Page 119 of Condemned By Betrayal
He turns off the shower so he can wash my hair. I extend my hand as he reaches for the bottle. He smiles and pumps some shampoo onto my palm. I rub my hands together and work it through my hair.
He nods encouragingly as I start rubbing my hands over my scalp. I grin, finding the task easy. But that’s only limited to my scalp, since washing the length isn’t as simple, even with my hair not being too long. He senses it and places his hands on mine, threading our fingers together and washing my hair with me.
Just a few months ago, we used to have sex in the shower every day. Now, he’s helping my disabled self wash my hair. Back then, I thought I was lucky. Now I know I’m the luckiest. It’s easy to find someone who’ll fuck you in the shower, but damn near impossible to find someone who bathes you every day when you can barely move and never once looks at you like you’ve become a burden.
After showering, Salvario dries my hair while I sit, resting my legs. Then we eat breakfast wrapped in towels, and I take my medicines, a combination of Lyn’s plant-based meds and Dr. Stan’s chemical ones, which they prepared after arguing with each other for three days. For the long term, I’ll stay on Lyn’s meds, but for now, they need to be taken alongside Stan’s because my condition is still quite unstable. I still get nausea and splitting headaches when I miss a dose. I was afraid it would never go away, but Lyn is confident she’ll have the nausea and headaches under control within three months.
After giving me my meds, Salvario helps me into my wedding dress. It’s a long, high-neck white silk gown with a flared skirt of weightless silk. It’s something I can wear all day and night and still look like a beautiful bride.
Now I’m sitting in my gown, and my groom is still in a towel wrapped around his waist, brushing my hair.
“Leave m-my hair for the hairstylist. You s-should get r-re-ready yourself.” I glance at the clock in the closet. “You only have half an hour for that.”
He places the brush down, then picks up my rose attar and applies it to my wrists, behind my ears, and at the base of my throat. He never forgets to put this scent on me. He loves it too much. He does it every day, while I used to wear it only occasionally. But since it’s an attar, the scent clings.
I used to wear it whenever I missed him because its very origin was tied to him—to his rose garden. After he sent me back home, I had a rose scent custom-made to smell like a garden full of roses. I’d wear it and lie down with my eyes closed, letting the fragrance carry me back to that rose garden, into my daydreams where we used to play the piano together.
For our honeymoon, we’ll go back to that same Greenland mansion. I’m quite excited for it. It would have been a thousand times better if I could play piano there, but it’s fine. I’ll be happy enough creating my fantasies of having sex with him in his bed there. I chuckle at the thought.
Salvario raises a brow in the mirror, buttoning his shirt. I’m ready to leave the closet, but I decide to watch him get dressed instead.
“I’m thinking about m-making my fantasies come true in your bed in your gothic m-ma-mansion.”
“List them all out. I don’t want any of them to remain unfulfilled.”
I chuckle.
A knock comes at the closet door, then Avi’s voice follows. “Hey, guys, sorry to disturb you, but the bride needs to get ready.”
I rise from my chair. Salvario comes to my side and helps me reach the door. He opens it, and I walk out to where Avi isstanding. She takes my hand from Salvario’s, and we make our way inside the room while he retreats into the closet.
“I thought I’d find you naked in a compromising position,” she teases.
I laugh.
She leads me out of my room and into the room where my makeup and hair need to be done. Lyn and Autumn are already there with the hairstylist and makeup artist.
It takes no time to do my hair and makeup. Within twenty minutes I’m ready to go, and exactly then, Mom and Dad come to take me downstairs. The ceremony is being held in our garden, decorated with summer flower arrangements.
“Just let me know when you can’t walk anymore. I’ll carry you,” Dad murmurs.
I smile. “Okay.”
“Are you comfortable?” Mom asks as we reach just outside the entrance arch.
I nod. Because of walking from the house to the garden, my legs are shaking quite a lot, but I can keep going, which is a new definition of “comfortable” for me.
Everyone has already gone inside except Alis and Lyn, who is holding her because she’s my little flower girl. They enter right before me. I chuckle as the red-headed mother-daughter duo start their job, Lyn holding the basket while Alis throws flowers from it, giggling.
It takes them no time compared to me to reach the end of the aisle, where Lyn settles Alis in her seat beside her brother, in their father’s care, and moves into position beside the other bridesmaids.
Mom also takes her seat, leaving me and Dad alone to cover the distance to the man standing at the altar in his brown suit. He’s looking handsome as ever, even without a tie. He hates ties.Beside him stands Ilyas, his best man. From the groom’s side, we only have two guests: Antonio and Ilyas. From the bride’s side, well, as Ilyas used to say, my big-ass family.
He keeps watching me patiently as I take baby steps toward him. When I finally reach him, he takes me from my father’s firm hold into his. Dad kisses my forehead and leaves to settle in his seat.
“Are we good?” Salvario asks as I stand before him, holding him for support.
I nod.
