THE SECRETS WE KEEP.

- FAMILY REVELATIONS AND A NIGHT TO NEVER FORGET (PART 2).

JOES POV:
Returning to the apartment subsequent to bundle Zoe and Alfie along with their personal belongings into their car in a heartfelt farewell, my jacket was draping over the mounted hangers and my trainers were dismissed to the corner for a search for Dianne's whereabouts. "Joe don't come up yet!" a female voice bellowed from the stair-top, my body revolving a 180 turn to stare upwards at the voice's origin. On the landing was Dianne, swaddled into a mint garment stopping at her knees and a stolen set of my slippers sheltering her toes from the bitter chill, the tied-up hair and barefaced appearance a sign of her preparation for the night ahead."Dianne it isn't exactly our wedding day, there is no rules around the dress!" I seeked to employ mockery over her maintaining of a distance between ourselves, yet the choice of 'our' halted us in our tracks by staring into the eyes of the other questioning whether these words truly left my mouth. "Well.." our astounded silence was broken by Dianne's voice, her body slanted against the banister and folding her forearms over one another with a smug smigger planted across my lips. "Don't picture my wedding dress too hard whilst getting ready Joseph.." she played along to my obvious mistake, winking in my direction before disappearing out of sight and into the bedroom. Snickering away to myself and rolling my eyes to her behaviour, flickers of light radiating off the floorboards through the ajar gape in the door to my office. I stepped through the frame and peered my head inside, suspended from any feasible hook was the zip-lock bag concealing my chosen suit banded together with a note pinned to the top. The note, clearly handwritten the scribbles belonging to none other than the woman making herself at home in my bedroom, reading,  "There was no peeking I swear (the hardest task of my life !!!!), cannot wait to see you in it tonight xx."

After slipping into the slim-fit navy suit atop the white button shirt, I tightened the burgundy tie around my neck, this choice opted for by the shade of Dianne's hair. Fetching the bunch of crimson roses into my palms, clutching to the stems with all my grip, I inspected over the image reflected in the mirror that provoked instant memories of the multiple occasions this specific surface has paralleled myself to view. My public debuts were a continual solitary activity, even for my movie premiere no girl was awaiting my fingers interlocking with hers to walk into this latest stage of my life. Yet tonight was the first altercation to the typical routine, supplying joy to the section of myself dying to be accompanied by another individual - and the exact woman my heart desired was awaiting my arm looping with hers. Rather than continuing this dwell over the past, I strolled out into the hallway and bellowed up to Dianne from the bottom step, hoping her grand entrance was close by. The faint clicking immediately whipped my head around in this presumed direction, met by a sight traipsing down the staircase to astonish me. That aquamarine bathrobe was substituted for a black frock tied around the waist by a thin sash, it's hem visibly shorter at the front then extending downwards towards her heels at the back. Similarly, the slipper set were replaved by a more appropriate pair of silver heels, the root of the noise that captured my attention. A minimal amount of makeup smeared my face while her messy hairstyle was dismantled for her tresses to be slicked back, situated exactly to exhibit the statement earrings of her attire dangling from her ears.

"Woah.." I muttered beneath my breath, my verbal astonishment at her appearance just out of her earshot. Her steady trail was complete when her feet touched the ground floor and an arm winding around her back to hug her body close to my own, as my lips pressed a gentle kiss to her hairline. As my composure before her was slowly recovering, her bowed head elevated to meet my eyes, the enticing mess of cocoa swirling with streaks of caramel enough to hypnotise even the calmest of man underneath her spell. Each uttered word was a stutter, each singular breath was heavy, my whole self-control practically a non-existent factor in front of this woman, my compliments on her beauty taking the longest time from pauses and mutters. Once she discerned this stuttered sentence was an attempt of paying her a compliment, her face completely lit up in the most adorable manner possible, all of her facial features hoisting upwards to express her internal elation whilst a noticeable dusting of rose powdered her cheeks a darkened colour. "You are looking very handsome tonight Joe.." her voice was a delicate whisper as her feet closed over the distance gap between us and her hands extended to straighten up my tie's slanted position, the smile naturally curling the edges of her lips upwards was so incredibly inviting that it could settle any irregular rhythms of my heart.