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  She took his hand first, then Christian, and finally me. When his fingers closed on my hand, he held my wrist with the other hand. He stood like that for close to a minute, not saying a word, but his eyes widened. I looked to Aaron for an explanation but none was offered. What had they told him about me? He nodded and smiled then motioned us into the living room.

  “We’re so glad you could make it,” I said and looked at Christian so he knew I was speaking for both of us.

  “Me too. I’m glad Aaron contacted me. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss something so important.” His manner was serious but his smile was warm. I relaxed a little more, trying to put his reaction at touching me out of my mind.

  Aaron and his great-grandfather started chatting and trying to catch up when we all noticed how anxious Kalia looked. Her fidgeting was unusual for a vampire.

  “What’s wrong, Kalia?” Aaron asked. We all turned to her.

  “We have a lot to do tonight so Lily will have to go upstairs early. I was wondering if we could do what we planned now?” She looked at Aaron and winked.

  I didn’t know what I had expected when I saw her so anxious and I realized at that moment every muscle in my body had tensed. Seeing her wink, I let myself relax.

  “I don’t see why not,” Aaron said and Kalia ran to the kitchen. Fiore’s smile confirmed she was in on the secret.

  Kalia returned with her hands behind her back and a look on her face as if she was ready to burst. Aaron stood to go to her side and motioned for Fiore to join them.

  “We wanted to do this tomorrow but then we realized you would need to prepare,” Kalia said through her smile. Aaron looked at her with encouragement. Fiore laughed at the look on my face as Christian and I sat on the edge of our seats. “Aaron, Fiore, and I have a wedding gift for you.” She stepped toward me and handed me what was behind her back.

  I held what she handed me but couldn’t manage to open it. Impatient, Christian took it from me and opened it.

  “Round trip tickets to Lima, Peru?” he asked, shocked.

  Kalia clapped her hands together but stopped mid-motion when I threw my arms around her, all but knocking her over. I did the same with Aaron and Fiore.

  “I know how much you love the place,” Kalia explained.

  “You didn’t think we’d let you go without a honeymoon, did you?” Fiore asked. Christian had hugged her and Kalia when we heard Aloysius clear his throat. We turned our attention to him.

  “I hope you don’t mind if I travel with you. I have an apartment there and would love it if you used it. I have some things to take care of and I promise to give you all the privacy a honeymoon requires.” He waited for protests but there were none. “You won’t even know I’m there.”

  “We would be honored,” Christian answered.

  “Thank you so much. I can’t believe you all did this. How long were you planning this?” I asked.

  “Not long. You know how hard it is to keep secrets from each other,” Kalia explained. We all laughed.

  “I can’t believe it. A month in Lima! I can’t believe it.” I couldn’t wait to get upstairs and pack.

  “Go ahead. Go pack. We will start setting up the chairs for tomorrow,” Kalia responded to my thought. I looked at Aloysius.

  “We’ll have plenty of time to get acquainted after the wedding. I know how busy this time can be,” he said.

  “Once you go up, Lily, you have to stay there.” Kalia led me to the stairs as the others waved us on with smiles on their faces.

  “I can’t believe we’re going to South America,” Christian said as he opened our suitcases on the bed. “This all feels like a dream.”

  “Tell me about it! So much has changed.” I dropped a pile of clothing on the bed and walked over to wrap my arms around his neck. “By this time tomorrow, I’ll be your wife.”

  He backed away enough to look at my face. “Any regrets?”

  “Absolutely not,” I answered without hesitation. “I can’t think of anything I want more.”

  “Neither can I,” he answered and kissed my lips. “Let’s get this packing done before they kick me out of the room.”

  We packed our suitcases and made sure we had our tickets and passports ready to go for tomorrow night. We would be leaving for the airport from the reception and would have no time to do anything besides change our clothes and grab our luggage. Shortly after we were done, there was a tap on the door.

  “Time for the groom to leave the bride alone with the girls,” Aaron poked his head in the room. My stomach did a somersault. This was not going to be an easy night.

  I kissed Christian goodnight but had to be pulled away from him by Aaron. He laughed as he dragged Christian, who kept his arms stretched out to me, toward the stairs. I stayed frozen where they left me. If I felt like this now, I couldn’t imagine how I was going to get through tomorrow. It didn’t make a difference though. All I cared about was that tomorrow I would be Lily Rexer. Everything else could wait.

  ~ Eleven ~

  “We’re here. Let the festivities begin!” Kalia sang as she entered my room with Fiore, Beth, and Riley trailing behind. They all carried shopping bags in one hand and rolled sleeping bags in the other.

  “What a nice surprise!” I went to greet everyone.

  “Make room,” Beth said as she unrolled her sleeping bag on the floor. “It’s a slumber party, without the slumber, of course.”

  “Where are the men?” I asked, settling myself on the sleeping bag Kalia unrolled for me.

  “They’re out back. They have their instructions and are finishing up the preparations. Then they’re going to play poker or some such manly thing,” Fiore answered.

  “This should be interesting. Men decorating for a wedding! I can’t wait to see how that turns out.” Riley rolled her eyes.

  “They should have no problem with the detailed diagrams Kalia drew. She’ll know if even one little thing is out of place,” Fiore explained and laughed.

  “We have gifts for you,” Beth announced. “Since everyone was in too much of a hurry to throw you a proper bridal shower.” She looked at Kalia who dropped her eyes.

  “Mine first,” Fiore exclaimed and pushed a package toward me.

  It was wrapped in shimmery, silver paper with a red bow. I carefully slid my shaky fingers under the tape and pulled the paper off the box. Lifting the lid, I encountered red tissue paper. Fiore smiled with anticipation and everyone leaned in as I peeled the tissue paper aside to retrieve the contents. My jaw hit the floor.

  “For the honeymoon,” Fiore said and pulled the contents out. She held up a red silk and lace nightie for everyone to see. It was very short with a slit down the front from the breasts to the bottom. “Here’s the rest.”

  She tossed what looked like red string at me until I realized when I held it up that it was the matching panties. If I could have managed it, my face would’ve matched the color of the lingerie. Putting my embarrassment aside for the moment, I reached for the next package. All chatter stopped when we heard a tap on the door. Kalia grabbed the nightie from me and hid it behind her back.

  “Yes?” she yelled. The door opened a crack and a head appeared.

  “Is there room for one more?” Maia asked with a wide smile.

  Throwing the package aside and jumping to my feet, I was in a fight stance: my knees bent, my fists balled at my sides. Kalia raised her arm to stop me from diving across the room and tackling Maia. Fiore positioned herself between us, her arms out at her sides like a barricade.

  “Oh my God! Maia!” Kalia yelled and ran to throw her arms around her. Maia hugged her back but never took her eyes off me. “We’ve been so worried!”

  “I know. I’m really sorry about that,” she replied, eyes still on my face. “What are you doing, Lily?”

  I couldn’t speak without screaming so I said nothing. Riley and Beth now stood firmly at my sides.

  “Where have you been?” Kalia asked, standing away from her to look her up and d
own.

  “It’s a long story,” Maia started, her eyes still wide on my face. “Why are you acting like that, Lily? Do you honestly think I’d hurt you?”

  Fiore turned her face to look at me. I leaned to the side to look past her and felt Riley’s hand close around my arm. I shook it loose.

  “Where were you?” I asked as calmly as I could manage.

  “I don’t want to get into it right now. This is obviously a celebration.” Her eyes glanced at the gifts. “All I’m going to say right now is that Ian lied to me and he hurt me. I had to get away for a while. I didn’t know how to handle it when he dumped me. I felt like such a fool for believing him. I’m sorry I didn’t call.”

  All eyes were on me now, awaiting my reaction. “Are you trying to say you’re innocent?”

  She looked at Kalia, who also waited for an answer.

  “Of course, I am. I didn’t know who he was. I honestly believed he loved me. He lied to me from day one,” Maia answered, keeping her eyes locked on mine.

  I searched her mind but she already had her shield up. I relaxed my stance, mostly so everyone else would back off. “Why should I believe you?”

  “Lily, please,” Kalia pleaded. “I’ve known Maia the longest. If Ian did what he did to you, why wouldn’t he have used her too?”

  “I can attest to that. He was very smooth when he wanted to get his way,” Fiore said.

  This was the eve of my wedding and I wanted so much for it to be a happy occasion. Fighting with Maia now and hurting Kalia in the process would be the worst thing that could happen. As much as I wanted to tear her heart out, I wanted our wedding to be perfect, for Christian.

  “Okay,” I said. Kalia smiled instantly. “But we will talk about it, later.”

  Maia stiffened but smiled anyway. “Thank you. I guess congratulations are in order.”

  Before I could say anything rash, Fiore tugged me back down to the floor. “What are we waiting for? Back to the party.” I kept my eyes on Maia. Kalia led her to the floor beside her.

  There was nothing more uncomfortable than having someone I didn’t trust, or believe, join in the celebration but for everyone else’s sake, I kept it to myself. I opened all the gifts they handed me and tried to act as happy as I should have felt. While we were cleaning up the wrapping paper, Kalia finally asked what I had forgotten to ask.

  “Does Aaron know you’re back?” She looked at Maia with so much happiness in her eyes that it made my stomach turn.

  “He does. I talked to them for a while and they told me to come join you for the girly party. They were getting ready to play cards. Your fiancé looks like a nervous wreck, Lily.”

  “Totally normal,” Fiore said, jumping in defensively before I could answer. Maia smiled but said nothing. “I should go get your gown out of my closet.”

  Fiore left the room and Kalia stood, stretching. “I’m going to get all the stuff to pamper you and make you more beautiful. Maia, some help?” She said and Maia followed her out of the room.

  The rest of the night was spent with everyone taking turns telling stories about the loves of their lives while four pairs of hands worked on me. They shaped my eyebrows, slathered my face, and theirs, in a mud mask, and set my hair in rollers. We even took turns doing each other’s toenails. The whole night felt like a real slumber party, like the ones I’d had with my best friend, Elizabeth, when I was a child.

  “I’ll do her fingernails,” Maia announced, picking out a color from the array Kalia had carried in. I stiffened as she looked at me. All eyes were on me and no one breathed.

  “I hadn’t thought about my fingers.” I bit my lip to keep from screaming what I really thought about her touching me.

  “You’re the bride. You have to have your nails done. People will want to see your ring.” She shook the nail polish bottle.

  “I guess so then,” I replied through gritted teeth.

  “Can I talk to you while I do them? Alone?” Maia said and looked at Kalia.

  “Ladies, come with me, please. We can go to my room in the meantime.” Kalia escorted them to the door. She winked at me before closing the door.

  I braced myself.

  ~ Twelve ~

  “So what do you want?” I looked at my hand as Maia took it in hers. “I don’t exactly feel comfortable sitting here with you.”

  “I know you don’t believe me, and I think you’re the only one. I just want to clear the air between us. Please, just hear me out.”

  “Why should I believe you? Or even listen to you? You’ve been nothing but hateful toward me since I got here. The truth is, I have no idea why you’ve treated me the way you have.”

  She paused what she was doing to look up at me. “Honestly, I’m not even sure why I’ve acted the way I have. Maybe it’s just that I feel a little jealous.”

  “Jealous of what?” I tried to control myself and not give into the urge to slap her face or drag her out of my room by her hair.

  She dipped the nail polish brush back into the bottle but didn’t pull it back out. “I guess I was used to being Kalia and Aaron’s one and only. I liked having their full attention all the time. I didn’t have that when I was a mortal and I didn’t want to lose it.”

  That made some sense. “But I never wanted to take that from you. I didn’t want anyone’s full attention. That’s not how I am, but you never even gave me a chance.”

  “I know I didn’t, and I’m sorry. Then when Ian saw you, I could feel what he was feeling and I hated you for it.” She kept her eyes on my hand, avoiding my eyes.

  “That was absolutely not my fault. He’s the one that lied to you. I never did.”

  “Yes you did.” She raised her eyes to mine again and I could see the anger in them. “When you came in, he acted like he never met you before. You didn’t correct him. You just played along with him.”

  “You’re right. I did do that, but I had no other choice. He was a very dangerous man and I knew that. I guess I also wanted to see what kind of game he was playing by acting like we had never met.”

  Maia finally tightened the lid on the polish bottle and set it aside. I guessed she was letting the first coat dry before continuing.

  “I felt the feelings he was feeling then. I hated it. That’s why I hurt you.”

  “And what exactly was he feeling?” This had to be good.

  “It was kind of surprise and desire, all at once. Maybe more like lust, I don’t know, but I knew he wanted you and I couldn’t stand it. It hurt me,” she said and stood. “I never wanted any man the way I wanted Ian.”

  I sighed, knowing exactly how that had felt. “I definitely understand that. I felt like that at one point, for a long time actually. Even when he had abandoned me, I still loved him. I saved myself for him for years, hoping he would find his way back to me. I regret that now.”

  “Did you still love him then, when I brought him home?” She looked down at me with a stone face.

  “I don’t think so.”

  “Did you hate him? I want to hate him. I want to despise him for the lies and everything he did, but I still can’t.” She sat back down and looked at her own hands, which she folded on the vanity table.

  “I’m not sure that I hated him at that point exactly. I think I did feel some love for him still, but it wasn’t the same. I was angry with him for leaving me. I was angry that he used you to get back to me and I was angry with you for bringing him here.”

  “I didn’t do that on purpose.” She lifted her face again and her expression shocked me. She actually looked hurt.

  “How am I supposed to believe that? It’s hard to believe that it was just a coincidence. I mean, you met him in Europe, for Christ’s sake. It’s not that small of a world.”

  “But I never knew he planned it ’til after. I met him at a party. For me, it was love at first sight. He said it was that way for him too. We spent every day together after that and he said he wanted to meet my family. How could I have known?” She swallowed as if fi
ghting back tears. It was getting harder to fight my own instincts. I wanted to trust her. I wanted to believe her, even though it just didn’t feel right.

  “He never mentioned me?”

  “No. It never dawned on me as something strange when he’d ask me questions about you. I just thought it was normal that he was curious about my family since he asked about Kalia and Aaron too.”

  “So you had absolutely no suspicions?”

  “Not at first. But then he would ask more and more about you and it was starting to bother me, especially when he’d ask about who you were dating. Of course, I told him no one, since I didn’t know about Christian.” She smiled as if proud of herself.

  “Well, you know exactly why I kept Christian a secret, but Ian knew about him anyway.” He had been talking to me since the night I left Olympia. I just thought it was all in my head.

  “I could tell then that he was more than just a little curious about you, but I tried to ignore it. I just wanted to be with him. I wanted him to love me. I didn’t care about anything else.”

  “I know that feeling all too well. Still, you had nothing to worry about when it came to me. I was already in love with Christian,” I admitted.

  “I didn’t know, remember?” She shook the nail polish bottle again.

  “That’s true. So now what? What exactly are you trying to gain from this conversation?” I asked, wishing she’d get to the point already so the preparations could continue.

  “I guess I just want us to start over. I don’t want to be jealous of you. I hate feeling like that.” She bit her lip, just like me, and waited.

  Trusting Maia was the last thing on my list of things to do, but for the sake of our wedding, and Kalia and Aaron, it was probably the first thing I should do. I sighed and, straightening my back, held out my hand before she could start polishing. Her eyes widened and a smile spread across her face. “To starting over,” I said as she took my hand and then decided to throw her arms around me instead. Hesitating for a moment, I decided it was best to play along. I wrapped my arms around her.