“Ari is an idiot. A total, complete, and utter ass to let you go.”
I smiled again, but this time it was full of sadness. Hayden’s words were all well and good, but the truth was that Ari had let me go. He’d discarded me for someone better, someone easier...someone with a tail and he’d not even had the balls to come tell me face to face.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m over it. How many people are you expecting to come to the wedding?” I changed the subject quickly, hoping that he wouldn’t bring up Ari again. I didn’t want to talk about him, at least, not with Hayden.
Hayden stared back at me, his eyes unblinking. “It does matter Erica. Of course, it matters. You’ve been through so much in such a short time, and then that unfeeling cad goes and does that to you? If I could swim underwater, I’d go down there and...”
I gave a small laugh. The whole thing was moot. Hayden couldn’t swim underwater, so there was no point talking about it.
“There’s nothing you can do, and I don’t need you to fight my battles for me. The past is the past, and it’s the future of Trifork I have to look out for now.”
Hayden brought himself closer to me and wrapped his arms around me tightly. I held myself together. I’d shed enough tears, and it was about time I grew up.
Two Jobs and a Blind Date
The very next morning, the opportunity for me to do just that arose in a most unexpected way. I was having breakfast alone in the small dining room when my mother joined me.
“Can I have some more food, please?” I asked the maid as my mother took a seat beside me.
“Just coffee will be good, thanks,” my mother said to the maid’s back as she retreated. After turning to me, she added, “I’m not feeling too hungry. I’ve been thinking about your coronation.”
“Hmmm,” I answered, taking a bite out of a croissant smothered in jam.
“There is still time to find someone. John tells me that it has been put back again which makes me think that fate is working in your favor.”
I knit my brows together, not comprehending at all what she meant.
“Find someone for what?” I asked flakes of pastry dropping from my mouth. I picked up my napkin and dabbed my mouth waiting for an inevitable reprimand for not eating in a ladylike manner.
When she answered, it was much worse than a telling off.
“A partner... a man to stand by your side as you walk up the aisle.”
“You want me to find a man and marry him before my coronation? It hasn’t been put off that long.”
She gave me one of her stern looks. “Don’t be silly, dear. I’m not suggesting you marry someone...not right away, anyway, but it’s a difficult job, ruling a kingdom, and I’d like to think you’ll have some help.”
“I have help,” I argued back. “I have John and Anthony and you.”
“Yes, and I’m sure we’ll help in whatever way we can, but you’ll need the emotional support only a partner can give. It’s a lonely life being queen and once you officially take that title, finding a man will drop to a very low priority. Why not do it now and get it over and done with?”
Get it over and done with? She made it sound like a trip to the dentist but a whole lot less appealing.
She took my silence as me thinking about it and continued. “I know you had a thing for Ari. He was a nice boy, well, until...you know. It’s Hayden and Astrid’s wedding next week. Will you think about taking someone as a date?”
I raised a brow and tried to keep a lump in my throat from cutting off my airway at the mention of Ari. “You just said it yourself. It’s next week. Seven days away. The only guys I’ve ever known are Ari and Hayden, and I’m pretty sure Astrid wouldn’t take kindly to me asking Hayden as my date to his own wedding.”
She waved her hand in my direction. “Stop it. I have someone for you to take. He’s a nice young man from a good family.”
“Fine!” I replied, standing up from the table. I hated the fact that the mere mention of Ari had my heart feeling like a stone was squeezing my chest. I needed to think about something...or someone else. Besides, I didn’t have the energy to argue with her about it.
“Don’t you want to know about him?” she asked as I headed for the door.
“Not especially.” I figured I’d find out when I met the guy, and I couldn’t for the life of me think that I’d be interested in him at all. It was easy for my mother to throw men my way, just as it was easy for me to say that I was over Ari, but the truth was that I wasn’t over Ari. Nowhere near it.
“His name is Josh!” she called out as I left the room.
She spent the rest of the week in a complete panic, having taken it upon herself to organize the wedding as well as my coronation. She complained at every given opportunity about the shortness of time she had to prepare everything, although everyone knew she relished the responsibility. She knew how to throw a great party which was just as well, really, as my only contribution to the big day was to make sure one of my ships was in dock at the right time.
I spent the week trying not to think about either Ari or this Josh person
On the day itself, I left Anthony and John in charge and headed down to the main hall where my mother had told me to go.
The entire place was a hive of activity, with all the food from the kitchens being brought up on trays covered in film to keep the air getting to them. Various staff members bustled about picking them up one by one and taking them someplace through one of the doors.
“Where are they going?” I wondered aloud.
“Ah there, you are. Come over here.” My mother appeared at my side and took my hand, leading me to the last seat in a row. She looked a little peaky which was hardly a surprise. She’d barely stopped since the wedding was announced. If I’d put in the amount of effort she’d done to make this wedding a huge event, I’d probably have died of exhaustion. I was tired just thinking about it.
The bridesmaids each had a seat, and both Astrid’s and Hayden’s mothers were seated on the other end, gossiping while a team of hairdressers and beauticians worked on them. My mother pushed me into the chair beside the one occupied by Astrid and beckoned one of the beauticians over.
Astrid already had her hair done. The blue-green waves she usually wore had been pinned back in a half updo. Her hair still cascaded down her back, but it was pulled back out of her face with a diamond hair clip.
They’d just started working on her face, but she didn’t need makeup, she was naturally beautiful.
“You could go as you are and still be the most beautiful woman in the place,” I commented as a woman with a comb and pair of scissors attacked my unruly hair.
Astrid glanced my way and grinned. “Don’t be trying to upstage me, Erica.”
“You need some color to balance the green hair,” added the makeup artist who was in the process of painting her lips. “Otherwise you’ll look washed out.”
I wanted to point out that I was only joking, but I had a feeling that the woman wouldn’t care.
When we were all finished, a large mirror was brought out to us so we could see ourselves. The food had already been delivered to the ship as had a huge sailor-themed cake I’d seen the servants walk past us with, so we were left alone to dress.
Astrid looked simply stunning in her nautical-themed dress paired with a veil made of netting. On anyone else, her outfit would have looked weird, but on her it was perfect. It suited her personality to a tee. Beside her, I scrubbed up pretty well myself.
Astrid draped her hand across my shoulder. “I can’t believe I’m getting married today. I’m so glad I could share this day with you. I only wish...”
She didn’t have to finish the sentence for me to know what it was she wanted to say. She wished I had someone, Ari perhaps. I hadn’t told her about Josh. I’d spent the week trying not to feel dread about my upcoming blind date. It was something I’d regretted saying yes to ever since I had done it.
“I’m just amazed Hayden could fin
d someone who’d stay with him,” I teased. She gave me a playful pat on the arm.
As I gazed at the pair of us in the mirror, I had a flash of myself in a wedding dress standing next to Ari. If I could have moved my legs more than a couple of inches in the mermaid dress Astrid had put me in, I would have tried to kick myself.
“No more dilly-dallying, you two. It’s time to go.” My mother herded us all out of the grand hall to a waiting bus. It was painted white, and the windows were covered so no one could take a sneaky photo of us.
“We are going on a bus?” I arched an eyebrow at my mother who was busy ushering the younger bridesmaids onboard.
“What else would have gotten us of all to the dock? I’ve arranged a tent for us to drive into to walk through to get onto the ship so the media doesn’t catch sight of the bride.”
As usual, she’d thought of everything. I held Astrid’s hand as we completed the small journey, each of us lost in our own thoughts. The tent my mother had mentioned was more of a fabric walkway from one end of the dock where we parked the bus, to the ship itself.
Once inside the ship, we were shown to the captain’s quarters, while the guests and Hayden were in the main hall of the ship waiting for us, presumably along with the mysterious Josh. We had no fixed destination, but the plan was to sail for an hour until the shore was barely visible and perform the ceremony there. It was so romantic. The windows onboard were also covered to stop the media from getting any photos just as they had been on the bus. It made sense, but it also meant I couldn’t see where we were going. I was going to miss out on watching the sea below us.
As the ship began to move, I felt a small thrill of panic. The last time I’d been on a ship as big as this, it had gone down in a storm created by the sea witch. I told myself that the witch was dead, and no storms had been forecast, but I couldn’t help feeling that I was putting myself in danger. I looked across to my mother. She obviously felt the same way. Having not been out to sea in eighteen years due to her fear of water, this was a momentous occasion for her. Not even since she found out about the sea witch’s demise had she ventured out into the water. I felt such pride watching how well she was handling it even though she looked a little green around the gills so to speak.
“I have a gift for you,” Astrid said excitedly pushing a gift-wrapped circular box into my hands and taking my attention away from my mother.
“I wasn’t expecting a gift,” I replied, looking down at the exquisitely wrapped box with a blue ribbon around it. “Aren’t I supposed to be the one giving you a gift?”
“There’s been a slight change of plans.”
I gave her a quizzical look. Change of plans? “What do you mean?”
“Just open it!” She was practically jumping up and down with excitement. Whatever was in the box must be good.
I opened it quickly, throwing the wrapping on the floor and eliciting a stern look from my mother in the process. Inside the box was a top hat. I pulled it out, wondering if there was anything else, but beneath the hat, the box was empty.
“I don’t get it!”
“You are my chief bridesmaid.” She rocked forward and backward on her heels, barely containing her excitement.
“I know,” I answered slowly, wondering where this was leading and what possible use I could have for a top hat.
“But you are also Hayden’s best man.”
I looked at her quizzically.
“Think about it,” she continued, taking the hat from my hands and placing it lightly atop my head so as not to mess up my hairdo. “He’s your best friend. Who else would he choose? We both wanted you, but instead of arguing who should get you, we decided to share.”
I laughed at her. This was the most untraditional wedding I’d ever been to. I loved it! If it wasn’t for everything else going on in my life and the fact I had a blind date coming up, I’d have almost felt happy. The weight on my chest lifted as I took in her expression.
“Ok, I’m up for it. Does this mean I should go down to the hall?” I asked, unsure of what exactly my duties were now.
“Go!” she grinned at me, shooing her hands in my general direction.
As I headed for the door, I caught a glimpse of my mother. She looked even worse than she had before, and I wondered if it was possible for mermaids to get seasick. As I headed down the stairs to join Hayden, my heart inexplicably soared. The weight on my chest, which had lifted slightly when Astrid passed me my top hat, was now gone completely leaving me feeling as light as a feather. It was a curious feeling to have, seeing as only moments before sadness had been fighting for dominance over the fear of having to come up with small talk for my blind date.
It was then that I realized we’d be passing over Havfrue about now. The happiness I was feeling was only partly to do with Astrid and Hayden. No. The sudden lurch of my heart was because I was the closest I’d been in weeks to the man I was bonded to. However the magic worked, it was doing its job now, making me feel giddy and slightly sick. Directly below me, he would be there with his new girlfriend. Just like that, my heart changed direction and plummeted downward.
I sucked in a deep breath to center myself and opened the doors to the main hall. All at once, a hundred heads turned to look my way. As they began to stand, I realized that they thought Astrid was on her way.
“No! Sit down. I’m not a bridesmaid!” I hurried up the aisle, flapping my arms in a downward motion to get them all to sit. “I’m the best man!” I added, feeling somewhat foolish.
“Nice entrance, Erica. Subtle!” Hayden grinned as I took a spot by his side.
I threw him a dirty look and smoothed down my dress. “Have you got the rings? Because up until two minutes ago, I didn’t even know I was doing this job.” I hissed in his ear.
I kept my voice low, aware that there were rows and rows of people eagerly awaiting the bride within earshot. I glanced up at them, seeing a general state of confusion with some people sitting back down, and some still standing, unsure of what they were supposed to do.
“She’ll be coming when the music starts,” I pointed out. About halfway back next to the aisle, a young man with dirty-blond hair and steel gray eyes winked at me. I opened my mouth in shock at his rudeness but was then elbowed by Hayden, trying to get my attention.
As I looked over at him, he tapped his top pocket where there was a square bulge. He pulled out the ring box and handed it to me. As I had no pockets on the dress, I had to hold onto it.
“Thank you,” Hayden whispered as the wedding march began to play. Astrid glided up the aisle like the crazy green-haired angel she was, followed by the rest of the bridesmaids. As she got to the front, she passed me my lilies and pulled my hat from my head. I guess I was back to being chief bridesmaid again.
The ceremony went beautifully, and once it was over, the food was brought out. My heart jumped all over the place, vacillating between extreme joy and sadness. I couldn’t keep myself together, my brain in one place. Even throughout the speeches of which I now had two to give, my mind kept flowing back to Ari no matter how hard I tried to keep him out of it.
“You should start dating again,” my mother commented once I’d sat back down.
Oh crap. I’d completely forgotten about my blind date. So it seemed had my mother even though she was the one who’d set the whole thing up. With any luck, she’d forgotten. She had a glass of champagne next to her that hadn’t been touched, but the way she sounded when she spoke made me think that the glass was not her first. Her words were slurred. Only slightly, but I picked up on it. She had gone from green to gray in color and didn’t look too well.
“Are you feeling alright?” I asked her, wondering if it was the fear of the ocean or the alcohol that was making her appear the way she did.
“I’m fine, just a bit overwhelmed. I have a bit of a headache,” she replied, the slur much more prominent this time. I pulled the champagne away from her.
“I saw a bed in the captain’s quarters. Maybe yo
u should lie down for a while.”
She looked like she was about to argue but then nodded. “Maybe you are right. I’ve felt better.”
As I helped her back up the stairs to the captain’s quarters, she mentioned me dating again.
“So Hayden is married...and not to you.”
“Please don’t start. You know that Hayden and Astrid are perfect for each other. Not that I was ever interested in the first place.”
“I’m not starting anything,” she argued. I noticed that she was leaning on me more and more heavily with each step. Just how much had she had to drink?
“But you will be the official ruler of Trifork soon, and you’ll find it much easier with a man by your side. Your father always told me that he wouldn’t be able to do it without me.”
Blue Water (A Little Mermaid Reverse Fairytale Book 2) Page 6