First Look
Harley’s mother straightened the diamond pendant on Harley’s necklace as they stood in front of the mirror. The bridal party was packed into a small room the museum had given them to get ready in. It was just large enough not to be claustrophobic, and there were a few windows letting in the midmorning sunlight.
“You look so beautiful, Harley,” her mother said.
“You really do,” Jess piped up.
“Thank you,” Harley said.
She felt beautiful. Her hair was loosely curled and one side was pinned behind her ear to show the diamond earrings her mother had worn for her wedding and Harley was now wearing for hers. Her makeup was simple and the dress was as perfect as it had been when she chose it.
“Are you nervous?” Dot asked as she helped Devi put a bracelet on.
Harley shook her head. “No.”
She’d been nervous the night before, but she wasn’t now. This — the wedding, Noah, all of it — was right, and exactly what she was supposed to do. She’d spent so long looking for someone who loved her with their whole heart, just as deeply as she loved them, and now she had that in Noah.
“Good,” Dot said. “Noah’s so sweet to you.”
“He is,” Harley said with a smile.
“Are you ready?” her mother asked softly with a hand on Harley’s arm.
Harley looked up at the clock and realized what time it was. After some debate and getting a few opinions from people who’d both chosen to do one and chosen not to, she and Noah had decided to do a first look and she was supposed to meet him in the European art wing for it in a minute.
“I am,” Harley said.
Harley and Noah had both agreed they wanted it to be just the two of them, not even the photographer (Noah had said he’d set his phone up to record everything, just so they had a video of it for themselves), so Harley made the trip up to the European art wing alone. It was on the same floor as the cloister where they’d be getting married and the ceremony wasn’t supposed to start too long after the first look, so she wouldn’t be going back down afterwards, which she thought was definitely a good thing when the elevator creaked and protested a little too much for comfort on the way up.
Noah was facing away from the entrance, studying a Renaissance painting on the wall when she got there.
“Hi,” she said.
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He turned around and his eyes widened when he saw her. “Harley, you… You look breathtaking.”
“You do, too,” she said.
His black suit did look incredible on him, unsurprisingly, and he was wearing his glasses, which he knew she loved. He pretty much always wore his glasses anymore, but he tended to forego them for bigger events and she hadn’t asked if he’d be wearing them today or not; she wanted him to do whatever he was most comfortable with.
She crossed the room to hug him. They wouldn’t kiss each other until the end of the ceremony, but they could hug, and she really wanted to hug him.
“Hi, baby,” he whispered into her hair.
“Hi, love,” she replied.
“I can’t believe I get to marry you today.” Noah kissed her forehead, brushing her hair back carefully.
“I know.” She leaned her cheek against his chest.
“Are you feeling better today?”
“I am. Now, I’m just ready for us to be married.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Green,” Noah said with a small, contemplative hum.
She let go of him to meet his eyes. “You’re sure you want to take my last name?”
“Why not?” He shrugged. “I like the idea of sharing your last name and I’m not opposed to having four names.”
“Noah Virgil Wilson Green does sound nice,” Harley said.
“To be fair, anything sounds nice when you say it,” Noah said.
Harley laughed. “You’re still so good at flattering me, aren’t you?”
He smiled back at her. “And I’m going to keep being good at it for the rest of our lives, if you’ll let me.”
She nodded and wrapped her arms around him again. “The rest of our lives sounds like a good plan.”
