Feather After // Chapter 70 // The Last Call

Aria's POV

I kept the letter down and blew out some air, damn Ignatius he wouldn't even leave me alone on my wedding day. I took a deep breath and waved my left palm in front of my face. God, this couldn't be it. I didn't want my make up to be ruined, I didn't want to hurt anyone, but I knew I couldn't even let my family fight this alone. Aria, you can do this, I said and I stood up, I started walking from left to right and then right to left. God, why was all this happening to me?

My eyes suddenly fell on the flower pot. There was something at the end of the vase. It was covered cleverly by the stem of the white lilies, the box was green in color, I quickly went up to the pot, removed the flowers and put my hand to look what it was. The box was a small paper box and when I opened it I saw a macron in it. It was a lemon macron! I smiled and took a bite, it did taste amazing. On the inner side of the cover of the box, there was something written on it. It was definitely his handwriting,

The summertime and the butterflies are all your creations.

Ig. X

I ate the whole macron. Ignatius's mom's bakery was definitely one of the best bakeries in Seattle. As soon as I finished eating the macron, the gate of the room opened, and Nanna walked in. She was wearing a pastel color dress and had a white flower tucked in her bun. She smiled at me, she did look beautiful.

"Look at you! You look prettier than me! Nanna, you look amazing!" I told her and I walked to her.

"Well now it's time that you look at yourself," she said and wrapped her left arm around my right arm. She slightly pulled me, the dress my mother had chosen for me and the bride's maid was beautiful; if this all wouldn't have been forced I could have really appreciated my mother's efforts. She had really put her heart and mind in making this thing a big success.

We walked towards her room which was next to mine, she pulled me up in front of the mirror and I was shocked to look at myself. I couldn't believe that I was looking at me. I was looking at myself! Never even in one thousand years, I thought I could look the way I did! I opened my mouth and then I closed it again. I looked at Nanna and she nodded at me. I have read it a thousand times, not recognizing the person in the mirror but it was the very first time, it was happening with me. So I was kind of surprised. Nanna looked proud too, she looked so happy; it was as if her dreams were coming alive.

I looked at myself in the mirror again, the dark circles were long gone, what I saw on the mirror was a very beautiful and new version of myself. I felt afraid that I would never look as graceful as my mom. The person in the mirror seemed so unproblematic and less depressed, I felt shocked. The makeup on my eyelids highlighted my face, there was a little bit glitter on my face and it made my cheekbones more prominent than they actually were. My hair was tied in an elegant bun in the side of my head. For the first time when he was making the bun, I thought he had made it on the side. There was a waterfall braid on the right side of my face, I had some small earring on and it matched perfectly with my dress.

The dress I wore was surprisingly not made by just my mom but it was made by her and a friend of hers, I could never really imagine pulling off something that elegant, but I guess I kind of did. The dress was a very simple dress. The front of the dress was embroidered with beautiful beads and there was no back part of the dress, it was backless. The lower part of the dress was just smiled white. There was nothing on it and it looked very elegant, my mom and her friend had done a very good job with the dress.

"Is everyone ready?" Gemma asked as she stepped into the room. She looked at me and stopped, she smiled at me.

I looked at her; she was wearing a peach colored gown which reached till her toes. The whole gown was plain but there was beading on the waist. Lurking around her, Rachael walked in too; her dress was knee length and had the same design as Gemma's. Everyone looked so very pretty, it felt so nice, I would have felt even better if this could have been someone else's wedding and not mine. I had planned that as the evening will fall, I would get drunk and pass out, there would be no need of father-daughter of husband-wife, first dance.

"Show time," Xavier said and shook the pair of nude heels he had in his hand, I smiled at him, and he looked gorgeous too. He was wearing a white shirt, black pants and overcoat and a black tie, there was a peach-colored thin line at the center of the tie running horizontally.

I sat down on the chair and took the shoes from him and wore them, I looked at them and they looked at me. I wore the heels and stood up. Everything was going to be okay, I told myself as I smiled at everyone. It was getting weirder every second. They looked at me and kept smiling. I mean I was enjoying everything but I was not enjoying the attention that much, it was scary.

Nanna told me that because we were sharing cars with Zachariah's family as well, most of the people who were staying with us had already left, she was talking about, grandma, granddad, uncles, and aunts. Only Gemma, Rachael, Xavier, Nanna and I were left in the house.

I felt a little wobbly in my shoes not because I was getting married to Zachariah but because I was wearing heels. They were at least four inches and I don't know about being comfortable, but it did go nicely with the dress, I would get to know by the end of the day if I had shoe bites.

Soon we were out of Nanna's room and we were headed downstairs. Nanna walked first, then Gemma, Rachael and finally Xavier who was making sure that I climbed down the stairs without falling on my face or without twisting my ankle.

"Your mom kind of scares me you know," Xavier said and we were on the last stairs, "whenever I say anything, I feel like she is preparing to launch a nuclear missile on me and my family," he said and continued, "I also think, that she thinks I'm gay and you know why?"

He looked down at me, even with heels, I wasn't of his height; he was much taller.

When he saw that I wasn't asking him why, he rolled his eyes and said, "Only because I had a pink phone cover, I swear to god, her eyes, they expanded! It was almost like; I had asked her to marry me!" He had such dis Belize in his eyes. It was almost impossible to not laugh.

We soon were on our cars, and we're going to the church Zachariah and I were supped to get married, when we stepped out of the car, Xavier helped me out, and asked or almost exclaimed, "Are you ready for the biggest night of your life?" He wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

"I don't know, I don't even know what to say."

"Well, after saying yes, I do. I will make sure you get drunk and so wasted that you pass, I got your back baby, no smile!" Xavier told me as he posed for the pictures, he quickly went to look at the picture which was clicked and then made a face, "you can do a better job, belief in your self," he said that to the photographer, patted his shoulder and came and stood next to me.

After clicking hundreds of pictures, posing in thousand different ways, Xavier declared himself the photography director of the whole wedding, while we were clicking thousand of pictures, he made sure that we think to pose the right way, he made sure that everyone looked as glamorous as him, as said by him. When the whole thing was done, we were lead to the entry of the church by the assistant of the wedding planner. Xavier, Rachael, and Gemma were my three bride's maid and Nanna was the maid of honor.

I remember when I had told her or probably asked her if she wanted to be the maid of honor of the wedding, she did not believe me. She thought I was trying to joke, at first she scolded me and when she realized that I wasn't kidding, she started crying. I wanted her and Manchurian to walk me down the aisle, so I made sure that they wanted to me.

The same assistant, who had brought us to the entrance of the church, tucked a long veil on the bun, with the help of Nanna. My father was yet nowhere to be seen, nowhere. The veil was quite long, it went down the dress and the end of the veil was covered with a beautiful sequence, it matched perfectly with the dress. They handed us a bouquet of flowers and when I closely looked at it, they were white lilies. My bouquet of flowers was way bigger than the flowers given to everyone else, Xavier choose to tuck some flowers in this coat pocket instead of taking a whole bouquet and I was fine with that too.

Before I knew what was happening, the music in the church started to play. The four of us stood in a line, first Gemma, then Rachael, Xavier and then nanna. I saw my father come and he stood next to me. It had been years since I had seen him this close to me. Soon the gates of the church opened and Gemma started walking. This was it, I told myself.

"You look very gorgeous, just like you mom," Father said and interlinked our arms. I don't know what happened to me but that only complimented he had ever given me, the only one that I remembered at least.

I looked in front of me; the whole church was beautifully decorated. It looked surreal, there were white flowers hanging from the roof the church, there was white carpet at the center and wooden chairs around it. The whole place looked so different, it was almost like, it had been changed into a garden just for the wedding, when I started walking down the aisle, it was happening, I turned around to look one last time, one last time to look at my past, I mentally thanked Ignatius for giving me the happiness that he did. Everyone stood up and I stumbled.

I looked at Zachariah, he was looking handsome as ever, he had trimmed his beard and was bearing the same thing as Xavier was wearing the only difference was he had s peach colored vest too. He looked at me and smiled when he reached near him, father handed my hand in his hands and I closed my eyes.

When the pastor saw that was all set, he started with the prayer, and then continued, "We are gathered here to witness the holy matrimony of Zachariah Addalynn Albason and Aria Everly Rhett."

He then turned to look at Zachariah and asked, "Do you take Aria Everly Rhett, to have and to behold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, to love to cherish, till death do you apart, do you take this vow in the presence of God, as your lawfully wedded wife?"

Zachariah looked at me and then said, "I do."

Then the priest turned towards me and asked, "Do you take Zachariah Addalynn Albason, to have and to behold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness, and in health, to love to to cherish, till death do you apart, do you take this vow in the presence of God, as your lawfully wedded husband?"

I looked at Nanna, and I said, "