She pins the pearls on me.
“Great!” Addison does a little fist pump. “What about something new?”
“Shoes.” I show her my feet and the fresh heels I’m wearing. “What do you think?”
“Oh, I love that they’re so pearly,” she says as Dallas flits around me, fluffing out my veil. “Something blue is your dress.”
I turn this way and that. “Yes.”
“And something borrowed?”
“The pin,” Chelsea says.
“Nana’s dead,” I tell her. “It can’t be borrowed because she’s not going to need it anymore.”
She grimaces. “Good point.”
Addison’s brows lift. “So you don’t have anything?”
“No, I’ve got…no. I don’t have anything.” How do I not have anything borrowed? How did we forget this? I quickly scan the room. What can I take with me? The footstool? No, obviously not. The mirror? The bed?
I need to just stop.
“I was afraid of that,” Addison says, pulling something out from behind her back.
It’s the rose bouquet from when she married Feylin, and the roses are as perfect as if they haven’t aged a day. There’s a single golden rose nestled in the middle of all the red ones, but that’s another story for another time.
I can’t believe it. “You kept this?”
“Of course I did.” She waves me away likewhy wouldn’t I?“Here. Take it. Unless you don’t want to.”
“No, of course not. I’m not married to my bouquet. I mean”—I sink onto one hip—“I’m notmarryingmy bouquet. But I love yours, thank you!”
She gives me a warm hug before pushing the flowers into my hands. “Here.” She touches the ends of my hair. “You look beautiful.”
I do a mock curtsy. “Thank you, Your Highness.”
“Stop it. I may be a queen here, but I’m always just your sister, who loves you.”
I fan my face to keep from tearing up. “Stop it. I don’t need to cry and ruin my makeup.”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure Devlin would dump you if that happened,” Dallas says sarcastically.
“One day,” I tell her, “you’ll fall in love, and you’ll talk differently about this.”
She rolls her eyes. “I doubt it.”
“Me too,” Chelsea says. “I seriously doubt I’ll be falling in love with anybody anytime soon. So, hurry up and save our magic for now, Blair! We need you.”
I burst into laughter. My sisters mean well, and I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I didn’t have them.
“All right.” I take one last look in the mirror. “Who’s ready to get married?”
“You are,” they shout.
We burst into laughter, and Addison takes me by the arm. “Come on. I’ll walk you to Dad.”
The four of us head out of the room and I exhale. My heart’s fluttering against my chest. My stomach’s tight. I never thought that I’d be nervous doing this—then again, I never thought that I’d be marrying Devlin, so there’s that—but I am unequivocally nervous.Sonervous.
