“You’re not going to throw up.”
I gripped the sink, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Yeah, I was going to throw up. A crown of ivy and delicate pink flowers encircled my head, and a veil draped over my face. Ivy had made it. My dress belonged to Katharine and could pass as a wedding gown, so my mother had tailored it for a better fit. It was a simple white dress with no sleeves, and lace that reached my ankles. I ran my fingers across the tiny beads on the front and then to the ladybug pin Maizy had given me.
Maizy’s knocking made me feel like a horse in a starting gate before a race.
“I can’t do this. I’ve changed my mind!”
Her voice was calm through the crack in the door. “Lexi, you’re already mated to him.”
“Yeah, but I’m not married to him.”
We hadn’t gone to a courthouse since Shifters tried to stay out of human records, but the wedding ceremony made it feel real. I’d had almost a year to get used to the idea. Everyone needed time to recover after a difficult war, and it gave Austin and me an opportunity to enjoy a long engagement. He especially liked introducing me as his fiancée, even though it caused some bemused reactions among Shifters.
“You can do this,” I whispered to myself, smoothing an out-of-place hair. I’d spent all morning sitting still while April and Izzy styled my tresses in a beautiful updo of loose braids. Austin liked it when he could see my neck, because it gave him easy access to kiss it.
“Come on, Lexi. Before the sun goes down and Travis falls asleep.”
I swung the door open, and she flashed me an impish grin. Mostly because my hand remained glued to the doorknob.
“You look stunning,” she said. “He’s going to fall over when he sees you.”
Maizy had grown into such a beautiful woman, inside and out. She smiled at me with those dimples, and I fondly remembered my baby sister who had always looked up to me. One minute she was hitting people over the head with her sparkly wand, and the next she was talking me into marrying someone that I’d already committed to loving for the rest of my life. Where did the time go?
The front door crashed open, and footsteps hammered up the stairs.
“Denver!” Maizy shouted. “You’re not supposed to be in here.”
“I’m sorry, I can’t wait!” he said, his voice growing distant.
Maizy rolled her eyes. “I told him not to drink that whole bottle of water—it was for sipping during the ceremony. Does he listen? No.”
My heart was thundering in my chest, my palms clammy, a cold sweat coming over me, my legs shaking.
“Maze, what if we just called it off? Or postponed. We’ll tell everyone I got hives.”
Her compassionate expression evaporated, replaced with slanted brows and thinning lips. She grabbed my wrist and yanked me out of the bathroom so forcefully that I almost tripped.
“Lexi, I didn’t squeeze into this blue dress for nothing. And you know I don’t like blue.”
“Sorry, that was Mom’s idea. It looks pretty though.”
“Yeah, and so does my hair all braided up. And my makeup is amazing with fairy dust flecked on my cheeks and brows. So why am I standing in front of the bathroom? Let’s show these guys what Weston women are made of. Get out there and remind Austin why he’s the luckiest man on earth. He’s been waiting for an hour.”
“I had to wait my entire life for him to come around; the least he can do is wait an hour.” I reached under my veil and scratched my neck.
Maizy snatched my wrist and held it down. “You’re going to make bright streaks on your skin if you keep doing that. Don’t you dare break out in hives. Now take a deep breath.”
I sucked in a breath and held it for a minute before letting it go, blowing some of my veil forward.
A more relaxed set of footsteps descended the stairs.
“Don’t look!” Maizy shouted at him.
“I’m not the groom,” he yelled back.
Denver had on a tux, except instead of wearing a white shirt beneath it like all the other guys, he had on a Batman shirt. At lunch, I’d watched them strutting around the house like a bunch of peacocks in their suits and dress shoes. William had red suspenders on beneath his tux, and Reno’s pants ended up being a little too short for him, but I tried not to notice. The only one I hadn’t seen that day was Austin, and maybe that’s why I was nervous as hell. Austin could have put me at ease, but he wanted to be traditional and not see the bride on the day of the wedding.
I smiled, recalling yesterday when I’d caught him hammering a little nail into the wall by the front door and putting a silver T below it.
“Isn’t he a little young to drive?” I asked.
Austin just proudly traced his finger over that letter and said, “Yeah.”