Tender Hearts

Wedding Day Blues

Evie fretted herself to sleep. She hadn't heard from Amelia since sending her on the mission to rescue Tom and her stomach was tied into sickening knots. In her mind, she made the sensible decision- sacrificing her own well-being to save Tom from the horrors of a prison sentence- but in her heart, she was doubtful. She wasn't even sure if she'd ever see him again, but at least in her dreams she could stay the night in his arms. Her dreams, this way, were filled with the bliss her physical life was lacking, enough so that she was loathe to wake up when the dawn appeared and the rising sun filled her room with light.

On her wedding day, she dawdled more than usual, taking her time in waking, preferring the imaginary comfort of Tom's arms to the brutal reality that she was to spend the night fighting of Chas' advances. She may have surrendered her freedom, but she vowed not to surrender herself. It wasn't until her mother came stomping up the stairs in anger to drag her out of bed that she bothered getting up. By then, the worry she felt at not having heard from her friend was on the verge of turning into a miasma of apathy that sat in her gut like cold soup.

"It's your wedding day," her mother said, her voice more cheerful than Evie could ever remember. "You should be excited!"

"I can't be happy about losing my freedom," Evie returned, her face sour, her voice dripping with venom. "You can't make me enjoy it."

Marianne regarded her daughter and huffed in frustration. "Well, I expect you'll warm up to the idea. Chas is quite the catch. You're lucky to be marrying him." She crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor impatiently while she waited for Evie to climb out of bed. "I should tell you, I spoke with your friend Amelia this morning and she agreed to be your Maid of Honor. You should be happy about that, at least."

At the mention of her name, Evie's ears perked up. "Amelia," she gasped, "You spoke to Amelia?" She wanted to ask if Amelia had mentioned Tom, but she knew Amelia never would, not knowing what her mother's endgame was. "Did she tell you anything?"

"About what?" her mother asked. She drew a suspicious eyebrow as she leaned closer to Evie. "Was she supposed to?"

Evie shook her head. "No," she replied, "I just haven't heard from her for a while and I wanted to see if she'd talked to Nick and Cory." A slight breath of relief escaped from her lips. She'd managed to save herself, but she knew that her mother was too careful not to catch anything she might let spill in the future. "I'd like them to be there."

"Well," Marianne huffed, "I didn't have their information, so they didn't get an invitation." She smacked her lips in disdain as she went to the closet and pulled a dress out. "You can wear this or the time being. Your dress is at the couturier's and you'll be needed there for a final fitting around two. Until then, I've arranged a spa appointment for both you and Amelia. You'll get hair and nails done as well."

"All this before two?" Evie sighed. She began to regret giving in, but the thought of Tom immediately overcame her exhaustion with her mother. "Will you be at the spa as well?"

Her mother shook her head. "There's entirely too much I need to do before this wedding. I couldn't hire a planner on such short notice, so I've had to do it all on my own." She began to exit the room, but turned around at the last moment and tapped on her watch. "You've got exactly half an hour before the car leaves for the spa."

Evie nodded in acknowledgement. "Alright." She waited until Marianne was completely out of the room and the door latched before undressing and going into the bathroom for a quick shower. The heat of the water soothed her muscles, but did very little to dull the headache that stabbed behind her eyes with needling pain. She imagined it was from stress, that it went with the nauseous feeling in her gut, that the fatigue she felt was all a product of her nerves. You have every reason to feel stressed out, she told herself.