How Not To Start Your Marriage

Chapter 2:A night to Remember

Lily froze in the doorway. Her eyes wandered from face to face in confusion. Before she could figure out what to make of it, her mother was suddenly at her side, her honey-sweet tone was startling coming from her.

"Lily, Darling! We need to meet your father in his office, we have some exciting news to tell you", she quickly escorted the girl from the room, grinning the whole way. Her father stood behind his desk, breaking out into a smile she was sure she had never seen before. She hesitated before she sat in the spare chair. It was not like them to be missing a single chance to butter up the powerful families they always invited to these events. Shouldn't they be sweet-talking Mrs. Thorn or some other family head right about now? She met her father's eyes, who wasted no time sharing what had them so excited.

" Lily, you are going to be married. We found you a very promising husband who-"

"Absolutely not!" she had cut him off, unwilling to hear a word of it. An arranged marriage? Weren't these things illegal now? She was supposed to choose any husband she might take. Lily's stomach churned, and she was thankful she was already sitting as her head began to swim. She barely heard them as they continued on trying to sell the idea to her, asking her to give up on the one decision that should have been left to her.

"Lily, please. You would be part of a very prestigious family and..." she didn't hear the rest. There it was, the reason they were suddenly so interested in her. It was finally their chance to actually connect with the families they were always trying to get in good with. Her mouth ran dry.

"I will not get married as part of some business arrangement for you!" She was shouting at her parents, she realized. All her attempts to earn their approval suddenly felt wasted. She was simply a pawn to them. A useless toy gathering dust until it was her time in the game. white-hot tears began to sting in her eyes, threatening to spill over. But that would make them believe she was softening to the idea. She blinked them back furiously and composed herself. But it was too late. All the warmth had disappeared from her parents' demeanor, and they were back to eyeing her with their usual cold disregard.

"So ungrateful. You would have everything you ever wanted in life, you could leave that dead-end job and finally do something useful with your life. "

" Useful for whom?" she snapped, already standing and gathering her dress, she turned out and rushed out the door before anything more could be said. She rushed through the halls to the kitchen where she could exit without making a spectacle. She walked out the service door and tried to remember where she had parked. She fished her keys from her bag. She hadn't even had the chance to put them down and hit the button to unlock the door. She drove home, fuming. Stumbled through her front door and kicked off the pumps she had paired with her dress. Only then did she realize she stood in an empty apartment. Everything was gone. Her phone chirped at her as she stared in disbelief, and she absently grabbed her phone from her bag. She swiped open the screen, vaguely noting that Mrs. Thorn never contacted her outside office hours.

"Congratulations on your new status. Report to Dylan Thorn tomorrow, 8:30 sharp at the Grand Bay. You will be provided with something to wear. Your belongings are at his residence." Another notification flashed across her screen, a deposit made to her bank account nearly four times her usual salary. From ThornTech. So her boss was in on it too. She suddenly felt completely exhausted and trudged to her bedroom. They had left her bed, and she had never been happier to see it. She flopped on it without even bothering to remove her dress. There was no time to think about her situation before she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

The ringing of her phone startled her awake. She quickly swiped the screen to answer. Mrs. Thorn's voice came stern from the other side of the line "Where are you? Dylan does not like to be kept waiting. You've never been anything less than punctual before", she glanced at the clock on her phone. It was already 8:45. Breathlessly, she grabbed her bag, tossed her coat over her dress, and replaced her shoes from last night. " On my way, Mrs. Thorn, I apologize. " She wasn't even sure why she was rushing to them at that very moment. Hadn't they just stolen her life from her? Was she worried her situation could get worse?

As she entered she was greeted by her parents, her mother fussing over her and tucking strands of hair back into place, a garment bag clutched to her chest under her arm as she pretended to be the doting mother" There now... was that so hard? Let's go get you dressed" she cooed as she ushered the girl off to a room that had been reserved for the day.

She dressed quickly without really paying attention to the dress that had been provided for her. Her mother worked to fix her makeup and there was a knock at the door. Her mother called for the visitor to enter and in walked Natalie. " She slept in that". Her mother barked at Lily's hairdresser and friend. " Make it look presentable" Natalie quirked a brow as she looked at Lily, who shrugged as she met Natalie's 'can-you-believe-this' look.

Lily was made presentable and ushered into the hotel's restaurant, Waterside Grill and Lounge. Where the entire Thorn family waited along with her parents and sister. Natalie joined her family as they all found a place to sit. The restaurant had been decorated fairly simply with gold and lavender drapery and white roses everywhere. Mrs. Thorn led Lily to a spot in the center where a podium had been set up, the papers laid out to be signed.

She felt hollow. Standing there in a dress that had come straight from her dreams, she looked down at it and idly wondered how long her parents and her boss had been planning this. The only way they could have chosen a dress she would have wasted was if... She scanned the crowd. Amily, the housekeeper who raised her, sat in the back wringing her hands. She and Natalie were the only ones who seemed to even acknowledge that this would not have been her choice. She puffed out a breath and the doors opened, a wheelchair was brought in, and she gaped as she realized her new husband-to-be was who sat in it. The man was handsome, with a strong jaw and eyes like honey, but she simply hadn't been prepared for that. She openly stared at the chair as he was presented with a cane and assisted to a stand. He looked over her silently, no indication of his thoughts could be read off of his face. He looked at her pointedly as he grabbed a pen from the podium and signed the papers, then with a playful smile, he offered the pen to her.

The thought crossed her mind about throwing the pen at him. She looked around at the faces smiling around her as if this was an occasion to celebrate. Her chest felt about to burst with the need to scream her frustration at all of them. And then a thought occurred to her. This was her chance to get away from her family. To never have to deal with them or the fact she was never good enough for them ever again. She winked over to Natalie, who gasped as she took the pen and hastily scratched her own name, just under her new husband's, 'D. Thorn'. She smiled to herself. A cause for celebration, indeed.