Chosen

Chapter Twenty

~Arabella's POV~
The wedding is in three days, and I couldn't be more excited. Adrian, his mother and I are all currently in the meeting room, discussing wedding plans. His family was so happy when they heard of our engagement, especially his mother. She is so sweet.
"Ok, so what color theme do you want it to be? I was thinking blues and white, because it's getting close to winter time. What do you guys think?" We have been in here for almost three hours and his mother is just getting to colors. We had already been over flowers, which are going to be orchids, foods, tables, guests, everything you could think of.
"What do you think, Adrian?" He smiles.
"That sounds good to me, what do you think?" I smile.
"I think that sounds perfect." Hadley, his mother, smiles and writes on her notepad. She's been taking notes the entire time we've been here.
"Great. Then I think we are done, now we just need to find a dress." I smile, I've been waiting for this part. I'm so excited to find the perfect dress.
      "Yay! My favorite part!" I look over at Adrian, who is looking at me with an amused expression. "Besides getting to marry you, of course." I say, smiling sheepishly at him. He laughs.
     "Have fun dress shopping. I love you." He kisses my forehead, then let's his mom pull me out of the room and out to the car she has waiting. I sit inside, and smile at Hadley.
     "Thank you so much for helping with all of this. You're truly amazing." She smiles and waves her hand, nonchalantly.
     "It's no problem, I'm having so much fun. I'm so happy to see you both so happy. I'm glad you two made up. He'd be so miserable." I smile, kindly.
     "I would be too." I say, thinking back to how I was before Adrian had showed up. I was miserable, without showing it. Hadley smiles kindly.
"Then I guess it's a good thing he'd never give up on you." I smile, nodding in agreement. He's too stubborn to give up, anyway. I laugh silently, knowing it's true.
We've been shopping for hours, and I still haven't found the perfect dress. I've gotten plenty other stuff though. I got some jewels for my hair, some makeup, and a couple necklaces. We are passing a store in the mall, and as my eyes roam around, I find it. The perfect dress. It's strapless, with the skirt flowing at the waist with a black trim at the bottom. I put my hand on Hadley's shoulder, stopping her, and point out the dress. She turns and looks at it, gasping. It's beautiful.
"That's the one." I say, we start to walk to the store. Once we get inside, the owner looks up with a smile, a kind face that turns to amazement and excitement once she realizes who we are.
"Queen Hadley, Lady Arabella. It's such a pleasure, please let me know if I can do anything for you." I smile, kindly. This has been happening all day, we've been getting special treatment because of our status. I'm starting to get annoyed by it. We are still people, normal people, we don't need to special treatment. I can tell Hadley feels the same, by the look on her face, the forced, but kind smile. I smile at the lady and point to the dress.
"Can I see that dress please?" She looks over to the dress and her face lights up in surprise and happiness.
"Yes, of course." She walks over the dress and finds one in my size, how she knows it, I have no idea, but I don't question it. She walks back to me with the dress held delicately in her hands. She hands it to me and I smile, thanking her. She nods in acknowledgement.
I walk into the dressing rooms and delicately put the dress on, careful not to rip it. I look in the mirror and gasp. It's perfect. Beautiful. I open the door and step out. Hadley takes in the dress and gasps happily.
"Oh, sweetie, it's beautiful. It's perfect. Adrian will love it." I smile and nod in agreement.
"It's perfect. Finally, it took long enough." I joke, causing her to laugh. I chuckle, then turn to the saleslady. "This is it. How much is it?" She immediately shakes her head.
"It's on the house, Your Highness. My treat. Congratulations on your engagement, you will make an excellent queen." I smile at her.
"Thank you. But you don't have to do that, I can pay, really." She shakes her head again.
"No, really, it's fine. Think of it as a wedding gift." She winks, causing me to laugh.
"Ok, I can see that your mind isn't changing. Thank you. What's your name?" She smiles.
"My name is Eleanour." I smile.
"That's a beautiful name. Thank you Eleanour. I'll remember you for this." She smiles hugely at my words.
"Thank you so much, My Lady." She turns to Hadley. "And it was a great honor to meet you, Your Highness." Hadley smiles kindly at her.
"The honor is all mine, Eleanour, you're such a sweet girl." Eleanour blushes at her words and smiles kindly.
"Thank you, Your Highness." Hadley smiles and I walk back into the dressing room. I change out of the dress and back into my day dress. I smile at the dress as I walk out and hand it to Eleanour to put in a garment bag for me. She hands it back to me a few minutes later and sends us off with a smile.
We walk back to the car both with several shopping bags in our hands and smiles on our faces. Today was a good day. It takes us about an hour to get back to the castle and we drive in comfortable silence, both lost in our own worlds.
Once the car pulls to a stop in front of the castle, I see Adrian walk out the front door and head for the car. He opens the door and helps me out, pulling me into a kiss.
"I've missed you." He mumbles into my lips. I laugh and smile.
"We were only gone for a couple hours, but I missed you too." He laughs and pulls back, looking at all the bags in the car with wide eyes.
"Did you get everything you needed?" He jokes, helping me with some of the bags. He goes to reach for the garment bag, but I slap his hand away.
"No, you can't see that yet. Only on the day of the wedding. It's tradition, you know." I joke, winking at him as I take the bag. I swing it over my arm and grab the rest of the bags from the car. We walk inside and take the bags to the meeting room, where everything is stored. Once all the bags are put away, Adrian takes my hand and leads us up the stairs. W go to his room and lay on the bed. I've been sleeping in his room ever since the engagement (and no, they haven't been doin the nasty, if you were wondering) because we don't want to be away from each other anymore. We are laying in silence for a couple minutes, when a knock sounds through the room. I sigh and get up from the bed and walk over to the door. A maid is standing there, with a silver platter holding a letter. I smile at her kindly and take the letter, thanking her and shutting the door. I look down at the letter, it's addressed to me, but who would be sending me a letter? I don't recognize the writing, so it's no one I know. Adrian comes to stand next to me, looking at the letter over my shoulder.
"Who's it from?" He asks.
"I don't know. I guess it's in the letter." I say, starting to open the letter. I take out a piece of paper and read:
Arabella,
I heard about your engagement to the prince. I can't believe he's marrying a slut like you. Just wait, he'll keep you around for a year or two, then dump you on the streets, alone and probably pregnant, like the slut you are. Just wait, once I get out of this place, I'm coming for you. Watch your back, I have friends everywhere. I'm coming for you, Arabella, and you aren't going to live this time.
Unfortunately for me,
Your Father
My hands are shaking my the time I get done reading the letter. Adrian is shaking too, but not in fear, like me, but in anger. He takes the letter from my hands and rips it to shreds.
"Don't listen to him, Ara. Nothing will happen to you, I won't let it. You will be safe, I will protect you, I always will. He's not getting anywhere near you, ok?" I shakily nod my head and Adrian hugs me to him, stroking my hair soothingly. I calm down a few minutes later and take a deep breath, shaking away all memory's of the horrible letter I had just read. I look up at Adrian and smile.
"I'm ok. My father is in jail for life, there's no way he's getting out." Adrian smiles and nods.
"That's right. And I'll always protect you, with my life, ok?" I nod and take Adrian's hand, leading him to the bed.
"Let's go to bed, it's been a long day, and we have quite the week ahead of us." He smiles, and nods happily, reminded of our upcoming wedding. He lays down and I lay next to him, snuggling me head on his chest as his arms wrap around me, safe and warm. I fall asleep, with a smile on my face, as I lay in the arms of the love of my life.

Exciting! The wedding is coming! Hope you all liked it! It breaks my heart to say this, but this was the second to last chapter, :'(, but I have decided that I am doing a second book! I hope you'll all read it! It's going to be called Targeted, I don't have all the details figured out yet, but I'm excited for it! And PLEASE go read my other book, The End is Near, it would mean everything to me. It's not a fairytale type book like this, but it is a romance book that I really hope you go read! It would mean the world to me! Remember to vote/comment! Love you all!!