"Mom."
"Don't panic. Nobody panic. I'll find it."
She rushes out of the room, nearly colliding with Vail in the doorway.
Gunnar's mother steadies herself, laughing. "Everything okay?"
"Mom lost the veil," Astrid reports.
"She didn't lose it. She misplaced it. Temporarily." I take a breath. "It'll turn up."
Vail crosses to me, her smile warm and genuine. "You look absolutely stunning, sweetheart. My son is going to fall apart when he sees you."
"You think so?"
"Iknowso. He's already a nervous wreck. Hakon had to talk him out of coming up here three times."
I laugh.
It feels good.
Normal.
"Where are Kira and Evelina?" I ask, noticing the absence of Gunnar's younger sisters. "I thought they were helping with setup."
"They're with Vanir. He's keeping them entertained so they don't drive everyone crazy before the ceremony." Vail rolls her eyes affectionately. "Those two have been bouncing off the walls all morning. You'd think they were the ones getting married."
"They're excited. It's sweet."
"It's exhausting is what it is." But she's smiling. "They adore you, you know. Both of them. They've been asking when they get to call you their sister officially."
The words hit me somewhere soft.
Somewhere that's still healing.
"I adore them too."
"I know you do." Vail takes my hand, squeezes it. "Welcome to the family, Ingrid. Officially. Finally."
"Found it!"
Mom bursts back into the room, the vintage lace veil clutched triumphantly in her hands.
"It was in the bathroom. Don't ask me why. I have no idea."
"Probably because you put it there when you were fixing your makeup," Astrid says dryly.
"Probably. Now hold still."
She approaches me reverently, the veil draped over her arms like a sacred object.
Which, to her, it probably is. "This belonged to your grandmother," she says softly. "She wore it when she married your grandfather. I wore it when I married your father. And now?—"
Her voice breaks and there are more tears. "Now you wear it when you marry Gunnar."
She places it on my head carefully, adjusting the delicate lace until it falls perfectly around my face and steps back.
"Mom."
