Marriage of Convenience

Chapter 14

It was around noon when Caroline arrived at the church. She was freshly waxed, showered and ready as she could ever be for the wedding.

Caroline couldn't control her nerves.

She had been an emotional wreck since she received the flowers from Klaus the night before. What did they mean? What was he trying to say?

Nothing was ever clear when it came to him.

In a suite sized room, the bridesmaids retouched their make up and curled fallen hair.

Caroline stood in front of a mirror looking at her complexion. It showed the face of a bride, but inside her diaphragm was struggling to keep her heart intact. Realization was dawning on her.

In less than an hour, she would be married to one of the wealthiest men in New York for all the wrongs reasons. But Klaus saw it right in his mind.

A tap on her shoulder caused Caroline to jump.

"I'm sorry to scare you darling." It was her mother.

Caroline smiled at her.

"Nervous?" Her mother asked.

"You have no idea, mom." She played with a few tendrils of her hair trying to mask her distress.

"I have something for you." She said nervously. "I know it seems a little old, but when I got married and your grandmother before me, tt was tradition to give the bride something old and something borrowed." She pulled out a medium sized silver bag dressed with white tissue paper.

"I see that you already have something new." She pointed to the earrings in Caroline's ear.

"Esther gave them to me this morning." Caroline admitted blushing.

She took the bag out of her mother's hand.

Taking the white tissue paper off of the bag she pulled out a long vintage lace veil that was attached to a pearl headband.

Caroline's eyes watered.

"That was my mother's when she got married and she passed it down to me when I did. When I saw your wedding dress, I knew that I had to let you wear it for the wedding."

Caroline pulled it completely from the bag and faced the mirror again. She handed her mother the vintage veil and her mother placed it on her head.

Her mother was right. The veil looked perfect. She turned around and faced her mother, leaned in, embraced her and held on to her tightly.

"I love you mom." Caroline said sincerely.

"I love you too darling." She pointed towards the bag again. "There's one more thing."

Caroline reached into the bag again and pulled it out a leather box. She opened it and inside revealed her mother's pearls.

"What is this?" Caroline asked confused.

"Your father gave those to me on our wedding day. I thought it would look perfect on you sweetie. I want you to have them." Caroline pulled the pearls out of the leather box and faced the mirror for the last time.

Her mother fastened the pearls around her neck and when Caroline caught sight of herself, she knew that she was ready to face the next year of her life.

Klaus stood with his groomsmen at the alter. He smiled widely and thanked god that this was finally happening.

He knew as soon as their marriage was official, he would be hounded by the INS.

He extended his honeymoon for three weeks so he could learn everything about Caroline and she him. He knew that when they were questioned, there would be no room for error.