Ian’s future, she could forget anything else happening around them. She even forgot they were in an alley behind a bar until an employee came out and threw a sack of trash into the Dumpster a couple yards away.
That brought them both back to reality. Ian took her hand and led her toward the door so they could share the good news with their hundred new friends. Bree was certain the dark-haired woman in the front would be highly disappointed to know Ian had been snatched up before she got her chance.
“Do you mind if I announce our engagement to the crowd? I think it will get them amped up for the second set.”
Bree nodded and leaned in to give him a good-luck kiss. “One condition, though,” she added.
His brows went up. “What’s that?”
“I want a disclaimer. I don’t cheat at Scrabble. You’re just a poor loser with a limited vocabulary.”
“Fair enough,” he said with a smile. “If you’ll still marry me, I’ll get up there and tell them anything you’d like.”
Epilogue
“What about this dress?” Gretchen slid a bridal magazine across the meeting-room table to Bree. “I like the giant silk rosettes at the bottom.”
Bree glanced at the picture and wrinkled her nose. “That’s a little fussy for me. I want something more simple and timeless. I was thinking more along the lines of this one.” She tapped the page and slid her magazine back to Gretchen. “It’s ruched ivory organza with a small crystal embellishment at the hip. I’m definitely not in the market for a ball gown. Please keep in mind that I’m wearing sparkly silver Converse under whatever dress I choose.”
She expected Amelia to lodge a complaint about her bridal footwear, but her fashionable coworker didn’t seem to be listening. She was lost in her own bridal magazine, flipping slowly through the pages but not seeing anything. She seemed like she was a million miles away, a slight frown pulling down the corners of her mouth.
Amelia had been like this since she’d gotten back from her high school reunion nearly a month ago. She’d been excited to go, but she’d returned from her hometown a little quiet and more pensive than usual. Bree thought that graduating in Las Vegas would make for a more exciting reunion, but Amelia hadn’t come home excited. She also hadn’t come home wanting to talk about it much.
Bree’s wedding was a year off at least, so dress shopping wasn’t critical, but she thought it might perk up Amelia to look at dresses with her. She’d brought in a stack of magazines for everyone to look over today before their weekly meeting. Amelia loved fashion, and bridal gowns were the epitome of that to her. She couldn’t wait to sneak out of the kitchen to see the bride’s dress each Saturday.
But Bree’s plan hadn’t worked. Amelia hadn’t said a word all morning as she mindlessly flipped through the pages of the massive bridal magazine.
Bree knew that what happened in Vegas was supposed to stay there, but this was getting ridicu
lous. “Amelia?”
The redhead snapped her head up, her thoughts finally on the here and now. “What?”
Gretchen and Bree looked at each other and they both frowned. There was something going on and she was going to get to the bottom of it right now. “What is going on with you?”
Amelia’s dark eyes widened and she shook her head dismissively. “There’s nothing going on with me. I just didn’t sleep very well last night.”
“Liar,” Gretchen accused and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’ve been acting funny since you got home from Las Vegas. What happened at your reunion? When I went to mine, all the cheerleaders had gotten fat and all the nerds were rich. I was still the artistic one with the name no one recalled. I had a few drinks, a few laughs with people who didn’t remember who I was and I went home. Nothing to lose sleep over.”
Amelia twisted her lips in thought but didn’t say anything. Whatever it was that had happened, she didn’t want to talk about it. That was just too damn bad, Bree decided. She hadn’t wanted to go to that bar and hear Ian sing, either. Amelia had forced her, and look how it had turned out. She was getting married. It was time for Amelia to spill about what was bothering her.
“What’s the big deal? What could you have possibly done there that’s so bad? It’s not like you eloped in one of those tacky wedding chapels,” Bree argued.
Amelia looked up at her, her eyes suddenly wide with panic. Her mouth dropped open, her lips moving in argument without making any sound.
“Amelia...” Gretchen pressed, “tell me you didn’t elope in a Las Vegas wedding chapel.”
She took a deep breath and slowly nodded. “I did. The details are a little blurry, but I woke up married to my best friend.”
* * * * *
