I placed a hand over my stomach as Sofia pointed out one dress after another to try on. She noticed my hand.
“Elly,” she whispered, “I never got the opportunity to apologize to you about…well…about assuming that you were expecting a child. I hope we didn’t insult you in any way.”
Reflexively, I pulled my hand away from my stomach and crossed both arms in front of me. “Oh no, of course not. You don’t need to apologize.” I pretended to peer at another dress.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t seem very upbeat today,” Sofia commented, picking out a lacy piece with a long tail. The front looked very exposed. I could never imagine myself walking down the aisle in it.
“I…think…I…” I was lost for words.Do I tell her that I I’m the biggest fake in the world? That she’s wasting her time looking for wedding dresses for me when she should be doing that with her real soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Laura?I wanted to. I badly wanted to. But I couldn’t formulate the words in my mouth.
“I understand,” Sofia said carefully. She replaced the dress on the rack.
A cold chill spread through me.What does she understand?
“You would rather be doing this with your mom and friends, wouldn’t you?” She almost looked apologetic saying it.
“I…erm…well, I would have liked my mom to be there when I went wedding dress shopping,” I finally offered.
But not now. I definitely don’t want my mom to be here now. To see her daughter completely mess things up, for both her own family and another. She wouldn’t even recognize the person I’ve become.
“And she won’t be attending the wedding?” Sofia took my arm, and we made our way out of the boutique. Immediately, the sun and humidity hit us like a punch.
I debated returning to the air-conditioning of the boutique until sundown. But what I was really debating was how far into the lie I would go. Although, the contract did utter the lines I was to repeat. So simple, so neutral…so icy.
“My mom is sick and can’t travel,” I said. “We’ll be going up to my hometown to hold a ceremony after this one.”
The driver was waiting for us at the end of the street in an enormous black jet of a car. I got in first and scuttled into the corner.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Elly. Please do send her our good wishes and tell her we’ll be very sad not to meet her there. Family is so important. We need to stick by them.”
For the rest of the journey home, I wished I hadn’t heard that.
CHAPTER33
ELLY
One thing I learned about the Rojas family from that first lunch was that they enjoyed their company. For the hundredth time, I thanked the angel looking over me that Sebastian had declined the offer to host our engagement party out of the immediate family circle. He may have been the odd duck of the Rojas family for being the only one who didn’t enjoy the, in his own words, “schmoozing.”
Elonzo, on the other hand, went all out. For his engagement party, he had transformed his parents’ garden into a dance floor and bar, with tuxedo-clad barmen pouring glass after glass of exotic cocktails and top-notch champagne. He and Laura were dressed in matching outfits, her in a wraparound peach dress that left her shoulders bare, him in peach trousers and crisp white button-down. I watched them from the side as they laughed and kissed and whooped as guest after guest approached them with their congratulations.
“Hey.” It was Sebastian. He came up to stand just behind my right shoulder. His shirt passed over my maroon cocktail dress, the cotton trailing over the silk of the strap across my back. We had hardly said a word to each other since the announcement of Elonzo’s engagement a few days before, and even less after I had returned from an unsuccessful wedding dress shop with his mom.
“Hey,” I whispered back. I didn’t move my eyes from Elonzo and Laura.
“You needn’t worry—they won’t be setting a date until after our wedding, so we’re still in the lead,” Sebastian said determinedly.
For just one minute, could he not think about this stupid race?
“I wasn’t thinking about that,” I muttered back to him.
Elonzo and Laura now followed their guests to the dance floor. They swayed to the samba played by the band they had invited to the party. Everyone just looked so happy.
My heart sank.Will I never be happy from now on? Did I just sell my soul to the devil and trade in any joy in life too?
“Would you like to dance?” Sebastian asked.
“What?” I turned slightly and was met by his outstretched hand.Dance? Me?
“Uh, I don’t really dance…” But Sebastian was already leading me onto the dance floor. He gently placed my hands on his shoulders. I looked at the other couples moving as if they’d been dancing all their life. I didn’t know how to do that. I stumbled and Sebastian caught me.