Her Substitute Groom

Her Groom

Carys

As I get ready for the family dinner tonight, butterflies are exploding in my stomach in dread. Let’s just say that things with Lorenzo’s parents were not idea when we told them about the engagement and wedding. I play back the event in my head as I soak in the bath.

His father, Landon hadn’t reacted much but his mother had been furious. She had launched into an angry stream of Italian to which Lorenzo had frowned and looked irritated. They’d argued back and forth for a while before he finally stood and walked away to the kitchen.

Mrs. Gabriella had taken a deep breath and turned to me. “My dear you don’t want to do this do you? Ruin your life for the next three years. If it’s only money you want, I am happy to accommodate you with a check to stay away from my son.”

Speechless I stared at her. With impatience she narrowed her eyes. “I am offering you a simple way out. Take it and go. I do not want my son marrying someone like you. I will find him a good stock Italian girl when he is ready!”

Before I can reply, Lorenzo is back in the room. “We are leaving Carys. You have an appointment with the wedding planner in an hour.”

I looked between the two of them feeling bad that I was causing a problem. I bite my lip as Lorenzo pulled me to my feet still staring angrily at his mother. I see his father sitting quietly not saying anything.

He practically propelled me to his car not saying a word. Halfway back to the city I decided to broach the subject of the elephant in the room.

“Lorenzo I’m sorry to cause problems between you and your mom.”

He sighs heavily. “It’s not your fault. She’ll get over it.” He’d snapped his mouth shut and said nothing else.

I come back to the present when Annis taps on the open door and steps in leaning on the counter.

“How you holding up babe?”

I shrug and she gives me a lopsided smile. “Not how your dream wedding would be huh?”

“Nope.” I say emphasizing the p with a pop. Like most women my age, I dreamed of meeting the guy who would sweep me off my feet and propose in some ridiculous fashion. Well maybe not ridiculous but I have always been a sucker for those romances where the guy fills the hotel ballroom with her favorite flower or takes her on some super romantic vacation and proposes. But I’m twenty-two and have only been on two dates total. One of them I am pretty sure my dad set up too. I’ve never even been kissed before so there’s that too.

“At least your groom is a friend and a nice guy.” Annis and I met our junior year of high school when I moved to public school so she never met Lorenzo. We had been such good friends but he seemed to forget about me once I changed schools. I would even go with our group to hang out at his house sometimes. Lorenzo was born to an Italian mother, Gabriella who married his father, Landon after only knowing him for three weeks. Landon had an older brother, Jonathan who married Gabriella’s best friend Lucia and they had Maxim. Gabriella would be cooking and yelling in Italian when we would hang out. She was fine with all of us girls that would be there except for any girlfriends that Lorenzo brought home. She would eye them and act like they would never be good enough for her son. The Taylor brothers were not Italian which was interesting to me because Mrs. Gabriella would always tell Lorenzo she would find him a nice Italian girl to settle down with when he was old enough.

She would pinch my cheeks when I would always eat a second helping of her pasta. Saying it was nice to meet a girl who liked to eat real food. The source of my birthing hips I think ruefully.

I know he played soccer very competitively and even played in college. He became something of a rumored ladies man in the gossip mags and social media sites, having pictures with different socialites and models a lot. I know he was engaged at one point though. It obviously had fallen through. The other night, Annis and I had decided that google might be my best friend in the case of information about my groom that I don’t want to ask directly yet. I searched for him and found lots of sites where he was talked about. I choose one that looked the least like pure trash gossip and started reading. When I got to his personal life section it mentions not one but two fiancées. Both ended within months of the proposal but neither said why. I had already agreed to this cockamamie scheme of his but I told Annis I will ask what happened with them later. I read more and saw they mentioned his cousin Maxim but nothing more than the fact he would be succeeding his father in the Taylor brothers company first.