“In two days,” he added. “It is also where my parents were married.”
Something tight and bitter rose in her chest.
“Sylvia should be standing here,” Cassandra said. “Not me.”
He frowned slightly.
“Why?”
“You know why,” she replied. “This was always meant to be her place. You were supposed to continue what your fathers planned. I was never part of it.”
“That plan was not mine,” George said.
“You broke it because of me,” she said, the bitterness sharpening her voice. “You broke the rules.”
He let out a short, incredulous breath.
“That is laughable.”
“Is it?”
“I never wanted to marry Sylvia,” he said. “Or anyone.”
The words should not have hurt, but they did.
“But you are marrying me,” Cassandra said quietly.
“Yes.”
“Because of your sister.”
The silence that followed was heavy. George did not deny it.
Cassandra turned away, staring down the aisle, at the place where she would soon be expected to stand and promise a future she had never imagined wanting.
“You say you never wanted this. And yet you will go through with it as though that does not matter.”
He stepped closer.
“You are wrong about one thing,” he said.
“Which?”
“That you are the reason I broke anything.”
“What do you mean?”
“I am in control of what I do. If I choose to break a rule, it is because I want to.”
“I do not believe you. You do not do anything reckless, and when you see someone do it you admonish them.”
He was close to her, too close, and as she spoke he tilted her chin up to look at him.
“Do you need proof?” he asked.
“I would love it.”
And so, without another word, he kissed her.
