Royally Bounded

Chapter 118

Clara

The day of the engagement party, I was helping Rosie with the final touches in her room. My mother joined me since she was like a mother to Rosie. Rosie wanted all of her closest family members to be there with her to watch her step into another part of her life.

I stood in my leather strapped ankle heels, straightening my dress as I waited. A pearl threaded strap went over one of my shoulders. The other had the red strap from the dress. The rest of the red satin dress fell right above my knee, tightening at my waist then slightly flaring out at the skirt. It was enough to not flatter my chest or else Hayden would be staring too often.

The bathroom door unclicked. Rosie stepped out, and I turned around, having a proud smile on my face. Ivor gifted her a lilac dress for the occasion. It complimented her small frame, refined with slight details to the design. A small bow was tied at the side, and the skirt dropped to her knees.

"You're so beautiful, Rosie," I said with awe, interlacing her hands. "I'm jealous."

"What do you mean?" She asked, having a wide smile across her lips. "You were so beautiful on your engagement day too."

My mother stepped up then embraced Rosie briefly. Her eyes watered, like she was watching her second daughter get married again. My mother was close with Annisa because they were family friends, and they were pregnant at the same time with Rosie and me. When Annisa passed away, my mother suffered a lot from the loss too.

"You're so beautiful, Rosie. Annisa would be proud of you," my mother wept. I almost wanted to laugh at her little dramatic scene. She sounded more proud with Rosie than she was with me when I was engaged to Hayden.

"Thank you for being here with me, Adelaide. It means a lot to have another mother to take care of me when my own mother is gone," Rosie said appreciatively.

My mother nodded, then she went downstairs to check if Ivor arrived. I stayed back with Rosie to help her with the last little parts. She sat down on her bed and slipped on the heels that Ruth paired for her dress. They were white stilettos with light sparkles on the sides, a resemblance of Cinderella's shoes.

Rosie sat in front of her vanity with her black hair straightened out. I started combing through them gently before braiding them into a decent hairstyle.

"Thank you for being here," Rosie beamed. "I can't wait to have you do the combing tradition for me. It's going to be like having another motherly presence with me."

I laughed, shaking my head. "You make it seem like I'm old, Rosie."

"You're not old. Everyone is envious of your bliss, and I would take advantage of it when you're here with me."

I bent down to wrap my arms around her shoulders, and we smiled at each other in the mirror. I never thought that I could be here with my best friend during her engagement and wedding. It was a lot of suffering before it, but I would do it again.

As soon as I finished with the makeup for Rosie, my mother called us out since Hayden and Ivor arrived. Ivor was dressed in a full black three piece suit with a white dress shirt underneath. Golden framed glasses sat on his high nose bridge. Once his eyes landed on Rosie, a wide grin formed across his lips.

She stepped to him, her face colouring with happiness. He opened the car door for her then waved to Hayden and me as they left first. I stepped up to Hayden, and he rested against his car with his arms loosely around me. I fixed the collar of his dress shirt.

"This brings me back to when we had our engagement party," I stared up to meet his softened gaze. "You intimidated me."

He rolled his eyes, tightened his arms around my waist. "You clearly were not intimidated. You were so honoured to be engaged to me."