Chapter 13
I kept my back to the full-length mirror as I stepped into my wedding gown.

I wasn’t sure if I wanted to surprise myself when I saw the full effect of the dress and the makeup that Mindy had done for me, and the intricate updo with the delicate tiara sparkling against my shiny, dark curls – or if I was afraid to look at my reflection and realize that the gown… that I… wasn’t as beautiful as I’d hoped.

“Are you sure you don’t want help?” Mindy called through the door that linked the two rooms of the suite that Lucius had provided for my wedding preparations at the Vladescu estate. “I am your maid of honor!”

“No, it’s okay,” I told her. “I’ll be right out.”

I wanted to be alone when I first saw myself as Lucius would see me…

Pulling the heavy, white silk up around my body – over my curves – I pressed the dress against my stomach with my left hand, holding it in place while I reached around to pull up the hidden zipper, as far as I could.

When my hand stopped, unable to go farther, I started to smile, remembering how Lucius had once surprised me by zipping up a similar dress for me, back in a Lancaster County shop.

Tonight, Mindy or Mom would help me, but in the future, sealing those last few inches would always be Lucius’s job. I’d feel his cool fingers graze the skin along my spine, the way they’d done that first time. Only I wouldn’t try to fight the tingle that I experienced, like I’d done back then…

“Jess, we’re dying out here!” Mindy called, sounding eager and impatient. “Hurry up!”

“I’m hurrying,” I promised, smiling at Mindy’s enthusiasm, too.

But I still took a moment to smooth the fabric, feeling the softness of the silk and the roughness of the lace and beading – a sharp contrast that reminded me so much of Lucius, himself – before finally turning to look into the mirror.

And the person I saw reflected there…

Wow…

Continue to chapter 14...