One Night Plus a Lifetime

Irish Princess

Aria explained to her friends the reason why a wedding dress was sent to her, there was no emotion in her voice she had already accepted her fate, she imagined getting married one day and having a kind of wedding that Callie's cousin had, but her wedding would be different and she would be sad instead of happy, was it even considered a wedding or just sighing some marriage papers, was she supposed to carry his last name, was she going to be called his wife... her eyes shut tight just thinking about that

Meredith was not so surprised by this , in her life she had seen a lot of rich people getting married for anything but love, so Aria's situation was understandable to her, ''what will happen after you get married are you going to live with him and be husband and wife '' if this marriage was just a façade to protect his career would Aria be forced into the spot lite of the politician's wife, Meredith knew just how much influence and fame the Presley family had, she felt sorry for the pressure that will befall on Aria as soon as the media learns of her marriage to Devon the politician. the media was ruthless and invasive especially to people like her, her friend would have a hard time adjusting, she might not even get a chance to attend college in peace , how long will Aria put up with this life she was about to take on,

Callie felt extremely guilty this was a big part of her fault, Aria squeezed her hand and gave her a smile. silently telling her its okay, life had a funny way of surprising her, first it was her going through something like this, the only difference was that for Callie , the i***t who got her pregnant rejected her without ever seeing his child, she was in a relationship with the guy but after he learned about her pregnancy he left and cut all contacts with her, she was left to raise a child by her own .her family were not supportive at first but later grew to love her child, for Callie getting through everything alone was hard, even going to doctors appointments while having a big belly was challenging too, she did not have a car so she had to walk on foot, finding money for baby clothes and even for herself she struggled but things changed when she gave birth and found a nice paying job, after studying hard she got accepted into this college which was her dream come true, things finally started going good in her family , her daughter was growing happy and healthy, and she was doing fine in school too, despite being just her and her child , Callie did not complain she was more than happy. her situation was different from Aria, but unlike her , Aria did not have a choice and was being forced into marriage , she knew that Aria's life would not be easy from tomorrow on wards that politician did not love her , wherever he takes her she would be alone without her friends , her baby will have a father in its life but its mother will never smile like before.

Aria, Meredith and Callie where the only ones who knew the main reason she was getting married ,

it was half past noon when the bell on their door rang, Meredith walked to it and opened the door, Aria's father stood by the door wearing a white formal shirt and black trousers he had a black jacket on top, Meredith greeted him and invited him inside his eyes fell on his daughter as she emerged from the bedroom.

Aria was wearing the wedding dress that was sent for her, it was not her dream wedding dress but non of this was , it felt like she was wearing something that did not belong to her, the dress that as sent came with a pare of white pump heels she did not ware, they were too high for her and she did not know how to walk in heels so she wore her converse sneakers instead. the dress was a princess gown and covered all her legs and shoes too , it had shiny stone like beads which Meredith swore were diamonds, on the sleeves it had lace all around it, it looked vintage and expansive but she did not care what century it belonged to , all Aria wanted to do was get over this day with before she starts throwing up due to nervousness and the sweating in this heavy dress . her hair was pulled into a messy bun and a white headband she thrifted from the dollar store. all she did was tie it up It was already so curly, she did not put any effort to it, Meredith offered to do her make but she refused was this day worth her getting all ready like she was a princess, Aria did her own a lot of make up , it was her usual simple look, mascara , blush , eyeliner and a lip gloss, she wanted to at least control one thing on this day, still in her friends eyes she looked like the most beautiful bride, she hugged her father when she saw him, he agreed to walk her down the aisle when he was still not happy about this , he kept on asking her If she was sure over and over again.

the only two people missing were her brother and Jammie who were still in the dark about this, her father assured her that he would talk to her brother, Aria knew he would be pissed at her but she was ready to face his anger, if Andrew knew what was happening and why she was getting married . he would be here creating havoc and probably want to fight Devon but Devon was older and had a lot of power who knew what he would do to him , so she chose not to tell him anything until this was over,

'' are you sure kitty?'' he asked one more time and she nodded , her friends were also dressed for the wedding . Aria had to admit her friends looked beautiful . Meredith wore a red tight dress that showed her perfect figure. While Callie had a black mini dress that made her look like a super model. If it were up to Aria she would have gone to this wedding in pajamas , what was the point of glamorising this fraud of a marriage.

Soon another knock was heard on the door, this time Aria opened the door. Outside stood a man dressed in a black fancy suite. she immediately recognised him. He was the same man who dropped her off that night Devon took her for DNA testing., he was his driver .and He must have been sent by him to pick her up. "Mr Presley sent you?" she asked even though she knew.

The driver looked at Aria with a surprised expression that faded away quickly. He was surprised to see her in a wedding dress, maybe it was because he never paid attention to her that night. Still the idea of his boss getting married was something he couldn't wrap his head around. He reached for his pockets and pulled out a white envelope which he handed to her.

Aria took the envelope , scanned it before opening it and read it. ::Be at the country club in 15 mintues. Dont you dare try to pull any tricks you know what it will cost you::

normal brides get love letters from their partners before the wedding. But he sent her threats instead. If she had any thoughts of not showing up at the wedding he made sure to extinguish them . who knows what he would do to her family. Devon just became a dangerous stranger to her with each second that went by. "What does it say?" Callie who was standing behind Aria asked . She got the paper that Aria gave her and inhaled deeply after reading the content her face darkened. "What a romantic guy " she said sarcastically and folded the piece of paper in her left hand so Aria's father wont see it.

Aria's father had one last talk with his daughter to make sure she was certain about her decision while Callie and Meredith waited outside. After that they all got in the car . Seated in the back seat of the car with her dad and Callie, Meredith in the front with the driver. Aria kept her eyes on the window as she got closer and closer to an unknown future.

Devon stood with his family ,close friends and the marriage officiant waiting for Aria to come. If it were up he would have had this wedding at the city counsil. In fact if it was something he could control. He would not even be here . But his career was on the line and that was something he did not play with. She represented everything he hated. Simple minded and without class.

His family did not like her too especially his mother. She could not stand the fact that he was marrying a girl from such a low class lifestyle. Or maybe she just hated Aria. When he went to inform her about the wedding. Devon saw the marks on her face and he knew his mother had hit her. That made him upset. Especially when he saw the look in her eyes when she opened the door. He knew he did not feel anything for her. But she was still his responsibilty . His mother was hot tempered . Devon knew he needed to shield her from that. Not until she gives birth. If he did not then the girl would not survive a single day in the Presley family.

They were ruthless and unforgiving, right now in their eyes Aria was a gold digger and an opportunist . Devon warned his mother to stay away from his personal matters with Aria and even assured her that there will never be a husband and wife relationship between him and Aria . This marriage was just for papers and cameras. The media would go crazy if they learned that Devon Presley was married.

He heard the car's tires stop and he knew she had arrived She did good coming if not he would have turned her life upside down. Her friends that caused chaos at his company were the first to enter the reserved room at the country club for this wedding , The atmosphere became tense. Nobody spoke a single word to anyone. It felt as though this was a battle field instead of a wedding. Devon turned to his mother silently telling her to calm down and keep calm. These people did not see each other as acquaintances instead they saw each other as enemies . She walked in holding hands with a man that looked familiar to him. Devon had seen this man before in Aria's file. It was her father . But still he felt a feeling of deja vu as if he knew him from somewhere else. That feeling quickly vanished. And his eyes landed on Aria.

He tried so hard to look away but he could not. Seeing her in a dress that fit her so perfeclty with her firely curly hair and her pale like skin. Devon even noticed she had some tiny freckles on her upper cheeks., simple yet captivating. He could tell she did not put much effort in her make up. In this wedding dress. Aria looked like a long lost Irish princess.

When he told his assistant to send the dress to her. He did not even see what the dress looked like. He only gave her Aria's size. Which he remembered somehow. but This was not the time to think of her as a princess this was the time to hate her for everything she almost cost him.

She hugged her father as if she never wanted to let him go. The man then took Aria's hand and handed it to him " take care of my daughter. Love her and treasure her always." he said to him. Devon was surprised to hear that. Did he perhaps think this was a love marriage did Aria lie to her father making him believe there was anything good about this day . He looked at Aria with a darkened expression . But when he saw her big eyes looking at him ready to shed tears , He understood something without her having to explain. Devon just nodded at the man and took Aria's hand