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Chapter Thirty-Eight
"Two days?!?" Ingrid screeched.
"Technically we only have one day to prepare," Tamsin pointed out.
Ingrid shot her a dirty glare and looked at Noelle. Stupid men and their stupid, overbearing personalities. One day of preparation was not ideal, but she and the other women would pull it off because it was Noelle's day. "We'll get it all taken care of," Ingrid told her.
"You don't have to worry about it, Ing," Noelle protested, "It isn't that big of a deal."
All of the women started arguing at once, reassuring Noelle that it was a big deal because it was her wedding day. They all pushed her out of the room, telling her that they would deal with the preparation of food and whatnot. All she needed to do was stand there and look pretty.
"Come on," Delilah smiled, "I'm going to help you find your wedding dress. We'll search everyone's closet since we're almost all the same sizes." She grabbed Noelle's hand and led her out of the room.
They headed to Noelle's room first, searching through her clothes for a white dress. Delilah pulled out two dresses and laid them on the bed. "Let's just find all the white dresses we can then you can try them all on and decided. Does that work?"
Noelle nodded dazedly, feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything. If someone had asked her a week ago what she would be doing today, there was no way she would have ever guessed this. Running around frantically, trying to prepare everything for the big day, was not something she had thought about. Unlike most girls, Noelle had never really planned out her perfect wedding day. She didn't care about the dress or the colors or what food was served. To her, her wedding day was supposed to be about her and her husband. Nothing else really mattered because without the bride and groom there was no wedding.
"Have you?"
Noelle shook her head and looked at Delilah. Apparently she had been speaking to her and Noelle hadn't even noticed. "Uh...no?"
Sighing, Delilah stopped outside her room, "I asked if you have decided who your maid of honor is going to be."
"Oh," she murmured awkwardly, "I..."
"I'm not asking to be your maid of honor," Delilah laughed suddenly, "I was just curious if you had even thought about it."
Noelle blushed, "Not really. I guess I always assumed Tamsin would be, since she's my cousin and all. I'm not very good and picturing how this day is going to turn out. All I can see is Raine."
Delilah opened her bedroom door with a smile. "There's nothing wrong with that. Besides, that's what you have all of us for, to keep your head on straight." She ushered Noelle in and grabbed a couple more dresses before moving onto another room. After an hour of searching they had seven white dresses for Noelle to try on.
"Do I have to?" she moaned pathetically. She really hated trying clothes on.
Delilah glared at her and gave her the first dress. "Yes, you have to. How else are you going to find the perfect dress? Hmm?" She gave a quick squeal, "I love trying clothes on!"
"Good for you," Noelle grumbled, slipping on the first dress. "How about you try on all the dresses and I'll pick the one I like?" She adjusted the dress and stepped in front of the mirror, frowning slightly.
"Nope!" Delilah sang, "It's your wedding day, not mine. What do you think of this dress?"
"Eh, too plain." She pulled it off and threw it on the floor, quickly grabbing the next dress. "I appreciate all the effort you guys are putting into this, but I'm starting to feel a little overwhelmed by everything."
Delilah sat on the bed slowly, running her fingers over the different dress materials. She would never let Noelle know, but she was insanely jealous of her right now. If she could have anything in the world right now, she would choose love and a chance for a future with her husband. She had been given a glimpse of it with Theo, and now she wanted the real thing. "You know we'll take care of you, Noelle. You just need to find the dress and show up to the ceremony," she teased lightly, opting for a cheerful mood. She didn't want Noelle to catch on and worry about her.
Noelle made a face and threw a dress at her, "Whatever." She really hated this whole process. Besides, Raine had said that he didn't care what she was wearing as long as she was there. Therefore, Noelle didn't give a rat's ass either. All right, that was a little white lie. She wanted to look amazing for Raine, but part of her was worried that nothing would satisfy her. One dress looked too casual, while another was fancy but for the wrong occasion. Others were uncomfortable, too short, not short enough, wrong material, etc. Another hour passed before she finally made up her mind and picked her wedding dress.
"It's perfect," Delilah breathed when Noelle tried it on.
Standing in front of the mirror with a huge grin on her face, Noelle twisted around to see the back of the dress, enjoying the way it twirled around her calves. The dress was white with sea foam green piping that gave the dress a lacy look. It was a light fabric that flowed over her body like a second skin. The neck was V shaped with a shell underneath that plunged to an empire waistline.
"I love it," Noelle smiled happily. Now all she needed was everything else to go according to plan. "What's next?"
Laughing lightly, Delilah pulled her into the bathroom and sat her down. "You make it sound like picking the dress was a piece of cake, when we both know differently." Noelle stuck her tongue childishly, letting Delilah know what she thought of that. "Next is makeup and hair," Delilah grinned. "You're going to have to let me experiment until we find something you like."
"That could take all day," Noelle groaned, her spirits slightly depleted with the idea of sitting still for hours while Delilah experimented.
"Oh please," she chastised, "When I'm done with you, Raine won't be able to keep his eyes off of you." With that she set to work on Noelle's long auburn hair, considering the different styles she could try.
The day passed quickly as did the next. The estate was in a rush as the women ran around trying to get everything ready at once. It had been decided that the orangery would be the place of the wedding and everyone would reconvene to the large dining room for the reception after.
Tamsin had been put in charge of the menu, Violet in charge of the decorations and Ingrid in charge of everything else. Ingrid assigned random tasks to whoever was unfortunate enough to cross her path with empty hands. So far Tamsin had the cake made, a feat in itself, and the beginnings of the dinner meal prepared. Violet, with Finn's help, had decorated the orangery and dining room with red and white roses and had instructed the women to wear red dresses as bridesmaids.
They only had a couple hours left before the ceremony was going to start and there was still a lot left to do. "Paxton! Why aren't you dressed yet?" Ingrid yelled when Paxton made the mistake of walking through the dining room.
He gave her a guilty look and pointed back behind him, "I was helping Finn out with something. I'll be sure to be dressed in time, love."
"You better be, or so help me!" she hissed. Paxton sent her an air kiss and hurried out of the room before she could give him something else to do. He found Fletcher and Finn along the way and reminded them to have their suits on before Ingrid found them and committed murder.
"Hey Finn, where are the flowers for Noelle's bouquet?" Violet asked worriedly. She pushed her hair out of her face angrily, searching frantically. He came up behind her and pointed to the bouquet resting on the table where she had last placed. "Thank you," she breathed, giving him a quick kiss. "Go get ready."
He left with a smile and quickly put his suit on. As the Best Man it was his job to make sure the groom was ready, so he made his way to Raine's room, preparing himself for the task at hand.
"Are you ready, Alpha?" he asked, entering the room respectfully. Raine was pacing in front of the mirror, trying to fix his tie, but he was too nervous to do anything but fumble around a bit.
"Screw this," he growled, ripping the tie off his neck. He gave Finn a tortured look and ran his fingers through his hair wildly. "I'm not ready for this."
"Not ready to get married?" Finn questioned. He picked up the tie from the ground and smoothed it out. Motioning for Raine to stand still, he wrapped it around his collar and quickly tied it up.
"I want to marry Noelle, but I shouldn't have rushed her into it. I didn't give her enough time to prepare and create the perfect wedding. What if she holds that against me? I took away her perfect wedding day, the day that women dream about from birth!"
"You know," Finn mused, handing Raine a comb, "Noelle is different than most women. In fact, I don't think she even cares about the whole wedding get up. The other women do, and they're the ones making the fuss, but every time I've seen Noelle today she's following someone around in a daze. I think she's just ready to be married to you and get this whole thing over with."
Raine breathed a sigh of relief, hoping what Finn said was true. In his haste to marry Noelle and provide the ultimate protection, he hadn't really considered her opinion on getting married so fast. He would hate it if her wedding day had been ruined by his thick headedness.
"Okay, I think we're all ready," Finn smiled, slapping Raine on the back. "Do you have the rings?"
"Rings?" he said stupidly. "Shit, rings! Where did I—oh, got them!" he said triumphantly, grabbing the rings off his bedside table. He took a deep breath and handed them to Finn. "Let's do this."
They walked the roundabout way to the orangery, finding the rest of the men along the way. Each one made sure to slap Raine on the back and give some side comment about losing his freedom. He had a slaphappy grin on his face that was marred only a little bit by nervousness.
When they entered the orangery, his heart started to race as fast as a hummingbird's wings. He stood in his designated spot by the makeshift altar and nodded at the Priest they had brought in. The Priest gave him a slight smile, trying to mask his confusion and curiosity. No one had bothered to tell the Priest what was going on. They simply grabbed him and asked him to perform a wedding.
Everyone else filed in slowly while Ryder played some background music on the piano. When all the bridesmaids and groomsmen were in, Ryder began playing the traditional wedding march.
With eyes shining full of love, Raine looked fiercely at the orangery doors, waiting for Noelle to appear. The doors opened with a soft whoosh, revealing his bride. He barely contained a gasp as she looked up at him with a slight smile. Her hair was pulled back in a fancy up do with soft curls framing her face. The dress she wore accented her body perfectly and made her look like an angel. But Raine hardly noticed any of this. He had eyes only for Noelle's face, searching for the love he so desperately needed. She made her way slowly up the aisle, never taking her eyes off of him.
No one could tell, but her hands were shaking as she clutched the bouquet like a lifeline. Nervous didn't even begin to describe how she was feeling. She stopped next to Raine and smiled up at him, holding back the tears of joy that threatened to fall. "I love you," he mouthed to her.
She smiled even wider and laced her fingers with his. "I love you too."