What If

Chapter 2

I felt like the life was being squeezed out of me.

My head maid, Anne, was pulling the strings on my corset, tightening them. I literally couldn't breathe.

"Suck it in M'lady, I know it's tight, but it's going to look beautiful." She cheered, urging me on to follow her demands.

I breathed in as much as I could, and she gave one last pull, a squeal escaping me, then tied the corset in the back.

"See!" She exclaimed, "now you're shaped perfectly for your dress!"

"Great," I replied, out of breath.

Anne went over to my closet, and pulled out the beautiful red dress from earlier.

In one swift move, she slid the dress over my head, and onto my perfectly shaped body. And I had to admit, looking in the mirror, I did have quite a figure in this dress. It hugged my curves in all the right places, giving me a perfect shape.

"Wow." Is all I managed, before my mother came in, bearing gifts.

"Oh," she said, taken back, "Emma, you look... Stunning." My mother smiled, then ran over to me and embraced me in a tight hug.

"Thank you," I replied, looking at her beautiful deep blue dress, the bow on it encasing her entire waist. I pulled back looking at the bags in her hands, "what are those?"

She was beaming, "Oh, almost forgot!" My mother reached into one of the bags, and pulled out a brown box, "Here, it's a gift from your father and I." She handed me the box, and I took it over to my bed setting it down.

I opened the box, and found a necklace, it's centerpiece was a sparkling diamond bird, a swan. I stood there, running my fingers over the dazzling bird.

"Well?" My mother spoke, "Do you like it?"

I turned to her, necklace in hand, "Like it?" I asked, "I love it!" I ran into my mothers arms, and embraced her once more, holding her with as much love as I could possibly muster. After some time in a comfortable silence, I pulled back and smiled, "Could you put it on for me?"

She nodded, and I turned around, lifting up my uncombed hair. I felt her wrap the necklace around my throat, and then hook it in the back. I looked down at the swan, it was stunning.

"Mother?" I asked, turning towards her, "why a swan? Is there a meaning behind it?"

"Well, it seems that you and the bird are quite similar." I looked at her, confused, "Swans are known to have a charm about them, like you, and a certain gracefulness in everything they do, like you, and they are pure in every way... Exactly like you," she smiled at her declaration and I was simply stunned by her sincerity. If anything, my mother had exactly described herself, which she was absolute perfection, but the fact she was trying to describe me, it was just overwhelming.

My eyes surprisingly started tearing up, and I almost never cried, except for these few rare occasions, "You really think of me like that?" I wondered, amazed.

"Of course I do honey," she replied, "I would never think anything less. I love you." She leaned down and kissed my forehead, both of us smiling at the gesture. She then hugged me one last time before my maid came back in. Whom I didn't even realize left.

I smiled, "I love you more."

Then she smiled again, catching on, "I love you most."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Coronation Ball was just minutes away. It's not tradition, but our kingdom decided to have the ball before the actual Coronation.

I could feel my heart flutter at just the thought of becoming queen. Or the thought that I'll be turning 21 in just a matter of hours. It seems like it's happening all to fast.