Misadventures of a Backup Bride

“I’ll make sure she’s down in five minutes.”

“Oh, I get it. You think you’re going to sneak in a pre-wedding quickie, huh?”

“What?” I don’t want to take Ella to bed now. Well, I do, but that’s not uppermost in my mind.

“You’re bold. I’ll give you that. But—”

“Let’s wait in the parking lot,” Eryn cuts in. “Carson will send Ella down. He’ll make sure she reaches the spa in plenty of time.”

As she ushers Echo out the door with Ella’s suitcase, Eryn slides me one last stare. She’s giving me her vote of confidence and I better not fuck it up. I nod, then she’s gone, shutting the door behind her.

“Morning,” Ella says softly from the threshold of the bedroom a moment later.

God, she looks a little red-eyed and uncertain but still beautiful. Clean and soft and female. Almost glowing.

I know I don’t have much time, so I cut to the chase. “Morning. I’m sure you spent a lot of time thinking last night, but if you need to talk more—”

“I…just cried.” She sighs. “Then I was so tired that I fell asleep. It was a busy day, and even after a couple of weeks with you I’m not used to the Olympic-level sexual gymnastics.”

“Last night was intense,” I agree. If I play this right, I’ll have the rest of my life to try to sate the seemingly never-ending well of desire for Ella, but right now is about us. “Talk to me, sweetheart. Let me help you.”

“I have to think this through alone.” She shrugs. “You and I have talked it over. I’m not sure there’s much more we can say. Now I just need to decide where I see my future. That’s not something you can do with or for me, no matter how much you want to. But I’ll be thinking about it all day.”

What she says makes sense until I realize she may not have an answer for me until she’s walking down the aisle.

I scrub a hand down my face. “Can I do or say anything to—”

“No. This is on me now. But I know how to find you if I have questions or need to talk.” She holds her phone in her hand. “I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I can’t lie to you and tell you I have the answers now. I’ll do everything I can to find them by five o’clock. I don’t think eight hours is too long to ask for so I can decide the rest of my life.”

“It’s not.” I’m just frustrated as hell at being left out of the decision.

What can I do, say, give her to help her make up her mind?

I’m drawing a blank.

“I have to go,” she murmurs. “I’ll see you at the altar.”

“How will I know…?”

Ella hesitates a long moment. “I don’t even know if I’ll be sure what I’m going to do until I start walking up the aisle. I guess we’ll both find out then.”

She brushes a soft kiss on my lips. I’m still sorting out whether it’s full of “until later” or “goodbye forever” when the door shuts behind her.

Suddenly, I’m alone. And if I don’t figure something out, I have a suspicion I’m going to be even more lost for the rest of my days.

I wish like hell my mom and Craig were still around. Getting married without them here is bittersweet. Not being sure if I’m tying the knot at all is far worse. I could sure use the sage advice they’d give me now. Hell, I would even settle for Edward’s counsel. He might have been a self-absorbed bastard to live with, but from everything of his I’ve read, he had sound logic and a good ear.

In fact, I’ll bet Edward was a driven, ruthless planner, very much like Gregory Shaw. Both were known as crafty men of common sense and wisdom. Of course, I can’t talk to my rival. He’s the reason I’m in this position to start with. I can’t ask him for advice on sorting this situation out without confessing everything.

Sighing, I turn that thought over in my head once, twice. Hmm… Suddenly, I have an idea.

I reach for my phone.

ELLA

“You look beautiful.” Eryn’s dark eyes well with tears.

For a girl who almost never shows her vulnerable side, I know that seeing me in the dress she purchased with love for her wedding to West must be hard. But everything on her face tells me she means what she says.

“Thanks.” I turn to look at myself in the mirror on the back of the hotel room door. The sight is almost a shock.

My dark hair has been wrangled into a low knot at my nape with curls framing my face and sloping down one shoulder. A braid circles my crown, making the perfect frame for the veil that falls to my feet, brushing the hem of the tulle skirt that parts in the front to reveal a beautiful swath of lace from décolletage to ankle. My makeup is perfect—lips rosy but not garish, dramatic black lashes and liner. Soft taupey-pink eye shadows soften the look. A blushing pink shade makes my cheeks appear naturally flushed, and a coordinating shade of highlight on the tops of my cheekbones has me positively glowing.

The colors all accent my pale complexion and give me a fragile, doe-eyed appearance.

Even if I’d had a year to conjure up precisely how I wanted to look as a bride, I couldn’t have imagined anything more perfect than this.

“You look…wow.” Echo smiles and cups my shoulder. “Really. Wow.”

“For being my younger and not-as-gorgeous sisters, you guys look pretty okay, too,” I tease with a wink, trying to lighten the mood. Echo has been asking me all day what’s wrong. Eryn hasn’t said a word, but I see her wheels turning.

I don’t want them knowing anything. I don’t want to lay my decision at their feet. It’s not their fault and not their problem.

“I need a pic of us all dressed up and looking like fine bitches,” Echo insists.

We snap a couple of selfies, some serious, some goofy. For a moment, I forget that I’m still not sure whether I should gamble everything for a love this new and believe that Carson won’t let work and whatever else he deems important swallow him up…or do the sensible thing and go home to Los Angeles and resume my life as it was.

A soft knock followed by a feminine murmur tells me Vasha wants in. “All ready?”

Eryn opens the door. “We are.”

“You’ve got about five minutes. Carson and the groomsmen are waiting to get into position for the ceremony. The string quartet is playing soft music to entertain the guests who have filed in. Everything looks perfect. I double-checked each detail myself.”

Now she’s come to inspect me. She doesn’t say that, but I get the message.

After checking my zipper, my shoes, and my teeth to make sure they’re free of lipstick, she ushers us all out of the dressing room and down the hallway. Other hotel guests stare as we make our way to the closed double doors outside the ballroom.

“Let’s get this party started!” Vasha says as she clasps the handle. “Don’t forget. Echo, you enter when I motion to you. Eryn, you slide in behind her, hang at the back, and wait for my cue. Ella, you’ll hear the music change, then the double doors will open for you. That’s when you walk your way down the aisle to the man you love, right?”

I nod.

“Go get in position, ladies. The bride and I will be right behind you.”

My sisters hug and kiss me, both looking misty-eyed and beautiful, before they line up at the massive entrance to the ballroom.

Vasha pulls me aside. “Got any last-minute questions?”

Um, should I actually marry the groom?

I manage to shake my head. “I’m fine.”