Pan's Tiger

Chapter 34: Worst days make Best days

Hey,
Ok, so this is the chapter before the penultimate chapter (There's probably a better way of putting that but whatever). As you can imagine, the story isn't over yet so I will start writing the next book very soon.  The next book will be called "Peter's Lily" and will be open just before Christmas so look out for it on my profile.
Please note that I won't be able to update until Christmas Eve because I am skiing, but that means I can write a couple of chapters while I'm skiing and then I will start the next book as a nice Christmas present to you 😀.
Please vote and comment.
Enjoy,
Annabelle_the_reader
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I had a nightmare that night. It was like the paint on my face, taken from the ashes of my home town, had sunk into my skin and infected my brain. It made me feel ill, like the memory of my family was haunting everything I thought of.

~ Flashback ~

As I rounded the corner, the bridesmaids trailing behind me, I didn't bother examining my surroundings. All I was doing was begging myself not to cry again and the importance of breathing, something I had recently forgotten.

The music morphed into song, a melody I instantly recognised to be Wagner's traditional march, surrounded by a flood of embellishments. Mary, Bessie and Petunia stood behind me, discussing how perfect everything was. I zoned out and focused on my breathing, knowing that in moments I would marry the person I loved the most in the world: Malcolm.

Part of me was sad by the fact that I had left my family back in Neverland. I had always dreamed of my father walking me down the aisle, even though he had beaten me, I loved him and wanted to share the day with him. But that desire was far too small to waste, particularly if I was to marry Dafara instead of the man I loved, Malcolm.

As we entered the church, I ignored the hundreds of pairs of eyes starring at me and kept my focus on the person at the end of the aisle: Malcolm.

The music volume increased, banging in my ear drums, but carelessly floated down the church to me. It was beautiful, but sounded deafening to me.

The music mixed with the aroma of millions of flowers my soon-to-be-husband's nieces and distant relative's children were scattering onto the floor. There was an assortment of colours and rainbows, but it mostly consisted of lilies. The overpowering fragrance drifted into my nostrils and almost made me sneeze, but that was not deemed proper on one's wedding day.

I ignored this and concentrated on walking and breathing, each step closing the distance between the faint outline of the back of Malcolm's head. As I approached him further, his head turned and gave me a subtle wink, a gesture only I would notice.

'Hello Tiger.' He whispered, after I had finally stood next to him and we grinned at one another, before turning our attention on the priest. Nobody else knew what my real name was, because it wasn't a conventional name to merge a flower and an animal, so I just went by he nickname of "Lily", but Malcolm loved to remind me of the thing he loved most about me: my likeness to a wild, majestic tiger.

The vows were simple and traditional, but I cherished each word as, although I knew vows were pointless because we didn't need to put into words how much we loved the other person when you both know it so well. I was so distracted by the melody of Malcolm's soft, sweetened tone that I barely noticed my time to repeat his words.

I didn't realise I was crying until the final binding words, but snuffled as I whispered (so most people in the congregation probably didn't hear me), 'I do.'

'I do.' Malcolm said loudly, giving me the largest grin I had ever seen and grasping my hands tightly into his, gently stroking each finger as if he was caressing the hands of an angel.