Chelle could honestly say she had never seen her diamond friend happier.
“And just think, in a couple of months...this will be you in the white dress, getting ready to walk down the aisle!” Katie exclaimed.
“Yep!” Chelle agreed and smiled widely...again, probably just a touch too brightly.
“Chelle…” Katie’s concerned voice and narrow-eyed suspicion were interrupted as the door burst open and one extremely frazzled matron of honor rushed in.
“Oh my gosh, I am sooo sorry I’m late, Katie! I was doing sooo good. I was on track. On time. Just finishing getting ready when Bobby came in and then…” she started to blush, “well, he sidetracked me and before I knew it I was off schedule. But I’m here now. What do you need?”
Katie laughed, “Ahhhhh the 'newlywed' excuse. I guess I’ll be able to use that one after today,” her eyes danced with delight as she hugged Sophie. “I’m good, Sophiebell. Honestly, more than anything, I just want to get this show on the road!”
Sophie looked up at the round clock hanging on the far wall of the small room, “Well, we should be getting started in about twenty minutes!” She enthused as she clapped her hands together joyfully.
The door swung open once again and Aunt Wendy appeared in the doorway, all business, announcing her arrival in no-nonsense tones through her headset.
Sophie turned and mouthed to Chelle, “Who is she talking to?”
Chelle shrugged and shook her head, eyes wide, to indicate her lack of knowledge. She didn’t know who was on the other end of that headset, but she did know that she was happy about the arrival of more people in the small bridal room! More people meant more hustle and bustle, which meant fewer opportunities for the attention to be focused on her. And that meant less of a chance for Katie to figure out something was wrong with her!
Aunt Wendy looked all three of the girls up and down, like some kind of impromptu bridal inspection, although her facial expression read much more 'drill sergeant' than 'kindly wedding coordinator.' Still, they must have all passed the test, because her expression of scrutiny melted into one of bliss, and she sighed happily, “Well, don't you girls just look as pretty as pictures!”
Chelle glanced over at Sophie who was in the same red halter-top, tea-length dress that Chelle wore. Sophie looked amazing. The contrast of the deep red color with her honey blonde hair was beautiful, bringing out the deeper and more complex tones in both the dress and Sophie's hair. It was like the sum of the parts created something even greater than what the two components had started out to be on their own.
And Chelle had to admit, although red was not normally a color she liked to incorporate in her own wardrobe, Katie had chosen a very pretty and striking rich shade of red for the wedding.
Amber, who owned Bella, a small boutique clothing shop in town, had designed the one-of-a-kind bridesmaid dresses. As soon as Chelle had slipped the dress on, she had immediately fallen in love with it - and not just the fit, but also the unique shade of red, which offset perfectly her olive-toned skin and chestnut brown hair.
Then, when Sophie had come out of the dressing room and Chelle saw how good the dress fit her and how the red also complimented Sophie’s fair skin and golden blonde hair, she knew Katie had been her 'usual Katie self' and chosen perfectly.
The next half-hour flew by and, before Chelle knew it, she was walking down the center aisle of the church toward the altar. She concentrated hard on not looking at anyone in the pews, as she didn’t want to see the wrong person (David!). With her head held high, she simply looked straight ahead and put one foot in front of the other.
Hey, she thought, that's not a bad metaphor for my life now – just look straight ahead and put one foot in front of the other...oh, and, of course, try not to collapse in a heap. That was also an important step.
Jason smiled at her as she came closer, his warm brown eyes filled with excitement as he waited for Katie to walk down the aisle and become his wife. The look in his eyes caused the floodgates to open and Chelle once again was filled with emotions. Mostly happiness, as she had always thought that Jason and Katie belonged together, even (if she was being honest) when Katie had been with Nick. Jason was such a great guy. She knew he would always take care of Katie and treat her right.
But happiness was not the only thing she was feeling. Those other emotions she was trying her best to smash down and suppress kept trying to pop their heads up and ambush her. Nope, not today, she told herself grimly. They are just going to have to wait. She once again stomped them firmly down into submission.
Chelle got to her place, just to the left of the first step, and turned to watch Sophie coming towards them. Sophie was staring straight at her new husband Bobby, who was standing beside Jason. Chelle noticed Bobby wink at his new bride, and when she looked back at Sophie, she noticed a blush creeping up her cheeks.