Chapter 21

Once the group reached the town they split up. Girls went one way while the men went another.

Olivia was ecstatic. She couldn't wait to start trying on beautiful dresses in search of the perfect one but she was also aware of how tiring it was going to be. Not only did she have to find a dress she also had to choose bridesmaids dresses and book a hair appointment and arrange to get her make up done on her wedding day. Her wedding day. She never thought she would actually be planning this day. It had always seemed like an intangible concept, but now it was coming true.

The flush of warm air over her body as she walked into the first bridal wear boutique brought her back to reality. As she looked around her then enormity of the task ahead became real. There were all different types of dresses and she wasn't sure about what kind of dress she would like. Before she knew it Casey, Melinda and Liz were handing her dresses and ordering her to try them on so she did.

The first dress which Casey had chosen was a definite no. As Olivia looked at her reflection in the mirror she laughed. This dress was ridiculously big and was not her at all. As she walked out of the changing room to show the others she tried to contain her laughter. Upon seeing Olivia Melinda, Liz and Ciara all placed their hands over their mouths in shock.

"I know that's what I thought too" laughed Olivia. There was no way in hell she would be seen wearing this dress on her wedding day.

Olivia returned to the changing room to try on the dress that Melinda had chosen. This one was a lot nicer. It was silk and had an old Hollywood glam look to it. As she slid the soft fabric over her body she was slightly disappointed. It had looked beautiful on the hanger but now that she had it on she wasn't sure. She decided to see what the others thought.

"Its beautiful!" exclaimed Melinda when she saw Olivia.

"I'm not sure about it" shared Olivia.

"Me neither. I don't think it suits you Liv, no offence" added Casey.

Olivia turned to return to the changing room and was handed 10 more dresses by Casey and Ciara. She tried on dress after dress but none of them felt right. They just weren't what she was looking for. After hours of trying on dresses Olivia was starting to lose hope. Finally she had reached the last dress in the bundle. It was the dress that Liz had chosen at the start. It wasn't something that Olivia would have chosen herself but it was simple and understated so she decided to give it a chance. She knew once she had it on that this was the dress for her. It fit like a glove and hugged her body in all the right places.

She walked out of the changing room with the biggest of smile gracing her face. Everyone else was stunned. She was breath-taking.

"I take it you guys like it" said Olivia.

Words evaded the other women in the room and the all nodded in agreement to Olivia's previous statement.

Thirty minutes later the women had bought the dress and had now gone in search of bridesmaids dresses. Olivia had informed them that she wanted the dresses to be blue, her favourite colour. As the entered a shop in search of dresses Ciara's phone rang, it was Don.

"Ciara honey could you come and help us?" asked Don.

"Yeah sure" replied Ciara somewhat confused "where are you?"

"We are in Evolve the menswear shop"

Without further delay Ciara told the others she had something to do and would meet up with them later. She quickly made her way towards Evolve. As she stepped inside the shop her phone rang again but this time it was her solicitor. He had news about her grandmother's will. She listened tentatively as the solicitor spoke.

"Ciara your grandmother left you a substantial amount of properties. She owned the house that you are staying in at the moment, a cottage outside of the town and a large farmhouse along with a 10 acre farm. We have also got some calls inquiring as to whether or not you intend to sell these properties."

"How much do all of these properties amount to?" interrupted Ciara.

"Well at present" responded the solicitor "over 3 million euros. But I must inform you we have got an offer for the farmhouse and surrounding land. A local farmer is willing to pay 2 million for the lot"

Ciara couldn't believe what she was hearing. With this money she would be comfortable for the rest of her life. She wanted to keep the house she was currently staying in but was willing to sell the others.

"Tell him it's a deal. I will drop by your office later with Liz to go over the paperwork. Now I must go" explained Ciara to her solicitor. And with that she hung up.

She spotted Don and the others standing by the changing rooms at the back of the store. They all had a three piece suit on but in various different colours. Don was wearing a grey suit with a plain white shirt and red tie. Fin had a pin striped navy suit on with a blue shirt and navy tie on while John had a black suit, black shirt and silver tie on. Each man looked smart but was nothing in comparisons to Elliot. He wore a classic black suit with a black waistcoat and plain white shirt and blue tie. The blue tie brought out the blue in his eyes and he looked very dapper.

"Well guys you all look great but I think Elliot looks best. And I think the blue would look great on all of you" stated Ciara. All of the men took her advice and tried on attire similar to Elliots. It wasn't long before all of the men had been suited and were ready to continue with their day. Ciara bid them farewell and returned to the other girls.

The men next went to a car hire service. They looked through the cars on offer and chose a vintage white Rolls Royce which Don paid for and said it was his wedding present to Elliot and Olivia. The men were now almost done with their plans for the day and decided to grab some coffee. As they entered a quaint coffee shop on the corner of the street Fin and John went to order while Don and Elliot sat down. Elliot rubbed his hand over his face as he tried to fight of the tiredness. It had been a long day.

"Elliot I need to talk to you" spoke Don.

"Yeah sure what about?" replied Elliot

"I want you to promise me that you will never hurt Olivia. She is like the daughter I never had and I care for her dearly. I trust you to treat her well and I am sure I don't have to tell you how Olivia deserves happiness more than most. And if you ever do anything to cause her pain I will hurt you"

Elliot took in every word Don said. He would never do anything to purposely hurt Olivia and he loved her very much but he understood Don's reasoning for this conversation.

"I will never hurt Olivia Don. You have nothing to worry about" stated Elliot with confidence.

Don just smiled and nodded. He knew Elliot was a good man.

Meanwhile Melinda and Casey were trying on yet another dress that Olivia had chosen for them. This time the dress was actually quite nice and suited both of them . They were simple peplum dresses in a blue colour.

With all of the dresses sorted Olivia now had to book hair appointments for everyone and arrange for a make up artist to come to the house and do their make up the morning of the wedding. They went into the salon next door to the shop and got everything arranged.

With everything sorted they decided to go for something to eat. Ciara asked Liz to come with her to the solicitors to sort out paperwork on the houses which left Melinda, Olivia and Casey in the café together. They chatted about the wedding and soon the subject of a bachelorette party came up.

"Liv I am going to throw you the best party ever!" shrieked Casey. Olivia was a little worried by Casey's excitement but decided to let her have her moment.

As Casey rambled on about her plans for the party Olivia suddenly felt very weak. Everything in the room started to spin and suddenly Olivia was surrounded by darkness as she fell to the ground….

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