Chapter 58

The double doors open with a small squeak that gets lost to the sound of bridal gait.

Before my eyes, two hundred people stand in the great church where my marriage is made official, and their faces always so loaded with arrogance and dislike change instantly to admiration.

Shaking, I grab the arm that my stepfather offers and follow him to stumble over the immense red carpet that stretches to reveal the path we should follow.

Flowers braided in small string strands delimit how far guests can tilt their bodies to see me pass, each delicate arrangement firmly attached to the arms of the polished mahogany benches.

The setting sunlight gushes through the windows composed of colored glasses that represent religious scenes, spreading rainbow shadows over each white petal that sprinkles the intense crimson of the carpet. There is a sweet smell in the air, if exhaled by flowers or by my own perfume, I can't say, but it's pleasant and enough to expel my fear, so I absorb it