Excerpt: Unbreakable Vows

Prologue

“You can tilt your head back up now.”

I did as I was told and looked into the mirror to see the results of nearly three hours of hard work. My hairdresser, named Penelope, beamed at me as she waited for the expected praise. It wouldn’t be long in coming, I thought to myself as I took in my appearance with pleasure.

Normally my long so-black-as-to-have-blue-highlights hair is left loose down my back, is French-braided tight to my scull or else it is up in an elegant chignon, depending on what I am doing. My smooth, somewhat pale complexion was darkened slightly with a little foundation and maybe some eye makeup. I almost never where jewellery and I’m not into tanning beds, or even tanning naturally, come to think of it. But this had all changed for today.

My hair had been pinned and tucked up to within an inch of its life in such an artful display that even I, with my simple tastes, couldn’t complain. Tiny glass flowers with ruby centres had been placed in strategic locations throughout my pinned up tresses. Strings of three glass flowers on gold chains dangled from each ear and played peek-a-boo with curls that had been set to fall just in front of my ears. My hair was ready for a tiara.

After spending the last month in furious debate with me over my reasoning against tanning in general and tanning beds in particular, my best friend had convinced me that, for this the most special of days, I needed a full-body, even tan. As she pointed out, it didn’t have to be a dark tan, just something to darken my white skin to something more life-like, as she put it. After all, there would be photos.

As a result, my foundation was lighter than I was expecting and Penelope had only had to add the lightest of pink for a natural look in my cheeks. My eyes had been lined with black eye-liner and the lightest of blue eye-shadow in an effort to show off what little blue colour could be found in my nearly black irises. The effect was simple and understated, yet stunning in the effect. My lips had been done with a red that matched the rubies I wore.

My neck sported another glass flower with a ruby in the centre, though this one was the size of twenty-cent piece and rested just below the hollow at the base of my throat on a chain of gold designed to look like rose vines.

After a manicure and pedicure that had felt like heaven on earth, my nails had all been coated in white and glossed until they shone in the overhead lights. My entire body had been massaged using my favourite vanilla scented oil and my skin shone with the health of a body well cared for. I wasn’t tall, not at 5’5”, but I was slim and toned from plenty of exercise and lifting weights three times a week and a daily run. I also tried to fit in a swim at least twice a week, though I wasn’t always successful. Now it didn’t seem to matter how much exercise I did or didn’t manage each week; Penelope could have made a brown paper sack look gorgeous.

Movement out the corner of my eye had me turning my head to take in my best friend for longer than either of us could remember. Nicola Van Der Wynam was my height exactly, with brown hair down to the centre of her back and the palest blue eyes of anyone I knew. She had once been told that our eye colours were polar opposites and we totally agreed. Her figure was a little bigger, though if you thought for even a second that she wasn’t in shape you would be sorely mistaken. We were workout buddies as much as possible; it was a simple matter of her having a fuller figure. She almost always wore her hair up in a ponytail but today her hair had been curled. The side strands had been pulled back and clipped with glass roses minus the rubies and delicate white ribbon had been curled into the strands at the back of her head. Single roses dangled from her ears and rested in the hollow of her throat on a short silver chain.

Behind her, I could see my other two friends Emma Lucas and Tamarin Locoster waiting for the finishing touches to their hair. The ribbon being woven into their hair was going to be pale blue.

I returned my gaze to Nicola as she exchanged beaming smiles with Penelope. “She looks absolutely stunning. You’ve done an absolutely amazing job.”

Penelope clapped her hands with delight. “I’m so glad. I figured since I couldn’t be out the front standing for as long as will be required, the least I could do would be to work my magic in the best way I know how. It’s nice to know this baby I’m carrying isn’t throwing off my magic hands.”

Nicola and I shared a soft laugh. “Never sweetie; you will no doubt still have magic hands when you are eighty.”

Penelope blushed with pleasure and turned to check on her two assistants finishing up with the other girls. Nicola walked up to stand just to the right of me. “Are you ready for this? Because this is really the last chance you have to back out. Not that I’m saying that you should, but that maybe there will be more problems than you’ve anticipated. Have you told him yet?”

I shook my head and sighed. “No, I haven’t and you won’t if you want to continue to live.” I shot her a quick glare and she held up her hands in surrender. I nodded slightly and continued. “I know it won’t be easy, but I am determined. I knew the second I set eyes on him that he was the one and I have no doubt that it will never change, even when I’m eighty. As to telling him, I’ll know when the time is right and I’ll broach the subject then. Until that time, we’ll stay nice and quiet about that. Alright?”

Nicola inclined her head. “Of course. I would never presume to take it upon myself to enlighten him. Now, it looks like we are all done here, so we should head back to the bedroom to get changed. We now have approximately 2 hours until you say ‘I do’ and as you seem so determined to be the only bride on the planet set to arrive on time, we should get a move on.”

I smiled as Nicola swept out of the room with Emma and Tamarin in her wake. Penelope laughed as she packed up all her hairdressing paraphernalia and I looked down at the ring on my left hand. The whole rose theme came about as a result of my decision to match my ring. My fiancé had admitted to taking mental notes the day I’d described my dream ring and when he’d proposed six months ago, my dream had appeared as a reality in his hand as he went down on one knee in front of me.

I closed my eyes, thinking back on how I’d reached this point and I shuddered slightly. Telling him that was going to take more courage then I currently had.