Chapter 43 Daisy #3
“Yeah.” Emery nodded as she added a bunch of dainty cream-colored flowers into the twist she’d put into my hair. “Something about all of this…about all of us…” She glanced around at each of them before her gaze settled on me through the mirror. “It just feels complete.”
A riptide of affection washed through the room. A moment given to this all-consuming feeling.
Then Raven dug into her bag. “Here we go. The last and most important piece. Part your lips.” Raven leaned in close to apply color to my lips.
She sat back and looked down at me. “God, you’re so beautiful. With or without makeup. Inside and out. I’m so happy you and Cash found each other again.”
That refusal churned inside me, and I stood, unsure if it was the mimosas or their care that made me wobbly.
The fact I was marrying the man of my dreams, and it was only a dream.
But I could barely get my legs to cooperate as I moved over to the bed where Piper had laid out the dress.
Emery dumped the bag of undergarments onto the bed and Charleigh removed the lid to the shoes.
“Strip and don’t get shy with us.” Raven laughed as she said it.
Amusement rippled through me, and I shook my head as I unbuttoned the blouse they insisted I put on so I didn’t ruin the end effect.
I stripped down to nothing.
“I already washed everything so it’d be ready for you,” Emery assured me as I slipped into the strapless bodysuit.
It was lace and satin and probably the sexiest thing I’d ever worn.
Okay, there was no probably to it.
I bit down on my bottom lip, then Piper and Emery unzipped the dress and helped me into it while Charleigh held out the shoes.
They zipped me up, then Raven got behind me and turned me toward the mirror.
A gasp wheeled out, and my fingertips trailed over the bodice of the fitted dress.
“Told you,” Raven whispered near my ear. “Gorgeous. Stunning. Beautiful. All of you.”
My throat felt thick. “Thank you so much for doing this for me. I would never have thought to…”
I choked off, wishing for the right words to express how they made me feel.
As if I belonged. As if I were something more than the shell that I’d been formed into.
Not because of the dress I wore or the makeup that had been applied.
But because they had taken their time.
Raven reached out and looped her pinky with mine. “Besties, remember?”
“I…” I couldn’t even get the words out around the ball in my throat.
Emery did the same on the other side, and Piper looped her arm around my waist from behind and set her chin on my shoulder, while Charleigh grabbed another small bag.
A jewelry store bag.
“We thought you might need this.”
Hands trembling, I pulled out a jewelry box. I opened it to a man’s ring. It was a matte black metal. Rugged and unpretentious like the man.
Emotion rushed.
Coming up on all sides.
So thick and heavy I wasn’t sure that I could breathe.
“Don’t cry,” Raven murmured with a soggy laugh as she reached out and dabbed at the very edge of my eye. “It took me a full hour to get that eyeliner right. You don’t want me to have to start over, do you?”
“Never,” I choked.
“Though you know I would be happy to.”
“Thank you. All of you. So much.” I hugged the ring to my chest as if I could imprint it on my soul.
The significance of it.
What it meant to me even if it didn’t mean that to anyone else.
“It’s such an honor to get to do this. To be here,” Charleigh said. “Just like I know you’ll be right there for mine and River’s wedding at the end of the summer.”
She touched the back of my hand to show me she believed I would still be a part of their lives then.
“Can you believe Charleigh will be the last one of us to get married, when she was lucky enough to snag my brother first?” Raven winked at her.
Charleigh hiked a sweet shoulder. “You know I’m a firm believer that everything happens exactly when it’s supposed to.”
“Yeah,” Emery murmured with a soft touch to a lock of my hair. “And that’s why Daisy is standing right here in the place, right now, at this purposed time.”
I blinked away the tears, trying to keep it together. Not sure that I could stand under all their support when this was only temporary.
When it wasn’t real.
I didn’t have time to refute the fact because Charleigh took the ring and placed it back into the box. She tucked it into a little crystal-encrusted clutch. “Here. This is mine, and I thought it would go perfect with your dress.”
Raven moved to another bag and pulled out a gorgeous fresh bouquet. “From Moonflower, my floral shop. Now you have a little of each of us for your day.”
My nod was reticent and awed, and I accepted the bouquet.
“It’s time,” Raven said, gesturing for me to lead the way.
“I just need to do something really quick first.”
They must have realized I needed some privacy, because they piled out while I grabbed my phone and tapped out a message to my sister.
Me
It’s happening. I’m marrying Cash today.
I wished she could be there.
That she could share this moment with me.
I wanted so desperately to unite in a complete way.
For this family to come together wholly.
She responded almost immediately.
Hadley
Wait. Are you serious? You’re actually marrying him? Isn’t it fast?
Me
It needs to be. Because no matter what happens, I know that my children will be safe.
And that was the only thing that mattered.