Page 88 of The Brides Brother

“She is,” I replied and tried to search for said lovely woman, but once again she was nowhere to be found.

“Have you told her yet?” my mom asked. “That you’d like to take this little fling of yours further?”

“No, not yet,” I replied. “Hopefully, she doesn't reject me.”

“Why would she?” my mom asked, genuinely confused. “Did you misbehave?”

“Oh, come on, Mom.”

“A man of your caliber,” she said. “I know women don't expect much from you lots.”

“I haven't dated anyone in years. Trust me, if I was that out of control, I would have.”

“You’re right,” she said. “Alright, I look forward to seeing more of her around then.”

“Hopefully,” I said as my gaze lowered to the message that had just arrived on my phone. “If she rejects me, I'll send her to you for some winning over, so don't let me down, alright?”

“Jesus, you must really like her if you're even willing for me to talk her into it if she does reject you.”

I smiled at this but didn't respond. My whole heart, however, radiated in its agreement to this statement because she was right. I was somewhat nervous because I deeply liked her a lot.

“Aurora’s here,” I announced, and my parents' faces instantly lit up.

“Thank God,” my father said. ‘Finally. The candles are dying out. It took forever to light them up.”

“Uh oh,” I said after I read the rest of the messages. “She's angry. She refused to wear the dress.”

“Classic,” my mother smiled.

“Luckily, David brought it along, though.”

“Well, nothing in life is perfect. She'll hurry to change. It's her fault.”

I shrugged and then I called Evelyn.

“She's here,” I replied.

“I know,” she smiled. “She's in jeans. I'll get some shots from the top, and then I'll hurry down.”

“Alright,” I said and put the phone away.

I started out of the way, and a few seconds later, just as we had discussed, at my signal the huge double doors opened to reveal the ceremony. I watched as Aurora appeared with David’s hands over her eyes and then eventually, after whining, she stopped and doubled back.

“I'm not in the mood,” she said softly. “And this place smells funny.”

He removed his hands, and it took a while for her eyes to stop adjusting to all the light. And then the moment she realized what this was, she screamed.

We were meant to remain silent for a while longer, but we were all so startled that we froze in place for a while. And then we erupted into laughter. She was even more startled at the additional voices and screamed again as she turned to take us all in, hiding in the shadows.

“Oh my God!” Her hand slapped against her mouth. Slowly, and as my mom headed over to hug her, she began to understand what was going on, and just like that, tears fell down her eyes.

“Oh my God! Was this what you were planning all day?”

“Not exactly,” I thought to myself, but she didn’t need to know that.

“Evelyn put it all together,” I told her, and she turned to the opposite direction then to see the photographer clicking away.

“Oh my God!” she screamed and headed over to her. Evelyn, poor girl, took as many pictures of her approaching, coming for a hug, before she was ambushed and nearly sent to the floor.