Chapter Thirty
HER HEART OVERWHELMED , Diana spun in front of the dressing room mirror. “How do I look?”
“Amazing.” Pat, her maid of honor, adjusted the veil. “Even without alterations, your grandma’s dress fits you like it was tailored for you. I know you always wanted to wear it for your wedding. She would be sooooo proud of the woman you’ve become.”
Diana wished her grandmother were here to give her away, but just having her dress helped a lot. Now, happy tears prickled her eyes. For a moment, it seemed like the dressing room had a faint aroma of pancakes or maybe of her grandmother’s signature oatmeal cookies, but of course, it was only her imagination.
She hugged her best friend, dressed in an emerald-green gown with a sweetheart neckline. While Diana didn’t set a requirement for bridesmaids’ dresses, all the women she’d asked to be bridesmaids had agreed to the green theme. A theme she’d chosen because it meant spring and reawakening.
New beginnings.
Also flourishing and cherishing the friendship she had since childhood, and she hugged Pat tighter.
Diana still couldn’t believe she’d nearly lost Pat forever. Maybe she needed this hug as a tangible reminder that Pat was alive and recovering, though she still didn’t remember everything. “Thank you.”
“I’m so happy for you. I couldn’t say it at your first wedding, but I can say it now.” Pat hugged her back.
Finally, Diana let her best friend go. “I know Grandma’s wedding dress isn’t white any longer, but more a champagne hue. Still, I love it. Yes, I wanted to wear it for my first wedding, but Adam said it looked too old-fashioned. Now, I realize, in his view, that meant not expensive enough, not worthy of the caliber of the man he thought he was.”
Pat scoffed. “It’s the other way around. He was never worthy of even the nail on your pinky finger. No, wrong. Not even the tip of the nail on your pinky finger. And I knew it even before what I found out recently.”
Diana touched the smooth fabric of the long-sleeved silk dress that reached her white shoes. “Adam’s mother took me to her dressmaker to make a much more modern and much, much, much more expensive dress. I now can’t believe I agreed to it. He told me it was because he wanted me to look the best and for the event and photos to be truly memorable. My parents joined forces with him.”
“Don’t look at the past. Now you can be who you want to be and wear the wedding dress you want to. Your future husband loves you just the way you are.”
One of her bridesmaids, Saylor, giggled like a little girl. “For example, lots of people told me I talk too much. But Darius loves me for it. Just like Laredo loves you and cherishes you for everything you are.”
“True.” Rachel picked up a bridal bouquet of white chrysanthemums and handed it to Diana.
This was the first time Diana saw Rachel in a dress instead of black jeans or camouflage pants. Rachel’s hair wasn’t hidden under a cap any longer but swept up into a sophisticated French twist with curls framing her face. Talk about a stunning transformation.
Laredo’s brothers were groomsmen, so Saylor, Marina, and Rachel would soon be accompanied by their husbands in tuxedos walking down the aisle. For now, the women were helping Diana get ready.
“Thanks.” Diana breathed in the flowers’ aroma. She wore a chrysanthemum in her hair, as well. She’d colored her hair back into her natural chestnut color, and Laredo hadn’t seemed to skip a beat.
Chrysanthemums were her favorite flowers, maybe because Grandma used to grow them in her garden together with the mint and chamomile she used for her tea. Today, the mums were used for decoration, not teas. Yet Adam had always gifted her roses. Even for her wedding, he’d said white roses would be much more appropriate than humble mums. The outrageously expensive venue was decorated with a sea of roses. Later, she and Adam attended several of his colleagues’ weddings. They’d all been decorated with a sea of white roses.
Okay, Diana didn’t need to look at the past when she could look forward to the future.
Her lips and spirits lifted. She couldn’t wait to marry Laredo.
Forever and ever.
To have a life truly of her own with a husband truly of her own who believed in her and supported her dreams. Something she’d apparently never had. Now she was getting an entire large family of people who believed in her and supported her, and even her parents were coming around.
A bubbly feeling rose to the surface. She hadn’t felt this giddy, ever, until she’d met Laredo. Strangely, she was much more excited to get married now than at her first wedding. Though why strangely? A part of her must’ve felt then that she’d been making a mistake.
Then she froze. “Wait. I have a dress technically borrowed from my grandmother. I have new shoes. But I’m supposed to have something blue, too.” She glanced at Pat’s spectacular blue hair. Pat was always a sight to be seen. “Not suggesting that you cut me a lock of your hair!”
“I’d do it for you,” Pat grinned. “But yeah, I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Something blue... The loving gaze of your groom’s blue eyes? Okay, in addition, I’d love you to have my aquamarine bracelet.” Marina slipped the bracelet off her wrist and onto Diana’s. “Thankfully, I have plenty of blue things. It’s my favorite color—might have something to do with my name.”
Diana’s mother popped her head in the door. “It’s time. They are playing the song.”
Her mother’s short gray hair was styled fashionably, as always, and the diamond studs she always wore sparkled in her ears. A familiar pale-pink lipstick shone on her lips. But a new softness relaxed in her smile, even while a trace of guilt tempered her gaze.
“Okay. Let’s get going.” Laredo’s sisters-in-law filed out first, no doubt met with admiring gazes from their husbands.
“I’m thrilled for you.” Pat gave Diana a quick hug, careful not to smash their bouquets, then shot out the door without sparing Diana’s mother a glance.
Mom adjusted Diana’s veil. “I know your father and I don’t deserve the honor of giving you away. But we’re beyond grateful you bestowed it on us.”
Diana was too ecstatic to hold onto past grudges. “I’m not asking to start from a blank slate because I’d never want to erase all those years of my life. All I’m asking is that you accept me and my husband as we are. That you look past the things we lack and concentrate on all the good we have. I’m going to take a break from my career, as there were no nursing vacancies at the local hospital. If the tearoom doesn’t work out and if I get pregnant, I might even be a homemaker for some time. A cowboy like Laredo might not be the doctor son-in-law you dreamed of, but he’s the best man for me and the person I’ll love until my last breath.”
Diana braced herself for her mother’s frown. Her mother was used to having an obedient daughter, not a rebellious one.
Instead, her mother beamed as they walked out of the dressing room, and Diana’s father joined them.
“We love Laredo already,” Mom said. “Right, darling?”
“Of course.” Dad nodded and linked arms with Diana. His hair was completely white, and he’d aged a lot this year, hence more wrinkles. But she’d never seen his expression so relaxed.
So simple. Diana had imagined it would take years to get to this point, if ever. She felt like a mountain was lifted from her shoulders.
“I’ve never seen you this happy. Finding Laredo made you happy,” Mom whispered along the way.
Diana smiled at the church packed with people who came to support them and celebrate her and Laredo’s love. “Finding me made me happy. But yes, Laredo helped a lot.”
At the end of this aisle, Laredo and their lifetime together awaited her. Her chest swelled as she lifted her chin and walked toward them both.