27. Amelie
Amelie
‘How Long Will I Love You’ by The Cairn String Quartet on repeat for this chapter
G reen grass, blue skies, and a few expertly fluffed clouds by God himself floated above me.
The light pink, lavender and pastel blue flowers grew in perfect arrangements on either side of an aisle that nature created.
My father’s closed fist pressed into his stomach.
He was dressed in a sharp black suit, perfectly tailored to fit his tall, lean body.
His hair wasn’t as gray as I remembered.
Instead it was more the mousy brown color that I remembered from childhood.
His eyes had life in them again, the deep chocolates and caramels were in full light.
My entire life everyone complimented my eyes, said they’d kill for eyes like mine, but I was always jealous of my father’s.
They were more unique, aside from the golden rivers in mine.
A few unshed tears gathered and he took a few sharp breaths as he stared down at me .
Letting a single tear fall, he wrapped his arms around me. As if he’d heard my conversation with Kiaran and knew this was what I’d missed the most since he’d been gone.
“I’ve missed you, my special girl. I’ve been looking for you.”
Tears spilled onto my blushing cheeks and over my bare décolleté.
“Hi, papa.” He pulled me in closer and the acrylic smell of paint filled my nose, making me sink further into this precious moment. This was home.
He pushed me back by my shoulders and used his finger to make a spinning motion at me.
I grabbed the top layer of white tulle at my sides and twirled like a little girl in a field of daisies under the summer sun.
My sheer sleeves let in a warm breeze. I came to a stop and my father took my hands to notice each intricate detail on the boning of the dress.
Small, shiny pearls contoured the slight curve my waist had settled into these last few months.
The skirt of the dress flowed at the tiniest movement, heavy enough to be elegant but light enough that I felt absolutely ethereal. Like an Angel.
“You are the most stunning bride I’ve ever seen,” my father said as tears fell down his slightly wrinkled cheeks. I was a bride .
“You have to say that.” I smiled through a blurry vision of the first man who ever loved me. My father took the top half of my veil that was pooled around my shoulders and covered my face with it.
Faceless people filled in the seats before us.
A row of people with black hair sat in a row at the front, all wearing similar dresses and distinct headdresses.
The one on the aisle seat turned and found my eyes through my veil immediately.
A face I would never forget again. Kiaran’s mother had been leading me through my dreams my entire life, popping in here or there to guide me to this moment.
If only she could dissuade the High Priestess from tearing Kiaran and I apart .
I knew this was a dream. The awareness made me feel dizzy but Orla was showing me this for a reason. The core of my soul was changing as the seconds of it drew on. I always wondered how long a dream truly lasted.
Unmoving, Valla McCalmont held my gaze and I didn’t dare break it first.
“Are you ready?” my father asked, but I paused.
When I watched Kiaran and his mother’s last interaction before he was sent away, there was something sinister about her. Something untouchable, yet I wanted to break it. Destroy it. I wasn’t afraid to try.
“Yes.” I tucked my arm under his and held my oversized bouquet of pale blue water lilies and baby’s breath.
A full set of strings began playing a traditional melody, signaling for the guests to stand for the bride’s walk down the aisle.
We approached the first set of chairs. Ethel and Edgar were facing me with smiles on their faces and tears in their eyes.
Ethel leaned back into her husband as she sobbed into a small handkerchief.
Magda and Henrik sat with pride on the other side of my Dwarven friends.
I gave the four of them a soft smile as we passed.
The next row of people faced me and I saw the men who gave me a second chance.
My quiet cousin Liam, my uncle Arthur, and the heir of Holleberg, Igor, all giving me victorious smiles.
I hoped it meant two things Holleberg survived and Lord and Lady Bosque didn’t.
I returned the smile just in time for my father and his brother to share a fond look.
Half way down the aisle, I saw four Lost Souls.
My grandfathers. All broken hearted men who waited in purgatory for their fated mates to join them.
My father choked on his tears at the sight of the men who looked just like him, his grandfathers too.
Al smiled proudly at us, Niklaus was a mess of tears while Friedrich consoled him in the most manly way a friend could.
Josef gave an approving look and nodded to me and my father .
Finally standing at the end of the aisle, a small hand tugged on my dress. I looked down to see my youngest brother with chubby, fed cheeks, and the brightest smile I’d ever seen. Behind him, my second youngest brother sobbed like the empathetic hearted boy he was, then I saw Wren.
He shared the brown eyes my father had and just like our dad’s, his were full of life again.
He smiled at me. Really, really smiled and I thought I would die right there.
I’d held it together so far, but Wren was my first friend in this world.
Seeing him look like a young boy rather than a tired, hungry man, I couldn’t hold it in any longer.
I realized I couldn’t remember the last time I saw my little brother smile and knowing he was happy in this moment cracked my heart wide open.
My mother though, she was a vision. Her magic of gold was on full display as it danced through her eyes and met the gold in mine.
They somehow shined brighter with the flow of tears that was staining her cheeks.
Her hair wasn’t the matted mess it was for the year and a half prior to my leaving.
Instead, it was waved like mine. Long and silky.
Deep browns and hues of a dark red melted seamlessly throughout.
I took each of them in, committing their beautiful, bright faces to memory because this might’ve been the first time I’d ever seen them in this light.
I couldn’t let it be the last. My brothers were apparently unaware of wedding etiquette so they took my pause as an invitation to bury me in their arms. Six tiny arms surrounded me and I hoped for a moment that they’d never let me go.
My mom found my father and he wrapped her in a hug so tight I thought she might burst at the seams. The Bloch family together, once again.
This time, happy. Healthy and safe. No rumbling bellies, no bruised faces, no dead fathers or melancholy mothers.
There were still tears, but this time, every single one of them was filled with joy rather than despair.
When our parents joined us, I could hear Ethel’s sobs growing louder and louder.
I chuckled at my funny friend and the unabashed emotions she showed all the time.
Niklaus was asking his friends if they should join us, to which Friedrich told him to read the room.
I smiled at the people around me and wondered if all of this love was around me the entire time.
If maybe we’d all just been too jaded to allow ourselves to feel it.
My mother cupped the back of my head and nestled my face into the crook of her neck.
“I love you so much, Amelie. My fearless, selfless, special girl,” she started as she stroked my perfectly styled hair down my back.
“You were created with a heavy fate and without knowing, fulfilled every obstacle set for you. You fought even when you thought you didn’t.
Without being asked, you took on every responsibility and never once complained about it.
You are and forever will be the light in this world.
” She moved her hand to my chin and tipped it up to look at her, her tears laying to rest at the base of her eyes. “Thank you, Amelie.”
As I stared at my mother, I realized that all eyes were on us. My brothers and father stood in their row and over my mother’s shoulder, Valla was burning holes through me with her eyes.
Each person who sat on my side of the aisle was someone who played a key role in getting me to this day.
Like the trees in the Forest, they were pillars that allowed me to lean on them or provided comfort, safety.
It was a life that I would leave behind the second I said I do.
This was to show me what would come next.
That there was something that came next.
I stood back from my family and patted my dress back to its flowing glory, the train faded into the dreamy haze beyond my feet. I rolled my shoulders back and finally came eye to eye with the love of my life.
Hi, pretty girl.
He whispered through to me, our colorful souls spun in circles as it tried to find where one began and the other ended .
All at once, I knew why Orla was showing me this. What this was changing for and within me.
Kiaran wore a crisp black suit, much like my father’s. He had a pastel blue tie tucked into his suit jacket, playing perfectly off the colorful flowers and decor that covered the Earth around us. His black curls were tousled and styled back perfectly to show off his gorgeous face.
The man I loved stood in front of me, his bottom lip was bit between his teeth in attempt to keep his smile within the bounds of his cheeks. His eyes matched the rest of the guests, filled with tears of joy. To be at the receiving end of those joyous tears was a dream come true.
In this dream, I got to marry my soul mate. My fated one. The one who was created specially for me.
My father shook Kiaran’s hand, giving my mortality away.
This dream was an awakening.
My immortal awakening.
But most of all, it was a promise from the world and all its makers that Morgenstern blood will prevail.