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In the cool of the day around 6:00 pm, Inara peeked from her room window as two SUVs, black and white, pulled up before her home.
Then a red one, the one she was familiar with, pulled up last. It made her heart beat faster, knowing that it was him in there. And she couldn’t help but touch the ring that he had slipped onto her finger. It clung to her skin, constantly reminding her of him.
Her family had already pre
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You’ll be fine.” her mother said and she allowed her mother’s encouraging words guide her towards the dinning, glad she was leading her by the hand.The table was large and accommodated her family on one side but accommodated Lemuel’s on the other side. The last empty seat was directly opposite him.“This is my daughter Inara.” her father said proudly as they reached the room and her mother released her hand.“I like her too.” Wisdom announced, causing laughter again.“I like you too.” Inara said to him and he just laughed.“You’ve picked a lovely bride son.” Lemuel’s mother said. “She’s adorable.”“I agree.” his father said.“Thank you mum, dad.” Lemuel responded and when she looked at him, he was smirking at her. “I feel blessed.” he added.Inara quickly looked away and noticed Tirzah wavin
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Inara’s dad informed her the next morning that Lemuel had insisted on funding the wedding arrangements and had already wired some good money in. Inara went to her room and texted;Thank you for the fund.Few moments later, he responded with;Good Manners.Afterwards, she received a call from a strange number and picked it up.“Hello.”“This is Cassy Blake.”Inara was shocked. Cassy was her bully in junior high. Cassy and two other snobbish girls called Eve and Amy had always made her life a living hell. They had often called her a fatty and messed with her lunch box until Zee who had come in as a new student, stepped in and made them back off. It was how she and Zee had become friends. She wondered why Cassy would be calling her.“Hi Cassy.” She said, not sure what to expect.Cassy laughed in her familiar high-pitched voice that had Inara putting the phone some distance away from her ear. It sounded like sirens wailing up close. Then she returned the phone to her ear as soon as the lau
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Inara reached the hotel a few minutes after 6:00 pm and was greeted by the girls at the reception.They were dressed in pink tee-shirts with the wordsInara Anthony- Bride to becrested on the back. Inara was overwhelmed by their kindness."This is yours." Cassy said, presenting her with a similar tee-shirt in white."Wow, this is unexpected. I am moved." said Inara and wore it over her sleeveless blouse."It's our pleasure." said Amy."Let's take you to the room we booked." Eve said excitedly.They led her away from the reception, then walked her along the hotel lobby to a room where on the door, a colorful banner was hung.The banner bore boldly, her engagement picture where Lemuel was kissing her hand. On it, a fancy digital writing proclaimedCongratulations! Inara Anthony."You guys did all these for me?" Inara couldn’t believe it still. The girls had really troubled her in t
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Zee had managed to get Inara to stop crying during the drive and they reached Inara's home at about 8:30 pm.Inara took off the bridal shower tee-shirt and dumped it on the floor of the truck, hating it with every fiber of her being.“I’ll trash it for you.” said Zee.
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Inara would have liked more time to try and calm herself but remembering her last episode with him on timing, she hurried to her parent’s room and knocked on the door.“Dad, mum, Lemuel is taking me out.”She hoped they couldn’t hear the tremor she was fighting to keep from her voice.“Enjoy your courtship.” Her mum said.“Chastely.” her dad added.“I love you.” she said and hurried to the room Amara used as a studio. The door was open and her sister was engrossed at her canvas, replicating the picture of a lavender garden in sunset.“Nice work. Lemuel is taking me out.”“Thanks. Great. Have fun.” Amara said without turning. She was always concentrated when she worked.“Thanks.” Inara said and paused as her phone buzzed again with Lemuel’s call. She picked it up and brought it up to her ear.“Hello.”“What are you wearing?”“Jeans and tee-shirt.”“I want you in a dress. Two minutes.”The call went off and Inara hastened back to her bedroom and changed into a simple straight knee-length
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“You can wrap your arms around me, Nara. It’s okay.” he said softly. Gingerly, she slowly brought her arms around him, coming to rest her head against his brawny chest, her sobs gradually reducing as the intense pain on her bum started to ebb.“Let’s get you a bit comfortable.” he said and lifted her onto his shoulder, taking her to the living room where she noticed for the first time that there was a big automatic couch that doubled as a bed in there. Gently, he lay her on her side, brushing her hair away from her wet cheeks. Her sobs were down to sniffles by now. “Shh, it’s okay.” He encouraged soothingly and she was surprised at the tenderness he was showing her but it helped her finally stop crying. “I need you to relax. I’ll get some balm so you can heal quickly.”She tensed up, her body protesting any reference to contact with her smarting bum.“Shh, just relax, I’ll be gentle, I promise. I gave you the pain. Now I’ll take it away.”Her protesting muscles slowly gave way as sh
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“Hey, pumpkin.”Inara turned to find Alex coming up behind her where she was standing out on the terrace of the church building trying for the second time to see if Zee had shown up for the wedding rehearsal. It was 8:00 am and Zee was not there yet.Inara noticed that Alex had lost some pounds. His weight loss efforts were paying off. He was looking good.“Wow, you are slimming down.”
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By evening, after dinner, Inara realized that she had not written her vow. She got into her room, grabbed a pen and sheet of paper, then sat down at her dresser to think. Words didn’t come.She tried to remember what the other brides she had watched in church used to read from their paper. They always said sweet things. But her own wedding wasn’t normal. It made it difficult to write anything.After more pondering with no headway, she decided to let her heart lead her and before long, she had finished writing the vow that she would read.
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