The next day Jean-Paul and I took Celeste to the airport in the early morning hours to catch her plane. Watching Jean-Paul with his Mom was such a heartwarming moment. No wonder he was so good with women-he had the perfect woman to teach him how to treat females. For that, I would always be grateful for his mom.

After we saw Celeste off and watched her plane disappear into the sky, Jean-Paul and I went back to my apartment for a couple of hours to wait for my parents to come and say goodbye.

The knocking sounded on the apartment door. I opened the door and let my parents come in for a moment.

I wrapped my arms around them both and gave them a big hug and a kiss on the cheek, before they hugged Jean-Paul and bid us farewell.

Before I let them disappear out of the door, I walked into the living room and pulled a card that I had written in out of my purse and walked into the kitchen to retrieve the flowers I wanted to give to my mother. The card read:

My dear mother. They say best friends are hard to find, but my best friend raised me. Even though it may be hard as my mother, I hope that you will stand up there with me when I say I do to my soulmate. I'm so blessed to be your daughter. Will you be my maid of honor?

I placed the card into the bouquet and gave it to her.

"What's this?" She asked.

"Just open it," I responded.

As she read the card, tears of joy streamed down her face. She looked at me with watery eyes and pulled me in for a hug.

"This means so much to me," she whispered into my ear.

I felt so honored to ask the woman that gave birth to me and raised me to be my maid of honor.

"I'm so glad that you said yes. I wouldn't want anyone else to be my maid of honor," I said as I gave her and my father one last hug. We bid them a farewell.

Jean-Paul should hear something in March about his green card, so we have decided to have an April wedding. For my first bridesmaid, I had wanted to ask Celeste. For my other two bridesmaids, I couldn't leave out Belle and Nina. I had become really close friends with the two of them, so it would be wrong to leave them out of my bridal party.

Even though our wedding is still three months away, I wanted to have everything planned out ahead of time so we would have plenty of time to pick out decorations, dresses, and other things.

Jean-Paul was perfectly fine with who I picked for my bridal party. It made it easy for him though to decide who to choose for his party.

He grew up with four best friends in France. They all loved to hang out together in school and outside of school.

He had decided that his best friend Alexandre should be his best man and that his other three best friends Olivier, Philippe, and Mathieu should be his groomsmen.

For the wedding colors, we had decided on gold and maroon, even though it's a spring wedding and those are the colors for a fall or winter wedding.

Jean-Paul and I went back to the bed for a nap. The holidays the last couple of weeks has wiped us from our sleep and have made us exhausted.

So we walked back into the bedroom and pulled the covers up over us. Jean-Paul threw his arm around me and immediately fell asleep. I felt the gravity of my eyes pulling closed. I gave in to the force.

I was standing there gazing into the mirror. Tears unknowingly rolling down my face. I caught the tears as I took a big deep breath. The music started playing and I began to walk down the aisle with my father.

When he gave me away, Jean-Paul stood there with a smile spread wide across his handsome face. My father stepped back and I could see him swiftly wiping tears from his eyes.

Jean-Paul began to recite his vows that he wrote for me.

When it came time for me to say my vows, I just couldn't do it. Heat crept upon my face, coloring it a scarlet hue.

"I can't," I whispered before I ran back down the aisle and out of sight.

I ran to the bathroom of the church crying as tears streamed down my face. I couldn't understand why I feared getting married. I was afraid that I couldn't be the wife that Jean-Paul would need. Maybe I was the reason he was making a terrible mistake leaving his mother like he was. For some reason, I had cold feet. I just couldn't go through the wedding. I feared that I may never be ready for marriage.

"I'm so sorry!" I yelled as Jean-Paul's voice brought me out of sleep.

"Sorry for what?" he asked.

I sat up in bed and got up softly making my way into the kitchen. Jean-Paul followed behind me.

"Are you okay? You seemed like you were having another pretty intense dream."

"Yes, I was. I dreamt that I had cold feet and ran down the aisle opposite from you. We didn't get married. I don't want that to happen in real life," I said, my voice small. I kept my gaze trained on the floor, unable to bear looking at Jean-Paul.

I finally broke down and told Jean-Paul. He came over to where I was and pulled me closer into a hug.

"Everything will be just fine, Blakely. Any fears that you have about anything, push them aside. We have wanted this moment for a long time. It's finally time to make our lives about each other. I made the decision to come back and snatch up the love of my life. I promised I would never let you go. And I won't," he vowed, looking fervently into my eyes. "It's me and you against the world mon chéri. You will be the best wife to me. I just know you will. You have a lot of your Mom in you. I could see it plain as day when we were there at their house for Christmas. I love you, Blakely Ann."

At that moment, every worry I had melted away. Jean-Paul's reassurance was all I needed to remind me I was doing the perfect thing. After all, love like Jean-Paul and I have is a rare kind of love. Like the kind of love that my parents have.

After the comfort of Jean-Paul, I knew I was ready to take his last name. I just hoped that I wouldn't have cold feet when the real wedding would be upon us.

Jean-Paul and I decided to enjoy the rest of the day at the apartment because I would have to go back to work the next day, which would be the day I would ask Belle and Nina to be my bridesmaids.

Jean-Paul and I made some brunch before heading to the coffee shop to grab a drink to go. We decided to make it a weekly thing from now on, since it was the place where our relationship first started.

After I ordered an iced caramel latte and Jean-Paul ordered a fruit smoothie, we went back to the apartment and sat around watching Hallmark movies until dinner time. For dinner, I pulled out the meatloaf I had prepared and put together the night before. I stuck it into the oven to bake for a couple of hours.

Jean-Paul hand-peeled potatoes for homemade mashed potatoes. I also decided to make green beans and rolls.

After the meatloaf was finished baking, I took it out of the oven and set it on a towel on top of the kitchen island. I drained the water on the potatoes and added milk, salt, butter, and mayo and whipped it all up together.

I placed the rest of the food on the kitchen island and I began to make myself and Jean-Paul a plate.

We sat down at the dinner table and began to eat. Jean-Paul grabbed my hand and placed a gentle kiss upon it.

"Thank you for preparing this wonderful meal. I had no idea you had prepared anything until you pulled it out of the refrigerator."

"I hope you enjoy it, it's my Mom's recipe," I responded.

We ate in silence before we walked into the bedroom and got back under the covers and fell into a deep slumber.

Six AM came fast, and before I knew it it was time to get up and get ready for work. Instead of taking a shower in the morning, I had decided to take one when I get home from work later in the evening.

I walked into the bedroom and pulled a black tunic and jeans out of the closet, and slipped my ballet shoes on. I tiptoed the bedroom and quietly walked out of the door to go to work.

The trip to work was faster than normal. I guess because I was just too excited to ask Nina and Belle about being my bridesmaids.

I finally parked my car and made my way inside. Nina nor Belle was in the front of the office so I walked back into the lounge area.

"SURPRISE!" Everyone yelled out as they blew into party horns.

I jumped, startled by the noise. I looked around the room and there were a banner and balloons all around.

"What is this all about?" I asked.

"The office talks. Everyone knows about this French hunk now and everyone knows you are getting married. Congratulations," Doctor Lynch said as she pulled me in for a hug.

"Thank you, everyone. This means so much to me," I said smiling.

The lounge soon cleared and I told Nina and Belle to stay back.

"I have something for both of you," I called to them.

I gave them each a card that was gold tinfoil on the front that opens to read a message. The message I wrote to them said:

Dear Nina/Belle,

We have grown to become great friends both at work and outside of work. I hope you will join me on my wedding day as I say I do. I have prayed for a friend like you. Will you be my bridesmaid?

"YES," they both exclaimed in a happy and exciting tone. They both pulled me in for a group hug.

"I was hoping you both would say yes," I said with a grin.

"After work, you must spill all of the details of this wedding. I can tell it's going to be gorgeous," Nina whispered.

We walked out of the lounge, and started working. At the end of the workday, I had decided to fill Belle and Nina in on the details that Jean-Paul and I had worked out.

"Well, I asked my mother yesterday to be my maid of honor. I had Jean-Paul to video chat his mom last night and ask her if she would be one of my bridesmaids. Jean-Paul is going to talk to his best guy friends in Paris and ask them to be his best man and groomsmen."

"What colors have you decided on?" Belle asked.

"Well, we decided on gold and maroon even though it won't be a fall wedding. We have decided to get married on April the twenty-fifth."

Belle and Nina oohed and ahhed as we walked out of the office and to our cars to go home for the day.

The wedding was coming together better than I could have thought possible. I just hoped that I wouldn't get cold feet as I had dreamed about.