But here we were, two months of quick and organized planning later.
The big day was here.
And I couldn’t wait for it to start.
Just as soon as Gabriella chilled and forgot about the damn ribbon color for the bouquets.
“Humor her,” Raisa said gently. She was always the voice of reason among the four of us women, older and more mature. Maybe more wizened and knowledgeable, too, because she had been raised as a proper Mafia princess under the strict and harsh watch of her father, my distant relative. She just had a no-nonsense attitude, lacking the more spirited fire Gabriella could have. Or the cool and calculating nature that Sadie had.
“When she and Luka married, she couldn’t have a big wedding.” Raisa glanced in the reflection of the mirror as if to check that Gabriella wasn’t watching and listening to us. “She was huntedby her father and there were hits out on her. She couldn’t leave the house because she was attacked every time she did. When Ivan and I were ready to marry, Miguel was dead and she was safer to leave the house. So, as she put it, she wanted to live vicariously through me and plan a lovely wedding that she couldn’t have had.”
“But they did have a wedding,” Sadie said. “I saw the pictures. It was gorgeous.”
Raisa shrugged. “Then hell, I don’t know. If she didn’t live vicariously through planning my wedding, and yours”—she gave Sadie a look—“then maybe she’s just PMSing or something. Who knows?”
“No, that’s not it.” It was Sadie’s turn to look over her shoulder and make sure Gabriella was preoccupied arguing with the wedding planner. “She was talking to me last night, all worried that this wasn’t going to be good enough.”
My jaw dropped. “Not good enough?” That term would always trigger me. All those times Erik and Yusef told me that I wasn’t good enough for anything but being bred…
The way she said it made it sound like I was hard to please and difficult with demands. “I was fine with signing papers and just having dinner at home for a wedding.”
Sadie shushed me. “No. No. Not like that.” She checked that Gabriella wasn’t listening again, stepping closer. Raisa crowded in too, all ears. “Last night, we were talking about the last-minute details and she was so stressed, worrying that this wedding wouldn’t be grand and lavish and extraordinary enough. She wanted to make sure that this whole experience, from all the planning and the details of décor, the dinner, thereception—all of it, and obviously, the ceremony itself—even the honeymoon she and Luka planned for you two. She wantedallof it to be so different and so drastically unlike any preconceptions you might have had in your mind already.”
Her smile was a sad and sympathetic one. “Whenever you told us about what it was like and what your brother and his friend told you, about being bred, about being sold, about being a thing to discard to the husband who’d buy you, she got so mad. She didn’t want to show it, but she talked to me often. Shehatedthat men had done that to you. Maybe it triggered her, reminding her of how Luka had just taken her as a debt.” She shrugged. “Clearly, that’s not an issue. They are the most lovey-dovey of us all. But I think she wanted to champion your having something so different from what you were told that it wouldn’t even compare to the memories you probably want to lock up forever.”
“Oh…” I sniffled, so moved by this confession and explanation. “She’s just so sweet.”
Giving up on the clip in my hair and whether this dress would cover my breasts well, I turned from the mirror and sought out Gabriella.
I reached her and pulled her arm back as she was mid-rant with the planner. As she protested being moved, I didn’t stop. Urging her into a hug, I sniffled again and wrapped my arms tightly around her.
“Um.” Gabriella hugged me back, but she was clearly confused. “Okay.”
“I love you, Gabriella,” I told her. “And this is going to be the best wedding in the history of the world.” I already knew it would be, because I was marrying Alexsei.
She smiled as we parted, but then she looked at Raisa and Sadie. “Is she drunk?”
We all laughed, and I went to Raisa and Sadie and hugged them too, telling them how much I loved them. Within moments, we were all smiles and giggles, admitting that we all were grateful that we had each other like this.
The only thing that spoiled the moment was Luka coming in and asking if we were ready to line up.
“What? No!” Gabriella scowled at him. “We need these bouquet ribbons changednow.”
“It’s fine,” Raisa said. “Right?” She glanced at me, and I nodded.
“They’re lovely as they are, even with the pink ribbon instead of white.” I truly didn’t care, but now that I knew she really wanted to give me an experience that would help me heal, I just wanted her happy too.
“No!” Gabriella stomped her foot and took hers, since she was a bridesmaid. As she held it up close to her face to peer at the wrong ribbon, she sniffed and gagged. “Oh, myGod. I told them not to use too many roses. They reek when they smell this strong.”
Sadie furrowed her brow and looked down at her bouquet. Raisa did the same, though her bouquet was slightly different as she was my maid of honor.
“There’s only one rose in here,” Sadie said.
“I hardly smell it,” Raisa added.
Luka snapped his head up. “Are you…?” He pointed at his wife.
Gabriella frowned at him. “What?”
