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Chapter One

White

It is all around

I ah I can see neither walls nor s There is only the endless flow of ainst h the drapes that fill the space before me Hundreds, maybe thousands They are beautiful They are perfect And I am not afraid

On the contrary, I a softly on the cool floor, I realize that I ah the diaphanous panels that flutter as I pass, as if struck by an ocean breeze

I know that I a— so up inside me He is there Soht

Damien

I quickenas I move faster and faster

I aertips upon ainst etting anywhere, and now the soft flutter of the drapes has taken on ame back

Panic bubbles inside et to him I have to see him, touch him, and yet noforward at all I’o see beauty of a curtain into heaven now seehtmare

A nightmare

My pulse quickens as the truth settles over me I am not in a room; I am in a bed

I’

This is a dream, a dream, and only a dreah I ah these damnable drapes because I am certain—with the kind of certainty that coh theain be safe in Damien’s arms

But I cannot get through

Though I push and shove and beat h I run and run until I aet nowhere other than where I already around,out around me like the petals of a flower

I tentatively stroke thethat I earing a dress, but this is a dream and I know better than to think too deeply about the odd paraathering er ood, because now that I have coently to the ground only to disappear like cotton candy touching water until there is nothing left but me and this roo closer and closer with each breath that I take

My chest is tight, and when I look down, I realize that my hand is fisted in the silk skirt There are sainst the white silk at the he white pearls that now feel hard beneath lance down at the fitted bodice, the perfection of the silk, the gentle pressure of the stays

I aown, and for a ain He is not beside me, but I know that he is with me This man—this incredible man ill soon be my husband

Just the thought of him calms me, and I am able to breathe o forward and leave this room

I can go into Damien’s arms