Conform or Suffer: The Darkness of Beauty

Chapter 30 Crown of Flowers

The Brownstone at 7:00 p.m.

*

Grew-Ella's white dress twinkled with flecks of blue crystals sewn into the corseted bodice. She adjusted a crown of silk flowers.

Karen and Madd-Ox sat in the seat next to Dot. They opened the incense box.

All three lit the traditional, orange-scented wedding incense. Purple and orange smoke lifted to the sky, taking with it any malevolent spirits that wished to harm the couple.

Avery-Joy, as the best gal, trailed behind the wedding couple with a handful of paper moths.

Quig and Grew-Ella placed their hands over each other to feel their hearts beating. They recited their vows in unison. "Hearts connected as one."

Grew-Ella kissed him, and the pressure of his soft lips against hers felt nicer than she hoped. Her mouth trembled. 'We practiced a little too much,' she thought to herself.

"Everyone is staring at you because you're breathtaking," Quig said.

"You clean up well yourself." She clutched him even more tightly.

Most of her family attended the wedding, including her birth mother.

Wedding singers sang an unusual medley from some long-forgotten TV musical for the guests, and their voices were beautiful.

Madd-Ox and Trent's daughter, Delia Orchid, sang next, and they stared into each other's eyes while they sang Everybody Loves My Baby.

"Time for the DJ," Madd-Ox said to the guests.

Guests pushed their chairs back. Quig wrapped his arm around Grew-Ella's waist. For a moment, they forgot to be nervous and danced for a half-hour.

They accidentally bumped into Madd-Ox.

"Sorry," Grew-Ella said.

"You're too in love to notice." Delia touched her auburn hair to make sure it wasn't out of place and straightened her modest, muted green ball gown.

Karen brought out a pinata, and guests hit it until packets of gum fell to the floor.

Grew-Ella hugged her. "Mom, I haven't spoken to my first mother, and I don't want her to think I'm ignoring her."

"She's staying overnight and heading to bed already. Chat with her in the morning," Karen said.

Grew-Ella's Parents' Brownstone at 10:50 p.m.

*

Grew-Ella guided Quig to the guest bedroom.

He stayed overnight at his in-laws. "We'll go on public dates tomorrow and Monday. You're eating breakfast with your mom without me while I prepare our apartment for your arrival. Then I'll take you on an indoor picnic."

He sat on the wood floor and gave Grew-Ella the massive, quilted bed, but she felt guilty and slept on the closet floor as the rain beat down on the roof and windows.

Nightmares of her wedding filled Grew-Ella's mind.

Zill wrapped chains around her wrist. "You hoped I wouldn't find out."

Quig and Madd-Ox reached for her, but Vex's guards held them down.

"Leave them be." Dot scratched at her brother's attackers.

Grew-Ella kicked a chair, and the heavy wood shattered when it hit the wall.

Rodrick's lips trembled, and he hugged Grew-Ella. "Nothing is your fault."

Zill growled at her. "Stop fighting."

She and three of Vex's guards dragged her out of the side door and shoved her into a limo.

Chase smiled at her but didn't speak. He pointed wildly at Grew-Ella.

"We won," Zill said.

Yoleta broke into their camper, and she punched Chase in the knee.

Zill's lips spread into a grin as she slugged Yoleta in the face. "I'm stronger than you."

Yoleta turned on her temporal watch. "But I'm cheating. I'll change the wedding date, not that we'll remember."

*

Grew-Ella awoke, dressed, and left before Quig opened his eyes. She chatted with Karen and her bio mom, over mint tea, while Quig showered.

Her wings were larger than her ex-husband's and a dark but vibrant blue.

Quig entered the den an hour later. He sipped a cup of chocolate mint tea and stumbled over his words. "Grew-Ella, you look fantastic." His fingers moved her brown hair out of her face.

"I'm not wearing any cosmetics," she said.

He grinned at her.

Yoleta entered the home before Quig stepped out to leave, and Chase and Zill darted behind her and thrust a milkshake in Grew-Ella's face. "Sis, I bought you a gift."

"No, thank you," Grew-Ella said.

"Don't be rude." Zill attempted to pour it into her sister's mouth.

Yoleta took the shake and discarded it into the trash. "Leave her alone. Who knows what garbage it's spiked with? I'm no longer giving you the benefit of the doubt just because you're pretty." She turned around. Lumps the size of half a child's thumbnail swelled on her left cheek, but they vanished.

"Why is Chase here? Grew-Ella isn't interested in being his side chick." Zill's mother said. "Dot emailed me about his kidnapping stunt in the parking lot! Refusing to void the engagement contract after he cheated on her is cruel."

"We're trying to rescue her from Quig." Zill opened her purse, dabbed perfume on her neck, and hugged her mom.

"Chase desires multiple women, not Quig. He even hits on Junior's sister. Paul and I had problems, but neither of us was creepy," her mom said.

Zill broke away from the hug and hit Yoleta with the strap of her purse. "I barely left, and you told us we had plenty of time, but Colonel Ghoul Flint was flying around in circles. Both of you prevented me from stopping this travesty of a wedding."

Yoleta's mouth pulled upwards after a few seconds. "Oh, come on, you're accusing me and Ghoul Flint's family of purposely making sure you couldn't show up. Flint was at the wedding. How could he keep you from it?"

Chase stared at Grew-Ella's stomach as he talked to Quig. "Why did you marry Grew-Ella? Zill told you we were picking her up."

"She can marry anyone she desires." Zill's mother stepped toward the door. "Karen, I'll call you."

"You two are always late, and that isn't their fault," Yoleta said.

"Yes, it is." Zill peeked into Grew-Ella's messenger bag while no one was looking and handled her phone.