Roses for Rachel

Chapter 28.

                  

**Mature(ish) scene towards the end of the chapter**

Calvin chuckled. "You mean it?" He asked excitedly. "You'll marry me tonight?" He asked again.

I laughed too at his playful expression. "Yes, I will marry you tonight."

"This is going to be the one good thing to ever happen to me." He whispered, wrapping me in his arms. "You're an angel, and I don't deserve you, but I want you, and I can't believe I'm actually going to get to have you."

"You're being cheesy again." I giggled.

"You make me be cheesy." He said. "You make me think of things I'd never thought of before, and feel things I never imagined feeling. I want to spoil you for the rest of eternity, Rachel." He professed.

"I love you." I said happily.

He kissed me again. "I love you too, so much more than you could ever imagine." He smiled at me and then looked behind me. "Make the arrangements." He said over my shoulder and I turned around to see Master Pedro standing in the doorway, teary eyed.

"She'll be the most beautiful bride there ever was." He said.

I laughed at him. "Great, you're being cheesy now too?" I asked jokingly.

"You're right." Calvin agreed with Pedro and both men laughed.

Pedro crossed his arms across his chest. "Well, if memory serves me right, I don't think the two of you are supposed to see each other the day of your wedding or its bad luck." He said.

Calvin pulled me closer. "That's true." He said with his head rested on top of mine. "Good thing the wedding will be at 4am, so that's technically tomorrow." He pointed out. "But just in case, you two better go ahead and go." He said releasing me. "I've got a lot to clean up around here, and I've got to pick the men I want to take with me to Germany."

The mention of Germany stressed me out all over again. I didn't want to think about the hostile rebels there that could possibly kill my husband. The second I thought the word 'husband', my mind went off on a totally different downward spiral of worry.

I said my goodbyes to Calvin, and I tried not to focus on the fact that as I left him I could still see the hint of sadness in his eyes. I went with Pedro down to level 1, and we walked through the grand ballroom, which looked eerie empty of the hundreds of people and noise, to the back of the room that I thought would be a kitchen of some sort, but instead it was a very posh looking dressing room. "It's the royal waiting suite." Pedro explained. "This is where they used to wait until they were announced to grand balls, or weddings."

I looked around, taking in the plush off white walls, and the gold silk draped back and forth across the ceiling. The carpet beneath my feet was shockingly white and thick, and little teardrop shaped lights were mounted to the walls around the room. The back wall was a mirror, and to the left of it was a rack with 4 white dresses. Along the other side of the room there was a vanity, much bigger than the one from my room, and to my right was an open door that went into a bathroom.

"Wow." I said, then I got distracted by my reflection in the mirror. "Oh, wow, I look rough." I laughed, taking in my destroyed dress, ratty hair, and makeup smeared face.

Pedro shrugged. "I wasn't going to say anything, since you're about to be my queen, but yes, you do look rather rough." He laughed.

I went over to one of the comfy looking white chairs and plopped down. My head just could not wrap around me being a queen in a few hours. I've never wanted any of this. It should be Tessa or Greer, but as much as I don't want the title, I want Calvin. Thinking of the other girls made my heart tug. "What happens to the girls now?" I asked Pedro and he came to sit in the chair beside mine.