Chapter 9
Clarabella
"How are you holding up?" Presley asks from beside me as she closes her eyes and gets her makeup done. She's in her peach satin robe with the word MOH on the back of it. I look down at my own white satin robe with the word BRIDE embroidered on the back.
"I'm feeling a million times better," I say, looking at my reflection in the mirror, which is night and day to how I started the morning. My raccoon eyes have been washed off, and my makeup is on point. My stomach even feels better, ever since I put some food into it, hopefully soaking up all the alcohol I drank last night. The flutters are there in full force, and I'm wondering if it's normal. I look over at Presley, taking a sip of my champagne. "I'm a bit nervous." I put my hand to my stomach when there is a knock on the door. I'm not going to even lie. Every single time there is a knock on the door, I expect it to be bad news. They say expect the unexpected until he slips on the wedding band, so I'm expecting the worst.
"May I enter?" Travis sticks his head in and sees all of us sitting in the chairs getting our hair and makeup done. Once he sees that everyone is dressed, he comes in wearing his black suit that we picked out for him to wear. He is the one walking me down the aisle. "I was in charge of delivering this." He pulls a box from behind his back. It's wrapped in white with a black satin bow. He hands it to me and leans down to kiss my cheek. "You look beautiful," he whispers softly in my ear, and I smile at him and look down at the gift in my hand.
"Aw, isn't that nice,” Shelby says. "Open it." She claps her hands excitedly.
I put my champagne glass on the table in front of me next to the silver ice bucket holding the bottle in it. "Do I read the card first?" I look over at my sisters for an answer.
"No," Shelby says while Presley puffs out, "Absolutely not."
I laugh as I pull on the black sash, then turn over the long box, sliding my hand under the tape to rip the paper away. I open the black velour box, my hands shaking as I see the diamond tennis bracelet. "Oh my goodness.” I gasp in shock as my finger trails over it. I put it down on the desk and open the card, seeing his writing.
Clarabella,
To an eternity of love.
Edward
The stinging of tears starts at my eyes, and I laugh it off as I fan my face. "I can't cry." I look at the makeup artist, who shakes her head, telling me I can't cry.
"Just remember,” Presley scoffs. "You had raccoon eyes not too long ago." I can't help but laugh now, yet the nerves don’t go away. Instead, they come on full force now, and I try to steady the beating of my heart.
There is another knock on the door, and this time when it opens, it's my mother, still dressed in her own satin robe with a MOB on it. We joked with her that at this point, she should just join the mob. Her eyes scan the room as she looks for Shelby and Presley. I can see the look of panic in her eyes. "What happened?"
"Nothing happened." She shakes her head. "Can't I talk to my daughters without something being wrong?" She wrings her hands in front of her nervously, so I know something is wrong.
"You can, but not with that face." I point at her. "That was the same face you had on when…" I try to think of when she did that face, and my heart starts to beat erratically as I sit up in the chair. I push away the hairdresser and stand. "What happened?" I look at my sisters, who sit up and get out of their own chairs.
"Let's calm down," Shelby tells me, holding her hands up when I glare at her. "Whatever happens, it's not as bad as you think it will be."
"Yeah,” Travis says. "Look at how bad mine turned out to be." He laughs and puts his hands in his pockets. "Everything burned down and…"
"And you never got married!” I shriek, and my mother slaps his arm.
"Idiot," she mumbles. "Everything is fine." She smiles. "But I need to speak to one of your sisters about something private."
"Private?” I yell. “Since when has anything been private with our family?”
“Never,” Presley confirms. “You might as well say whatever it is you want to say. She isn’t going to let you not say anything.”
“Yeah, what she said.” I point at Presley.
“Okay, fine. Mallory said that the caterer hasn't arrived yet,” my mother says, throwing her hand in the air. "Now, will you sit back down and finish getting your hair done."
"What do you mean the caterer hasn't arrived?" The blood drains from my face and travels to the back of my neck, making it hot. The only thing going through my head is Luke doing this to spite me. Also, I'm going to murder him with my bare hands. I'm going to wrap my hands around his neck and choke him. I look at my sisters, and they both have wide eyes, but only one second passes before there is another knock on the door. I feel like I'm about to crawl out of my skin at this moment.
"Hi," Ace greets, poking his head in. He looks around and finally stops when he spots Shelby. "What happened to your mouth?" He points at her, coming in wearing the same suit as Travis since he's going to be walking my mom down the aisle.
"Presley pushed me off the bed with her big ass." She points at Presley, who laughs at her.
"Anyway, Mallory said to tell you crisis averted,” Ace says, and my mother looks at me.
"See, I told you it was fine." She rolls her eyes at me. "Now sit down and finish your hair." She points at the chair, and I sit back down and grab my glass of champagne.
"Can someone please go check and see what was just going to happen?" I ask, smiling, but inside, I'm freaking out.
"I'll go,” Shelby volunteers and then starts to walk past Ace, who stops her. "Oh, now you want to talk to me?" He laughs at her and grabs her hand. "No." She shakes her head, but she doesn't make any move to step away from him.
"Come here." He pulls her to him and slips his arms around her. "I missed you last night."
"You hung up on me!" she shrieks at him.
"You wanted me to show you my private area,” Ace reminds her, looking at my mother. "I didn't, obviously."
"I've seen your private area,” Shelby protests.
"So have we,” Presley says, holding up her hand, and I just shrug.
"I turned around," I admit, finishing my drink.
"I did not,” Presley says, giggling. "I'm not picking sides." She looks at Shelby and then at Travis. "But this is the best first wedding we've done."
"Mine doesn't count,” Travis declares. "The fucking place caught on fire."
"My ex was sleeping with his ex,” Shelby says, pointing from her to Ace.
"Well, when you're perfect, you're perfect," I say, holding up my empty glass. "Can someone top me up?"
"How about we stop the topping up and start drinking some water,” my mother suggests, and I look at her.
"It's my wedding day." I put my hand on my chest. "I'm allowed to drink."
"Just be happy it's champagne and not scotch,” Shelby announces, and I wink at her.
It takes me thirty more minutes until she places the crystal headpiece at the side of my head. "There," Shelby says, and my mouth gets dry. "Now it's perfect." She makes sure everything is tucked where it should be.
"I think I'm ready to get dressed." I turn and look at everyone. Travis and Ace share a look, and after kissing Shelby goodbye, Ace follows Travis out.
"Okay, here we go.” My mother walks into the room. My sisters' dresses are hanging in the middle of the room, right next to my dress that is fitted on a mannequin. "Let's get you in your dress,” my mother says to me, and my stomach literally lurches into my chest, and I think I'm going to be sick. I push down the feeling, telling myself that it's just nerves. It's all just nerves.
"We'll get dressed first,” Shelby states, looking over at Presley. "And then we are going to help you get into the dress." I just nod my head and look around for a glass of water.
"I need to drink some water," I mumble and avoid that all movement has stopped as they look over at me. "I'm fine. I'm just, it's dry in here." I turn, walking back to the room and grabbing a water bottle. I take a sip, letting the cold water hit the back of my throat, blinking away the stinging of tears as I try to bring my breathing down to normal.
"Okay," my mother says, and I turn to look at her. She is wearing a forest-green dress with a sheer cape that flows to the floor.
I walk into the room, seeing my sisters wearing their blush-pink dresses that mold to them. "Okay, time to get you into this monster of a dress,” Shelby informs me, and I nod, taking off my robe and stepping into the dress.
I hold the dress to my chest as my sisters button up the one hundred silk buttons all down the back. "And done,” Presley says, and I turn around to face all three of them.
"You look like a divine goddess,” Shelby compliments, blinking away tears.
"Even though I wanted you to go with something more traditional," my mother says, "this dress is you."
I look down at my dress, and I smile. "It's very me," I agree. "Guys"—I look at them—"can I have a minute?"
"You take all the time you need,” Shelby states, turning and walking out first.
"I'm going to go and make sure everything is ready,” Presley says, turning to follow Shelby out.
My mother is the last one in the room. "If you need me, all you have to do is call," she reassures me, and I laugh.
"Mom, don't pretend you aren't going to be lurking outside the door," I say, and she glares at me.
"No." She shakes her head. "I'm going to go mingle." She storms off, leaving me by myself.
I walk to the mirror and look at myself. The dress is really me. The front is a sweetheart neckline, but I had it plunge down a bit more than my mother liked. It's tight until my knees, and then it ruffles out in hundreds and hundreds of layers, something else I added. It's simple and clean and perfect. When I meet my gaze in the mirror, I try to calm myself down. “This is really happening." I put my hand to my stomach and wonder if maybe I did the dress too tight since breathing is starting to be hard. "You are going to be fine." I try to encourage myself. "It's all going to be fine."
I put my head back and close my eyes when a soft knock fills the room. I shake my head, turning and picking up the bottom of the dress as I walk to the door. My hand turns the handle, the sun hitting the bracelet that Edward gave me, not knowing that once I open this door, everything in my life is going to change.