AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He told me it’s to keep you safe. And if there’s one thing I believe about that man, it’s that he’d do just about anything to keep a promise. He promised he’d protect you, and so he will.” She shrugs, turning back around to face me. “As for anything else?—”
She must be able to read the expression on my face, because she gives me a sympathetic smile. “I can tell what you’re thinking. But I wouldn’t be so quick to think he doesn’t care about you. I see the way he looks at you. I’ve been pressing him for a long time to not ignore what’s right in front of his face. Maybe this will all make it a little clearer to him.”
“What do you mean?” I sit up, pushing my hair out of my face. There’s a slice of fragrant quiche on the tray, an apple muffin, and a glass of orange juice along with blueberry sausages, but my stomach turns at the idea of food. I’m too nervous—I can’t imagine eating anything.
“You’re good for each other.” Agnes sighs. “I’ve seen it since the moment you came into the house. But Gabriel is stubborn, and devoted. He’s full of guilt over moving on. I’ve seen that in him, too, over the years.”
“He said he can’t fall in love again.” I pick at a loose thread on the duvet. “He said that from the start. I mean—” I break off, realizing that I just all but gave away what Gabriel and I have been doing, and Agnes chuckles.
“I’m well aware of what the two of you have been up to. It’s been written all over your faces every time you came back up from the gym in the mornings.”
My face flames at that, and Agnes chuckles again. “As for love, Gabriel can say that all he likes. But that man is full of the capacity to love. He just needs to figure out a few things for himself.”
“And you think this marriage has something to do with that?” It sounds suspiciously like what Clara said.
Agnes shrugs. “Maybe. He’s pretending it doesn’t, just as much as you are. But who knows what will happen, in time.”
“And if nothing does?”
“Then he’s a fool.” She pats my arm. “I’m going to go get breakfast for everyone else. You eat what you can, shower, and I’ll come up to help you with your hair.”
Agnes leaves, and I manage to drink the orange juice, picking at the muffin. Fear is swirling around my stomach, and I briefly consider the idea of going downstairs and telling Gabriel that I can’t marry him. That we need to call the wedding off.
What if Igor attacks us?
I know Gabriel will have taken precautions. That he would consider that possibility. That if we’re going to the church today, it’s because it’s safe. But the fear knots my stomach anyway, until I can’t manage another bite.
Is it so much to ask to be happy on my wedding day? Just once?
The thought makes me want to laugh, but I force it back, because I think if I do, I might also start crying. And if I start crying, I’m not sure that I’ll be able to stop.
I drag myself into the shower, scrubbing myself clean and washing my hair, standing under the hot water until the room is full of fragrant steam, and eventually, the water starts to run cold. I wrap myself up in a robe, blowing my hair dry, and come out just in time for Agnes to walk back into the room.
“Sit down,” she says, gesturing to the vanity table. “I’ll do your hair.”
She brushes and curls it until all of it hangs down my back in heavy waves, and then she twists the front back, pinning it in place. “I have something for you,” she says, and she sets a comb on the table. “Something borrowed.”
It’s a vintage hair comb, dark gold with age, done in an ornate filigree. There are blue enamel birds worked into the filigree, and I feel tears prick at the corner of my eyes. “Something blue, too.”
“Exactly,” Agnes says, slipping the comb into my hair. “I’ll make your veil work around it.”
“Thank you.” I twist around to face her, impulsively wrapping my arms around her waist. “The first time?—”
My mother has been gone a long time. Clara has no part in the world of the mafia, so she wasn’t invited to my wedding—something that upset me deeply at the time, and that I was incredibly thankful for after. “I did this all by myself, with the help of a couple maids,” I say quietly. “At my first wedding. I’m glad it’s not like that, this time.”
“Nothing about this day is like the first one,” Agnes says firmly. “Arranged or not, Gabriel cares about you. And he wants this to be a good day for you. I can promise you that.”
That, I do believe.
I spend some time rummaging in my top drawer, trying to figure out what to wear under my dress, my cheeks heating up the entire time. I don’t have wedding night lingerie, and I finally find a pair of white lace panties that will match the strapless bra that goes under my dress. I duck into the bathroom to put them on, still blushing when I take off my robe for Agnes to help me into my dress.
She slides it over my hips, helping me get my arms into the sleeves and zipping it up the back, before carefully doing up every one of the buttons overlaying the zipper. “You look stunning,” she tells me as she pins the veil into my hair, around the comb. “You’re a gorgeous bride.”
“Is Gabriel going to see me?” I ask as I slip my feet into the low heels that I bought, and Agnes shakes her head.
“He’s already left for the church. I have a bouquet for you downstairs. And Cecelia has a new dress that Gabriel managed to get for her, so she’s over the moon about that.”
My chest tightens at the thought that Agnes and Gabriel have thought about things like flowers. The past few days have been chaos, Agnes and I both trying not to let the house project fall behind in the wake of wedding planning—but there wasn’t much to plan. Gabriel arranged for the church, and he told me he’d hired someone in town to make sure it was decorated appropriately. I think he knew that I didn’t feel capable of handling very much that had to do with it.
