Their First Mistake | Book 5

epilogue

Karma Ali- De ' Luca

I stare down at my henna covered hands.

My nerves were through the roof. Last night, after all the girls, my mother, and grandmother left my room last night after my henna party, I barely got a wink of sleep.

My grandmother wasn't too keen on the fact that I'd agreed to having a small wedding, not giving her much to work with the traditions that she wanted to incorporate into my wedding, so she insisted on a henna night and picking out my wedding dress. Which I didn't mind, the woman had great taste.

And given that I wasn't very religious in the first place, she didn't put up that much of an argument when she discovered that we'd chosen a Catholic priest to officiate the wedding. Alessio wasn't that much of a religious person either but he was still raised Catholic for half of his life.

While my grandmother would've loved to have more of our traditions incorporated into the wedding, she respected that I wanted a small, intimate wedding and didn't want to bump heads during my special day, so we compromised.

Instead of choosing a traditional dress like I thought she would, she went the more modern route. When trying on wedding dresses, I expected her to choose one of the millions of big puffy wedding dresses, instead she chose a crystal beaded dress with a detachable train. The dress had lace detailing all over it. The sleeves were long, the lace flowing into the v of the sweet-heart neckline. My hair was down in curls, a crown with a veil attached to it sat atop my head.

My jewelry consisted of a matching gold set by my mother, a necklace and earrings that she wore on her wedding day. My makeup was natural with gold accents. My nails were the classic french-tip, except I preferred almond over square.

'' Are you ready?'' My father appeared beside me as I stared out the window of the back yard. The Chateau we'd chosen for the wedding had over 3 hectares of land. The view from my window overlooked the gardens where about fifty chairs were set up. I could see Alessio's blurry figure standing at the altar with his brothers and cousins lined up at his side.

'' More than ever. Just a little nervous,'' I giggle, trying to calm down the nerves crashing through my body like waves. Hooking my arms around his, we began to walk, '' were you nervous on your wedding day?''

'' Of course.'' His statement helping to calm me down a little.'' Although your grandmother actually had her way with that one. It was your traditional Saudi Arabian wedding. Your grandmother planned the whole thing while your mother couldn't have cared less about any of it. If she could've had her way, we would've snuck off and got married in a courthouse.''

'' I'm sure she would've had a heart attack if you would've done that.'' I laughed as we walked down the steps of the terrace.

'' And we would have never heard the end of it. You got lucky,'' he nudged me.'' Back then she was much more persistent to get her way.''