‘My dear, I don’t know why you would ever do the folly of drinking the night before your wedding? We need you to look pretty, not that you already aren’t, but the people, dear – they will certainly be talking about why you look tired.’
‘Mrs. Georgina, it was Ella’s idea. She wanted us to spend the night and have fun before I marry. I think she was just a little sad that I am getting married, and she is single and all alone.’ Carola was now fully awake, as the old woman had not listened to her protest and had opened the curtains as far as she could.
‘Of course, it was her idea—that silly girl. I don’t know why you are still friends with her. She watches your every move, like a hawk stalking her prey.’
Carola could never understand why Mrs. Georgina hated Ella so much, and she had given up the attempts to make a friend out of the two of them. She got up, kissed the woman’s cheek, who was now busy cleaning the room.
‘Has my brother come yet?’ Carola shouted from the bathroom.
Adam was her favorite brother, but then again, he was her only brother. She doted on him, and he did, her. While the two had grown up together, he moved across the country when she was 15. Their father had wanted him to start to take his position as the heir to the magnificent Hart Empire, and Adam had revolted.

He had wanted to be an artist.
And so, shortly after he graduated from high school, he left the house and worked to earn a name for himself. Their father never did get over this betrayal. So, it had taken a lot of persuasion on her part to convince her father to let her brother and his wife be at her wedding.
‘No, Mr. Elliot said he’d pick him up himself. He should be here any minute now.’
‘Really? I didn’t know Elliot was going to do it.’
‘Well, Miss, you do have the perfect fiancée, and I should say the best husband ever. My dear Giovanni never was so caring towards me. He rather hated my brothers.’

‘Oh, I am sorry about that, but you are right. Elliot really is the best. I still cannot believe we will be married by the end of the day. Oh, it seems like a dream.’
‘He sure is such a gentle boy. I have never met anyone so humble, and respectful. Not even my sons are like that. But, of course, you should be married to him. You, yourself, are the perfect little girl anyone could ever want.’
‘Mrs. Georgiana, please, I am a woman now.’
‘Hush now child, you will always be my little girl – married or not.’
Before Carola could come up with an answer, the bell rang.
‘Oh, it must be them. Why don’t you dress up and come downstairs? The breakfast should be here soon.’ And the woman left it at that, no doubt excited to see Adam.