#patchwork cadenza

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I think Arthur should be sobbing and begging for forgiveness into the skirts of Bella’s dress. As a treat.

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Today was an objectively awful day to get married. The wind was bitten through with a cold, sinking deep into Bella Saltzman’s skin.

She gripped her father’s arm tightly, staring up at the church. A storm brewed around them.

“Are you ready now?” Daniel asked gruffly.

And sue her, but she was still a child. She wanted to turn and bury her face in her father’s chest, beg him to not make her go inside. But she’d never been one to call him- or anyone- for help. Bella straightened her back, shoulders back, chin up.

“That’s my girl.” Daniel said, tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear.

Bella nodded, fighting the tears with a mask so firm she couldn’t breathe. Together, they stepped inside the church.

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Bella Saltzman, no, Bella Lester always knew her life wasn’t hers, but never before did she wish for it to end as much as she did the night of her wedding.

She sinks to her knees in the wedding dress she didn’t even have time to finish, listening to her father and new husband shouting in the next room.

It had been a long time since she prayed.

Nobody answered.

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Bella Saltzman looked like her mother. Her red curls falling down her back, long since chopped to her shoulders in a fit of youthful rebellion. They were growing back now, and as she looked into the mirror she saw the worn eyes of a woman she had never known.

The only photographs she had were from before her mother had gotten pregnant with her. Her father’s friends told her they had the same hair, the same vivid eyes. They complimented her lips and her nose and her curves and told her she was just like her mother when she sat quietly at her father’s side.

It made Bella sick. She wished she could cut her hair once more, up to her ears like the young girls did. She was their age, and yet she had never felt older. She placed a gentle hand on her stomach, bone tired. She looked at the woman in the mirror, and wondered if her mother didn’t want her daughter to look like her as much as she did.