CHAPTER TWELVE“The most common emotional defense is avoidance [an ineffective coping skill for any stressor] as expressed through denial [e.g. that wasn’t really bad, I barely remember it]BRIAN LUKE SEAWARDTHE DUKEI tried to avoid her for days till the arrival of my friend, the witch turned accountant but I could not. It was as if she always knew everywhere I was or maybe it was me seeking her out against my will. She wasn't speaking to me, I noticed. Whenever we met, she just bowed and hurried away like she had just seen a demon. I wasn't supposed to feel bad about it, I had caused it and I wasn't human so why have human feelings? But deep down I noticed I was having some discomfort about the silent treatment I was receiving. The next day was to be our wedding, was this how it was going to be permanently between us? What exactly did she want from me and even when I asked our butler to ask her to join me for dinner, she always refused claiming she was ill.It wasn't that I could n

CHAPTER FOURTEEN“They say a person needs just three things to be truly happy in this world: someone to love, something to do and something to hope for”TOM BODETTTHE DUKEShe was happy to see me, I realized as her face broke into a smile and her eyes lit up in amusement. It was a very beautiful sight to watch."I did not hear you come in." she said and then realized how stupid that sounded because she blushed and hit her forehead."Why are you here?" she asked again looking up at me with childlike wonder."Well, I was bored so I came to see how it was going with you. The house can get dead silent and creepy sometimes." I said taking a seat beside her."You are one to talk! When I arrived I thought you probably killed people in there and that was why it was so dark. I have managed to light some candles and when we are properly married, I will make sure to banish any speck of darkness in that house.""Then you might have to banish me too." I mocked, seeing that the joke did not go dow

CHAPTER SIXTEEN“Trust the wait. Embrace the uncertainty. Enjoy the beauty of becoming.”MANDY HALEGUINEVEREI could hardly concentrate on what my mama was saying, it was like I wasn't in the shop anymore but back at the duke's manor. I was thinking about if it was proper to ask him why he had stopped getting dresses for her and if it had any relation to meeting me nine years ago, there was no way it was just a minor coincidence and I knew there was no way it was because he had fallen in love with me then. Had he been watching me this whole time? Had he been watching my family...was that how he found out about my dad and his silly deal with the cosa nostra. If it was then I was going to call off the wedding, because it literally meant I am something he needs for his dead wife. I did not know how I knew that but if he had been watching me this whole time... I was never going to go through with the marriage, damn my father and whatever consequences there was.I could feel a throbbing i

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN“The universe doesn’t give you what you ask for with your thoughts; it gives you what you demand with your actions”DR. STEVE MARABOLIGUINEVEREI lay on my bed and thought about how the duke had not responded to my questions, he had run away. It was strange, the visit of his friend and the fact that he was trying so hard to get away from everything I had to ask him showed that there was something wrong. I had reacted to his friend in a way I would never have dreamed of reacting to a stranger and it was like I even hated him, why?There was no way they would going to tell me what was going on, I needed to find out myself but how was I going to do that. These questions kept me awake most of the night. My mama had arrived in the dead of the night and began setting up; she had forced me to sleep with the words that I needed my beauty sleep as the bride and she was not going to allow me be awake helping out so I could have eye bags at the end of the day. I had laughed at

CHAPTER TWENTY“We do not know all the answers. If we knew all the answers, we would be bored, wouldn’t we? We keep looking, searching, trying, to get more knowledge.JACK LALANNEGUINEVEREHe was nowhere in sight and I know this because I have tried searching with my eyes while I smiled at the guests wishing me good luck with my marriage. I was not expecting this much people and I believe the duke wasn't too. This was my father's way of paying the duke back for the insult at dinner, by inviting all of his friends and the ton to my wedding without as much as informing me or my husband. He was now my husband and even as I thought it, I could hardly believe it had finally happened. I was finally bound to this man forever. Form the look on my mama’s face, it was obvious that she too was not expecting this much guests and the way she greeted the steady trickle still coming in confirmed my suspicions, my father had acted alone on this.I continued my search for the duke, maybe he had excus