The Bride

28

"Bienvenue!" We welcomed. (Welcome!)

We curtsied to the french royal family. They smiled at us. Queen Camille was holding Chantrel with her right hand and she held her husband, Prince Consort Ahren's hand with the other. He held Chantelle with his left.

When Adalene entered, she ran to embrace Celestiana. They were giggling with happiness. Beall entered and Tony and William greeted him with slaps on the back, hard ones. Beall glared at his two cousins but the two only laughed at him.

"Ahren!" Mom exclaimed.

"Eady!" The prince of france exclaimed and the two ran to hug each other.

"I missed you so much!" Mom said.

Ahren laughed, "I missed you too, Eady."

They pullled away from each other and Mom turned to hug Queen Camille, "How are you, Camille?" She asked.

Camille smiled, "I've been great."

Dad and Ahren man-hugged each other and patted each other's backs.

It was a sweet family reunion. I smiled at the scene, hoping to have something like that with my brothers and brothers's children.

"Come, come!" Mom ushered, "The girls have prepared a party for you."

"Did they?" Camille asked with a smile.

"Oh they did and they did spectacularly!" Mom answered.

We smiled sheepishly at her compliment. Quickly, our group bounced to action. Julianne and Mary were stationed at the food table, Louise and Christine were preparing the music, and Diana and I were ushering the guests into the seats.

"Princess Adalene," I called and curtsied.

She smiled, "Please, just Ada."

I smiled, "Ada, as you know, you are a bridesmaid at Celestiana's wedding."

She nodded, "Yes, I know. But I don't know your name, darling."

I blushed in embarrassment, "I'm sorry. I forgot. My name is Haidee."

Her eyes flashed recognition, "Oh, so you're Haidee! You're beautiful."

"Thank you," I said with a smile, "Getting back to the topic earlier, we're doing a bridal shower for Celestiana at January 14."

She smiled, "You are?"

I nodded, "We'd like you to be there."

"I'd be honored to. I also know some games for that," Ada said with a mischievous smile.

I laughed, "Oh, please. Don't include boys there."

She pouted, "It won't be fun."

I smiled, "It will be fun. I'm sure you have other games you know that aren't including boys."

"Good point." She said, "Alright. I'll be waiting for the day."

"We'll just call for you when it's going to start." I told her.

She nodded, "So bridal shower aside, let's talk about your love life." She wiggled her eyebrows.

"What about it?" I asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes, "I've been hearing stories of you since the day they started tellling me stories!"

I laughed, "I do hope those stories are good."

"Oh it is good. One story was about how you said you thought Zeke was just handsome."

My eyes widened and I groaned, "Who told you that?"