She opened the door to the makeshift bridal suite to find her sister with swollen eyes, a bright red nose, and piles of used, makeup-tinted tissues surrounding her.
And a gorgeous rose and lily bouquet at her feet.
Julia sneezed, and a piece of her perfectly done hair fell out of its updo onto to her cheek.
“Hey, Elly,” she said in a nasally voice. “The make-up artist had to go to her next appointment, so we’re on our own.”
Forget confetti. Eliana’s heart exploded into millions of pieces of glitter they’d never be able to get out of the carpet.
Time to call in reinforcements.
Chapter 34
“Love is the only thing that we can carry with us when we go, and it makes the end so easy.” —Louisa May Alcott
Elianahadneverbeenso happy to see a group of elderly people in her life. Grandma’s friend, Nancy, assessed the situation in the conference room and immediately took charge.
Before Eliana could blink, Rosa was doing her make-up while Polly fixed Julia’s hair. Harry and his wife, Virginia, were driving to the closest grocery store to buy out their fresh flower section—avoiding carnations, lilies, and roses. Walt and his two granddaughters were meeting up with Kai and Logan to trade cars—and they’d take the car to the tire shop to get fixed, which meant they’d miss the wedding, but they swore they didn’t mind. Mom, Uncle Dave, and Eric were in charge of removing every last flower from the conference room. Grandpa was meeting Dad and Don at the grocery store to figure out the cake situation.
And Winnie was put in charge of cheering up the bride and maid of honor—since when everyone had arrived, they’d both been crying. Grandma sat in front of Eliana and Julia and took a hand from each of them to hold.
The tightness in Eliana’s chest eased as everyone rushed off to fulfill their assignments.
“Your friends are amazing, Grandma.” She squeezed her grandma’s hand.
“They really are.” Grandma exchanged an appreciative smile with Polly and Rosa, who were both proving to be a whiz at getting them ready for the wedding.
Eliana had a new life goal: Make friends as amazing as Grandma’s. She wanted people who would drop everything to help her out when she needed them.
“This is ridiculous,” Julia said with a teary laugh. “How could so much go wrong? Hopefully it’s not an omen.”
Eliana’s stomach twisted. She knew Julia was teasing, but that really was her worry—what if this was a bad start to a bad marriage? What if Julia ended up going through the same pain she’d gone through with Corbin? Julia was so much sweeter and kinder than Eliana, and it killed her to think of her getting hurt.
Julia must have seen something in Eliana’s expression because her brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”
“Everything,” Eliana said. “I wanted you to have the perfect wedding, and instead, this has been one disaster after another. First, the rehearsal was a mess, and you and Logan are fighting, the flowers are wrong, the cake is wrong, our hair and make-up is wrong—”
“Whoa,” Julia said. “It’s okay.”
“It’s not okay,” Eliana said vehemently. Rosa stepped back from drawing eyeliner around her eyes as Eliana blinked rapidly to hold back her tears. “You deserve to have the best, Julia. And I tried so hard.”
“I know you did, Elly,” Julia said. “But things happen.”
“What if itisa sign?” she said passionately. “What if this is just the beginning of being miserable together and having your spirit chipped away at day by day until you hardly know who you are anymore?”
She couldn’t look anyone in the eye as silence filled the room.
“Is that how you felt with Corbin?” Grandma asked quietly.
She hadn’t wanted to make this about her. She suddenly felt like she couldn’t breathe, and Polly waved a stack of papers to fan her face. Grandma opened an ice cold water bottle for her and held it out until she took it and sipped it, then twisted the cap back on and held it to the back of her neck. Embarrassment swept over her as she realized that all the women in the room had their gazes on her.
Julia put her hands on Eliana’s shoulders. “Logan isn’t like Corbin—you deserved so much better than him. The wedding wasn’t the problem. It was the person.”
Eliana gave up on blinking back tears and allowed them to stream down her face.
“Logan and I aren’t fighting. If you’re talking about yesterday, we were stressed and snippy and hot and hungry—so we weren’t our best selves. But we love each other and we treat each other well and I cannot wait to marry him.”
Then Julia hugged her and said quietly into her ear, “The wedding is just one day. I’m preparing for an entirelifetimewith Logan.”
