"What about something borrowed?" Mrs. Diamond asks.
I squint my eyes. "Um, I don't have anything borrowed."
Mrs. Mac grins. "I was kinda hoping you'd say that. I have something for you to borrow." She rummages through her bag and pulls out a beautiful four-strand pearl bracelet. "It was my grandmother's. Both my mother and I borrowed it for our weddings."
"I'd be honored," I say and hold out my arm.
She slides it on my wrist. "It looks really pretty with your dress."
I hug her and try not to cry. Even though we went with the waterproof mascara, I don't want to mess up my makeup right before I see Phillip. "Thank you. It's beautiful."
Chelsea says, "What about something blue?" She has a sneaky little grin on her face.
"Hush," I say.
"What? You don't want Phillip's mom to know you have a sexy something blue thong on under there?"
I'm standing outside a doorway at the top of a winding staircase. Phillip's waiting for me at the bottom. I can't see him, but I know he's there. I can feel him.
I love the way I look. I love my dress, the way my hair is perfectly curled, the way my veil poufs out, and my soft bridal makeup.
I know brides are supposed to fret and worry about every detail of their wedding.
I'm not.
This is the only moment I really care about. I want to remember the way Phillip looks at me for the rest of my life.
I want this moment to be perfect.
Amy is getting the photographer all set up. After this, we're going to take pictures at our fountain and a few other places around the Plaza, and then we'll come back and do more photos with the wedding party.
Amy says, "Okay, we're ready."
I glide through the door. There is something about this wedding dress. I've never felt so beautiful, or so graceful, or even anything so close to perfect in my life.
I pause at the top of the stairs. Phillip turns around to face me. I've been so focused on how I would look for him, I hadn't thought about what he'd look like.
Oh. my. gosh.
He looks perfect.
Seriously.
He looks so incredibly handsome. His freshly shaven face, his perfectly styled hair, his big brown eyes, and that gorgeous smile. His black tuxedo drapes exquisitely across his tall, muscular frame. I love the way his shoulders are broad and then taper down to his lean waist. Phillip is perfect all the way down to his custom black Nikes with their purple swoosh.
I'm looking at my dream. My prince.
Our eyes meet. He looks at me so adoringly, and I can't believe I ever doubted this. All the worrying I did. All the should I marry hims. All the will we work outs. All the tears.
They all come down to this very moment.
This moment when I know I'm exactly where I belong.
He holds my eyes the whole time I'm slowing descending the staircase. When I'm about to the middle, he starts walking up toward me. Like he can't help it, like he can't wait any longer to touch me.
Three stairs from the bottom, he touches my face and says, "You look like my dream come true."
I get tears in my eyes because that's exactly how I hoped I'd look. He continues. "You look amazing, gorgeous, beautiful. I don't even have the right words."
"Those sound like pretty good words to me. So do you like the dress?" I ask as he leads me down the final three stairs.
"I love the dress. My mom cut out all those mermaid dresses. I really thought that's what you were getting. This is so much better." He grins and tilts his head at me. "You kinda look like a princess."
I grab the skirt of my dress and twirl it a bit. "I know. I think that's why I loved this dress so much. But even if I would've got the dress all wrong, I know I did one thing right."
"What's that? Your shoes?"
"No, silly. You. I can't believe I'm marrying you today. You're everything I've ever wanted and more. And you're looking pretty damn fine yourself. I even like the tennis shoes."
He holds his pant leg up, so I can see them better. "I love the shoes. Everyone loves the shoes. So turn around. Let me see this dress."
I do a slow spin. He looks me up and down and tilts his head. "I think you're missing something."
I look down at myself. "I don't think I'm missing anything."
"Yeah, you are. Let's see, do you have something old?"
"Yeah, on my bouquet." I show him the fabric.
"How bout something new?"
"Pretty much everything is new."
He scrunches up his nose at me, like he's evaluating me. "Something borrowed?"
I hold out my wrist. "Your mom let me borrow the bracelet both she and her mother wore at their weddings. It was her grandma's."
"I don't see anything blue."
"You don't get to see what's blue until later," I smirk.
He gives me the kind of sexy grin that makes me want to drag him up to my room.
"What about something from the groom?"
"Um, I'm wearing my engagement ring." I hold my right hand up and show him.
"No, that doesn't count." He pulls a little wrapped box from behind his back and holds it in his palm in front of me.
"Phillip, you already bought my wedding band. You didn't need to get me anything else."
"Oh, so you don't want it?" He snatches the box away from me.
I put my hands on the sides of his waist and pull my body close to his. "Oh, I want it."
"You're bad. Be good and open this."
He puts the box back out in front of me. I gently untie the ribbon, pull the small velvet jewelry box out of it, and open the lid.
Inside is a breathtaking pear-shaped diamond pendant. The larger center stone is surrounded by different sized smaller diamonds set in platinum. It's funky, yet classic.
"Phillip, it's beautiful! And it's pear-shaped just like my mom's ring."
"It is your mom's ring. I took the diamonds out of your parents' wedding rings and had them made into this."
"My parents' rings?" It feels like all the air just got sucked out of the room. I clutch my arm to my stomach like I just got punched, cover my mouth with my hand, and start to cry. I can't pry my eyes away from it. Their diamonds are together now, and they look so happy.
Phillip looks worried. "Oh, Princess, I'm sorry. I thought, well, you said it was sad they just sit there in your jewelry box. I wanted you to have them with you. I saved the settings. I didn't ruin them. We can put them back. I can fix it."
I poke my fingers into the corners of my eyes in an attempt to stop the tears from ruining my makeup.
I can't speak. I can't mutter out words. My heart feels like it's in my throat.
"It's beautiful," is all I manage to say again.
I lean my head back and fan my face, trying to stop the tears. Phillip leans in and kisses my cheek which makes me smile.
I reach out and touch his face. "Phillip, I'm so touched. I adore it. I'm trying really hard not to cry here, but...." I lose the tear battle. Phillip pulls a hankie out of his pocket and hands it to me. I dab my eyes with it. Then I look at it and laugh. "Your hankie has our wedding monogram on it!"
"Amy seriously thinks of everything."
We both laugh.
I clutch my chest. "This necklace, I never would've thought of doing something like this. Thank you. And to get to wear their wedding diamonds, like today, on my wedding day, it's amazing. You're amazing. I think I'm the luckiest girl in the world."
"I thought it was the universe," he teases.
I laugh and dab away the rest of the tears while he puts the necklace on me.