Choosing Home

Chapter Forty

Claudine smiled as she caught a glimpse of herself in her ivory dress. It was a simple A-line dress, with lace sleeves and bodice but at the same time, it was elegant enough with the tulle skirt to make her feel like a Princess. Especially with Henry's medallion hanging around her neck.

Five months had passed since Audrey's death and while Henry and Claudine had offered to postpone, Aurora and Phillip had insisted they hold their wedding.

Aurora couldn't help but smile as well as she walked into the room.

"Nervous?" She asked Claudine.

"A little," Claudine said, biting her lip but taking care not to mess up her makeup. She knew Audrey's death was still raw for Aurora—Claudine had spent the planning process trying not to rub it in Aurora's face that she'd never see her own daughter get married.

Not that Aurora had acted anything but kind and helpful, walking her through the myriad wedding dress designs until they found her dress. And Phillip had taken Henry under his wing, you know once the King got over the shock of Henry being Claudine's fiancé. Phillip had taken Henry suit shopping and of course Phil went with Henry to get the suit fitted by Evie after the blue haired VK had found out that Henry was trying to get his suit off the rack for his wedding.

Aurora wasn't entirely sure if the inflections were truly Evie's doing or if they were Phil adding some embellishments when he was retelling the story much to Henry's embarrassment.

"It's normal to be nervous," Aurora told her.

"Really?" Claudine asked. "I don't mean to be, I mean I love Henry and I want to spend my life with him. I'm just waiting for Freddy to jump out of a shadow and tell me to stop being such a shame to the Frollo name. Not exactly the best thing to think about on your wedding day."

Aurora couldn't help but give Claudine a sad smile. "Every bride is a bit nervous on their wedding day and it probably doesn't help your nerves to have grown up with Freddy as a brother."

Claudine nodded. "I...I used to hide up in the bell tower of Dragon Hall when I was a kid. That was one of the three schools on the Isle—Frollo used to always say that women should be seen and not heard anyway. And that was fine. Until one day Freddy came down to the common area of where we lived and told me I wasn't going to be someone he was ashamed to say he was related to anymore."

"Hmm, so he was always charming," Aurora said dryly.

"Yeah," Claudine sighed. "He taught me how to throw my daggers. Probably the only 'nice' thing he's ever done. But, in all honesty, I'm done letting him control my life. Especially on my wedding day."

Aurora smiled as she heard that. "That's the spirit."

"I...I think it's more 'is this real' nerves," Claudine told her after a few minutes of standing in silence. "We spent so much time in secret that it's hard to believe it's actually happening or that we don't have to hide anymore."

Never again honey, Aurora thought with a sad smile as she thought about how Claudine and Henry had lived before coming to Auradon.

"You look beautiful sweetie," she told Claudine.

"Thank you Aurora. I...I feel beautiful."

"You should. Every bride should feel that way on their wedding day."

Claudine couldn't help the small smile she gave Aurora, a smile that was readily returned.

"Oh! One more thing," Aurora said as she pulled a dark wood box out of the tote bag that she was holding.