Bound To You

Chapter 3

Juan

I squinted against the afternoon sun, watching all the guests bustle about to find seats. The band was readying itself on the left, the servants readying the banquet about five steps away to the right. This ceremony was going to be short and simple.

I just wanted to get it over with.

I glanced around impatiently. The wedding was about to start and my parents still hadn't emerged. I'd seen the black SUV pull up to the gates, but my best friend and best man, Hulio, had grabbed me by the collar and hauled me away before I could get a glimpse of her. She'd most likely been escorted into the house by them.

Now he stood behind me, along with three other friends of ours from school, and gazed at the crowd that had gathered to witness my nuptials.

After about ten minutes, everyone settled down, tense anticipation settling over them like a cloud. Finally. It was time.

My parents finally appeared, walking out the front door and making their way to where I stood a little way from the crowd.

The band began playing music just as my parents reached my side, my father conveying that they were ready when I was through a single nod. I nodded back, then turned and began walking to the aisle.

We paused as Valeria's mother walked down the aisle slowly and gracefully, head held high, shoulders back. Her gown rippled in the breeze, diamonds glinting in the sunlight.

I walked down the aisle a little quicker than most people would, my parents on either side of me. My friends already stood at their designated places as I stepped onto the altar.

Then the bridesmaids followed, all three of them walking nimbly. Then the maid of honour, Valeria's younger sister, Carla. It would have been impossible to guess that she and Valeria were sisters had it not been for the amber eyes they shared. She kept her eyes on the ground, her caramel hair unbound and falling around her fair face. She wore a light pink dress with only thin chains of gold for jewellery, and pink silk shoes.

I felt Hulio shift on his feet. I threw him a glance over my shoulder to find him staring at the girl. His face revealed nothing, but we had been friends for far too long not to see the mixture of surprise and hunger in his gaze. This was the first I was seeing of Carla, and I assumed he was too.

Well, I didn't have time to ponder over it now. I refocused my attention to the aisle.

'Here Comes The Bride' softly wove through the air, everybody rising and twisting to see her arrive.

Despite myself and against my will, anticipation coursed through me. I found myself craning my neck just a little, hoping to catch a glimpse of her. Impatience gripped me as the seconds ticked by. Where was she?

Vanillos appeared first, body half angled towards the aisle, head turned away from the crowd as he presumably stared at his daughter. He paused to say something to her, his head dipping slightly, then turned to face us with a broad smile, stepping into the aisle. And bringing with him his daughter. My bride.

She was gorgeous.

I blinked, my mind going blank, naked surprise coating my face as I beheld her sparkling form. There was no other word, no other description I could possibly use for her. She looked near ethereal as she walked down the aisle. She kept her eyes trained on her feet, but I sensed that she wasn't trying to avoid my gaze. She was trying not to trip and fall.

An unwelcomed, unwanted smile curved my lips for only a second before I pressed them into a thin line, effectively quelling it. Shut up and stop acting crazy, Juan.

When she was about three steps away from the dais, she looked up.

Our gazes met. And held.

My earlier expression of surprise now coated her face, her blink a near twin to mine. She regained her bearings only a minute later, then slid her arm out of the crook of her father's elbow. Vanillos strode over to his wife and took his seat without so much as a backward glance at his daughter.

I saw my parents stare at him in shock. I had to control my own incredulous expression. I was smart enough to know that I had been blessed with exceptional parents. They were always loving, caring, thoughtful, and always there for me, despite this wedding fiasco. My father had been firm in his decision, but he'd still be sympathetic.

Any father would be at least a little emotional over handing his daughter over to her husband, parting with her in such a permanent way. Vanillos only watched with cool indifference as Valeria stepped onto the altar and turned to face me.

Her expression was guarded like she had wanted to see how I felt about the wedding and react accordingly. I regarded her closely, then turned my attention to the pastor who was officiating our wedding.

"We are gathered here today . . ." I lost track of what he was saying, imagining the fast-approaching future where all this would be over and there would be food. And cake.

He paused, looking at me expectantly, and I snapped back into reality. "I do," I said, trying to sound serious rather than sleepy.

The pastor gave me a satisfied nod and a smile, then asked Valeria whether she took me as her lawfully wedded husband.

A pause. Then I felt an odd sense of foreboding. Something shifting. My gut tugged at me, and I automatically looked at Valeria.

She was looking at me with the strangest expression on her face. Something akin to wonder and . . . hope?

"I do," she said, slowly.

The words hung between us, time slowing down so that the next three seconds seemed to stretch as though they were three minutes. No one seemed to notice a thing.

In those three seconds, she blinked, looking at me in shock as though she couldn't believe we had actually gone through with the wedding. Then I saw it set in, the realization that we actually had gone through with the wedding. And then . . .

She smiled.

A pure, happy, radiant smile of pure joy. And relief. My stomach did a backflip, and before I knew it, I found myself answering her smile with a hesitant one of my own.