Piper blushes but says nothing.
Ophelia steps forward with a velvet box. “This is for you.”
I open it. Inside lies a delicate bracelet, a crescent of diamonds at its centre. My breath catches. I know this piece. It is one of her favourites.
“Something old,”she says softly.
“I don’t believe in that,” I murmur.
“I know,” she replies. “But I still want you to have it.”
She fastens it around my wrist, and emotion tightens my throat. I pull her into a fierce hug.
“All right,” mamma says, dabbing at her eyes. “Dress time.”
As I step into the gown, Piper holds the fabric while Adelaide carefully lifts my veil. My mother pulls up the zip at my back. While Eleanor takes photographs, her smile faint and distant.
When they step back, the room falls quiet.
Everyone has tears in their eyes.
“Oh, stop,” I say. “You’re all ridiculous.”
“It’s emotional,” Piper protests.
“Not really. People marry every day. It’s hardly an achievement,” Adelaide counters, though I catch the shine in her own eyes. She is full of nonsense, as always.
“You have no soul,” Piper says.
“I never claimed I did.”
Eleanor checks her phone. “We need to go. The groom is already threatening the priest.”
I laugh softly. “Of course he is.”
I take one last look at myself in the mirror and breathe.
The gown is satin, a V-neck mermaid cut with a long train. Simple and perfect. The pearls at my throat match the small earrings, my hair, the bracelet. Everything is exactly right.
“I’m ready.”
Ophelia hands me my bouquet, white ranunculus and pale roses, bound with blue hydrangea.
I smile.
Adelaide chimes in, “Something blue. Now you have the full traditional wedding rhyme, for luck, prosperity, and all that superstition.”
I shake my head at her, the smile still on my face.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter 83
Milo
I’m twitching as I wait at the altar.
Not figuratively.
