That's Amore! by Janelle Denison; Tori Carrington; Leslie Kelly

Author:Janelle Denison; Tori Carrington; Leslie Kelly
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Man-woman relationships, Anthologies (multiple authors), Mate selection, Weddings, Fiction, Romance, General, Short Stories, Love stories
ISBN: 9780373836499
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-05-01T10:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Day six continued…

STRANGE THAT EVEN as the arrangements for her wedding came together, Efi's very life seemed to be coming apart at the seams.

Efi stood in front of her bedroom mirror plucking and pulling at her new dinner dress. Forget that she couldn't seem to sneak a few much-needed moments alone with her groom. But worse, every time she turned around, she ran into her cousin Aphrodite, who seemed overly curious about "the groom." While her nonstop questions might sound natural coming from anyone else, the constant "how did you two meet?", "where does he work?", "how many children does he want?" came off a little too … personal for Efi's liking.

"Oh, stop it," she muttered to her reflection. "Your cousin is not trying to steal your groom."

She only wished she believed her words.

Only one more day to go, she whispered to herself. And she and Nick would be husband and wife.

She started. Is that how she viewed marriage? As a type of ownership? Put a ring on Nick's finger and he was taken, her property, off-limits to Aphrodite and others? If that was the case, then what about the 50 percent divorce rate? The high incidence of infidelity?

Her mind started to spin and she put her hands to her head as if to stop it.

She'd always looked at Nick's and her exchanging of vows as having to do with love, happiness and creating a life together. A union forged out of mutual love for each other, not a way to brand him as hers.

There was a brief knock on her bedroom door. She'd locked it earlier in case her cousin had a few questions she'd forgotten to ask her. She'd felt sorely tempted to push her out her second-story window when she'd asked how Nick kissed.

She automatically started to unlock the door, then asked instead, "Who is it?"

"Diana."

She released a heavy sigh then opened the door to her sister.

"Mom sent me up to get you. She thinks you should be there when the Constantinos family arrives."

Something else she wasn't particularly looking forward to. "Thanks," she said, although she really didn't feel it.

Oh, she and Nick's parents got along well. And she was looking forward to the quiet night over the weeklong series of parties. But somehow she always felt something was going unsaid. Something the older couple felt about their only child marrying her, the oldest of four girls. She usually came away from any meeting with them feeling as if she were lacking, somehow. As if they'd taken a thorough inventory and she'd come up a few supplies short of what they wanted in a daughter-in-law.

She began to edge around her sister.

"Is everything okay?"

"Hmm? Sure, everything's fine. Why wouldn't it be?"

"I don't know. You look a little frazzled. And not bride-to-be frazzled, either. You look a little pale."

She actually felt pale, if that were possible.

But that wasn't the thing she needed to hear before going down to help welcome her groom and his family when they arrived.

"Thanks, but I'm fine.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.