Chapter 138 138
Chapter 138 138
JUNE
ONE YEAR LATER
I probably should be getting dressed. But I can’t stop staring down at the garden below. At the now-finished gazebo where Kolya and I will be exchanging our vows.
The lawn in front of the gazebo is decked with row after row of seating. Pretty little Tiffany chairs with ivy and fresh flowers wound around the arms. Everything looks picture perfect. Even the sky is bright and cloudless.
And yet I’m anxious.
What if something goes wrong? What if a last-minute threat pops up? What if Adrian rises from the dead again?
I take a deep breath and close my eyes for a moment. I only open them when the door clicks open. Geneva walks in, dressed in a champagne bridesmaid’s dress.
“You should be dressed by now,” she scolds.
I smile. “I know. I just needed a moment to appreciate the garden.”
“Guests are arriving,” she tells me as she takes a seat and checks her flawless makeup in the mirror. “I don’t recognize any of them.”
Her dress billows down to the floor. She looks lovely. Radiant, really. And happier than I’ve seen her in a long time.
“Do you mind it?” she continues. “That they’re not here?”
“Mom and Dad? No. It was my decision not to invite them, remember?”
She shrugs. “I know. I was just worried that you might regret it. I mean, they have no problem with you. It’s me they’re embarrassed about.”
I frown. “What they should be embarrassed about is how quickly Dad’s campaign crashed and burned without Adrian’s money backing him up.”
It was the death knell for his political ambitions, and—for the time being, at least—for our relationship. But I know better than anyone that dead things don’t always stay that way. Maybe one day, we’ll figure out a place to coexist.
That day isn’t today, though.
I’ve decided to be okay with that.
“I’m serious, June,” Geneva says. “I know you felt the need to come to my defense, but—”
“Of course I felt the need to come to your defense. You’re my sister, and we spent far too much time when we were younger fighting with each other instead of for each other. I’m done with that.”
Geneva smiles, and even though she doesn’t say so, I can see how much that means to her.
“Where’s Liliana, by the way?” Geneva asks, looking around as though she’s only just realized that my daughter is missing.
I chuckle. “Where else? She’s with her papa.”
“She’s a real daddy’s girl, isn’t she?”
“Tell me about it,” I grumble. “Only seven months old and she clings to him like he’s the one that spent nineteen hours in labor with her.”
Geneva giggles. “He is a pretty amazing father, to be fair.” It’s probably the nicest compliment she has ever given him.
Her relationship with Kolya has come a long way. They’ve transitioned from open hostility to lighthearted teasing. There are still jabs being traded on a daily basis, but the sharpness has been taken out of the words.
Love comes with thorns sometimes, I guess.
I’ve decided to be okay with that, too.
The door opens again and Sara enters. She’s wearing a gown like Genny’s, though in a different shade of champagne that makes her auburn hair glisten.
“Are you not dressed yet?” she exclaims, gaping at me.
Laughing, I pop off the window seat. “Sorry, sorry, don’t yell at me. I’m getting ready now.”
“You better. Doctor’s orders,” she teases. She flashes me a smile and turns to my sister. “Gen, the caterer had some questions about the canapes. I didn’t know what the hell they were talking about, so—”
Geneva is already on her feet and grimacing as she bustles out of the door. “Oh, for the love of God! How hard can it be to remember that the fucking canapes go with the…”
Her voice fades as she disappears down the hall. She acts grumpy, but she’s in her element, and everyone here knows it. The smile on her face when I asked her to plan my wedding was something I’ll never forget.
“Those poor caterers,” Sara says after Geneva is gone. She turns to me. “You okay? Feeling good?”
“Yeah,” I reply. “Well, mostly. I just… Milana should be here. She should’ve been in a dress just like yours, standing next to us.”
Sara smiles fondly and comes over to touch the back of my hand. “You might’ve had to fight Kolya for her,” she laughs. “He’d want her on his side.”
“I’d let him win that one. I just want her here.” I bite my lip. “I thought about—”
“No, June,” Sara interrupts, grabbing my arm and forcing me to remember the promise we’d made to each other a year ago. “We can’t.”
I drop my head. “I know. Yeah, of course. You’re right.”
“Milana’s free now,” she continues. “She’s at peace. It’s time for you to be happy.”
“I already am,” I assure her. “This past year has been everything I wanted and more. Kolya has been amazing, and I’m pretty sure I make him fairly happy, too.”
Sara snorts. “‘Fairly happy’? I’ve had to tell the man on a biweekly basis to stop smiling so much. It freaks me out.” We chuckle together. “Now, come on, hon. Let’s get you in that dress.”
The hotel has been restored to perfection in the last six months. We waited to be married just so that we could have the wedding here in the Hudson Valley, in the hotel where Kolya’s mother had last been truly free.
Geneva meets as at the French doors that lead out towards the gazebo. “He’s waiting for you,” she informs me. Her eyes graze over my dress with satisfaction. “You look perfect. Are you sure you don’t want a veil, though?”
“Genny,” I say, rolling my eyes. “We’ve been over this.”
She sighs. “Oh, alright, it’s your wedding. If you’re ready, I can give the signal to start the wedding march.”
I peer out the French doors, trying to get a glimpse of my future husband and my daughter. But there’s too many people blocking my view.
“Is Lili with him?”
Geneva smiles. “You’ll be walking down the aisle to both of them.”
I feel the swell of excitement. This wedding is finally going to happen. By the end of the day, I will officially and legally be Mrs. Kolya Uvarov.
“Yeah,” I whisper. “I’m ready.”
The music starts. Geneva and Sara head down the aisle in front of me. I count to ten, and then I step out onto the white carpet bridging my past, to my present, to my future.