Our Ending is Near (AOT Sequel)

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Nicole

It was three weeks before Chase was feeling better. It happened gradually. Each day the pain would go away bit by bit. I did my best to keep from bothering him. I did what I was told and everything went well. Magnus decided to just hire a tutor instead of sending us back to school. We'd already missed so many days it was stupid to try and catch up there.

"Which one?" Hannah asked holding out two dresses. One was a blue floor length gown with silver decals around the waist. The other was a short one shoulder red dress with the shoulder strap that flowed a bit down the back and there was a lovely sparkly silver belted waist. I pointed to the red one. "Red for the color scheme. Red, white, with silver and black mixed in. Thankfully, I was right about your taste, since I've already ordered pretty much everything." Hannah had named herself the "maid of honor" for my "wedding". She said it was because she'd done most of the work with planning and I'd never be able to decide between Natalie and Lisa. Both of which are true. Natalie, Lisa, and Kelly would be the bridesmaids. "Then the others will wear this one." She held up a short sleeveless V neck red dress with embroidered shoulders. It was nice. "I've got to go order their sizes. Hannah rushed to her phone, which sat on her nightstand, and picked it up. She somehow knew the local dress shop's number by heart.

I stood up and walked to my dress. We'd just gotten it in today. The dress shop only had to make a little size alteration, which took only two days. Hannah picked it up herself only hours ago. I sucked in a breath as I looked at it. She'd taken it out of its bag so we could look at it—after locking her door of course. I let my hand brush over the silky fabric. It was simple, which was beautiful to me. I could hardly wait to wear it. At the same time I couldn't believe I was getting married in two days. Hannah and Liza had superpowers. They'd planned this thing so fast I could barely believe it.

"Okay, everything is officially ordered," Hannah said hanging up her phone. "They'll send the dresses out today. They're so good to me." She walked to me and smiled widely. "I'm so happy to have you here with us. You have no idea how much we love you, Nicole."

She hugged me tightly and I felt my nose beginning to burn with the threat of tears. "I'm happy to be here too. I love all of you so much. I'm happy to have a family."

Hannah looked at my dress. "It's so beautiful. It's so you."

"It is," I agreed.

Hannah looked at me again, her blue eyes burning brightly. "Are you ready for all of this?" she asked.

I nodded. "I am. I can hardly believe it, but I am definitely ready."

There was a knock at Hannah's door. "It's me."

Hannah's eyes widened and she looked from the door to the dress. "Hold on a second, Chase!" After a thoughtful moment she pushed me towards the door. "Chase, back away from the door." Before either of us could reply she shoved me out of the room, opening the door only enough to get me through. I tripped and fell into Chase, bringing us both to the ground.

Laughter bubbled through my lips before I could stop it. "Sorry," I said.

Chase joined me in laughing. "Perfectly fine. I was just coming to see how everything was going."

"Yeah. Hannah's finished ordering everything and is now working on our attire for the big day."

"Our attire?"

"Hers, Natalie's, Kelly's, Lisa's, and mine," I clarified.

He nodded. "Gotcha."

"So what's decided for your attire so far?"

I wagged my finger at him. "Nu-uh, mister, I have been sworn to secrecy by your darling sister. I wouldn't want to let her down, now would I?"

He rolled his eyes. "No I suppose you wouldn't want to do that. Hannah would have a cow."

"She'd have the whole barn if I told you about my 'wedding-day attire'," I corrected.

He let out a laugh. "So are we going to lay here all day—which I'm not opposed to—or would you like to actually go do something?"

"Let's go downstairs and help with the crafting," I said after a moment of deliberation. "I mean, it is our wedding, we shouldn't let them do everything."

"Doesn't that mean we should let them do everything? We're the happy couple," Chase replied as I pulled him—or attempted to pull him—to his feet.

"Downstairs," I commanded. "Go."

"Yes ma'am," he said with a hint of sarcasm as he turned in the direction of the main staircase.

"You'd think you'd have a little more respect for the girl who's stuck with you for the rest of her life," I noted.

"I do have respect for you," Chase immediately replied. "I just don't understand what help I can bring to arts and crafts night."

I reached my hand out and ruffled his hair messily. "You're not getting out of this."

We walked into the dining room where Liza had roped Kelly, Lisa, and Natalie into making the last minute mini decorative pieces.

"Oh come on! Jonathan, Cain, and Mack aren't here!" Chase groaned. "Why do I have to be?"

"It's our wedding," I reminded him.

"Mack, Cain, and Jonathan are doing hard labor in the form of tables and chairs," Lisa said. "Is that what you'd rather do, Chase?"

"Man up, Matthews, all you have to do is sit here—"

"No, I actually would rather have you do something else," Liza interrupted, much to Chase's glee. "Chase, you can go meet up with the other three. They've got work for you to do."

Safe to say Chase's happiness was no longer present at the thought of manual labor involving chairs and tables. "Mom—"

"Go. Nicole you can come with me." Liza grabbed my arm and began pulling me out of the room. I was brought all the way to the main suite—the alpha suite. It was a ginormous place, almost another house on its own. She led me to a vanity in the far corner of the room. "I've got something very special for you, dear." She knelt down and pulled out a hair comb. It was expensive and old—that much was obvious. It was made up of silver with flowers all over the top. The large center flower had a small pearl in the middle of it. The rest of the flowers were smaller and a mixture of white and silver with diamonds or pearls in their centers. It was beautiful. "I want you to have this. Wear it on your wedding day and eventually, I hope, you'll pass it down to your daughter—or daughter-in-law."

"Liza, I—I can't take this. You—it's—it's too much. It—it should be Hannah's—"

"Magnus's mother gave it to me," Liza said, placing it gently into my hand. "It's meant to be yours now, Nicole. Please, just promise me you'll take excellent care of it. It is quite old and very important to me."

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I did it! I posted! This isn't much but it's something for you. Thank you for reading. It still means the world to me. :)

I added a picture of this beautiful hair comb (which is above, and you probably saw it when you started this chapter). I really like it.

Thanks for reading,

Jazminemh