Chapter 31: Lydia

“Oh my, Lydia, that dress looks absolutely gorgeous on you hun!” Madilyn gushed as Lydia emerged from the dressing room. She was in a sleek mermaid style ball gown that flared out at the bottom. The bodice was covered in little rhinestones and had just enough sparkle to not look gaudy. The dress fit Lydia snuggly and accentuated all of her curves.


“Really?” Lydia asked raising her hands to her breast and turning side to side, “You don’t think its too much,” she asked waving her hand across her chest.


“No!” Madilyn gushed. “It’s just enough, Drake won’t be able to take his eyes off of you, you look like sex on legs.”


*Yup, that’s the problem.* Lydia thought to herself, she didn’t want to look sexually appealing, she wanted to put the escort life behind her, she wanted to go back to being the sweet innocent girl she was before her mother’s accident.


“Maybe, I’ll try on one more,” Lydia replied, gesturing for the bridal assistant to help her out of the dress.


“It’s your day,” Madilyn said, “Take as long as you need.”


Lydia chuckled. “Well actually it’s your day, I’m just raining on your parade.”


“Oh nonsense!” Madilyn exclaimed. “If I didn’t want this I wouldn’t have asked. This is exactly what Sampson wants he wants his brother by his side, and hopefully with Drake settled down he’ll come around more often, besides think of the publicity, a double Whittenberg wedding.”


Lydia’s smile faltered for a moment, the publicity is exactly what she was worried about, what if one of her previous clients saw the wedding published in all the major magazines and realized that Lydia married rich. Would they dare try to blackmail her for money. Lydia thought back to that sleezeball Karl, he would definitely try to blackmail her. She took in a deep breath trying to calm her nerves. Drake had had Mia delete any information tying Lydia to the escort service. Karl had nothing on her, it would be his word against hers.


“Lydia what’s wrong?” Madilyn asked noticing the look on her face.


Lydia didn’t mind hanging out with Madilyn, besides Sampson, she had really been the only one who had been friendly to her the entire time since she had met the Whittenberg family, but there was no way Lydia was going to divulge her secrets to Madilyn, she was definitely a gossip and would do anything to be in the limelight.


“I’m just parched, trying on these wedding dresses takes a lot out of girl.” Lydia responded, smiling lightly.


“Tell me about it.” Madilyn said rolling her eyes. “Sometimes I wish I had a fairy godmother who could just poof her wand and make me the perfect dress. But I guess that’s what Monique Lhullier is for. She has designed the most perfect dress for me, its a one of a kind, if we had more time, I would totally schedule you a consultation with her.” Madilyn sighed, like it was the worst thing in the world for Lydia to have to buy an already made wedding dress. “But let’s take a break from trying on dresses and sit down for some wine with cheese and crackers,”


Oh Tatiana,” Madilyn called to the bridal assistant, “Would you be a dear and set up the tea room for Lydia and I, we are absolutely parched and I’m worried Lydia over here will faint if I try to shove her in anymore dresses.”


“Of course, Miss Madilyn.” Tatiana responded, leaving quickly.


“I don’t think I’ll ever get use to that.” Lydia stated quietly.


“Use to what?” Madilyn asked, helping Lydia with her dress, since she had just sent Tatiana away.


“People catering to me, doing whatever I want at my beck and call.”

“Ah, I forget sometimes that you weren’t born into this world. You’ll definitely get used to it. Isn’t your love story wonderful though, it’s like Drake came in and swept you off your feet and showed you an entire new world, he fell so hard for you that he doesn’t even want a prenup.”


Lydia had to stop herself from cackling like a hyena. The love story, if you could even call it that, between Drake and herself was anything but romantic.


Madilyn still had that dreamy look in her eyes, starring at Lydia as if waiting for her to reply.


“It is indeed romantic,” Lydia responded letting out a sigh, that Madilyn assumed meant Lydia, herself was helplessly in love.


“Ladies, the tea room is ready.” Tatiana called, beckoning them to follow her.


Lydia was glad for the interruption, she didn’t want to speak about her relationship with Drake if she could help it, She didn’t want to end up saying something and have Drake say another. Tatiana sat the women down in a quaint little tea room. There was a small round table set up with a red satin tablecloth over it and little white dollies where a glass might sit. On the table was a spread of cheeses from around the world and a variety of crackers. Sitting in the middle of the table was a bottle of Malbec in a brand that Lydia had never seen, Domino del Plata Nosotros, what happened to the good old Colores Del Sol, Lydia’s favorite Malbec.


“Thank you Tatiana, this looks marvelous,” Madilyn exclaimed, passing her a $100 bill for her troubles.


“So tell me how you and Sampson met?” Lydia asked while Madilyn began pouring the wine, trying to stir the conversation away from her and Drake.


“Oh we actually met in grad school, our sorority was hosting a ABC party, and Jessica had invited Drake, they were currently dating at the time and I was so envious of Jessica. Drake was, well you know, absolutely breathtaking and he had that bad boy look to him, that just made any girl want to get into his pants. Anyway that night, Jessica had planned on surprising Drake with a threesome, since their relationship seemed to be drifting apart. She wanted to surprise him with something fun in hopes that it would pull her and Drake closer. She’d asked me to be their third and I was totally down for it, I had heard that Drake was a God in the sheets, and I didn’t mind trying him for a spin. So that night, Jess and I made dresses out a plastic wrap that contoured to our body perfectly, they were sexy short and sleek and barely covered our nipples and asses. Jess wanted to look like a snack, and boy had she succeed. Anywho, as we are walk down the stairs to the main floor in the sorority where the party was being taking place, I spotted the most handsomest man that I had ever set my eyes upon. He was standing next to Drake, he was about half a foot shorter, and had these big blue eyes with the longest eyelashes I had ever seen on a man, while Drake was dark and brooding, this guy shined like the brightest light. Thoughts of Drake left my mind as soon as I set my eyes on his friend. I elbowed Jess slightly asking her who that was standing next to Drake, and when she told me it was his brother Sampson, I just knew I couldn’t wait to introduce myself. From the stories I had heard from Jessica, Sampson was five years younger than Drake, so just a year older than me, and he and Drake had been inseparable until Drake moved to the upper east side, leaving Sampson at the Whittenberg Estate with his parents. Drake had stringed Sampson along to the party with him, because Sampson was also attending grad school with us and he was somewhat of a recluse. Once we met the boys at the bottom of the stairs, Sampson and I took off ditching Jessica and Drake, and it really was love at first sight, from that moment on we were inseparable. Jessica and Drake broke up that night and she still blames me to this day, saying if Sampson and I hadn’t hooked up that night, that she would have been able to entertain Drake with a threesome and lure him back to her. Jess doesn’t know it because I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, but Drake had already been seeing a model who lived near him. He’s been somewhat of a playboy for years, never settling down or fully committing to a relationship; that’s why Sampson and I were so shocked that he was bring a date to the wedding, and then even more shocked that he intended on marrying you. It’s why we insisted that you guys get married with us. You’re the first serious relationship that Drake has had and he’s the happiest that I have ever seen him.”


Lydia smiled at that acknowledgement, she had heard of Drake’s playboy ways so she wasn’t surprised when Madilyn had told her Drake hadn’t been exclusive with Jessica. She was shocked that Jessica was still pinning after Drake all these years, but who could blame the girl, Drake was everything plus the kitchen sink, he was the whole damn package.


Lydia and Madilyn finished the snack of crackers and wine before heading back downstairs to try on dresses. Apparently refreshments was all Lydia had needed to bring her excitement for wedding dress shopping up, it was either that or the fact that Madilyn believed that Drake had serious feelings for Lydia. Either way, Lydia found her wedding dress almost immediately after, and they sent it to the seamstress to have it fitted for Lydia. They would pick the dress up on their last day on the island before heading to the Bahamas, and for the first time since Drake had proposed Lydia was looking forward to the wedding.