Page 46 of Yours, Truly

Ivy answered the door, dancing around and super excited that I had arrived. She embraced me before dragging me into the house, throwing me a champagne glass, not even 8am yet. What the hell, it was time to celebrate. She had laid pastries and fruit in the main room to make sure we would all eat this morning and I helped myself to a croissant.

“It's finally here, I'm a bride!” she danced as she grabbed some fruit and shoved it in her mouth. She was like a kid atDisneyland.

“You're a bride!” I squealed, matching her energy even though it was still too early. I shoved some more pastry in my mouth, downed my champagne and grabbed coffee from the machine. I wanted to make sure Ivy ate so I gave her some time to load up her stomach before getting her ready.

“Let's get you ready!” I grabbed her hand, placing her in the chair. Ivy was getting her hair and makeup done by one of the bridesmaids, Mia; a makeup artist and stylist by trade.

I sorted out her gown, getting her ready to step into it before it was my turn. Mia popped me in the chair next and worked her magic. A subtle, nude sparkle eyeshadow, with a statement red lip; Ivy knew it was my signature lipstick. My hair curled, positioned in an updo at the base of my neck, a few curls framing my face. Finally, I changed into my dress as Mia went next door to fix the other girls and herself.

We stood in front of the mirror as I helped Ivy to fix her dress in place, buttoning the hundreds of buttons on the back.

“You look so beautiful, Iv,” I smiled, feeling very emotional. Today was finally here and in a couple hours she would be married. I placed my hands on her shoulders and hugged her, pulling her into my chest and resting my head on hers.

She was my everything. I was lucky she was my best friend, I couldn’t imagine my life without her.

“I love you so much Gi. I can't thank you enough for everything, you’ve helped me with all of this.” I felt a lump in my throat and a tear fell from my eye as I patted it dry. I couldn’truin Mia’s work.

I felt so bad in that moment, that the lies were still between us, that’s what made me tear up. I wish I had been honest from the start and told her everything from the beginning. I knew I couldn’t turn back time and the choices I had made were my own. That right now all I could do was treasure her words and enjoy one of the biggest moments of her life in case I wasn’t part of it after she found out.

“I love you too, no matter what, okay?” I whispered, praying that these words would stick, that no matter what happened we would always love each other.

“No matter what,” she agreed. Her eyes welled a little and she chuckled, shooing me away so I wouldn’t ruin her look.

A gentle knock on the door pulled us out of our emotions. Ivy composed herself, tapping away the tears in the corner of her eyes and I went to find her veil, making myself busy so she could have a moment with whoever was at the door.

“Come in,” she called. “Unless you're Jude… then go away,” she added quickly. The door opened and Nate appeared.

He took my breath away. He froze, not sure if he was allowed to enter until Ivy waved him in. Nate was in a new suit, black of course and an apple-red bow tie. His hair was in his usual perfect style.

“You could have dressed up Nate,” Ivy teased as she saw her brother in yetanothersuit. He chuckled a little, he looked nervous to be here. He stepped closer to his sister, kissed her cheek and pulled her in for a hug, careful not to crinkle her dress or ruin her hair.

“Wow, Iv! You look so beautiful,” he complimented. He studied her; a beautiful mermaid tailed dress hugged her figure, it was full of glitz on the bodice and she looked like a Hollywood star. Her hair was curled over her shoulders in a 1940s wave and the veil was last to go in. Her blue eyes pierced through the earthy eyeshadow tones.

“You think so? Why am I so nervous? Is Jude okay?” She shook her hands as if the worry was on the ends of her fingers and she was trying to shake them off.

I knew Nate was one of Jude’s best men after Zak had got called into work last minute. Nate got the message late last night to tell him when he arrived to come and grab the matching tie. He was told where he needed to stand but his main job was to also take care of the rings.

“Iv, everything is okay. Take a breath,” he chuckled as he stood in front of her, his hands on her arms. “Jude is fine, he's ready. I wanted to stop by and check in with you,” he reassured her and she calmed. She nodded.

Nate glanced over at me, eyes widening at the sight of me. I have to admit red was my colour. He smiled affectionately. The silence filled the room for a few seconds too long as I got lost in Nate’s eyes before my brain pulled my attention back to Ivy who was looking at me too.

“Nate is right,” I smiled, swallowing the lump in my throat. “You look incredible, you don’t need to be nervous. Jude loves you always,” I expressed. Jude loved her when she was at her worst so I knew he would love her at her best andthiswas her best.

“Hey, Gi.” Nate finally greeted me, like he’d found the words.

“Hey.” I smiled, butterflies in my stomach every time my name fell from his mouth. Anxiety bubbled.Are we acting normal? Do we usually say hi in front of Ivy? Am I blushing?

I began to fiddle with the veil nervously, trying to remove the attention from me.

“Iv, we need to fix your veil,” I said after a while, as Nate stood, fixated on me, Ivy’s attention flicking between us. Nate shrugged out of it, drawing Ivy’s focus back to him.

“I have something for you.” He handed her a small poker chip.

“For luck. And ,it’s your something borrowed.”

“Your lucky chip!” Ivy's eyes lit up as she rolled the little red poker chip in her fingers, as if she knew what it meant to him.

“It's brought me so much luck, I think it’s your turn for a while.” Nate's sentimental side always took me by surprise. My heart raced in my chest as I watched this interaction. Nate didn’t seem like the type to have a ‘lucky’ object.

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