The Marriage Dare

He grins. “Okay.”

I pull his blindfold away, and he takes me in. His entire face goes slack, and his eyes are filled with awe. “You are absolutely stunning, Princess.”

I love that that nickname started between us as his way of mocking me for being who I was. But over time it’s come to mean more to us. I am his Princess, and he is my Prince. We are perfect for each other in every way.

“Thank you.”

He leans forward and kisses me gently, and I know it’s because he doesn’t want to ruin my makeup. “I love you,” he says.

I wrap my arms around him, and lean my head on his chest. It’s hard to imagine myself any other place, since this has so quickly become my happy place. Just like I wished, I suddenly feel calm. “I missed you,” I say. “I’m glad you risked Alex’s wrath. But why did you?”

I can hear the smile in his voice even though I’m not looking at him. “Because I have a surprise for you. A wedding present of sorts.”

“Before the wedding?” I look up at him and raise an eyebrow.

He nods. “I thought it would be better this way.

“All right.”

Daniel kisses me again, soft and slow. “It’ll be here in a minute. I’ll see you at the altar.” He slips the blindfold back on again before he leaves the room, and I’m left wondering what the hell he’s talking about. But true to his word, it’s less than a minute later when a soft knock comes at the door.

I open the door, and I freeze.

Standing there, dressed for a wedding, is my mother.

After I confessed to Daniel that my father was blackmailing me, he hired the best private investigators in the country to find my mother, while making sure that she wouldn’t be in danger. He also made sure that no further attempts at blackmail would be possible from my father. The story in the news now makes that clear. I don’t think he ever thought that we would go public with his blackmail, but it killed any chance he had of an appeal, and the recording on the prison phone line is proof enough.

People still don’t want to hire me because of my father, but it’s not as bad as it used to be. I’ve made some connections, and hopefully after our long honeymoon, I’ll be able to do some actual work.

My father was not invited to the wedding. In fact, he was banned from it in case he tried to leverage it for time free from prison.

But right now, I can’t even think. Because my mother is here. “Mom?”

She smiles. “Hi, sweetie.”

A thousand emotions go through me at once. Anger at her for abandoning me and being complicit to all those things my father did. Thankful that Daniel managed to find her, and fear of what will happen if my father finds out where she is. I don’t know how much sway he still has over her. But also, I’m so fucking happy. I’ve missed her.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her.

She steps forward through the door and pulls me into a hug. “Before I get to that,” she says, “I need you to know that I’m divorcing your father. It took me a long time to figure out how to do it in a way that he would agree to. I didn’t have any money of my own, and I know you didn’t either. I never knew he did those things, I swear, Monica. If I had known, I would have left a long time ago and I would’ve taken you with me. I don’t care what we would have done, as long as we wouldn’t have had to be with him.”

I hug her harder, because those are the exact words that I’ve been longing to hear.

“But to answer your question, I’m here because Daniel found me. He told me about the two of you, and I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”

I hold onto her and I can’t let her go. There’s so much that I want to say, the words welling up in my chest until I can’t say anything at all. I feel like I might cry, and my eyes well up, but she scolds me. “I’m not worth ruining your make-up over, dear. Your wedding is about to start. Don’t worry about anything, we’re going to have plenty of time to talk later. I just wanted you to know that I was here so that you didn’t see me and get surprised during the ceremony. And I also want you to know I’m here when you say your vows.”

“I love you, Mom.” I know that I have things to work out with my mother. I know that we have things that we need to forgive each other for. But right now, those are the only words that matter.