A Rose For A Rose

Epilogue

Today was the day.

I was overcome with nervousness and excitement. My mother flitted around with Pipa while they helped me dress. My dress was white and elegant as expected, jewels and lace sewed to the satin and silk. The necklace I wore tonight was a gift from Olena, one of the many necklaces she had received over the years.

When Dimitri had said, many of the jewels his mother owned usually came after a beating, as if the diamonds would heal the wounds of time. And while she didn't keep all of them, she did keep her favourites.

The one she had lent me was tighter against my neck, the diamonds accentuation the curves of my collarbones. It made my figure more pronounced, and I looked older than my eighteen years. I looked like a brown-haired version of my mother instead.

My mother smiled at me as she placed my hairpiece in my hair, pinning it into place before setting my veil.

"Nervous?" My mother asked, tucking my hair behind my ears.

"A little. But not in a bad way, in a good way. Not like butterflies," I said softly, looking at my reflection in the mirror.

Mom hummed as she smiled. "I used to say that to your brother. No butterflies," she said. I chuckled and brushed my fingers over my necklace.

"He told me that. He said that butterflies were butterflies, and a man shouldn't make me feel nervous," I explained, looking at my mother.

Mom nodded as she placed pieces of my hair around my face. "He would be so proud of you," she said kindly. I took a slow deep breath and let it out just as slow. After hearing Andre say the opposite, I felt marginally better.

"He would?"

Mom nodded with a hum and kissed my forehead. "Yes. Just as I and your father are."

I sighed and nodded to myself. Baba knocked on the door and we both called for him to come in. He cleared his throat and the door swung open, revealing my dashingly dressed father. He smiled at me and sighed.

"You are not my little girl anymore," he said with a touch of sadness. I lifted the skirt of my dress and went to him, wrapping my arms around his waist and resting my head on his chest.

"I will always be your little girl, Baba. I'll just no longer carry your name."

"No," he said returning my embrace, "You will be a Duchess."

I nodded and enjoyed the last moments as young Lady Mazur. There was where a chapter of my life was ending and beginning. My childhood was ending and my life as an adult, a true Lady started.

_______________________

I sighed and rubbed the sheets between my fingers. The doors were left open last night, and the breeze from the night filtered through the room. Even now in the rising sun, the curtains moved and fluttered in the air.

I rolled over and found brown eyes already open and watching me. I smiled and rolled closer, slipping my arms around his neck.

"Good morning," I sighed.

"Good morning, my wife," Dimitri said, rolling onto his back and pulling me with him. I settled my hands on his chest and shivered as the bedsheets dropped. The breeze was cool over my skin, but his hands provided warmth to my waist.

"Mmm, say it again," I simpered. Dimitri sat up and pulled me flush to his chest, his lips capturing mine in a heated kiss I didn't think was possible at such an early hour.

"Good morning," Dimitri said against my lips. I giggle as his lips moved over my cheek and jaw.

"Not that, the other part!" I laughed. Dimitri chuckled against my skin as his lips moved up to my ear. He kissed the shell of my ear.