Meet Ya at the Altar

5. Wedding # 2

Wedding 2

Though her dad  linked his arm through Bella's, Charlie raised a brow at his only daughter, as though the  obvious doubt on his face was going to change her  mind. He knew better, but being her father, Bella supposed he had to try. "I don't care about the contract, Bells. We can figure a way out of it."

Trust the process.

Bella wanted to echo those words to him. Angela, her maid of honor, floating like an angel before her, the experts, the producers, hell, even her makeup and hair gal said those words as she fidgeted in the chair just moments before. She wanted to believe those were words she could believe in.

She just had to trust.

The wedding march began, and she inhaled and exhaled, following behind Jessica, who wasn't really her friend but was enthusiastically supported by her being on television - probably because that meant Jessica got to be on TV as well. And though Angela, serving as her maid of honor, doing justice to the pink gown Bella had  half-heartedly chosen with her help, was nice enough and they shared a love for reading and enjoyed each other's company from time to time, Bella wished Alice were there. She had barely received more than a text about her own nuptials.

All is well.

Alice had sent that along with a smiling emoji. Alice and Bella both understood the conditions of their being here. Their texts were monitored to ensure the integrity of the experiment. In fact, Bella was still amused that they referred to this process as a "social experiment." Except they weren't rats in a maze; they were humans with feelings and thoughts and emotions. With hearts and pasts and hopes and dreams.

Please be him, she thought as they made their way down the aisle. Her groom wasn't  at the altar yet, which the show planned for effect. Absolutely no peeking, the producer had told them, so it would be 100 percent surprise. That was okay by Bella, as long as she was surprised in a good way.

Please let it be him. From the bar and the garden. Please, oh God, if you truly exist, let the man who has agreed to be such an important part of my life be the same who kissed me.

Not once in all the time she and Jake had been together had Bella ever felt it all the way to her toes.

She knew she had no right to ask or hope. She'd signed away her consent for the show to match her with whomever they judged as a good match for her. But if it could be him...

It was just a fling...if one could call it that...like Alice said. Didn't mean a thing. And it probably didn't to him. No, she thought, he probably went to one of the other conferences and was now settled back at his home in Pasadena, living his Pasadena life, not feeling out of place at all like she did.

By some miracle, she didn't trip over her dress on her descent. Her two bridesmaids took their places to the left of the minister. At once, her groom appeared, dressed in a gray tuxedo, a pink rose boutonniere on his lapel, followed by two groomsmen. Strangers. All of them.

He was not the man from the garden, and she quelled the wave of disappointment, urging herself not to let the cameras or her groom see what her heart was feeling. His dark brown hair had a hint of curl to it, a hard contrast to the bronze-tint in the other man's hair.

This man was tall, like he belonged on a basketball court or played football...or fought evil villains and saved the universe on a regular basis. Muscular, evidenced by the broad shoulders, this man was more like a lumberjack. His warm smile gave way to dimples that peeked out from his cheeks. They gave him a boyish quality - a kind face, with a hint of mischief. Her new husband, she could tell, had been around the block. He stood, meeting her eyes with an air of confidence, like he had all the faith this was going to work out.