Page 33 of The Billionaire and His Forever

We laugh our way to the car waiting outside. Ronaldo takes us straight to a local boutique, full of beautiful dresses for all occasions. I tour the entire store with a very helpful staff member, and soon enough, Jude and I each have a dressing room full of dresses to try on.

Jude volunteers to go first. Mary and I settle into the plush couches before the tri-cornered mirror as the employees fuss and coo and hand us mimosas. When I start to protest that I’m only nineteen, Mary shushes me with a wink and raises her glass to mine in a toast. It feels like a magical afternoon, full of lace and all the trimmings topped with champagne.

“I don’t like it,” Jude says for every one of the first six dresses she tries on. Mary stifles a giggle as Jude makes faces in the mirror. “I look old.”

“Okay, well let’s find something youdolike.” I bite my lip to keep from matching giggles with Mary. “How many dresses do you have left to try on?”

“One more,” Alice, one of the associates, tells us. She holds open the curtain to the dressing room for Jude with a smile. “We can always look for more after this?”

“Maybe number seven is the lucky dress,” Jude says hopefully. I undo her zipper for her, and she skips into the dressing room, ready to get changed again.

Mary beams. “She hasreallytaken to you.”

“Not as much as I’ve taken to her,” I say truthfully, suddenly feeling gratitude instead of anxiety. “She’s one of my favorite parts of the house.”

“Besides Graham.” Mary winks at me with a knowing smile.

I can’t respond, only blush.

“Guys! What do you think?” Jude asks, throwing back the dressing room curtain and doing a twirl.

“Wow,” I say, drawing out the word. “That is something.”

It’s a classic princess dress, nothing but ruffles upon ruffles and a full tulle skirt. Sparkling aurora borealis crystals adorn the top, flashing pastel rainbows and making Jude look as glittery as a disco ball. Mary starts clapping excitedly.

“You look like a one-girl party!” she says.

“I love it, too,” I chime in, encouraging Jude to do another twirl. “You look amazing.”

“It’s the perfect unicorn dress,” Jude announces. “It’s the one. Now it’syourturn, Abbie.”

Alice holds open the curtain to my dressing room, packed to the gills with dresses of various lengths and silhouettes. That tight feeling in my chest returns as I run my hand over the dresses, trying to find which one to start with. There are full-length dresses, shorter dresses, dresses with embroidery and lace and sequins. How do I know which one to choose?

I pick up a full-length mermaid number and pull it on. Alice helps with the zipper when I step out of the dressing room, and I make my way over to the mirrors to finally look at myself in a wedding dress for the first time ever. My face must be its own kind of mirror, because Mary immediately comes to my side and places a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

“You look beautiful,” she soothes. “The dress is such a small part of the day. All that matters is that Graham will be waiting for you at the end of the aisle, waiting to take your hand and say ‘I do.’ The dress is just the icing on the cake.”

I nod slowly, taking in her words, tears clinging to my lashes. “It’s just…a lot.”

“I know. Getting married is a lot.” Mary smiles at me in the mirror. “But as for the dress? You could walk down the aisle in a paper bag and he’d be happy. And so would you.”

I stare at my reflection and this gorgeous dress. It’s too much. It makes me feel like I’m too old, too grown up all of a sudden, like my life is changing too fast.

I hurry back to the dressing room and flip through every gown until I come across the perfect dress, the one that makes my heart sing. I slip it on and make my way out to the mirror.

Mary and Jude both gasp as I walk out. Jude starts bouncing in her seat, and Mary beams like she’s the proud mother I so desperately needed. I take my place in front of the mirror and it just feelsright. The dress is classically beautiful, done in ivory satin, with an A-line skirt, a V-shaped neckline, and delicate lace cap sleeves embellished with tiny seed pearls. It feels mature, but also youthful, like me. Like the woman Graham sees. I can’t keep the smile off my face.

With Graham and Jude at my side, I have faith that everything will work out exactly as it’s meant to.

I’m about to live happily ever after.

Chapter Fourteen

Graham

Morning riseson my wedding day. I wake with the sun and go for a run, attempting to diffuse the adrenaline that’s been pumping through me since last night. Perhaps I shouldn’t have insisted that Abbie and I sleep in separate beds after we made love. Her presence might have calmed me.

It’s not that I have cold feet in the slightest—if anything, I’ve been counting down to this day since before the ring was ever placed on her finger. It’s more that I can’t shake the sense of doom that’s been hanging over my head ever since Natasha overdosed and went into a coma. Between the bad press and the false arrest and the jail time, I’ve had one bad turn after another. And who’s to say that Abbie herself won’t be the one to change her mind at the last minute? All of this has happened so quickly for us.

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