#Chapter 422 – Wedding prep
Cora
“Ella,” I sigh, turning to my sister, who is standing behind me with her hands clutched together, tears rimming her eyes, not breathing because she’s trying so hard not to burst into tears
“You look so beautiful!” she squeaks, and I can’t help but laugh because she looks like a little cartoon character, standing there, completely undone by the sight of me in a wedding gown.
“Ells!” I laugh, taking a few steps towards her and reaching out my hands. “You can’t do this for every new dress!”
“But you look so differently beautiful in each one!” she shouts, and then a sob breaks from her and she burries her face in her hands, letting loose. I burst into laughter at this, raising my own hands to my cheeks and taking a deep breath.
“I’m sorry! I can’t help it!” she cries and I just shake my head, pulling my hands away and smiling as I turn to look at myself in the mirror.
I mean, she’s not wrong – I look damn good in this sparkling white gown that hugs my body all the way to the floor and then spreads out behind me in a beautiful beaded train. But honestly – Ella is so much more sentimental than me. She has gotten choked up at every single one I’ve tried on so far – and they’re all beautiful but …I’m just not having the same reaction as she is.
“You don’t like it?” she gasps, scurrying to my side and meeting my eyes in the mirror. “But Cora – you look amazing – you look so romantic-
“I know, Ella!” I say, turning and putting a hand on her shoulder. “But I think the problem is that I’m not I’m not very romantic! You are, for sure, but-”
“Ohhh,” she says, frowning and swatting my hand away, “you are too romantic. You confessed your love for Roger in a rain storm! He swept you off your feet and carried you inside! You – ”
“Okay,” I say, raising my hands as I give in, “I will admit that that part of our story is romantic – ”
“And you conceived your little baby that very night!”
“Okay! I’m a romance novel heroine! You’ve got me!” I laugh, “But Ella! I never craved any of that – I’ve never, ever been the girl who thinks about her wedding day, or what her first dance would be. This just…means less to me, than it does you.”
“But then why do you care if we do it?” she asks, wiping away her tears. ” Why don’t you just throw you a wedding, if it doesn’t matter?”
“Because the mating does matter,” I murmur, turning back to smile at myself in the mirror. My wolf raises her sleepy head inside me and gives a little yip of confirmation, making my smile deepen. I run a mental hand over her fur, letting her know not to worry that I’m not giving in.
“Okay,” Ella sighs, standing close to me and putting her head on my shoulder as we both stare at me in the mirror. “But you should keep this dress anyway. Roger is going to flip when he sees you in it.”
“I know, right?” I murmur, turning and admiring the way the dress hugs my curves.
My sister squeals a little, throwing her arms around my shoulders. “See! You do like it!”
I laugh with her. “I always liked it,” I shrug. “I just…”
“I get it,” she says, nodding. “But let’s keep the dress. Just in case. And… maybe the ballgown too?” She gives me a big grin in the mirror, because I know that one was her favorite, even if this one is mine.
“Whatever you want,” I say with a sigh and a shrug. “It’s on the Sinclair dime anyway.”
“Yeah, let’s bankrupt ’em” Ella says, grinning and hopping away from me to move towards one of the poor stylists in the corner who has had to put up with her new queen’s hysterics while watching me try on twenty gowns. But while Ella speaks quietly with the stylists, probably purchasing four or five of the gowns just to have options, I turn to shake my head at myself in the mirror.
Because this…this just isn’t right.
And suddenly, quite suddenly, I know precisely what I want to do. Before Ella can come back, I slip behind the little dressing screen and take off the dress, folding it carefully and putting on the outfit that I came in. When I come out one of the stylists comes over to take the gown from me.
“Um,” I say softly, glancing over at Ella, who is still consulting. “Can you have this one sent to me, at my house? And…not tell her?”
“Uh,” the woman says, hesitant, because she knows it’s Ella paying not me.
“I promise she won’t be mad,” I say, assuring her. “And if she gives you any heat about it, you can tell her it was me. I promise it will be all right, but…could you please do this? Just between you and me?”
The woman hesitates but then lets out a sharp breath and smiles at me, nodding. “Sure,” she says. “I…I can do that.”
And then, with a new spring in my step and an idea in my head, I go to give my sister a kiss goodbye. Because I’ve got work to do.
Roger exhales with exhaustion when he comes through the door that night. He hangs his head as he presses the door shut and takes a deep breath, clearly transitioning from work to home life and having trouble clearing his mind.
I suddenly feel very, very guilty and take a step back, trying to like…melt into the shadows or something. I don’t know.
But Roger – with his wolf hearing – instantly snaps his head to me.
“Cora?” he asks, cocking his head to the side as he sees me standing in the living room, fully dressed with my shoes on, standing next to two tiny suit cases and a certain white box wrapped in a silver bow. “What…what are you doing?”
“Um…” I say, hesitating and trying to come up with an excuse. Because he’s so tired we don’t have to do this tonight, we can just wait until tomorrow
God, I’m so dumb, I should have texted him before – I should have checked to see if he was up for it –
“Can’t a girl just…stand in her living room?” I finish lamely, tucking my hands behind my back and giving him a too-innocent smile?
“No,” he says, smirking and advancing slowly towards me, his shoulders rolling back like the predator he is. “She can’t, when she’s you, and you’re always tucked up in bed watching Greys Anatomy at this hour. And when you’ve packed two suitcases.”
“Those are just decorative,” I say dismissively, raising my chin but unable to resist smiling too. God, he’s just so good looking. “I’m trying something new. But what I’m getting from you is that it’s not working as a style concept, suitcases in the living room. Notes taken! I’ll fix it in the morning.”
“Cora,” he growls, coming close enough to snatch me by the waist and pull me tight against him. I laugh as he does, loving it-loving him. “What are you doing? What’s going on?”
“Nothing,” I murmur, smiling as I look down and place my hands on his chest. “It doesn’t matter – you’re so tired – ”
“Hey,” he says, putting a finger under my chin and lifting my face so he looks into my eyes. “I want to know.”
“Well,” I say, biting my lip and looking up at my gorgeous mate, who I love so, so dearly. And I tap the little bond inside of us, the one that’s just between his heart and mine. And I let him see my love, and my excitement, and that I’m…I’m ready.
I see his face change in a minute as he begins to understand.
“Well, Roger?” I say, grinning up at him. “What would you say if I asked you to elope with me tonight?”
He stares at me for a moment, shocked and thrilled, and then he gives a whoop of happiness as he moves faster than I can see, sweeping my legs out from under me and making me laugh recklessly as he spins me in a circle.
“Hell yes, Cora,” he whispers down to me after we’ve turned three times, his face bright with his smile. “Absolutely. Let’s go. Right now.”
