Chapter 6

Jake Cross stood rooted at the entrance of the hall, unsure as to why he had changed his mind at the last minute, and decided to come to the church to witness the old man get married again - for the third time.

He had ended his meeting hours ago and if he had left early enough, as soon as he was done with the meeting, he’d have arrived at the church on time, way before the ceremony started, but then, he chose to remain at the office pretending to work while thoughts of his mysterious blue-eyed goddess plagued his mind.

After a while, he'd decided to go home but found himself driving toward Southwark where St George's cathedral was located and where his father's third wedding ceremony was taking place and most likely reaching the end.

He parked his car at the church's parking lot. He sat there holding the steering wheel and brooding, contemplating if he should go into the church or just reverse his car and head back home.

After a while though, longer than five minutes he decided on the former and now, here he was standing at the entrance of the church staring at his father and his blue-eyed goddess, his father's bride-turned-wife in the next couple of minutes.

He watched as the couple stood a short distance away from each other on the altar, his father wearing what Jake would term a stupid smile and the bride's face hidden behind a transparent veil.

'Dear brother, are you here to stop the wedding?’ the priest asked, directing his question at Jake who still stood by the door, utterly stunned as the congregation all had their heads turned towards him for his intrusion.

'No, he's not. He's here for the wedding.’

His father's voice cut through his thoughts, making him jolt out of his reverie and walk self-consciously, turning heads with many eyes peeled on him to join the pew where the Rollins family sat.

Mary and Daisy, his two youngest sisters who sat at the far end of the pew, shifted out of their seats to wave at him. He smiled at them, acknowledging them. He took a seat and turned his attention back to the altar, nodding slightly at the priest to go on with the program.

‘Since no one is against these two joining in holy union, in the name of the father, of the son, and of the holy spirit, I hereby pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.’ he encouraged Mr Rollins, who pulled his wife closer and placed a short simple kiss on her tightly closed lips.

Sheena had not recovered from the shock of seeing Jake at her wedding……her wedding to his father!

She was too shocked to resist or avoid the kiss Mr Rollins placed on her lips, not like she could in front of all these many people, and given the situation, it was her wedding after all. Yet, as light and simple as the kiss was, it repulsed her.

Jake grimaced and growled inwardly in anger as he witnessed his father kiss the lips of his blue-eyed goddess. The same lips he had ravaged and nibbled softly on only last night while she lay peacefully in his arms after their delicious romp.

Soon, it was time to sign the marriage register that would legally bind the couple as husband and wife.

Mr Rollins quickly signed the document to cheers from the guests around them and passed the pen to his bride, Sheena to do her part and seal the agreement between both families.

Sheena held the pen loosely between her fingers as she stared blindly at the document in front of her. Just beside the line marked for her signature, laid Mr. Rollins's impeccable signature, his name Rollins spelled in italics, with a long wavy line connecting the “R" to the “n".

Sheena kept staring at the long line, imagining it to be the long two years she would have to spend as Mrs Rollins, Mr Rollins' wife, Jake's stepmother.

She tried to recall why she'd agreed to this in the first place. To save her father from going to prison, to save their house and the memories of their mother that come with it, to save their dying shipping company, to pay off the huge debt they owed the bank and other people their father loaned money from……

A long list she admitted, but was it worth the sacrifice she was about to make, trying to console herself or more, convince herself she was doing this for the greater good?

Sheena turned to glance at her family. Elena, her sister, had a worried look etched on her face. She felt pity for her sister but was also worried about the amount of time she was taking to sign the document and get this over and done with.

Sheena's father had a “What are you doing Sheena!” look on his face. His eyes questioned her "What the hell are you waiting for?"

She smiled ruefully at them and turned to her side to steal a glance at Jake. She caught him staring intensely at her and their eyes locked at that moment. They held onto the look for a second but it felt like a million years to the both of them.

Jake's face was expressionless and Sheena's had a look of defeat and resignation.

Pulling her eyes away from Jake's, she turned back to the document and…

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★

Whilst the church wedding was small and filled with only the family members and a few friends of both families, the reception on the other hand was grand. There were over 250 guests present in the huge Rollins mansion where the reception was held.

Sheena felt uncomfortable at the number of people present. She sat alone at the special beautifully decorated table in front of the hall, meant for the couple. Her husband had excused himself to go discuss something with some of his business associates.

Sheena's eyes searched the hall for Jake, but instead, her gaze settled first on her sister, Elena. She caught Elena sitting beside their father with the blond-haired guy from the club seated at the other side. He and their father seemed deep in a conversation.

Just then, Elena raised her head and locked eyes with Sheena who pleaded with her eyes for Elena to come over to her table.

Elena excused herself from the table she sat with her father and went to sit beside Sheena.

‘Hello, married woman. How's marriage life?’ she joked as soon as she sat down.

Sheena rolled her eyes exasperatedly at her sister.

‘How and why is Blondie here with you?’ She questioned, changing the topic abruptly.

'Blondie? Oh you mean Damian.’ Elena offered.

'Damian? So you already know his name? How?

‘Well, after you went awol on me at the club, Damian walked up to me and we talked. Turns out he's the lawyer to Rollins. He was invited to the wedding too. He's a great guy.’ Elena smiled shyly as she said the last part, stealing a glance at Damian.

'Oh!’ was all Sheena could mutter. She could tell her sister was smitten by the Damian guy, but that was the least of her concerns right now. She was disturbed with thoughts of Jake and she'd been wondering if he was present at the reception.

'Have you seen Jake?’ she asked Elena, her eyes scanning the hall for him.

‘Who is Jake?’ Elena asked, perplexed.

‘The guy at the church. The one who interrupted the ceremony at the last minute.’

'Oooh! That's right, what's the deal with him? His entrance was so grand and theatrical. Who is he?’ Elena inquired, her eyes held curiosity.

'My lucky handsome bloke’ Sheena blurted out absentmindedly, her eyes still roaming the room in search of Jake.

Elena's eyes grew large like saucers at Sheena's revelation as the realization of her words hit her.

‘You dawg! So you did it last night didn't you!’ she screeched and poked Sheena who wasn't paying any attention to her anymore.

Curious to know what was taking Sheena's attention, Elena turned and followed her gaze, to see the very handsome olive-skinned man from the church earlier. With a glass of wine in one hand, Jake approached their table with such enigmatic charisma that had even Elena swooning over him.

'I'm going upstairs to retouch my makeup.' Sheena spoke to Elena but her eyes never left Jake.

'I need to get out of this gown too and I'll need your help. Please meet me upstairs.’ Sheena muttered hurriedly to her sister.

Jake was getting closer to their table. Sheena feared meeting with him. She quickly stood up from the chair, scampering towards the stairs just as Jake reached.

'Meet me upstairs!' She muttered in a whisper.