Svetlana sat near the edge of her bed with her hands resting on her lap.
She'd been awake for over an hour, but she hadn't moved much.
Her hair was still tied up in a bun from the night before, and her robe was loosely wrapped around her waist.
Her dress hung nearby on a tall rack, zipped up in a garment bag, and the veil was folded over the chair beside it.
Macey stood behind her, brushing her daughter's hair gently. The room was quiet aside from the soft strokes of the brush and the faint sound of voices downstairs.
"You doing okay?" Macey asked, watching her through the mirror.
Svetlana nodded once. "I think so."
Macey kept brushing. "You don't have to be calm. Just be honest."
"I'm not scared," Svetlana said. "I just feel like… if I take a deep breath, I might cry. Not the bad kind. Just the kind you get when something big is about to happen."
Macey smiled, resting a hand on her shoulder. "That's normal."
