The Trophy Wife

TWO: Wedding

This is the last kind of intro chapter before the actual story begins :)

"Evelyn dear, let's go. It's almost time to begin." A woman with a soft voice instructed, peeping her head in through the doors of my massive dressing room.

It looked like something that came straight out of a Disney movie. Flowers, chandeliers, silk chairs, racks and racks of expensive dresses...

"These shoes." I muttered, not looking at the woman behind me, but instead staring at the stranger in the mirror. I hated her. I hated her for being weak and afraid. It was her fault that I was getting married. "I can't walk in these shoes."

I caught a glimpse of the slightly older woman through the vanity mirror. The look of horror on her face when I complained about the shoes didn't make any sense to me. If anything, it only made me more uneasy about the life I was about to walk into... if I could even walk to it in the shoes that pinched my toes, dug into my heel and bent my ankle at an unnatural angle.

"But those were custom designed." She said quickly. "You have to at least make it down the aisle in them. I'll see if I can get you something slightly more comfortable to wear for the reception."

How helpful. I rolled my eyes. "And how will I walk down the aisle in shoes that I can hardly stand in?"

"Matteo will be there to support you. I'll inform him about–" She spoke too fast, too nervous.

"Who's Matteo?" I asked, trying to wiggle my toes around.

The dress was so long, nobody would be able to tell the difference between which shoes I wore.

"Matteo is an old friend of Enzo's. He'll be walking you down the aisle. I thought they told you. I mean, you couldn't have possibly thought your father would be the one to–"

"No. No I did not."

"Okay." She gave me a tight smile. A smile that made me feel like I was nothing but a nuisance.

I watched her leave the room, muttering something the entire way, and then waited patiently for the next person to come and lead me to my prison.

I didn't realize she meant 'old friend' in the literal sense. Matteo could have very easily been Enzo's father.

"Let's go." He grunted in a thick accent.

I stood up as quickly as I could and wrapped my arm around his.

I then hobbled out of the room and as if I wasn't already nervous enough, I was met by a crowd consisting of hundreds of people who all had their eyes trained on me. Scrutinizing me for the tiniest flaw, searching desperately for something to gossip about later.

I didn't get a chance to meet the faces of my wedding guests. Instead, my eyes fell upon my soon to be husband who stood beaming underneath the beautiful alter.

His smile wasn't directed at me per se... it had more to do with how well I was meeting the job description.

Look beautiful. Make them hate me for getting my hands on you.

I wasn't in much of a smiling mood considering the fact that with each step I took I came closer and closer to giving up my freedom. I did, however, find the irony in it to be rather amusing. The Catholic priest who stood beside Enzo couldn't have possibly been so forgiving of the life he led, could he?

Enzo was an evil man, as a matter of fact all of the guests that surrounded us were evil in one way or another.

Theft, fraud, murder...

Most of them had done all three... I wouldn't have doubted anyone who admitted to doing worse.

But despite all that, a priest stood before me with a rosary around his neck and a bible in his hands.

Matteo handed me over to Enzo and shook his hand, mumbling something in Italian to him before walking away.

My soon to be husband took my hands in his and with that, the ceremony began.

"Since it is your intention to enter into the covenant of Holy Matrimony, join your right hands, and declare your consent before God and his Church." The priest began.

"I, Enzo Granucci, take you, Evelyn Woods, to be my wife. I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honor you all the days of my life."

Bull sh!t.

"I, Evelyn Woods, take you, Enzo Granucci, to be my husband. I promise to be faithful to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love you and to honor you all the days of my life."

Bull sh!t with horse sh!t on top.

Poor Evelyn.