Chapter 15
Hawthorne
“It's really not that bad.”
She freezes and pivots slowly. Maybe I fucked up. “Alright. You wear it then.”
I give this a quick thought and then shrug. “Hand it over.”
“What? Hawthorne. Be so for real right now.”
I get closer to her, close enough I can smell the champagne on her breath.
“No, I am being so for real right now. I don't give a shit what I wear when you walk down that aisle to me.
All I care about is that you do. If it will make you happier to wear something else, then do it.
If it will bring you joy to see me in that.
.. lovely dress, then I will happily put it on my body.
The main thing here is that I get to marry you.
I know we had that super romantic ceremony where we got mated in that creepy secret cave your family has—"
“That was not a cave. It was a tree house.”
“Point is, for me, the dream is that I get to be married to you. I personally think you look great in everything. Maybe this dress is not quite what you normally wear—”
“There are ruffles. On my ass. And did my mom think that lace was going to go extinct if she didn't use all of it on this one dress? What is this?”
I consider this, rotating around her to take in the dress from every possible angle. Again. “Have we considered the possibility that your mother's playing a joke on you? Is she mad at you for some reason? Did somebody pay her to give this to you? These are all valid options.”
“They would be valid options if this isn't the gown that she wore to marry my father in.
Oh my gods. I have to wear it, don't I? You have to do me a favor and make me a promise that seeing me in this gown is not going to skew the way you think about me.
I can only do this if you can look me straight in the eye and swear to me these shoulder pads aren't going to haunt your dreams later.”
I wasn't planning on sleeping later at all; she should know that. Pretty difficult to rail your wife into next week if you’re wasting your time being unconscious.
“Your mother loves you though. If she had any idea how much stress this was putting you under, she'd probably throw it out the window herself.”
She does a little spin, looking at her back in the mirror once again. “Well, it's not like I have anything else to wear anyway. Plus, my mom would be heartbroken if I walked and didn't walk down the aisle in this. I'm sure she's been dreaming about me wearing this dress her whole life.”
“Perhaps; or perhaps this is your wedding day and she already had hers. Perhaps this is the one day you're absolutely allowed to be as selfish as you want, because we're only doing this one time.” I take her hands in mine, kissing them. “Can I give you something?”
She looks at me very suspiciously. “If it's your dick in a box, then no. We have guests out there waiting on us. Save that for after the reception.”
Could this girl be any more perfect for me? “Cute, but no. close your eyes.”
She stares at me for a bit longer before complying, doing her best to relax her shoulders.
We're just in a public bathroom that's been shut off for the event, cleaned up with a carpet laid down so she had somewhere clean to stand.
There's a wheeling wardrobe in here, and we’ve been using it as a place to stash the wedding party stuff all day.
It was the perfect place to hide something because it's right in plain sight.
I open the nondescript black garment bag nobody asked me to purchase, holding it in my hands for just a second to make sure this is what I'm going to do. I decide it is, so I unzip it and carefully pull out the dress I picked out for her years ago.
I gently turn her to look in the mirror again, holding it up to her body. “Open your eyes,” I whisper right into her ear.
She gasps, eyes roaming up and down the gown. “Where did this come from?”
“Do you remember, maybe two or three years ago, you were going through a bit of a rough patch? Your brother was telling us all about the drama going on at work, how there was some fancy gala that your ex told you you shouldn’t go to, because he told you it was for professionals only and he didn't consider you on his level?”
“Godsdamn, I wasted so much of my life with that man. Yes, what of it?”
“I was pissed. At that point, we were already well aware of the patterns that man was exhibiting, we we're wondering if he had somebody on the side.
We actually made a board game that revolved around creative ways to maim him; it was great.
Anyway, we overheard you talking to your brother about the event, he had you on speakerphone while he was getting ready for something.
“I had it in my mind that I was going to say ‘fuck it’ to us waiting for you to come back to us, and I was going to go all out and show up at your door with five dozen roses and a dress on my arm, fully kitted out in a tux.
I was going to take you to that event because I knew you belonged there.
You don't belong at home, or miserable on the couch while somebody else lives your life. You deserve to be center stage, always.
“I didn't tell anybody else what I was thinking, I took initiative and went into town and started looking around, and I saw this dress there. I know off-white isn't the most common choice for formal events, but I couldn't keep my eyes off of it.
“They had it in the display window, and as soon as I saw it, I just knew that it would be perfect for you.
I know it looks simple, but there're so many details if you look close. There’s the stitching along the hem, the way the top of it just sort of drapes, and it has this light, almost color-shift sheen to it.
The back is my favorite part. No, no ruffles, don't worry.
“Look. It ties like a corset, but then the strings are meant to sort of hang down, and there're all these shimmery stones in them. I just thought it was stunning. You have beautiful shoulders, and I knew they would look killer in this dress. Plus, the creamy undertones of the fabric with your hair and complexion? The life-size cutout of you I put it on looked stunning, so I knew the real deal you would be even better.”
She places her hand on mine, making me stop. “You were actually going to do all that. For me? Why? And does this cutout of me still exist? I don’t know if I can sleep in that house if I know there’s a paper copy of me hiding somewhere.”
I carefully hang the dress back up, and circle around the front of her.
Before I answer, I take her face between my hands and press my mouth to hers.
I use that kiss to pour all my feelings into her.
“You should know by now the way I feel about you; it's not some fleeting thing.
We decided as a hive that we couldn't pressure you into leaving Ben, not if he made you happy even some of the time. And does it still exist? Darling, I fucked the life out of that thing in a weekend.”
When her eyes get huge at this reveal, I play back what I just said and smack my forehead in frustration.
That weekend was supposed to never be discussed again, and there are more than a few reasons Arbor made us all promise that. I’m definitely not supposed to scare her off this close to the official ceremony.
I try to laugh the whole thing off like I’m completely joking and then clear my throat and turn to more serious matters.
“As you know now, we were keeping an eye on you to make sure that you were safe and well.
Beyond that, we didn't want to interfere with your life unless you made it clear you wanted us to.”
“You guys really did a number on me at my birthday. It feels so silly to keep bringing that up, to still be holding onto a grudge that old, but I don't know if I can help it.”
“And you have every right to hate us for that. I hate myself for it. Trust me. That's the biggest regret I have in my life. But back to now. The guys talked me down from showing up at your place because by then it had been several days, and your ex ended up not going after all.”
Aster nods. “He wouldn't have had a good time; the food poisoning he caught was no joke.”
I stifle a smile. Badly. “Yes, real shame, that.”
Her mouth drops open and she stares at me, wide-eyed. Then she starts cracking up. “How the hell did you do that?”
“A gentleman never tells, darling. Anyway.
The dress became superfluous, but I decided to keep it just in case.
I had already spent too many hours at that point envisioning you in it, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it might come in handy one day.
I know it's not technically a wedding dress, but—”
“Put it on me. My mom's dress has had its day in the sun; this one's been waiting just for me.”
My hands shake as I help her out of her mom’s dress, carefully zipping it back into a protective garment bag before helping her into my pick.
I know it’s the right choice when she looks in the mirror and tears immediately start flowing out of her eyes. “Aster…you’re such a beautiful bride. I know we’re already mated, but damn. This is…I don’t even have words. Your whole countenance just changed and it’s breathtaking.”
I wasn’t even supposed to be in here with her, but obviously the ‘NO GROOMS ALLOWED’ sign didn’t apply to Hawthorne. I knew my girl needed me, and thank fate I came.
“You…Hawthorne, it’s perfect. I think…I think I’m getting married in this dress.”
I kiss her on the side of her neck, mindful of all the makeup she spent so long applying. “You’re not supposed to cry; we haven’t even got your veil on yet.”
“I don’t have a veil. Oh—Dev was serious, then?”
I nod, pulling out the box we carefully placed on the wardrobe and figured she’d have seen right away. We weren’t even trying to hide this.
“Good thing I shoved your aunt out of here and took over then, isn’t it?”