Chapter One

The day had finally come.

My wedding day.

I was in a white dress with thin straps and a skirt that brushed the floor. My hair was pulled into a low bun at the nape of my neck, with a few curls slipping free around my face.

I walked out of the dressing room, and Bree—my best friend—gasped.

“You look so fucking beautiful,” she said with wide eyes.

Bree was dressed in a pale teal-colored dress that highlighted her sleepy blue eyes. Her short black hair had been straightened and left down.

“You too,” I complimented.

I met Bree a few years ago at the diner where I worked. We clicked instantly and have been best friends ever since. She was my total opposite—wild, carefree, and even bitchy at times. But deep down, she was a good person, and the only one I could truly call a friend.

“You know, maybe I was wrong about Kelvin,” Bree says. “I mean, my gut has never failed me before, but maybe he is a good guy after all.”

“I know admitting you were wrong isn’t a ‘Bree’s thing,’ but you were only trying to look out for me, like any good friend would.”

The thing was, Bree never really liked Kelvin. For some reason, she just didn’t think we were meant to be. But she was wrong—Kelvin was a good guy.

Unlike most guys, when I told him I wanted to wait until marriage to have sex, he agreed. Sure, he was a bit disappointed at first, but he respected my decision.

Kelvin and I had been dating for eight months, and when he proposed a month ago, I said yes.

My mother stepped in, and her eyes immediately filled with tears. She walked up to me, trying hard not to let them fall.

Mom was still recovering, and though she looked healthier than she had a few months ago, she was still sickly thin. The dress that was supposed to be fitted hung loosely on her.

“My baby is going to be a wife,” she whispered, then drew me into a tight hug. I didn’t miss the slight tremble in her hands. “Can I have a moment alone with my daughter?” she asked Bree, who nodded and walked away.

“Mom, are you alright?”

“I’m fine—I’m more than fine. I can’t believe I get to witness this day. I… I don’t think I deserve it…”

I cut her off. “Mom, stop. You’re here and that’s all that matters.”

“No, that’s not all that matters. I’ve been a bad mother to you. Tell me, what kind of mother abandons her own child? You had a tough childhood, and it was all because of me… and the addiction.” She could no longer hold back her tears, and I blinked fast, trying to keep mine from falling too.

We didn’t like talking about her addiction. In fact, we’d settled on calling it an ‘illness’ instead of what it really was.

She wiped her tears and took my hands in hers. “I promise you,” she said. “I’ll never go back to the drugs. I should’ve made this decision a long time ago and stuck to it. Maybe it’s too late, but it’s better late than never. I’ll be here for you every step of the way and this time, I’m not going to break my word, you hear me? I won’t. I won’t make promises I can’t keep. I won’t run when things get hard.”

“I believe you,” I whispered.

And it took everything in me to say those words—because she’d made these promises before; she had promised to stay at home with me, she had promised to stop bringing strange men into our home, and she had promised to stop taking those drugs that always made her act crazy, only to turn her back on her own words time and time again.

But this time, it was different. She was putting in the effort. It had been a year since she gave up the drugs and the men. A year since I got my mother back. And this time, she wasn’t going anywhere.

“You are the only thing I care about, Tessy baby, only you and nothing else.”

I hugged her once again.

She was all I had too, the only family I had left.

“I have something for you,” she said, then brought forth a small box. Her hands were shaking so badly, I feared she might drop it, so I quickly took it from her.

Opening the box, I found a necklace. Nothing fancy, nothing too beautiful, but the fact that this was the only gift I’d ever received from my mother made it more precious than fine gold.

I quickly put it on, not caring about the fact it didn’t fit the look.

“It’s beautiful on you, more beautiful than it would have ever looked on me,” she said.

“Thank you, Mom. It is beautiful indeed.”

“I’ll send Bree back in. The wedding will be starting in a few minutes.”

    

I sat in front of the mirror. I was going to be a wife. It was finally dawning on me the responsibilities that awaited me as a wife. I had been so focused on the wedding that I didn’t stop to think about what happens after it.

I imagined a life with Kelvin—waking up to see his face every day for the rest of my life.

There was no rush of anticipation; the thought didn’t make my heart race.

‘I love Kelvin,’ I said out loud because I needed to hear it. ‘I will marry him, and our love will grow stronger through the years. We’ll be a happy family. This is more than I could ever ask for,’ I told myself again.

Then I remember those stormy grey eyes.

I had dreamt about him last night, dreamt about walking across the restaurant to find out what he wanted from me.

The church bells rang. It was time, and here I was, thinking about another man on my very own wedding day.