Free Scandalous by Victoria Christopher Murray Page B

that I was supposed to on my wedding day. My head was filled with thoughts of Roman. Was that guy weird or what? Was it just a coincidence that he'd bumped into Kyla? That didn't seem likely, because he had left with enough time to be far away from the hotel by the time she'd driven up.
    I took a deep breath. Well, at least he was gone and any thoughts I'd had of going down to the beach just to say hello were totally gone, too! I was going to stay as far away from crazy as I could.
    Inside the bathroom, I turned the hot water knob all the way to the right, then stood under the shower, taking as much heat as I could stand. I scrubbed away my sins, removed every memory of Roman, and prepared myself for my husband. Kenny was the only one on my mind. Maybe last night with Roman was a good thing; now, I really couldn't wait to get married.

     
     
     
    Chapter 6
     
    “ Okay, go! ” Yolanda, the wedding planner barked at Kyla. She waited for a count of three and said, “ Next, ” then pushed my sister through the double French doors before she closed them and motioned for me and my father to step from the side. “ This is what happens when you don't have a rehearsal, ” Yolanda mumbled under her breath.
    She had been complaining so much the whole morning that I'd already learned how to tune her out.
    “ You ready to do this, sweetheart? ” my father asked me as if he was ignoring Yolanda, too.
    “ Definitely. ”
    He took my hand and hooked our arms together. “ Kenny is a good man, but with you by his side, he's a blessed man. ”
    I smiled at him. Even though my dad never lived up to the standards that I'd wanted (he never wore a suit to work like Kyla's father, and he never made a lot of money like Kyla's father) he gave me something better than all of that: he gave me unconditional love.
    “ I love you, Daddy, ” I said, right before I kissed his cheek.
    “ I love you too, sweetheart. And I know your mother is smiling down on you right now. ”
    Ah, man! I was doing just fine up to this moment. My dad bringing up my mother brought new tears to my eyes. I tried to blink them back, because if I started crying again, I might never stop. A nd Kyla would kill me after all she'd done on my makeup. But how could I help it? Thoughts of my mother always made me want to cry. No matter how much I loved my father, there was nothing like my mother's love. From as early as I could remember, we'd always been a twosome. Even after Serena was born, nothing changed; I was always her special little girl.
    You've been with me the longest, was something that she always said to me. You will always have a special place in my heart.
    My mother proved to me that she meant it, too. From the manis and pedis that we got together to our monthly pajama parties where my mom slept in my bedroom with me, I knew there was a place that was all mine in her heart.
    I know a lot of people thought that I'd changed when my mom passed away. I had to agree. When they lowered my mother into the ground, I was absolutely sure that a piece of my heart went down there with her.
    Just as I felt myself dipping down into that abyss of sadness, I was shocked out of it by the wedding planner from hell.
    “ Okay, get ready, get ready, ” Yolanda barked. “ Time to go. One, two, three … ”
    She opened the door. M y father and I stood under the arch at the entrance of the room. I grasped my father's arm a bit tighter as the world-renowned harpist, Latricia Flowers, softly played her rendition of Stevie Wonder's “ You and I. ”
    All of the fifty guests that Kenny and I had invited stood as I took my first steps. Their smiles greeted me, and I took the time to soak in the good wishes that I saw on my friends' faces. Well, calling these people friends might have been a stretch, and the expressions on their faces were more scowls than smiles, but since it was my wedding day, I could see whatever I wanted to see on their faces.
    Like I said before, women didn't