His bride.

And he would be her groom. Was he going to wear a suit? Suddenly she wanted him to. Suddenly, she didn’t want it to be the same kind of day that they’d had a hundred times before, only with vows instead of a barbecue. Suddenly, she wanted a whole lot more.

She looked over at Pansy, who was stunning in a dress made from soft, flowing fabric that didn’t dominate her petite figure, but made her look like an absolute princess.

“That’s wonderful,” she whispered, looking over at her friend.

Pansy looked back at her. “Sammy, you look...”

That earned her the attention of all the women, and suddenly, she was being swarmed by her friends, each clucking and touching pieces of her dress and she unexpectedly felt part of something. Traditions and a family in a way that touched her down to her soul. She hadn’t thought she wanted any of this. But to her surprise, she did. They were going to be her sisters-in-law, and that was significant. Sharing this with them was significant. She just hadn’t expected it. Not at all. She had expected... She didn’t know. To feel above this. To feel like it didn’t matter. Not when she knew that he didn’t... That he didn’t love her. Not really. Sure, as a friend, but it wasn’t the same. It just wasn’t. And that was fine; it had been fine. All of this had been fine until she had come in here.

“Get the dress,” Iris said, her voice soft.

“Yes,” Rose agreed. “Get the dress. You’re going to absolutely knock his socks off.”

And she could see it. Hearts in Rose’s eyes. Because she wanted to matchmake everyone and anything, and she seemed to truly believe that anyone could have a happy ending. It was more than Sammy could believe. But somehow, even though she didn’t believe that she could have normal and love, even though she didn’t believe this whole wedding thing was going to work, and didn’t think that it would be a marriage in the real sense, and didn’t want to have all the feelings she would need to have to get those things anyway, suddenly she wished that she did. Suddenly, no matter what she felt, no matter what made her afraid, she wished that it could be more.

But mostly, it made her wish she were different. It made her wish that she were the woman in the mirror. A girl getting ready for her wedding day. A bride.

Well, she could be. For one day. So why not embrace it? Pretend that she was a normal girl. Pretend that she was living the kind of romantic fantasy that she had never imagined she could.

Why couldn’t she have a fantasy for one day? Pretend that she was a normal girl. Pretend that this was the fantasy. Her throat ached with it. Her whole body ached. Well, in one way he was right. She did want this. She wanted this whole thing. The family. His family. Yes, she did want them to be her family, too. She couldn’t pretend that wasn’t the case. She wanted to dive headfirst into this whole thing all of a sudden. And maybe that was what she had been afraid of all along.