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Several people are hurrying around me touching my hair and powdering my face.
The train of my dress is dragged along the ground into a perfect position.
There are voices all talking at once, instructions about who is walking when. Even the poor flower girls are being reprimanded for accidentally spilling some petals before the music has started.
I clench my fists tightly, my nails digging into the palm of my hand, yet the pain is absent. The only thing I’m acutely aware of is the sound of my heart throbbing against the cage of my chest. It’s beating incredibly loud, restricting my ability to breathe evenly.
The lace against my skin suddenly feels tight, trapping me beneath and causing a wave of heat to engulf my skin. The room begins to spin with the voices becoming a sea of noises until Jean-Claude calls my name. “Gabriella, it’s time!”
There is no time to think or even process his words as my father has placed his arm into mine, and the aisle is before us. Classical music begins to play, and the guests rise from their chairs with judgment on their faces. My feet move on their own accord, lost in a hazy daze until Nicholas is standing before me, taking me from my father.
He looks handsome, dashing as always in his black tuxedo and perfectly placed bowtie.
But he isn’t Oliver.
He isn’t the man I love.
The minister begins to speak, and with my hands placed nervously in Nicholas’, I scan the crowd until my gaze meets Lana and Sebastian. They both look well, Lana wearing a mauve chiffon dress and Sebastian in a navy-blue suit with tie.
In a room of five hundred people, the only two people who feel like family are smiling back at me. As the minister continues his sermon about the sanctity of marriage, my mind wanders back to when I first met Sebastian and Lana.
My heavy suitcase dragged along the path, stopping just shy of the porch steps. The house looked weathered—perhaps rustic would be a more appropriate term to use.
“Hi,” a voice at the fence startles me. A female neighbor. “I’m Lana. This is Ace, my son. So, you’re staying here for the summer?”
I nodded, noticing the little boy playing in the yard with his ball.
“I’m Gabriella. And yes, just here for the summer.”
A big, fluffy rabbit appeared beside the boy. I had to do a double take. A rabbit wandering the yard. It’s big, like unusually big.
How bizarre.
“You have a big rabbit?”
“That’s Bubbles.” Lana smiled proudly. “My husband wanted a rescue dog, but Bubbles was too good to pass up.”
“Hey, who you talking smack about?” A man walked out onto the porch. He had a thick head of mousy brown hair, and the closer he walked toward us, his face became more apparent. Rather good- looking with baby blue eyes and a chiseled jawline beneath his scruffy face.
“Sebastian, this is Gabriella, our new neighbor for the summer.”
“Nice to meet ya, Gabbie.” Sebastian extended his hand, his accent thick and not from around here.
I reached out to be polite and contemplated telling him I didn’t care for that nickname but decided to do that another time.
“Please excuse my husband and his need to abbreviate everything.” She motioned for me to lean in. “He’s Aussie. It’s what they do.”
“Oi,” Sebastian hollered from where he stood. “There’s a lot of things I do, princess, many of which you never complain about.”
“And please excuse his crass comments.”
I laughed, already liking the two of them.
“It’s a breath of fresh air,” I told Lana. “I think I’m going to like it here.”
Their support and ongoing friendship, despite my flaws and mistakes, means everything to me. Sebastian and Lana have always supported me from the moment I stepped foot next door. They never once judged me for my poor decisions, nor did they inflict their personal opinions on me. They welcomed me with open arms, and no one in my entire life has done that besides them.
A shot of confidence ran through me.
