Page 117 of Ruthless Devotion
I swallow around the lump forming in my throat… I’ve known the words to this song forever. Erica and I used to sing it in her car with the top down. There’s no way I can shut these words out… they are a plea for me to give him a chance. Even now he wants me to come around. Even after everything that brought us here.
I take in the reception space. There are many round tables with linen tablecloths and a special table set aside for me and Aidan. Our guests have already been served and are eating dinner. Our food hasn’t been delivered to our table yet, probably being kept warm in the kitchen. There are huge bouquets of colorful Gerbera daisies for centerpieces. It’s a more fun party flower than the serious roses and lilies of the ceremony.
The cake table is at the far end of the room with a spotlight shining down on it. A large dance floor has been installed for the reception. Along one entire interior wall is aquarium glass, with fish and sharks swimming in the saltwater behind it. It’s one of the many deep tanks. This particular view is only available to those who rent the banquet space. Two cylindrical tanks stand on either side of the big tank filled with glowing blue and green jellyfish.
and above us in this part of the building is a flat glass ceiling, giving us a perfect view of the emerging stars as the full darkness of night blooms.
Fireworks start to go off, bursts of bright colors exploding above us. It’s a spectacular show, and if our guests’ oooh’s and aaaah’s are accurate, they seem to be transported by the display as well. At least they aren’t paying too close attention to the bride and groom now.
I feel Aidan go stiff, tension rolling off him. I glance up to see why he’s stopped dancing. He’s staring up at the sky. His face looks haunted like he’s somewhere else entirely.
“Aidan?” I think it’s the first time in my entire life I’ve ever said his name in a way that sounded like concern instead of derision or fear.
“Hey,” I say, again, not sure what to do or what’s happening right now.
He seems to snap out of whatever fugue state he was in, but when he looks at me, I still see the shadow of something I can’t explain in his features. I don’t know what this is about, but it’s something about the fireworks. He pulls away from me suddenly and rushes to the nearest exist.
The song has changed and no one has yet noticed the groom’s absence. They’re still staring at the exploding flashes of light overhead. Most of the photographers are capturing the light show. Only Giselle’s attention has stayed on us.
“Is he okay?” she asks.
“He got a call he had to take,” is the first lie I can think of.
She nods. “I hope everything’s all right.”
Clearly she wasn’t paying close attention this whole time since Aidan never had a phone in his hand. Or maybe she’s just being polite about my obvious lie.
I get off the dance floor before our guests notice Aidan is gone and tell the DJ to get everybody out on the dance floor, hoping to obscure our absence. Then I go in search of the wedding planner.
I finally find Carol in the kitchen.
“Did Aidan plan the fireworks?” I ask.
“Oh, no, that comes as an add-on with wedding receptions at the aquarium—at least if they happen at night.”
“Did he request it?”
“We didn’t discuss all the exact details. He said he trusted me to handle and manage everything. Why? Did he not want fireworks? I thought they were a really romantic touch.”
“No, it’s okay. I was just curious.”
I return to the party, and against my better judgment I go to the door Aidan disappeared out of wondering if I should go out there and look for him.
I don’t know why I would do something so insane, but he did not look okay. Is this sympathy for my captor? Already? I shouldn’t be concerned about his well being, I should hope he falls into a shark tank and meets an untimely death so I can go back to my life.
I’m still standing in this indecision, fantasizing about Aidan being flung over the railing to his doom when the door swings open, and he’s back.
“Are you okay? What was that back there?”
He shakes his head and avoids my gaze. “Fine. It’s nothing. Let’s go to our table.”
He doesn’t say anything else about it. They bring our food as soon as we’re seated. Dinner is rosemary roasted Cornish hens, caramel-glazed carrots, green beans, potatoes, and Caesar salads. I’m surprised that I can actually eat right now, but I’m starving. Instead of forcing myself to eat I’m having to force myself to slow down so I don’t embarrass myself.
As soon as we’re served, the toasts start. Aidan’s best man, Vale, gives a nice but largely forgettable speech. Erica is next, and she’s very careful about how she phrases things, focusing more on how long she and I have been friends and how much she loves me and hopes for my happiness more than anything else… then Aidan’s Uncle Martin gets up and takes the microphone. He turns to us.
“It touches my heart to see my nephew find love, and even though marriage was never for me, I hope you two find an ever-deepening love and commitment to each other as the years go by.” The finality of these words press in on me, shrinking the room to a size far smaller than should be possible with this many people.
He turns back to the rest of the guests to get to the meat of his speech. “Aidan might kill me for saying this, but it’ll be worth it. Soon after he came to live with me, he became absolutely smitten with this little girl at his school. I got to hear nearly every day about how “so cool” Madison Prescott was. He was obsessed with making Valentine’s Day perfect for her that year. He knew exactly how he wanted the class cupcakes to look, and he insisted we get them from the “good bakery” since if I made them they would be bad and if we got them from the grocery store they would also be bad.”
