Her Sister's Fiancé - Book #1

Chapter 22

Sorry for the delay!! The weekend ended up being super busy, so I had no time to post. I hope you enjoy this next installment!

Dainty chiffon and satin spun around her, obscuring her vision for a moment before allowing her to see again, and then blinding her a second time, sometimes a third. It was like a dream. A perfectly wonderful dream full of joy unmeasured. Everything, even the sunshine, seemed too perfect to be real.

Yesterday, the sky had been dark and overcast, and everyone had worried that they were doomed to suffer another week of rain, thunder, and ominous clouds, but the dingy clouds had retreated overnight, and all that was left were tufts of perfect, white patched. Like a bride's veil, Lavinia thought as Celeste secured the piece of gauze to her head and shoved her toward the full length mirror to look at herself.

"I feel like a fairytale princess." Lavinia breathed softly, running a hand over the material of her bodice.

"Perhaps because you're something of one." Cassandra stepped up beside her sister, a smile touching her perfectly shaped lips. Lavinia returned the smile, attempting to get ahold of herself and remove the overwhelming urge to giggle from her system.

"I can't believe this is happening!" She laughed disbelievingly.

"It's only too real for me." Cassandra raised a brow, clasping a necklace about Lavinia's throat. "Soon you'll be gone adventuring, and I shall be left alone here to miss you." The words were teasing, but Cassandra's voice betrayed her true feelings on the matter.

"Cassy," Lavinia turned to look at her sister, a lump rising in her throat. "It won't be that bad. We spent years hardly knowing one another."

"I know," tears flooded Cassandra's eyes. "That's what makes it so hard. I feel as though you're leaving before we've had half enough time to connect as we should. What am I to do when you're gone? I have no friends left." The despair in Cassandra's voice was heartrending, and Lavinia could tell her sister had been giving much time to these thoughts.

With a gentle sigh, Lavinia wrapped her arms about her sister. How many times had she wished to be in her sister's shoes? Now, how strange that it was the other way around. For the first time in their lives, Lavinia was stepping out and leaving Cassandra to watch her go. It was both confusing and exhilarating.

"I feel as though you're leaving me forever, and I shall be all alone." Cassandra sobbed. "I have this terrible feeling that we shall never see one another again." Lavinia stepped back and looked into her sister's face.

"Now, listen here, Lady Cassandra Antrucha," she did her best to put on her bravest face. "After a suitable time of newlywedness, you are going to come straight to Scotland and see me; I don't care what excuses you try to conjure up, you're coming whether you like it or not! And after that, well, the world is at both our feet, Cassy, all we have to do is reach out and take hold, and life will lead us on such a merry and unexpected chase that it shall quite take our breath away." Cassandra gave a sad, disbelieving smile through her tears. "Now, you must stop crying," Lavinia smiled. "It's my wedding day," she said teasingly poking at her sister. "And I want all smiles and laughter all day, or I fear I shall be quite upset myself at the end of the day." Cassandra sniffled. "Really, though, it isn't as bad as it looks." Lavinia couldn't keep back her joy. "Soon I'll be traveling to England to attend your wedding."

"Don't be ridiculous. There isn't man in a hundred mile radius who would want my hand in marriage." Cassandra scoffed.

"Then none of them are worth it! You must find someone who excites you in extraordinary ways, who makes you want to go adventuring when you thought you wanted nothing more than to sit tight at home, who makes you smile when you want to cry, who loves you despite whatever faults you may possess, who give you all of himself without hesitation, but most of all, you must find someone who keeps you on your toes! Trust me, you need it! Ethan would have been a far too genteel a match for you. He's too quiet and kind. You need a rogue who isn't quite tame and who makes you get angry even while you want him to take you in his arms and kiss you thoroughly." Lavinia laughed suddenly, realizing the truth in her own words. Cassandra needed someone who wasn't easy and didn't give in to her every wish simply because she'd commanded it of him. Looking at her beautiful sister, she almost wished that she and Ethan weren't going to Scotland, so she could witness whatever story love had in store for Cassandra.