Chapter 11
AREZOO
The cart waiting outside Arezoo's home was beautifully decorated, and she loved it even though she felt a little ridiculous riding to the village green instead of walking there.
She could have covered the distance on foot in less than fifteen minutes, even in her high heels, but Amanda insisted that the bride and her bridesmaids were going to arrive at the party in style.
The vehicle was long, like the flatbed garden cart used to transport supplies from the parking garage to other areas of the village, but this was an actual cart that functioned as a limousine.
There were four rows of seats behind the driver, and a canvas canopy provided protection from the elements, which was important in case it started raining.
Hopefully it wouldn't rain, or the wedding would be ruined, but a glance at the darkening sky revealed regular fluffy clouds that didn't look like they were going to start pouring water over Arezoo's guests.
White ribbons spiraled around the railings, garlands of pink and white flowers draped the sides, and a larger arrangement crowned the back. Small bouquets were tied to each corner.
"It's amazing," Laleh said. "So beautiful."
"It's ridiculous," Drova sneered, but she was smiling, or what passed for a smile on a Kra-ell face.
"I love it," Arezoo said. "Amanda has a gift for turning ordinary things into extraordinary."
"She does." Anandur, who had volunteered to drive the contraption, offered her a hand up.
"Thank you." She smiled at him.
Her mother appeared in the doorway, holding her clutch in both hands like it was her lifeline.
She'd cried twice already and reapplied her lipstick once.
Angelica had used waterproof mascara on her, but even that didn't survive the waterworks.
Her mother was going to get a hefty bill from the stylist for all the extra work.
"No more crying, Maman."
"I'm not crying."
"We've been through this. Just think happy thoughts or go over inventory lists for the grocery store. Anything to distract yourself from the emotional turmoil in your head."
Anandur cleared his throat and offered her mother his hand. "Your chariot awaits, madam."
Drova climbed into the cart behind Arezoo. "Let's get this thing moving. I'm hungry."
"You can't eat before the reception," Donya admonished.
"Of course I can. All I need is to grab one of those fake juice boxes with blood and drink it discreetly. No one will notice."
It was sometimes easy to forget that Drova's alien looks were driven by her biology. She didn't eat regular food. She drank blood and therefore didn't need a long digestive tract like a human. That was why her waist was so shockingly narrow.
She looked beautiful in the red bridesmaid dress Arezoo had picked for her, and even her black combat boots didn't detract from her appearance. Somehow, it all worked.
The other bridesmaids climbed up one by one. Donya and Laleh took one bench. Azadeh and Jasmine took the bench across from them. Wonder folded her tall frame onto the back seat next to Aliya.
Yasmin lifted Cyra onto the bench next to Drova, and Drova immediately wrapped her arm around the little girl. The chemistry between the badass warrior and the tiny human child was surprising.
Cyra was picky about the people she trusted, but Drova had a way with kids, and she'd won Cyra over in five minutes flat.
"I have a job," Cyra announced with the seriousness of a small ambassador on official business.
Her white dress had a wide skirt that puffed up when she sat down, and she was clutching the small basket of flower petals in her lap.
"It's a very important job," Arezoo agreed.
"I throw the petals." Cyra scrunched her little nose. "I practiced on the carpet."
"The grass will be the same as the carpet," Drova reassured her. "You just walk and throw."
Soraya smoothed down the front of her dress. It was a deep wine red, simple in cut but flattering, and Angelica had done an amazing job on her hair and makeup. She looked twenty years younger.
Anandur turned around in the driver's seat. "All passengers seated? No one falling out the back? Bride still in the cart and not running off?"
"Why would I run?" Arezoo asked.
Hopefully, he wouldn't say something disparaging about Ruvon.
He shrugged. "Jitters."
"I'm fine." She smiled. "More than fine. I'm ready to marry Ruvon and have the goddess bless our union."
He nodded. "Good for you."
Anandur started the cart, and it crept forward at barely a walking pace.
"Anandur," Drova said, "a human grandmother with a walker could get there faster."
"I'm following Amanda's orders, and she said to take it slow."
As the cart rolled along the path toward the village green, the breeze carried the scent of flowers and food, and Arezoo could hear faint music in the distance. It was some soft instrumental that was playing while the guests were mingling.
Ruvon was probably already there, waiting with his groomsmen for her and her bridesmaids to arrive. He was going to look so handsome in his tuxedo, with his hair styled, his shoulders back, and an expectant expression on his face.
He would look tall and proud, standing at the foot of the dais next to Kalugal and the others, and his eyes would be on the path, watching for her.
She hoped he liked the poem she'd sent him.
When she'd thought of the present, she'd been sure it was the perfect thing.
She'd imagined him opening it, recognizing the verse, smiling that quiet smile he had when something touched him.
But now she wondered if she had put him in an awkward position.
He hadn't sent her anything, and now he might think that he'd been supposed to come up with something special for her as well.
Ruvon was sensitive about things like that.
He worried about whether he was getting things right.
"What is it?" her mother asked.
"I'm worried about the poem."
"What poem?"
"The one I sent Ruvon earlier."
Her mother sighed. "I told you not to send him anything. Why didn't you listen to me?"
Because she was a grown woman, she didn't need to follow her mother's advice to the letter. She could choose what she wanted to implement and what she didn't.
"I wanted to give him something special.
Something that held meaning for both of us.
I copied out the 'Garden of Becoming' poem and put it in the old wooden box you gave me, the one that used to be Grandma's.
I tied it with a blue ribbon and sent it to him.
But now I'm worried that it just made him feel bad because he didn't get me a gift. "
Behind them, Drova snorted. "Are you kidding me? He's going to faint with happiness."
"I don't want him to faint. I just want him to be happy about my gift."
"It shall be done. If he's not happy, I'll compel him to be. Stop worrying."
Arezoo laughed, and it loosened the tightness in her chest, and for the first time since she'd put on the wedding dress, she felt like she could breathe.
The cart rounded the curve in the path that passed the row of houses leading to the green. Couples on the way to the party waved as it crawled by, and Arezoo waved back. Her bridesmaids waved as well, even Drova, but she did it just to encourage Cyra to wave.
Arezoo watched them go and smiled.
The pace was ridiculous, but she was being carried through her village on a flowered cart toward the man she loved, surrounded by the women who loved her, and she found that she didn't mind the absurdity.
"Maman," she said softly. "I wish Grandmother could see this."
"I know." Her mother sniffled and pulled out a handkerchief from her clutch. "She would have been so proud of you."
Arezoo nodded, and her throat tightened.
"You have a big family now," her mother said. "A whole clan. And you have us, your aunts and cousins, and new friends, and a man who loves you the way a man should love a woman. You have everything she hoped her daughters and granddaughters would have."
Don't cry, Arezoo commanded the tears to retreat. Angelica would never forgive her if she ruined her masterpiece.
As the cart rounded the last bend, the village green opened up before them, and Arezoo's breath caught.
She had walked across it numerous times on her way to the café or the store. She knew every inch of it. But she had never seen it like this, not even during her cocktail party.
Rows of white chairs had been arranged in a wide arc facing the elevated stage at the far end.
Garlands of flowers ran along the aisles.
The path leading from the edge of the green to the stage had been lined with small wooden platforms, smooth boards laid end to end across the grass to make a walkway that wouldn't catch the heel of a shoe or the hem of a dress.
And on the dais at the far end, in her white robe edged with gold, glowing softly even in the daylight, stood Annani.
Below the dais, in a loose semicircle facing the aisle, were the groomsmen.
And in front of them, in his black tuxedo with his shoulders back and his face turned toward the aisle, was Ruvon.
He was too far away for Arezoo to read his expression, but she didn't need to. She knew him. She knew the way he stood when he was waiting for her. She knew the way his hands were folded in front of him. She knew that the moment he saw her, his whole face would brighten.
Anandur slowed the cart to a stop at the edge of the green.
He came around the side and offered her his hand.
"My lady."
She took his hand and stood up, the layers of her skirt unfolding around her. As she stepped down from the cart, her foot caught the edge of the tulle, and she felt herself tilt forward.
Anandur's hand tightened on hers, and his other hand came up to her elbow, steady as a wall.
"Got you."
"Sorry."
"Long dress, narrow step."
Her heart was pounding now, hard enough that she could feel it in her throat.
The bridesmaids descended from the cart behind her and arranged themselves the way they had practiced, in the order they had agreed on, with Drova second-to-last because Drova had refused to be either first or last on the grounds that both positions involved being looked at the longest.
Soraya stepped down from the cart and came around to Arezoo's side. She took Arezoo's elbow firmly, the way she had a thousand times when Arezoo was small and crossing a busy street, and she looked up at her.
"Sweetheart," she said softly.
"Yes, Maman."
"Don't look at the guests. Don't look at the chairs. Don't look at the Clan Mother. Just look at Ruvon. Look into his eyes and let your feet guide you to him."
Arezoo took a long breath.
She thought of Ruvon's face on their first date, of the poetry book in his hands, of his hand in hers at the lookout point under the stars. She thought of the small, folded square of paper with the blue ribbon, and she hoped, with the whole of her heart, that he had liked it.
She nodded at Anandur. "I'm ready."
He lifted his hand and tapped his earpiece. "Cue the march."
The instrumental loop ended, there was a brief beat of silence, and then the first notes of the wedding march began to sound across the village green, and all heads turned her way.