Eighteen years later at the Blue Lagoon Hotel ...
A young woman wearing an off-shoulder blood-red ball gown was standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling mirror in the lounge of the biggest banquet hall in the hotel. A pear-shaped ruby pendant encased with eighteen tiny diamonds and suspended on a silver chain nestled just above her cleavage.
Her waist-length hair was gathered and braided to one side and adorned with small flowers made of silver.
Erika sighed. The woman in the mirror was very lovely. She inherited her mother's hazel eyes and pair of shallow dimples.
Her neat eyebrows that perfectly arched over her eyes were from her father. Her eyelashes were long and curled at the tip.
As Erika studied her reflection, her life from what she remembered flashed before her eyes like scenes in a movie.
