Chapter 2
1661 Words
ELENA
Three weeks went by so fast I barely had time to think.
Planning a wedding in three weeks was insane but I'd done harder things before and at least this one was fake so nobody actually cared about the emotional details.
Just the show, the appearance and making sure three hundred guests believed Dominic Ashford was madly in love with his bride.
I met with Jessica, the actress playing the fake bride, she was exactly what I expected from someone willing to fake marry a billionaire for money. Beautiful, charming, treated the whole thing like a nice fun acting gig she was getting paid for.
We did dress fittings and rehearsals and went over the story they'd tell people about how they met.
I saw Dominic way too much.
Every single decision needed his approval even though he'd hired me to handle everything and we argued about literally everything. The flowers, the venue, the menu, the food, the music, even the font on the invitations. He wanted control and I wanted him to trust me to do my job but neither of us would back down.
I felt weird sometimes, He lean over my shoulder to look at fabric samples and I'd feel his breath on my neck. How his hand would brush mine when passing documents and the touch would stay just a second too long.
I told myself I was imagining things and this was just a job and he was technically engaged even if it was fake and I absolutely could not catch feelings for a client.
Especially not this client.
The morning of the wedding, I woke up at four AM because that's what wedding planners do on wedding day.
Everything had to be perfect and I triple checked every detail because just one mistake could ruin everything.
I got to the Plaza Hotel at 6AM and the venue was already alive with activity.
Florists were arranging, caterers setting up the kitchen, the hotel staff making sure every chair was perfectly aligned.
I walked through with my clipboard checking off items and fixing small problems before they became big ones.
By noon, everything was flawless and the wedding was at 2PM so we were right on schedule. Guests would start arriving at one thirty.
Dominic was in a suite upstairs getting ready and Jessica was supposed to be in the bridal suite doing the same.
I was in the ballroom adjusting a centerpiece when my phone rang.
Jessica's name flashed on the screen and my stomach immediately dropped because brides don't call their wedding planner three hours before the ceremony unless something is very wrong.
I answered. "Jessica? Everything okay?"
"Elena, oh my god, I'm so sorry but I can't do this."
The centerpiece I was holding nearly fell out of my hands. "What do you mean you can't do this?"
"I got a call this morning from my agent and Peter Jackson is doing a new film shooting in New Zealand and they want me for the lead role but I have to be on a plane in four hours and this is the opportunity of a lifetime and I'm so sorry but I have to go."
My brain went completely blank, I couldn't process what she was saying because this couldn't be happening, not three hours before a wedding with three hundred guests already traveling to the venue.
"Jessica, you signed a contract."
"I know and I'm sorry and Dominic can sue me or whatever but I have to take this role, you understand right? This is my career and I can't pass this up."
She kept talking but I stopped listening because none of it mattered, she was getting on a plane and leaving, there was no bride,the wedding was starting in three hours.
"Where are you now?" I asked.
"I'm at the airport and my flight boards in twenty minutes. I'm really really sorry Elena, you're amazing and I hope this doesn't ruin your reputation and tell Dominic I'm sorry too."
She hung up.
I stood there in the middle of the ballroom holding my phone and staring at nothing while my mind raced through every possible solution.
Cancel the wedding? Dominic's dying grandmother was being transported from the hospital right now and the press was already outside. Three hundred f*****g guests were on their way. Canceling would not just humiliate him but devastate his grandmother and destroy the whole point of this elaborate lie.
Should I tell him to postpone? How do you explain postponing a wedding three hours before it starts?
Find another actress? Where was I going to find someone who looked like Jessica and knew the backstory and could pull off marrying a billionaire in three f*****g hours!?
There was no solution and the wedding was going to fail and my reputation would be destroyed. Dominic would never forgive me and his grandmother would be heartbroken and this was a complete disaster.
I had to call him and tell him and let him decide what to do.
My hands shook as I dialed his number. He answered on the first ring like he'd been waiting by his phone.
"Elena? Is everything ready?"
"We have a problem." My voice came out quiet than I felt. "Jessica's not coming."
Silence on the other end for so long I thought maybe the call dropped.
"What do you mean she's not coming?"
"She got a movie role in New Zealand and she's at the airport right now getting on a plane but she's not coming back."
More silence and then I heard him take a deep breath, when he spoke his voice was carefully controlled. "What are my options?"
"There are no good options and I've been trying to think of something but we can't cancel without humiliating you and disappointing your grandmother and we can't postpone for the same reasons, we can't even find another actress in three hours who knows the story and looks like Jessica."
"So there's nothing we can do."
"I don't know and I'm so sorry, this has never happened to me before and I don't know how to fix this."
Another long pause and then he said quietly, "I'll tell my grandmother the truth and we'll deal with whatever happens."
Something in his voice broke me. Resignation, defeat and disappointment and I'd heard that tone before in my own voice after my fourth failed engagement.
The sound of giving up on something that mattered.
I thought about my four weddings and how it felt to be left and to have everything fall apart and to watch people's faces when they realized there would be no happy ending.
I thought about his grandmother who was dying and just wanted to see her grandson married and happy.
I thought about Dominic who'd hired me to make this perfect and I was failing him.
And before I could stop myself or think it through or consider how absolutely insane this was, I heard my own voice say the words.
"I'll do it."
"What?"
"I'll marry you. I'll be the bride and we can make this work."
"Elena, that's—"
"I'm already here and I know the whole plan. I'm wearing a dress that's similar enough to the backup dress from the fitting and I know the ceremony by heart because I planned it plus the guests have never met Jessica so they won't know the difference."
"Why would you possibly do this?"
Good question and I didn't have a good answer except that I'd been a bride four times and never actually gotten married. My reputation was on the line and I couldn't stand the thought of his grandmother being disappointed . Maybe I'm having some kind of breakdown.
"Because this wedding cannot fail and I'm the only solution we have. I'm already here in a dress so we might as well use me."
He was quiet for so long I thought he'd hung up again and then he said, "Are you sure about this?"
"We have two and a half hours to make this work so yes, I'm sure."
"Okay." He took another breath. "Okay, let's do this but Elena, after this is over, you and I need to have a very long conversation about those four times you were a bride."
"After this is over, you're going to owe me so much more than fifty thousand dollars."
"I know."
We hung up and I stood there trying to process what I'd just agreed to.
I was going to marry Dominic Ashford in two and a half hours in front of three hundred people, his dying grandmother and the press.
This was completely insane.
Maya appeared next to me looking concerned. "Elena? You look like you're going to pass out and who were you talking to?"
"The bride bailed and got on a plane to New Zealand."
Her mouth fell open. "What?"
"So I'm going to marry him instead."
"WHAT?"
"I need you to get the backup dress from the bridal suite and meet me in the small dressing room in fifteen minutes plus bring the makeup kit and don't ask questions because I don't have time to explain. I'm possibly having a mental breakdown but we're doing this anyway."
Maya grabbed my shoulders. "Elena, you can't marry a client."
I walked away before she could argue and pulled out my phone to make a list of everything that needed to happen in the next two hours.
Change the name on the marriage license, get myself ready, make sure the officiant knew about the switch, brief the photographer on not using the bride's name until I gave the signal.
My hands were still shaking but I couldn't think about what I was doing or I might panic and run making it a failure.
I'd been a bride four times and never a wife.
Maybe the fifth time would be the charm even if it was completely fake.
- Writer
