Chapter five

Enid’s POV

The party after the wedding blooms all around me. It is perfunctory because Cassian and I know what we are. We know what this wedding is.

Since all of this started, not once have I asked him what he stands to gain from us getting married. I have been so fixated on myself and teaching Adrian a lesson that I have failed to ask why he agreed to go on that blind date.

And why he told my mother that I didn’t come.

The guests are only a handful, a little more than those at the courthouse earlier today. I am seated in the dining room of the little villa rented for the party. Cassian is laughing with the witness from the courthouse, but it doesn't reach his eyes.

Like the last time, there seems to be a weight on his shoulders. I wish I could just…

I stop myself. It is none of my business.

"Hey," the girl from the courthouse comes to sit next to me. "Congratulations." She passes me a glass of sparkling wine, and I don't think twice before bringing it up to my lips. I know no one from this world, but I feel like I can trust them.

If I am not going to consider what happened last night. I am so sure I heard his voice at the other end of the door, and then, when he pushed it open, I saw his eyes. Was I hallucinating? The doctor said I came into the hospital myself, but why can't I remember that?

And amnesia?

How on earth!

“Thank you,” I murmur, despite all the thoughts raging through me, pulling me further into the arms of confusion.

“I’m Maria,” he says. “And that man talking to Cassian is my husband, Lucas. We have been married a little over two years now, and he is your husband’s best friend.”

My husband. Sounds so foreign. Yet, it is the world I have decided to accept for myself.

“It is nice meeting you, Maria,” I breathe. “You are so pretty. And thank you for coming around for the wedding.”

“I will do anything for Cassian.” I can tell that she means every bit of that. “We have been friends for ages, and I like to think I know everything about him. And you will come to love him and his daughter the way we all love him.”

“Cassian has a daughter?” This just keeps getting more complicated.

She angles her head. “He didn’t tell you?”

“Well, we have not exactly had time to talk.” I feel the heat patches rise to both sides of my face, and I pull my gaze away. Now that I think about it, we both know nothing about each other, except the fact that we are both victims of a blind date.

Or in this case, I am a victim while he willingly walked into it, courtesy of my mother.

“I am sure you will figure it out,” Maria urges, smiling sweetly at me. But there is something else in her gaze as she scoots closer to me. “But Enid, be careful. I know Cassian is….he is a lot. When you feel something is odd, just call me.”

“Why would I feel something is odd?”

Her lips move, but her husband motions to her in that moment. Giving me a cautious smile, she gets on her feet and floats in his direction, leaving me to my thoughts again.

But not for long, as the door opens and a stranger strides in. He is tall, but not as tall as Cassian. His presence seems to fill the space, like he isn't used to blending in the background. No one pays him any attention when he strides past.

It seems he is looking for someone, but his search stops when he finds me.

Navigating the little crowd and heading in my direction, I wonder who he is and what he is here for. He definitely does not look like a doctor, but could he be from the hospital, to remind me of the drugs I did not pick up earlier today because I was in such a rush to get to my wedding?

The doctor said it was from something I ate yesterday, but I am fine. I don’t need the drugs. And talking about the hospital, I make a mental note to talk to my mother about the amnesia claim, still certain there is a mix-up somewhere.

“Can I sit here?”  he asks when he gets close, motioning to the seat Maria just got up from. I nod, watching as he plops into it.

He says nothing, his gaze fixated on the crowd in front of him. I take a sip out of my wine, the silence getting louder.

Too loud.

I shift uneasily in my seat. “Are you one of Cassian’s friends?”

He looks at me then. “No.”

“Okay,” I nod, returning to my wine. Maybe one of Lucas’ then.

“This is weird,” he finally murmurs, chuckling awkwardly.

I turn to look at him. “What is?”

“You don’t show up for one night and then, the next, I hear that you are married. Nothing could have prepared me for it.”

I sit up at once, narrowing my eyes in his direction. “What do you mean by you don’t show up for one night?”

“I’m Thane,” he breathes.

Thane. The man my mother said was my blind date. She wasn’t joking?

“You are…:”

He nods. “I waited for you that day at the diner, but I never saw you. I thought…I thought you just changed your mind and decided I wasn’t worth it.”

"Wait a minute!"  I whisper, feeling a migraine coming on. I have had to process too much information in only a short amount of time, so I feel like I am crashing. "If you are Thane, my blind date, who did I just get married to?"

He shrugs. "That is the same thing I would love to know, too."