"Perfect," I hear Mallory say from behind me, and I turn to look at her.
"I could say the same thing." I take in her white dress, and love how amazing she looks.
Her dress is off the shoulder, with long lace sleeves. Her dark hair is up, exposing her beautiful neck and collarbone. Her dress is fitted to the waist and then flares out a little. The bottom of it is lace, and when she takes a step, her pink glittery heels peek out.
"You just had to have the pink, didn't you?" I ask, laughing.
She shrugs a shoulder, like of course she did, and comes to the mirror beside me. "We look amazing," she says excitedly. "I can't believe we pulled this off in a month."
Oz wanted Mallory to have everything she ever dreamed of, and with enough money, you can have that in four weeks or less.
She rubs her belly. She doesn't look pregnant, but I think she keeps sticking it out deliberately, trying to give the appearance.
I twist a piece of my hair so it's perfect and check my dress again. I can't wait for Captain to see me in this thing. He's probably going to want to rip it off me the second he does, but I'll enjoy teasing him in the meantime.
"So. There's something I've been meaning to tell you," Mallory says, turning to me.
"What? There better be crab cakes at this reception. You promised." I put my hand on my hips, getting fired up again. She said I could pick what I wanted, without argument.
She smiles at me, and it's a little wicked. Suddenly I'm wary.
"So today isn't just my wedding day." She grabs a bouquet of bloodred roses from the side table and hands it to me. "It's our wedding day."
I take the flowers and look at her quizzically. "You mean ours as in you and Miles?"
"No. Ours as in you and me are the brides, and we are both marrying our men today. Surprise, Paige! It's a double wedding!"
She sings the word wedding like somehow it will soften the blow.
"What?" I say, dropping my voice. "I didn't agree to this. Captain and I said we were going to work it out after yours. That we didn't need to plan some big … some big thing!" I half shout, and Mallory only smiles more.
"It's cute you think I haven't been planning this with Captain since the beginning. Why else do you think he went to see the wedding planner with me every time I went?" She grabs my upper arms and leans in. "Remember that time you lied to me for four years and pretended to be my friend? Payback is a bitch, Paige, and you owe me. Big time."
She steps back, and I stare at her in utter shock. What the fuck just happened? I'm getting married?
"Captain and I knew you needed a little push, so here you go. You can thank me later for doing all the work for you." She winks and turns, grabbing her own pink bouquet. Then she puts her arm in mine and leads me out of the room.
"Mallory, I can't do this." I tug on her, but somehow she's got a superhuman grip on my arm. "Let me go."
"What are you afraid of, Paige?" She looks in my eyes, and I can see she doesn't have a hint of worry or doubt. She's calm and smiling, like it's her wedding day and nothing can go wrong. "On the other side of those doors is the man you love, waiting to make you his forever. Think about that for a second."
She's right, and I don't know why I'm freaking out. Maybe it's because I wasn't expecting this, and Captain and I haven't really discussed details. I knew that in his heart we were already joined, so this is just a formality. Nothing in the world could break us apart. Having a wedding wasn't something I dreamed of, and maybe it's another thing I didn't allow myself to hope for. But here it is, laid out for the taking, and I want to run.
No. Not ever again. The only running I'm doing is straight into Captain's arms.
"There you go," she says, seeing the change in my eyes. "Took you a second, but you got there. Now let's go get married to our men."
"Holy shit," I breathe, as the double doors open.
*
"I SHOULD HAVE known better than to leave you two alone," I say, looking between Captain and Mallory.
I'm sitting on Captain's lap, and his arms tighten around my waist. He kisses my shoulder, and I can feel him smile against it. I pick up the champagne bottle, drinking straight from it, and Mallory laughs.
The party went late into the night, and our guests have left. We didn't have a big wedding, considering all the people Miles knows. Captain invited his family, and I was happy to meet them. They were all very nice, and we made plans to maybe visit during Christmas, and that seemed to suit everyone. Captain even invited Patrick and his husband, Amos, which I thought was a sweet gesture. It's been nice seeing Patrick from time to time. He's a reminder that not everything in my past was horrible. There were sweet points in my life, and it's not so bad revisiting them.