The Beast Within

Seven

Ryland and Khiri's Wedding Day!

Today is the day. I'm getting married to my one and true love. I've been up almost all night waiting excitedly to finally marry the man I love. We're taking a trip to the Bahamas for our honeymoon for two weeks and when we get back, I'm moving into his house. Riley was texting all night, expressing his excitement.

Kora and I made up and she's still my maid of honor. She apologized for how she treated me and apologized to Riley for being so rude. She told me that she's desperately happy for me and will try to find true love instead of being bitter. Of course, I'm supporting her through it all. She's coming over this morning with Alexandria, Lucy, and Mya so they can help with my makeup. Rhyan's helping me with my dress.

My room door burst open. Alexandria, Lucy, Mya, Kora, and Rhyan all came in, piling at the end of my bed. "Get up, bitch, it's your wedding day!" Alexandria shouted, making all of them cheer. I laughed and sat up.

"Okay, let me take a shower and brush my teeth," I said.

"You also gotta eat too," Mama peeled in. "I'm making breakfast now, girls. Come down in five minutes to eat," she tells us and we all nodded.

I walked in my bathroom and stared at myself in the mirror. Today, I'm going to officially be Khiri Nia Smalls-Platte. It's honestly so unbelievable. I hopped in the shower. I showered longer than usual and when I got out, I felt so refreshed and relaxed. I washed my face and skipped brushing my teeth since I normally do so after I eat breakfast.

I got dressed in a house gown and walked back into my room to find it was empty. I assume the girls are downstairs. I walked out of my room and downstairs to see the girls sitting at the dining room table, all talking amongst themselves. Mama cooked a huge breakfast. Pancakes, toast, bacon, sausages, scrambled eggs, grits, oatmeal, fruit, and cinnamon rolls spread across the table. These are all of my favorite breakfasts meals.

"Eat up, girls," Mama said. While we all reached for some food, she stopped us. "Someone should say Grace, don't you think?" She asked. We all look amongst each other, not wanting to volunteer ourselves.

"I'll do it," Alexandria says. We all grabbed each others hands and closed our eyes. "Lord, we all wanna thank You for waking us up this morning, for making this day possible for our new bride, Khiri. We pray that her and her new husband have a wonderful life together and hopefully some babies soon," we all chuckle at that, "we ask that today is a good day with nothing going wrong today. Thank You for this beautiful day, and may we praise you. Amen."

"Amen," we all say after.

"Beautiful prayer, Alex," I tell her and she smiled. We feasted on the breakfast Mama had made. And of course it tasted delicious. After, they rushed me upstairs. The wedding started at 2pm, it was 10am, so we really need to hurry up.

Back upstairs in my room, they sat me down on my stool at my vanity. Alexandria and Rhyan were quick to do my makeup while the other girls filmed, probably posting on their IG stories. I smile as the girls give me compliments throughout the whole thing. After almost an hour, I look at myself in the mirror and I gasped. I look like a princess. Tears well up in my eyes.

"You guys, this is so pretty!" I say. "What time is it?" I asked him.

"It's now 11 o'clock," Rhyan says, "come on girl, we need to get you in your corset. You can put on some sweats and a t-shirt. We're gonna go to the venue and get you in your dress and veil. By the time that's done, the wedding should be almost starting and people should be starting to pile in."

I nodded. I got up and walked in the bathroom with Rhyan following behind. She stared at me in the mirror with the most comforting gaze. She smiles. "I'm so happy," I told her.