The rest of the meal had gone smooth and light-hearted. As bad as they were, nobody wanted the headache of focusing on Willow’s outbursts. We needed peace and quiet.
Once we were done, Miriam requested I join her in her room to assess some of the wedding options.
The way our father’s gaze turned sour when she mentioned it told me all I needed to know about his opinion. I couldn’t believe she was going through with it either. There weren’t many things this family agreed on, but it was apparent we all stood firm on our belief that Luke wasn’t the right one for her.
She craved a soul fated for hers, one that would complete her in ways she couldn’t yet fathom. Ways I couldn’t fathom until… Yet she had chosen to settle for a man who could barely stand to be around her.
‘There are so many aspects I need to analyse; I need your input,’ she groaned, emptying a box full of papers on her light blue canopy bed.
My heart raced as I tried to gather enough bravery to make her reconsider the commitment. ‘What is that?’
‘About two hundred different types of invite papers.’ She tossed the empty container by the wall and started looking through them.
Poor thing. Shouldn’t fiancés do things like that together?
‘They all have different images and fonts,' I noted. ‘Are we looking for the right paper type or an invitation in general?’
‘Everything’s customisable,’ her red eyes twinkled as she explained. ‘Set aside anything you like, and we can come up with the perfect template.’
‘I love this one.’ Miriam handed me a thick, grainy, transparent vellum sheet. It had its charm. It was quite nice.
My chest tightened. ‘You can’t marry him.’
Tilting her head, sadness mingled with disappointment in her intense stare. The girl was a sweetheart, but she kept a disturbingly dark side hidden so well, it was easy to forget what she was capable of. ‘We already spokeabout this. It’s happening.’
Her voice didn’t waver, but something in her eyes did. Like she had already made peace with something she shouldn’t have.
‘But you don’t love him,’ I whined. ‘Miriam, you deserve love. You can’t settle; you will regret it.’
Sorting through the pile, she looked unbothered, as if my reasoning were gibberish, but I knew the nonchalance was a façade. I had glimpsed her pain when she invited me to her library.
I refused to look away even as she set her mind on ignoring me.
‘It’s okay, Ava,’ she finally said. ‘I’m over three times your age, at some point I have to move on.’
Was there a point in fighting her on this? The gigantic pile of invites suggested she’d made her decision.
She was my sister; our bond was stronger than the ones I ever formed with Willow and Lilian. I wanted the best for her, but it was her life. None of us could dictate it, and deep down I knew we needed to stop. This questioning, this doubt… she needed support.
‘I like that one too,’ I admitted, gesturing toward her recent choice. Even though it felt like agreeing to something, I didn’t understand.
Without delay, she snatched it into her hand for analysis. ‘It’s great, right? And then we can pair it with a red ribbon and black print. Maybe a piece of dried flowers? That would be enticing, huh?’
‘Sure,’ I murmured.
Dried flowers would definitely be more enticing than the future she was signing up for.
Pushing my hand through the variety of prints, I didn’t like the growing discontent that she was trying hard to hide. ‘Can I ask you something?’
Suspicion flickered in her crimson gaze. ‘Is it about Luke?’
Iwrapped my arms around my middle. ‘No.’
‘Then yes,’ she responded, putting another invite into her “maybe” pile.
The combative mood she was in made me question this idea, but curiosity outweighed the risk. ‘Isaac, my trainer, mentioned something about you going after his mother to get him to train me. Why?’
Miriam’s eyes widened, then she burst out laughing. ‘Did he seriously complain? It must have really got under his skin.’
