Rising Dawn (Willy Wonka X OC)

Here Comes the Bride...Eventually

     "Is it normal to feel like this?" I ask Mum, hands pressed firmly to my stomach, struggling not to hyperventilate faster. I'm dizzy with nausea and my headache is making my vision dark.

     "Like what, sweetheart?" Mum comes over and rubs my back tenderly.

     I resist the urge to rub my eyes or worry the fabric of my dress into a crumpled mess. "Like I'm about to vomit and give birth to Satan while my head explodes."

     She chuckles good naturedly and retrieves a glass or water for me. "I'll admit, most brides are in less distress on their wedding day. But my official diagnosis is a simple case of nerves."

     I sit down carefully and wonder where the time went. A while ago, it felt like time couldn't pass fast enough, but now I feel like Will proposed yesterday even though it was four months ago. Just last night I hardly got a wink of sleep because I was so excited. Will and I haven't spent a night in the same bed since the night Oscar and Will fought. We both decided we didn't want to get used to each other, and we wanted this night to be special and new. Though we still hold each other regularly and steal kisses on the occasion, I can hardly remember the way uncovered planes of his skin felt under my fingers anymore.

     My head throbs and I fiddle with the moonstone ring on my left hand. I was so ready to marry him. But now... Of course I still love him! I just don't know if I'm doing the right thing. Cold feet, that's what I have.

     "Oh, Darling," Grandma Josephine coos as Mum wheels her over to pat my hand. "You may feel awful now, but you'll be happy you went through with it once you're out there. I've seen the way you look at that boy and the way he looks at you. You two are meant to be together. I can't say how I know or properly describe the feeling I have, but it's sort of like the universe whisperin' in my ear. And the universe is sayin' those two kids share one soul, they just can't be split apart again." She smiles warmly, crinkling the skin at the corners of her eyes and mouth. "You're doing the right thing, Dawn, I just know it."

     I take a deep breath and exhale through my mouth, wiping sweaty palms on my dress. "Thank you, Grandma Josephine."

     Grandma Georgina, in a wheelchair exactly the same as Grandma Josephine, waves for Mum to wheel her over as well and gives me a toothless smile. "Are we talking about that boy I like? The one who dresses fancy?"

     "Will?" I question. She probably doesn't know what we're talking about, but there's always a chance...

     "Yes. Him." Grandma Georgina's eyes glaze over for a moment. "I like that boy of yours. When are you two going to get married?"

     Tears spring to my eyes, but I blink them back with a shakey smile. She knows what's going on! "Today actually, Grandma Georgina. Do you like my dress?"

     She gives me a child-like gasp. "Oh, I love weddings. You look so beautiful, Dawn. White has always been your color."

     Mum is smiling as much as I am and I realise that the horrible feelings in my head and stomache are gone. I smooth down the front of my custom dress and press my lips together in anticipation of Will's reaction to it. It's a pure white, a-line, watteau train dress with an illusion neckline. The sheer train is connected at the base of the illusion part in the back, and there are lavender sparkles at the bottom of the train. My arms are bare and the torso part of the dress has sparse lavender sparkles. But the part I'm excited to see Will's reaction to is the skirt. It's made up of elegant feathers, like a dove. They don't flare out obnoxiously but lie smoothly against the underskirt, and I can't wait to show Will.

     My hair is in an elegant bun made up of braids, a string of lavender rhododendrons around the front of the pile of hair and a veil the rest of the way around the back. I'm wearing the new pair of white sneakers Will bought me under the feathers of my skirt because heels are so uncomfortable.