Chapter 40
Avidya
Standing in front of the full-length mirror that was in the master bathroom, I looked myself over once more. My cheeks were still slightly red from this morning. Would everyone know what happened? My blue eyes stood out more than normal; they were brighter than I could hardly ever remember before. My long blond hair was over my shoulders, left down in soft curls, covering the tops of my gray shirt that wore. My matching washed out jeans paired my look with some simple black sandals.
I wasn’t sure what to wear, but Zachariah had said to dress in what I felt the most comfortable in. No one was going to judge me by what I wore. I had met most of the people that would be there for a late lunch, but it didn’t help my nerves the slightest.
“You look beautiful,” Zachariah said, pausing in the doorway as he glanced over me. He wore dark jeans and a white long button up shirt. It was a similar outfit to the first time I saw him. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I sighed out as I played with the ring that was on my finger. It glistened off the lights in the mirror.
“It won’t be that bad,” Zachariah laughed out, wrapping his arms around me from behind. He was still so much darker than I was with being more of a sun kissed look compared to my pale complexion. I needed to be outside more often, I noted. “Mom will want to do some pictures, though. It’s one of herthings.”
“A thing you aren’t a fan of, I take it,” I said, letting my shoulders relax.
“Not too fond,” he said, staring at our reflections. We really did go to together well. His dark to my lightless, inside and out. “We’re perfect,” he echoed my thoughts.
“We are, aren’t we?” I sighed out.
“I wish things had been different, but we would still be here now either way,” he replied. “Fate wanted us together one way or another.”
“Why haven’t we gone to church all the time I’ve been here? I had seen you a few times there before,” I asked. The thought hadn’t really bothered me all that much since I hated the way Cody ran the church. I was happy to not go and face him, or anyone I knew for that matter.
“I don’t much care to see Cody or his other followers,” he answered. “And I didn’t think you wanted to go back to his church if any. If you had, you’d have told me so.”
“I would have,” I agreed. I was glad that we seemed to be on the same page about many things.
“Now, to warn you beforehand, my grandparents tend to be a bit . . . different from what you see from my own parents. Like many people in my family, we knew who we would be married to by the time we became teenagers. My grandparents are one of the few that had to marry someone to gain power in their family.
“They work well together, don’t get me wrong, but they are both extremely hot headed. And they speak their thoughts, grandma, more often than anyone else, so don’t take to heart on anything that they say, okay?” he finished.
“Alright,” I said.
“It’ll be okay. They will love you, just like the rest of my family,” he said, letting go of me. “Now come along before we are late.”
“You hate being late,” I stated, following him out of the bathroom to grab my purse and a light jacket to take along with us.
“Being late is never a good idea in my line of work,” he deadpanned. “I may be late on purpose when I call a meeting anywhere, but otherwise, no.”
It didn’t take long to get from Zachariah’s house to his parents. The house was just as it was the first time and only time I had been here. It felt like it was such a long time ago when in reality it was only over a month by a few days.
There were two other cars parked in the long, wide driveway already. I knew that Zachariah’s parents, grandparents, brother and sister-in-law would be here today. Would there be anyone else?
“I should have known everyone would be here before we were,” Zachariah muttered out as he parked the car behind the two that were already there.
Maybe he was as interested in doing this as I was.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said, shooting me yet another encouraging smile before exiting the car. I followed after him, meeting in on the sidewalk that lined the pathway up to the front door.
The door opened before we made it halfway there. Julia stood there, waiting with a huge smile on her face. She wore a knee length dark blue dress that had a belt at the waist. Her hair was left down in soft waves.
When we reached the door, she quickly brought both of us into a tight hug, ignoring Zachariah’s look about telling him the wrong time to arrive.
“Welcome, welcome,” she gushed, taking ahold of my hand and dragging me into the house. “How are you doing Avidya?”
“Fine,” I said, giving her a tight smile.
“Good, good,” she said, ushering us all further into the house. It was as clean and grand looking as the last time I was here.
