“Okay.”
“Good. This is going to be the most beautiful wedding, Lucy. You’ll see. It’s going to be perfection.”
Lucy looked around at all the decorations. “It will be beautiful.” Francine had made every selection that she would have regarding the colors and flowers and being outdoors and everything. “Thank you, Valene.”
“For what?”
“You’ve worked really hard to make everything nice. I don’t expect you’ll hear that from anyone on my side of the family except Francine.”
Valene grinned. “Well, Francine said the same thing about you. You’re most welcome. It was my absolute pleasure to make this day perfect.”
Lucy’s eyes filled up, but she closed them and looked down so Valene wouldn’t see her cry. She didn’t need to add another task to the other woman’s list of things to do. Keep the maid of honor from having a meltdown wasn’t what Valene needed as an added chore. Thankfully, Lucy had stuffed a tissue in the wrist of her sleeve. She pulled it out to dab at her eyes.
“Don’t start crying yet,” Valene said off-handedly. “The perfect ceremony for the perfect couple hasn’t even started yet.”
Perfect was a stretch as far as Lucy was concerned. Hopefully the day would go by superfast. She had to hold it together until after the lengthy reception filled with things such as the first dance together, cake cutting, picture taking, game playing and other assorted time-consuming annoyances and she could finally put herself to bed, where she could at long last cry her eyes out until she fell asleep, utterly alone.
At least she would have a small break for a few minutes right after the ceremony to get herself together while the photographer was snapping pictures of the mostly happy couple and the other two in the wedding party.
Lucy would need to take a mental pause on the way down the aisle as she followed the bride and groom or the pictures would show clear signs of the meltdown she already yearned for.
Chapter Nineteen
Axel stood on the platform next to his best man, Cam, waiting for the maid of honor and the bride to walk down the aisle. Earlier, Cam had tried to cheer him up as they dressed in their wedding finery.
“You’ll be okay, right?” Cam asked. His brother wore a look that said he didn’t want to be chasing Axel down to drag him back to marry the wrong woman.
“Guess I’ll have to be.”
“I’m sorry you don’t get to have a choice.”
“I am, too, but I made a promise to someone I love, and I will abide by it.”
Cam shook his head and said under his breath, “You’re a better man than me.”
“I doubt that, but I appreciate that you said it out loud, Bro.”
“Francine is a very lovely woman.”
“Yes. She is. Any man would be lucky to have her as a wife.”
“I hope things will go smoothly once you’re wed.”
“So do I.” There were many things to think about once he and Francine got married. Her parents had not relented on pressuring the newlyweds to move to Alpha-Prime. Every time he got close enough to hear them talking, the conversation had to do with “sweetening the offer” or “what leverage can be used against the groom and his family” and the like. They were persistent, he’d give them that.
Axel was watching for Valene. She told him once she slipped into the back of the seating area and made her way to her seat, she’d signal the pianist to begin playing the wedding march.
Butterflies dive-bombed his belly as he waited. Waiting was the hardest part. Well, until he married the wrong woman. Then that might be the hardest thing. When the appointed time came, he held his breath, watching for his little sister to signal and set in motion the doom of the rest of his life.
At a minute past the hour, the assembled crowd got a little restless. He checked his watch a couple of times and then every five seconds until two minutes after they were supposed to start.
He saw the bride’s mother frown and start to stand. Valene darted into view. She ran up the sidewalk toward the assembled crowd in rows of chairs and waved at the pianist as she slid around the back and came up the groom’s side. She gave him a big grin and a thumbs-up.
The pianist started the wedding march. The maid of honor came into view, walking slowly and carefully down the center aisle. As soon as she got to the front, she turned and walked away from the groom and best man and stopped several feet away without acknowledging them. He couldn’t blame her.
Axel knew he wasn’t supposed to look at the maid of honor, but he couldn’t help it. The veil she wore was heavily laced, mostly translucent. He couldn’t even make out her facial features. She did not look his way, not even a quick peek.
