THE WEDDING DAY
It was hot outside, and it was a peaceful day to have a wedding. The wedding was being held in a church.
Amber was still in her house getting dressed for the wedding. She was in her room along with two makeup artists and Bella, who was supervising the whole thing. Mrs. Darlington was in the living room, answering a lot of calls from guests she invited who couldn’t find their way to the wedding venue. She was wearing her best clothes.
Amber’s house was beautifully decorated with multi-colored flowers, bunting, and balloons. She wasn’t getting excited. She was anxious as she was being styled by the artists in her makeup cabinet. As she stared at herself in the mirror, she couldn’t stop thinking of Mason, where he might be, if he was still in the city, or where Lily might be. She grabbed tightly at her wedding dress. It was gigantic. It was all over the place. The artists were trying their best not to get it stained.
"Girl, why do you look so tense? You are getting married to Xavier. Come on, smile." Bella said to her and she forced a smile. She was wearing a beautiful pink dress that reached her thighs, with her hair parked in a ponytail. She was among the bridesmaids.
"You look so beautiful, you should smile all the time, Miss," one of the makeup artists said as she drew a stylish eyebrow for her.
"Where is mom?" Amber inquired.
"I know who you wanted to ask after, but you are just being shy," Bella teased.
"Mom, is in the living room, and I think the groom is yet to arrive at the venue." Bella said, looking at a text she received from Daniel on her phone.
"Why are you telling me all this?" Amber asked with a frown.
"Because you need to know, silly girl, you guys can take your time, I will be out waiting for you." Bella beamed and exited the room.
The makeup artists finished styling Amber. She was wearing well-defined makeup which made her beautiful brown skin glow. It went well with her skin tone. They put the veil over her head and handed her a bouquet of rose flowers. The artist carried her dress as she made her way out of the room.
She was descending the stairs with the artists, Mrs. Darlington, and Bella turned to look at her in awe. A tear escaped from Mrs. Darlington's eyes. She blinked back tears of joy. She had always dreamt of this day.
She walked over to Amber and held her hand, helping her climb down the stairs.
"You look breathtaking." Mrs. Darlington smiled, blowing kisses to Amber as they all exited the house together. Bella helped Amber into her white Mercedes Benz that was decorated with flowers. Amber sat in the back seat of the car, her gown taking up the entire space. Bella and Mrs. Darlington got into another car with Tyler dressed as the little groom and another little girl, who was the daughter of Bella’s neighbour.
The cars started at the same time and drove off. The church was filled with guests who were entering one after the other and taking their seats in each row of seats in the church. Each row of pews was elegantly decorated with streams of flowers with ushers standing at the doors who were welcoming the guests and showing them the proper places for them to seat, everyone was wearing their best clothes.
They were all dressed in expensive clothing. The media was blocking the entrance of the church, but there were cops preventing them from going inside, except for the photographers that had been hired. There was soft music being played in the background as everyone was waiting for the bride and groom to arrive.
Suddenly, a side door slowly opened, and Xavier walked out of it, followed by eight groomsmen. They all escorted Xavier to the altar. They were all handsomely dressed in black tuxedos with silk gray shirts and red ties.
Except for Xavier who was wearing a white tie, to differentiate himself from them. He stood at the alter next to the priest, who put a coronet decked with flowers on his head. He looked like a prince as he stood there, adjusting his tie with his gaze fixed on the entrance. He was a little anxious. He wanted to see what Amber would look like in her wedding dress. His hand was sweating as he waited there.
All the media gathered around Amber’s car, taking pictures as she sat in the car. Bella stepped out of her car with Mrs. Darlington and the little bride and groom. The little bride was holding a small flower basket.
The police came forward to marshal the crowd, blocking their path as an usher opened the door for Amber, she stepped onto the red carpet grabbing the usher’s hand with her hand glove, and the little bride and groom stood in front of her and started sprinkling small flowers on the floor as Amber worked behind them, Bella and two bridesmaids holding her dress.
The door of the church opened as Amber slowly walked into the church. Daniel came into the picture. He was putting on a white tuxedo. He moved closer to Amber and she wrapped her hand around his right arm.
She was anxious. She was shaking with each step she took. All the guests turned their heads to look at her, including Xavier, who couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Daniel looked at her with wide eyes as he walked her down the aisle.
"Try to be brave," he whispered to her. She shook her head, taking baby steps behind him. She saw him as her father as he guided her. An icy chill ran down her spine at the thought that she was doing the wrong thing. She was getting married to the person she wasn’t in love with, but it was too late to turn back now.
She tried her best not to cry so as not to ruin her makeup. Daniel stood back as she joined Xavier on the altar with the priest. Xavier was blushing uncontrollably as she stood in front of him at the altar, with the priest standing in their midst.
The priest first started by reciting verses from the scriptures. Bella acted fast and squeezed a card into Amber’s hand. It was the wedding vow she had written, but she had written it for the man she loved. Amber held tightly to it as the priest finished reading the scriptures. Her hands were sweating. Xavier was constantly adjusting his tie.
"Let’s begin with the wedding vows," the priest said.
"Uhm, sorry, priest, can you give me a minute? I need to use the bathroom." Xavier said.
"You can’t…" the priest couldn’t complete his sentence, when Xavier jumped down from the altar and started walking toward the entrance of the church, everyone was confused as to why the groom was leaving the wedding before it started. Amber was also confused by the whole situation. She didn’t know what was happening.
She was having an uneasy feeling about everything, but she couldn’t utter a word. She just stood there, and turned to look at the crowd, who started murmuring. Her eyes widened as she saw her college course mates sitting in two special rows. Elsa was there with her twins, who looked a lot like her, and Nate was also there, followed by Jane, her roommate.
It had been a long time since she had seen them, and she couldn’t help but smile. She wanted to run to them. She couldn’t believe Nate would attend her wedding after all that happened between them. He was wearing a suit and he looked responsible.
"What’s going on? What kind of wedding is this?" someone said from the crowd. Amber’s family were seated in the front row, including Daniel, who didn’t look bothered by what was happening. He was talking to his mom and wife. She couldn’t hear what they were saying.
"Why did the groom leave? Is this some kind of joke?" a guest said. The place was starting to get noisy when a side door opened. Everyone turned their heads there. Amber’s heart was pounding in her chest. She didn’t understand what was happening.
Maybe Xavier has backed out of the wedding at the last minute. She thought grabbing her dress. Her eyes widened as Mason walked through the door. He was wearing an expensive suit similar to the one Xavier wore, and the coronet deck of flowers was on his head. He was so incredibly handsome that she found herself drooling over him.
What is he doing here? Has he come to attend my wedding? She thought as tears welled up in her eyes. They were all expecting him to look for a row to seat but instead he was walking down the aisle to Amber, like he was the groom.
"What is going on? This isn’t the groom," a woman said in the crowd.