Heart of Stone - Book 1: Fighting Fate

It was around ten-thirty then, and everyone was up. Dan and her father were sitting at the table. A newspaper was in her father’s left hand, while his right gripped a mug of coffee that was nearly empty now.

Dan smiled up at her while her mother came up from the stairs that led to the basement.

Her mother met her gaze and smiled in greeting. “Oh, there you are. Do you have anything you want me to toss in the wash before you guys head out?”

“Nah, I think I’m alright.”

“You sure? I don’t mind washing your clothes from yesterday.”

Dan sat there quietly, smirking. As Aubree came around the table and stood next to him, he looked up at her and whispered, “She already grabbed our clothes from yesterday.”

Aubree glanced at her mother as she scooted around to the second flight of stairs that went to the upper level. “Mom,” she called, with a knowing shake of her head.

“Too late!” Mom hollered back as she disappeared up.

“Let her do what she wants. It makes her happy,” Aubree’s father said, his eyes never leaving the newspaper.

Dan chuckled. “Sounds like someone I know.”

Aubree punched him lightly in the shoulder, which only made Dan chuckle louder.

Pulling out the chair next to Dan at the table, she sat down with a sigh. “Well, I guess we can’t leave anytime soon now. What should we do today?”

“Ask your mother,” her father piped up.

Aubree raised an eyebrow at him as he glanced up from his newspaper. A rosy hue shaded his cheeks as he pushed his reading glasses up his nose. He cleared his throat as his eyes returned to the newspaper. “I’m pretty sure she wanted to do some shopping with you before you guys leave.”

Her eyes widened at him before she looked over at Dan. “Shopping?”

Dan shrugged, but the crooked grin on his lips told her that he knew more than he was letting on. “Why not?”

Swallowing, she turned back to her father. “Bridal shopping?”

“Of course, bridal shopping!” Her mother’s voice flitted down as she hurried down the stairs.

Aubree looked at her mother in surprise as her mother stepped into the kitchen, looking her daughter up and down in disapproval.

“And you better hurry up because our appointment is in half an hour.”

“Mom!”

“What? How was I to know you’d be out so late with the dog? I booked this appointment last week, as soon as Dan told us his intentions,” she said.

Aubree just gaped at her.

Her mother clapped her hands together. “Now, chop, chop. Time’s a wasting and you’re not even dressed and showered yet.”

Having no choice, she jumped up from her seat and ran around her mother and up the stairs to her room.

Grabbing her bathrobe and a towel from the linens closet, she hurried into the shower and tried not to hyperventilate in the cold spray.

Everything was happening too fast. Sure, she understood her mother’s desire to go dress shopping while she was still in town, but they just got engaged yesterday! They hadn’t even talked about where to have the wedding. All her friends and most of her relatives were in Chicago, but she and Dan were living in Minneapolis. It would certainly make it easier for her to have the wedding in Minneapolis and buy her dress there. They could do all this planning stuff next weekend, or whenever her parents could come and visit them for a weekend.

Her ring didn’t even fit, dammit! She still had to get it resized because Dan over-estimated the width of her slender finger.

As the water slowly heated up, she tried to calm herself, but the tightening in her chest only worsened.

All this wedding stuff was too much for her to take right now. Her mother jumping in and booking an appointment with a bridal boutique without so much as mentioning it beforehand only rattled Aubree’s nerves more.

Why am I nervous? She asked herself. I love Dan. This is what I wanted after all these years, isn’t it?

So why can’t I breathe?

She knew why as soon as Stone flickered in her mind again and all she could think about was tangling her fingers into his hair and kissing him.

Pressing her palms against her face, she cursed at herself. How messed up could she be to even think about someone else now?

She had to get to the bottom of this once and for all. Before she could start making any plans for the wedding, she had to figure out what her feelings were for Stone. Denying the fact that, for some uncontrollable reason, she had feelings for him was now out of the question. No. She knew she had to figure out how deep those feelings ran.

She had to know where she stood with Stone. It wouldn’t be fair to Dan if she married him and kept pining for someone else. She wouldn’t be happy in the long run either and she would only grow to resent Dan. It wasn’t fair to him.

Before the water was even hot, she hopped out and quickly toweled herself dry.

She had no time to think about her dilemma now.

Pushing her thoughts of Stone to the back of her mind, she wrapped herself in her bathrobe and hurried to her room to get dressed and ready for the day.

Her mother was waiting at the front door when she came down.

Wearing a cute yellow sundress, she slipped on her gold flip-flops and followed her mother out the front door. Biting down on her bottom lip, she kept her mouth shut about the uneasy feeling bubbling up inside her.

No one needed to know about Stone.

Today was about her and Dan and the excitement in her mother’s eyes only emphasized that fact.

“I can’t wait to see you in your perfect dress,” her mother squealed.

Aubree stared at her mother with her mouth hanging off its hinges as they climbed into her mother’s car.

Her mother never squealed.

Aubree’s hand met her face as her mother carried on excitedly. Forcing a smile on her lips, she shook her head lightly and looked up at her mother. “Mom, please. I’m not going to buy a dress today, and I’m definitely not going to buy it here.”

“Oh, I don’t expect to you to. They have a sister shop in Minneapolis, so if you find something you like, you can order it there!”

It was as if her mother had thought of everything and Aubree didn’t even have a clue.

Throughout the appointment, Aubree feigned happiness like any normal recently engaged girl would over the many beautiful wedding dresses she tried on.

The one that made her mother cry, a tear strayed from her own eyes. Not because of the dress, but rather because the man she envisioned waiting for her at the altar wasn’t Dan.