Both Cade and Ophelia had no idea that nine days would rush so fast and that they would be standing face-to-face at the altar. Ophelia looked behind Cade and his grandfather was sitting there with the broadest smile on his face. She searched the blank face of her mother-in-law, she saw the depth of sorrow in her eyes as she watched the scene unfold before her eyes.
Beside her way her son, Cael with his plus one Frances Gates. They had tried to penetrate the media space but could only get as much as a column spot to talk about their relationship.
Ophelia wondered why she had agreed to this wedding now that she was faced with tying the knot, did she have to face the family of her husband and their tactics?
Cade had made sure to prepare her for the likely things she would face, Abigail always found a way to do something devious at one point or another. Ophelia had been confident that nothing they did as a family would get to them. She had no business seeing them after all, they were going to be living separately from each other so they would only run into each other in public or at events and that short time of interaction was nothing too much for her to handle. Handling bullies was easy peasy for her, she knew that handling a grown woman who was threatened by a young man would be a walk in the park for her.
The church ceremony was over and now they were at the reception, Cade suggested they go to greet people who had come to their wedding especially those who had some degree of wealth and authority in both their firms. As they were talking to Mrs. Gates who was elated that her daughter was having a relationship with Cael, Cade’s eyes caught a figure walk hurriedly past them.
He thought his eyes were playing pranks on him, it was practically impossible to see here. Their wedding was a closed ceremony and the reception was by invitation only so there was no way Harper could have found a way in here. He did not send her an invite and he was sure that Opehlia did not either, he was sure neither of them had had contact with each other.
“Honey” Ophelia nudged his side when she noticed he had spaced out.
“What is it?” he asked turning to her.
“Mrs Gates here is asking you a question,” she said causing him to lift his eyes to her.
“Oh maybe I was boring you with all that work talk, you know since my husband stepped down from major roles I have had to step up and take charge so I am still learning a lot, maybe I can schedule an appointment to talk to you sometime?” she asked.
“Of course, I would be glad to help” Cade replied.
Mrs Gates walked away, she was happy that she had some kind of connection with the Vale family but she would not lie, she felt some pangs of jealousy, maybe she should have discussed marriage with Charles the last time they met. She had no idea his grandson was ready to get married or else she would have given it a shot. Now that Cael was with her daughter she planned to push through and receive at least a favourable outcome.
“What is going on in your mind?” Ophelia asked as they were left alone.
“It is nothing” he said but as soon as the words left his mouth Harper was standing in front of them.
“Ohhh” she let out a strange sound from her mouth. “I never thought I would see you getting married” Harper continued.
“How did you get in here?” Cade asked trying to keep his voice down.
“Is that how you treat a well-wisher?” Harper asked leaning in so they could hear her low voice.
“A well-wisher?” Cade scoffed, “We both know you aren’t one, what are you doing here? How did you get in here past security? I did not invite you so…”
“Too many questions, I can only answer one at a time” she said waving her hand in the air. “But first aren’t you going to introduce me to the woman who took my spot so easily?”
Ophelia put two and two together and knew this was Harper. The image of her that she had seen was just what she looked like, compared to Ophelia Harper was a mid in terms of appearances.
“You are the one who tried to steal my boyfriend” Ophelia said taking a step forward. She blinked rapidly and then put her hand across her mouth as if she suddenly remembered something. “Oops my husband”
Ophelia watched her face harden and she smirked in satisfaction. “I guess I was worried for nothing, there is no way my honey here would leave me for you, you have nothing that I have,” she said pointing to her face.
“What?” Harper stuttered in confusion.
“I mean when I heard you dated him before I was expecting some kind of beauty goddess and when I saw the pictures my first thought was, oh why does she look so bad in pictures, seeing you now makes me think, you actually look better in pictures”
Harper felt her ego bruise and her expression gave Ophelia the satisfaction she was after, usually, she would not go after her looks but she had to bury her confidence knee-deep for her to at least back off a bit.
She was getting married to Cade because it was an arranged marriage but there was no way she would allow him to have an affair. Their marriage was going to be the type people refer to and she had to make sure of it.
She took a step back and linked her hand with Cade, “Darling let’s go, we haven’t attended to all of our important guests yet” she said eyeing the dumbfounded girl in front of her.
“Let’s go, Ophelia,” Cade said as they moved out of the way and left to the next table.
“Would it kill you to sound a bit more loving at least to make it believable?” she asked as they approached another table.
“Are we doing that too?”
“Yes, we are doing it all, everything a couple does”
Cade felt a lump in his throat as he suddenly remembered the one-night stand he had with Toria at that moment. Why did he remember Toria at that time? He thought to himself. Ophelia’s acting at that moment put his mind back to that night but why?
“Everything?” he asked dryly.
“Everything”