The Proposal - Kitty Thomas Page 0,35

sloshed to drive, and now we're in it for the duration. Soren has surrendered.

The men watch football for most of the day, and Lillian brings me a giant armload of bridal magazines and wedding planning books she must have bought the second Soren told her he was getting married. I feel kind of bad. She doesn't have a daughter to do all this with.

I can't believe I was so worried about meeting Soren's parents. They seem so... normal. Despite the very fancy house, they don't act like snobs. They haven't treated me like I'm not good enough for their son—quite the opposite, in fact. And Lillian doesn't seem even remotely like the mother-in-law horror stories I've heard.

“I hope you don't mind,” she says as she lays all the books and magazines down on the coffee table, “I'm just excited. I thought I'd never get to go to Soren's wedding. I was sure he'd stay a bachelor forever. He seemed so stubbornly anti-commitment. I don't know what you did to him, but I'm glad you did it.”

“Of course I don't mind,” I say smiling at her.

We're sitting together on a sofa in front of a fireplace in a large but somehow still cozy living room. It's several doors down from the game room with the big screen TV, but we can still hear the men shouting at the players.

The snow continues to fall lightly outside, and we drink cocoa as we look through the bridal magazines and wedding books. It's really only just now fully processing through my brain that there's going to be an actual wedding. Like a nice wedding—the kind of wedding every little girl dreams of.

This is the first real opportunity I've had to sit and look at wedding books and bridal magazines. I've been afraid to. I'm afraid to get sucked into this fantasy, to start believing in it. How can I believe in it? How can this possibly work? No princess in fairy tale history ever ended up with three princes. I'm pretty sure the happily-ever-after universe won't allow it.

For the rest of the day until dinner we circle cakes with sharpie markers and dog ear wedding dresses. We discuss colors and flowers and venues and music. And day or nighttime wedding? Lillian thinks nighttime weddings are so elegant, and I agree. It's all theoretical, all just fantasizing and imagining. Nothing is planned or set in stone yet. But can't I just let myself have the dream wedding at least? I know Soren will let me have it. Money is no object to him and after the ring he bought, there's no question he intends to let me have a beautiful fairy tale wedding to go with it.

Yet despite all his charm and all he's giving me, I've seen the dark edges, the shadow underneath the surface. And with his threat... I know I'm marrying the villain, not the prince.

14

Livia

The Rehearsal Dinner

Present-ish.

“Oh my God, Livia. Griffin is so freaking hot. Do you know if he's dating anyone?”

I resist the overwhelming urge to say “Me.” That wouldn't go over very well. Macy, as the maid of honor, will be escorted down the aisle by Griffin, the best man. My cousin Cheryl is walking down with Dayne. Despite having such a large, elaborate wedding we're only having two adult attendants each.

The wedding planner, Patrice, nearly lost her mind over this issue. Apparently this just isn't done. She thinks it looks weird. With such a big historic church and such a nice reception and two hundred and fifty guests it's just odd, she says. She thinks we should have five attendants each. She's said about fifty times now that having only two each makes it look as though we are homeless vagrants without friends.

In fact, she's sure vagrants have more friends than that and could probably come up with more than two people each to stand up with them. She's offered to hire people to be part of the wedding party if we really are this hard-up for friendship.

But Soren was firm on this. He doesn't want anyone but Griffin and Dayne standing up there with him. And to be honest, I couldn't think of anyone I really wanted in the wedding except Macy. My cousin Cheryl was to just have someone to walk with Dayne so it wouldn't look even weirder.

Patrice's head might explode if Macy were to be escorted down the aisle by both Griffin and Dayne.

Vivie, who has just turned three, is the flower girl. She