CHAPTER 357: SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW (1)

Georgia’s POV

I didn’t expect the night before my wedding to feel like this—warm, chaotic, and filled with so much laughter it could rival the sound of the waves outside.

Golden Sands Private Resort looked like a dream. The villa shimmered under fairy lights that the girls insisted on hanging, transforming the place into something between a bridal suite and a beach-party movie set.

Earlier today, the wedding team spoiled us with a full spa treatment, massages, and a facial so luxurious I nearly fell asleep mid-scrub. The plan was to relax and sleep early.

But of course, Ella and Vicky had other plans.

"Careful with that cork, Jenny!" Vicky shouted just as a bottle of champagne popped like a gunshot. The cork shot across the room, narrowly missing Bella’s perfectly styled hair.

"AHH!" Bella screeched, clutching her glass to her chest like it was a newborn. "Woman, you almost decapitated me!"

Jenny doubled over laughing. "Relax, Bella! You’re fine!"

"Fine?!" Bella gasped. "If that cork hit my head, I’d be walking down the aisle tomorrow in a coma!"

Melanie snorted, grabbing the bottle from Jenny. "Then at least you’d finally be quiet for once."

"Hey!" Bella swatted at her, but she was already giggling too hard to be offended.

Even Wendy was laughing as she sat on the couch with Katie and Vienna, teaching them how to tie satin bows for the flower baskets.

"Now, remember, darlings," Wendy said in her calm, motherly voice, "no tripping on the aisle. If one of you falls, we all fall."

Vienna gasped. "Like dominoes?!"

"Yes," Wendy said seriously, "exactly like dominoes."

The entire room erupted into laughter.

Ella slid beside me on the bed and handed me a glass of champagne. "Tomorrow, you’re officially Mrs. Knight, in front of everyone. No more hiding," she said, smirking. "How does it feel knowing your life is about to become one long honeymoon?"

I rolled my eyes, but my face felt like it was on fire. "Oh, stop."

"Oh, don’t ’oh stop’ us," Vicky said, grinning wickedly. "I can still remember how Nick painted your skin back on the island. The way he looks at you... The man practically wants to eat you alive every time he breathes in your direction."

The room exploded in laughter.

The whole room erupted with giggles. "Vicky!" Wendy gasped, half-laughing, half-scolding.

"What?!" Vicky blinked innocently, then froze when Wendy and Bella both scrambled to cover Katie and Vienna’s ears. "Oopsie!" she said, snorting into her drink.

"Alright," Wendy said, giving Vicky the squint of death. "Katie, Vienna, how about we go to your room, let’s check your gowns and remove the flower petals for tomorrow, hmm?"

The girls jumped up, excited, and followed her out.

The moment the door closed, there was a brief silence—just long enough for us to hear Wendy’s footsteps fade down the hall.

Then Vicky grinned, wicked as sin. "Now that the tiny humans are gone... where were we?"

"So... how about we do something naughty?" Vicky asked, her eyes gleaming like trouble in human form.

Melanie, Bella, and Jenny instantly whooped like it was a dare they’d been waiting for their whole lives.

But Ella lifted a hand, her "maid of honor" voice cutting through the excitement. "Hold up! Before we get to the naughty stuff, we have something for you, Georgia."

The girls went suspiciously quiet.

Ella walked over to the dresser, picked up a small rectangular velvet box, and handed it to me with a soft smile. "Open it."

Inside was an elegant hairpin, its crystal stones shaped like flowers and leaves that sparkled even under the soft glow of the fairy lights. It was fit for a real-life princess.

My heart squeezed. I knew this hairpin.

"Remember this?" Ella asked.

"Oh my god," I breathed, my eyes already stinging. "You still have this?"

"This was the one you stole from your mom’s closet when we were kids!" she said, grinning. "You gave it to me for my birthday because you didn’t have money to buy me anything."

The room erupted.

"Oh my, Georgia, you thief!" Vicky gasped dramatically, clutching her pearls as the others dissolved into laughter.

"I was very young! I didn’t know it was stealing when I never saw my mother use it, not even once," I protested, but my voice cracked from trying not to laugh and cry at the same time.

"Wait, wait," Ella said through giggles, raising her hands. "To be fair, her mom found out, and she wasn’t even mad! She just sighed, taught me how to clean the pin. It was something her mother gave her on her wedding day. But only after she scolded you for two hours straight!"

"Hey! You didn’t have to tell that part!" I said, laughing so hard my cheeks hurt.

Ella wiped her eyes, still smiling. Then her tone softened. "Anyway, I’m giving it back to you now... as your ’something old.’ I know that you gave this to me as a birthday gift, but everything old in your house got burned down, so I hope you will accept this."

And just like that, I lost it.

My vision blurred as tears spilled down my cheeks. "Ella..." My voice trembled. "Thank you. This is the only thing I have left from my mom."

Someone wordlessly handed me the tissue box like she was passing a baton in an emotional relay race.

"Sorry, ladies," I said between sniffs, dabbing at my eyes. "Hormones."

The room exploded in laughter again, the kind that shakes the walls and warms your chest all at once.

"Okay, enough with the tears, Georgia. You don’t want to walk down the aisle tomorrow looking like a puffy-eyed panda," Vicky said, snapping her fingers dramatically. Then, with her signature flair, she handed me another velvet box—this one is smaller and suspiciously elegant.

I opened it and gasped softly. Inside was a pair of round white gold earrings with light blue stones that shimmered like ocean glass.

"I asked Nick when your birthday was," Vicky said proudly, flipping her hair. "And Google told me aquamarine is your birthstone. So, here’s your something blue—a symbol of my undying sisterly love and how fabulous I am as your sister-in-law."

The girls burst into giggles. I shook my head, smiling so wide my cheeks hurt. "Thank you, Vicky. They’re beautiful—and so are you."

She wiggled her brows. "Like me, they’re timeless and expensive."

I hugged her, still laughing, when Melanie suddenly jumped to her feet like a student who had just remembered her homework. "I have something too!"

*******

Thanks for the Golden Tickets!

Edna_R2679

Joyce_Ackom_Dwomoh

Noni_Byz

Kristen2025