"Addie, I need you to remember something. You're not marrying the Swanson family. You're marrying me."
"Trust me. Three days from now, put on this dress and wait for me at home. I'll come for you."
In that moment, I was certain I'd heard the most beautiful words ever spoken.
Every doubt, every worry—I shoved them all aside and nodded, my heart brimming with hope.
Three days later, on a morning the rest of the world would have called perfectly ordinary, every dream I'd ever carried was about to come to a head.
I was an orphan. I had no parents. The only person in this world I could call family was Nora Dotson, my best friend, who'd grown up beside me in the same orphanage.
We'd entered the entertainment industry around the same time. I'd gone into acting; she'd become an entertainment reporter. We'd had each other's backs ever since.
When I stood before the mirror and slipped into that dazzling gown, Nora fastened the lace ties at my back one careful loop at a time. When she finally spoke, there was hesitation in her voice.
"Addie. Marrying Jesse Swanson—you really won't regret it?"
I frowned. "Why would you ask me that, Nora?"
I watched her draw a long breath, then point toward the trees beyond the villa. "Addie, do you have any idea how many of my colleagues are hiding in that banyan grove right now?"
"Every last one of them got tipped off. They're betting the Swanson family will look down on you and humiliate you, and they're out there waiting to splash your worst moment across tomorrow's front page."
"I'm only going to ask you once. If things are already this hard before it's even begun, do you honestly believe you and Jesse will be happy after the wedding?"
Nora's warning landed like a stone in my chest.
But when I lifted my gaze to the woman in the mirror, the unease slowly faded.
In all the time we'd been together, Jesse had never once broken a promise to me.
He had offered me the happiness I'd spent my whole life longing for. No matter how much ridicule or slander waited down the road, I was going to walk it with him.
So I gently took Nora's hand. My voice was barely a whisper, but steady as stone.
"Nora, I trust him."
Nora drew another deep breath. Finally, she tied the last ribbon into a perfect bow.
Against the glow of the morning sun, I heard her mutter through gritted teeth.
"Jesse Swanson better act like a man this time and protect you."