Rm w/a Vu(154)

“You and me both,” I quip. Taking a deep breath, I run my hands down the front of my diamond white wedding gown. The strapless, sweetheart neckline fits me perfectly, emphasizing my smaller chest and making it look just a little more impressive. The bodice is tight, moving down over my hips and flaring out at the top of my thighs. The skirt is full, the fabric pulled together and pinned with hundreds of little Swarovski crystals to add a little personality.

“Think he’ll like it?” I ask my mom, and she just laughs, setting Clara down. Her lilac dress is bunched up from being held, so Mom kneels down to fix the crinoline underlay, and then the dress. It falls to just below her knee, and is held with a darker purple bow around the waist. She looks so precious, toddling toward Daphne when she calls her over.

“He’s going to be speechless,” Mom assures me with another hug.

She sniffles over my shoulder and pulls back, wiping a tear from her cheek. Seeing her this emotional makes my own eyes sting, but I blink back the tears so I don’t mess up my makeup.

Mom reaches up and fixes a wayward tendril of hair that has broken free of the pins holding it over my left shoulder. We share a moment of silence before there’s a knock on the door, telling us everyone is ready.

Daphne walks over with Clara in her arms and Callie and Katie beside her. The three of them are beaming, and their happiness for me sets my mind at ease. The shaking in my limbs lessens.

“You guys look beautiful,” I tell them.

“Well, it helps that you didn’t follow tradition and choose ugly-ass bridesmaid dresses,” Callie teases, and we all share a laugh.

I take Clara from Daphne and give her a kiss before handing her off to Mom. “I guess we’ll see you out there,” I tell her.

She kisses me on the cheek and slips out of the room while the rest of us prepare to move into the hall. When we arrive just outside the double doors, my chest tightens, and my hands begin to sweat. Callie walks through the door when the ushers open it from the inside, then Katie, and finally Daphne.

Now that it’s just my dad and me, air seems hard to come by. I struggle to fill my lungs, and my stomach knots up as the room begins to spin. This is it.

Dad reaches out for me, noticing I’m in the middle of a panic attack, and the second he takes my left hand and loops it through his right arm, I feel a little better. Not completely, but I accept the slight reprieve.

“Just breathe, Jules,” he whispers, placing his left hand over mine and patting it.

I do as he says, taking a deep breath in and then releasing it. I repeat this a few times, and then hold my breath when the doors swing wide and I’m met with almost two-hundred sets of eyes all on me.

“Breathe,” Dad repeats.

Then my eyes find Greyston’s, and my panic melts away when his smile stretches across his face. While he wasn’t what I was looking for when I answered that ad two years ago, he has been there for me in more ways than I can count. He helped me find myself after being betrayed, and more importantly, he showed me what real love is supposed to be like.

A wave of calm rushes over me, and I step over the threshold anxiously, more than ready to start this next phase in our life together.





I sank into the supple leather saddle, and with a sigh, I was home. We walked around the arena for fifteen minutes to warm her up, and I counted the perfectly spaced beats of her gait. One. Two. Three. Four. She wasn’t favoring her leg, so I decided we would pick up into a trot. One. Two. One. Two. I rose on every other beat, and Hayley flipped her head slightly and snorted with delight. When I felt she was ready, I nudged her forward into a steady lope.

As we cantered around the arena, I kept my seat in the saddle, keeping her going by pushing forward. When we hit the corner, I turned her so we could change direction. She instantly flipped to the opposite lead, the change graceful and seamless. We moved smoothly around the low cross-rail that had been set up for last night’s beginner jumper class and continued on.

We made a few more laps around the arena, and as we approached the entry I saw a man with a head of unruly brown hair watching us. I instantly recognized him as the man who had met with Dad this morning. His body was relaxed as he leaned over the top rail of the fence, and his right leg was bent so his foot could rest on the bottom one. He was wearing a pair of jeans and a sleeveless white tank that showed off his muscular physique.

As Hayley and I drew nearer, I took in the deep blue color of his eyes and the way they sparkled like sapphires in the sun. I was instantly mesmerized. We continued to lope around the arena, and when I caught the stranger’s gaze again I got lost in his eyes once more. There was something in the way he was watching me that made me smile, and he returned that smile with one that caused a flurry of butterflies to erupt in my belly. Completely distracted by his smirk, I hadn’t even realized that Hayley was headed for the small cross-rail just off the trail until we were nearly upon it.