One of the wonderous aspects about writing romance is we create scenarios. What follows is my current imaginings of how my heroine, Lily Hughes' experiences her wedding day to her hero in the first book of The Women's Circle Series.Her experience also allowed me to create a wedding day much different from my own. That is part of the magic and power of romantic fiction. What draws you to romance novels?
Today
is my wedding day! A look in the mirror showed Lily just how
amazing that thought was to her. “It isn’t my first wedding but it will be my
last”, she said to the woman in the mirror, who nodded a brilliant smile
lighting her face.
“Without everyone’s support
I don’t think Jackson and I would be here,” she continued the conversation with
her reflection. “Each one, in her special way, lighted some part of my path to
this day.”
Lily twirled looking at her
form from all angles in the cheval mirror giving a final twitch and tug to her
floor length blue silk and lace dress. She slipped her feet into matching
low-heeled pumps and with a last glance turned from the looking glass and
marched across the room to the overstuffed chair in the corner. Gingerly she
perched on the edge conscious of her dress.
Today
is my wedding day! How
many times have I said or thought those words since waking? she mused. At least
every few minutes. She shivered as joyous wonder enveloped her, sighed, and
smiled. Maybe it will be like this until
the ceremony.
She turned at the soft knock
on the door.
“Come in.”
The door opened and
one-by-one the other women from The Circle filed in.
Lily stood and slowly
revolved. “What do you think?” she said as she started to move.
Silence greeted her
question.
A frown now marked her
forehead as she completed the revolution.
As the faces of her friends
came into view, the frown deepened. Every face had raised eyebrows and rounded
mouths.
Something was terribly
wrong!
Today
is my wedding day! And
something is wrong. Her stomach clenched, bile rose in her throat, as an
incipient panic gripped her.
Sophia stepped forward and
took hold of her hands. “You look spectacular!” she said and hugged her.
“I do?” Lily said, shaking
her head.
“You do,” Diana added.
“Absolutely spectacular!”
The other women nodded their
heads, their voices chimed in eager agreement.
Lily crossed the room, back
to the cheval mirror, where she once again twirled, viewing herself from all
angles.
“But you all looked so
shocked? I thought something was horribly wrong.”
“We’ve never seen you look
so radiant,” Sophia spoke. “We weren’t shocked; at least not in a bad way.
Lily saw the other heads nod
in agreement, smiles wreathed every face. Her face lit again with a brilliant
smile. Today is my wedding day and all is
at it should be. Blessed Be.
© 2012 Judith Ashley
6 comments:
What a lovely excerpt, Judith! I liked the way you tied the beginning and the end together.
What draws me to romance novels is the themes of connection and triumph over adversity - in other words, the Happily-ever-afters!
Thanks, Sarah. Even though I know that there is HEA waiting for me, it's the journey the heroine and hero take that keeps me coming back.
I like the journey that the characters take to get to the HEA. I like the books that I feel invested in the heroine's journey. For me, different genres make for the spice of life in reading.
Thanks for stopping by, Diana. I'd not thought of seeing the different genres as the 'spice of life in reading'.
Wonderful excerpt, Judith! I loved it.
Thanks, Paty. It's written as an excerpt but is actually original. There is a pre-wedding scene in the ms but it is very different from this one. As I'm going through it again, I may find this is a better fit when I get to that part which will be fantastic because it will already be written!
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