Ami looked into the three-way mirror at her bridal gown, which had just come in. With the high waistline and pearl-encrusted bodice, she looked like a medieval princes in it.
"I love it!" Serena said.
Ami turned and smiled at her,"And I think you look lovely yourself." Serena was trying on her bridesmaid's dress, an empire gown in pale blue that went beautifully with her eyes. Zoisite asked Darien to be his best man, as well as the father of the bride. Although Darien was only a close friend to Ami, he had helped her overcome many things and took the brotherly role for Ami when her father had left her many years ago. Serena grinned and twirled around in her dress.
"I have been blessed with two lovely daughters." from a chair beside the mirror, Ami's mother beamed at them. Serena was only a friend but sometimes Ms. Anderson thought of her as a second-daughter, always being so close to Ami in her childhood and helping her mature into the woman she is today.
Ami felt an overwhelming love for her mother and friend. All their old arguments have died. She was going to marry Zoisite, and they'd have a family of their own. Her mother would be a dotting grandmother, and Serena a proud aunt. Everything was going to be all right from now on.
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Later that day Ami, her mother, and Serena walked into the backdoor of her home in Arlington, carrying the large gold and white boxes that held their wedding finery. Ami had been living back at home for the past month in order to carry out the wedding preparations. She and Zoisite would marry at St. John's in Croftown, where her grandparents and parents had been married, and a small reception would be held back at the Manor.
As soon as they entered the house, Ami realized it wasn't empty. They put down the boxes and entered the living room. A large man with heavy jowls was talking to another man in the living room. Ami's mother froze in her steps. "Mr Hoover"
Then Ami recognized him. He was K. Edgar Hoover, the head of the FBI.
"Yes, Ms. Anderson, I'm so sorry but I thought it best we wait here for your daughter & her friend"
Serena looked back and forth between her friend and the tall man with long gray hair.
"What's happened?" Serena asked, advancing forward to Mr. Hoover. The older man paused a moment, clearly unhappy to speak. He looked sorrowfully at Serena.
"I'm very sorry, Serena, but we lost Darien this afternoon"
Ms. Anderson moaned.
Darien was also Serena's husband as well as Ami's friend. In fact their relationship was the reason Ami meet the man in the first place.
"L-Lost him?" Serena echoed.
"He was working the Delaware investigation of that radical group, and it literally blew up in our faces. He was killed instantly, an explosion"
Serena went white. Wordlessly she sagged against Ami, who helped her onto the nearby sofa.
"I can't tell you how sorry I am," he said. "Darien Shields was one of my best men and a good friend. I'm so sorry, Serena"
Ms. Anderson hurried over to Serena and sat down beside her.
Ami stood in the doorway between the dining and living rooms, unable to move or speak.
The other man, a stranger, cleared his trout and nodded toward her. Mr. Hoover turned to her and looked even more forbidding."And you're Ami, aren't you"
She nodded, mute.
"I'm afraid Zoisite was working the same case"
"What happened?" Ami whispered, though she was already tightening up inside, already realizing what the man might say.
"Dane was killed, also. I'm so very sorry. I know you were his fiancee. We're all so very sorry"
Ami's head swam in a rush of disorienting emotion. She put a hand out to catch herself, but she couldn't find the wall. Strong hands pulled her forward and urging her down into an armchair.
"My wedding dress just came from New York" Ami said, as if these words would work some magic, change what had happened. "We just picked up our dresses" she leaned back, unable to halt the chill washing through her. The bright sunny day was suddenly cast into alternating shadow and bleak light.
-It isn't true. There's been a mistake. We're going to be married next Saturday. I have my dress, and everything is planned.-
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How'd you like the fist Chpt. Review Please!