While one door closed, it didn't seal her off completely. Things just changed. It was almost like a window opened, letting a breeze enter her life. Sienna felt the change as they returned to the bakery. Camryn blew up her phone, demanding that she give Frank every answer to any questions he had. The boy's happiness was an obligation Camryn felt Sienna needed to take personally. Instead of answering, however, she turned off the phone and threw it into the nearest dumpster. The press would be calling soon, maybe even the security team for the royal family; she didn't care.
Sienna Carlton looked straight into Frank's eyes. Instead of taking her home, Frank had brought her back to his house. He ruffled his blonde hair back, unsure of what to say.
"Let me…" he stumbled. "Let me go get you a big t-shirt. Is that okay?"
Sienna smiled. "That would be nice," she said.
She stripped out of the wedding dress in the bathroom. It was a small place, just a one-bedroom house outside the city limits. No one would find her for a while here. Sienna looked at her skin, covered in a thin layer of what felt like crystalized glitter. They had made every effort to make her look like so much more than what she was. She got into the shower and scrubbed at her skin. Layers of it came peeling away. Makeup smeared across her face, rolling off her skin and circling the drain. She grabbed what looked like conditioner and began scrubbing at her scalp. When it disappeared, she grabbed more. There was a purification to it, like she was removing lies and personal torment. She thought of Matt.
Matthew, a dethroned prince, would grow old beside the man he loved. He was gentle, he was kind, but he wasn't fit to be the ruler to his nation. Lies came too easy. Self-sacrifice was too present in his life. Instead, he would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to James. That was okay, Sienna thought. James wouldn't let him forget.
She stepped out of the shower and found that the wedding dress was gone. Instead, Frank had left behind a giant oversized t-shirt with the bakery's logo on the front. Pulling it on, Sienna felt something fall away inside of her. She fell against the counter, the tears falling down her face. So many mistakes. What if she hadn't been saved? If Camryn hadn't come, how would she have lived?
Do you really believe you could have said the words?
The words? Sienna was brought back to the moment before Camryn arrived, when the priest asked for something of her that she wasn't ready to give. The commitment and the oath—the words that she could think, but she couldn't say. Would she have offered them up? Or would she have simply fallen to the wayside?
"Would I have said no?" she wondered aloud.
It wasn't an answer she could give. But there was a silver lining around the figure in the mirror. Wiping away the fog with the towel, she stared at the streaked face in the mirror. Her lip quivered. What more did she want? Closing her eyes, she steadied her breathing. Sienna left the bathroom. She made her way through Frank's house. He was waiting for her, standing in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and looking over the hillside at the horizon.
"Frank?" she asked.
He glanced in her direction. "You look like a raccoon," he observed.
Sienna laughed. "Yeah," she said. "They dolled me up pretty heavily back there."
Frank put down his cup of coffee and grabbed a couple paper towels from a dispenser sitting on the counter. He walked towards her, just barely gracing her arm as he moved to wipe the mascara from her face. Sienna closed her eyes. Wetness fell from her eyes, but he didn't move away. Instead, the paper towel moved gently under her eye. It stopped at the corners, letting the black river fall into warmth.
"They didn't know what they were doing," Frank said.
Sienna smiled. "Me neither."
Frank shook his head. "If I had half the brain you do, I would have done the same thing."
Sienna opened her mouth to speak, but her throat felt wet and thick. No words came out. Instead, she sucked in a breath that caught his attention.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Will you forgive me?" she asked.
Frank smiled. "I will have long forgiven you before you find the power to forgive yourself, Sienna Carlton."