FIVE

THREE WEEKS LATER

PORCH OF CHARITY

WEDDING VENUE

"Did Dad need to go all out for this? This is a contract marriage, yet he is celebrating it as if they were getting married for real," Elizabeth murmured to her sister. 

"I know right, he sure does not like to lose in something," Victoria replied as they walked to the bridal suite, where their sister was now sitting and waiting for them to call her so she could walk down the island and get stuck in the marriage of her nightmares. 

They opened the door and walked straight into the room; they turned a corner, and Lila was sitting there with her bouquet in hand. "Oh my gosh!" Victoria was excited, clapping her hand in the air. "Oh my days!" she added in excitement. 

"Do you think you are a little too excited about a fake marriage?" Lial asked watching her sister really get excited. "Why are you excited anyway?" 

"I mean, I have always imagined what you would look like in a dress as pretty as this," she said with tears falling in between her words. 

"And?" Lila asked. She wanted to hear from a family member that she was really beautiful. The make-up artist and stylist had told her that she did not believe the sin they had to hype their work.

"You look stunning," Elizabeth interjected. 

"I think he might fall for you," Victora added.

"I would rather stay celibate my entire life to have someone like him love me," Lila said, pretending to feel naïve and pretending to throw up as well. 

"His love for you does not affect you in any way. He likes you, and those feelings are his," Victoria said, a frown on her face. 

"Imagine him a brick-like him underestimating the concept of liking someone? You think that I would want something like that to happen to me? That is a curse, and it is what you think it is," she replied. 

"I mean, if we did inherit this fortune from our parents, I think the both of you would definitely make a very cute couple," Victoria replied. 

"Even their names rhyme," Elizabeth added, and the both of them giggled. 

"You know if someone heard the two of you, they would have thought it was just a bunch of school girls, but it was just two women in their late twenties fooling around on their sister's wedding day." 

"No need to be so mean about anything; we only came in here to see you and to give you a little advice about married life," Victoria replied with a wink. 

"You knew very well that there would be nothing between us," Lila replied. She looked at their faces and wondered if she was the only sane one between the three of them; both her sisters seemed to be getting ahead of themselves. "And I would rather strip naked and stand on the road than ever think of being intimate with him in any way," she said as if she were swearing. 

"You take things too far," Elizabeth said, leaning into her sister, who was standing by her side.

"That is how much I hate this man, and you are suggesting that I have s*x with him?" she asked, and they shook their heads. 

"Be careful though," Elizabeth said, lifting her body from her sister and standing straight. 

"Of what?"

"Hate turns to love when cultivated," Elizabeth finished. 

Lila opened her mouth to say such horrible comebacks, but she understood her sisters were just trying their best to be supportive, and she was grateful for them. "Thank you," she said instead of all the things that had come to mind. 

"We are glad that we could help," Victoria said. 

MEANWHILE THE GROOM

"How are you feeling about this?" Emma asked. She was Levi's younger sister, and she was shocked to hear what her father had commanded, but here they were doing it anyway. She knew his word was law for the Beaumont family; that was the way they were able to keep order in the family. 

"Want a calming pill?" Elsie asked, taking out a pill sachet from her bag and giving it to him. She was Emma's twin sister. 

"No thank you; I do not need a calming pill; I want this to be over and done with," he said.

"Suit yourself," she said, blowing out her gum and putting the pill back into her bag gently. 

"See you out there," Emma said, pulling on her sister and exiting the room.

Moments later, one of the staff came along to get him. He walked from the back to the altar. He saw the way the two families sat so far apart. He wondered if they would ever be able to convince anyone that the feud between them was over and that they just wanted to live a normal life. He saw Williams walk Lila down the aisle, and although he hated her so much, he could not deny that she had the looks. She always looked so elegant every time they met, but her attitude and name made all of that go away in an instant. 

He stretched forth his arm and took her away from her father. He tried to smile at her but was not sure that she would see a smile from her angel. They turned to the priest, who began the ceremony. Both of them tuned into the entire proceedings of the ceremony, primarily because they did not want to be bound by the words the priest said. 

"Do you, Lila Corrington, take Levi Beaumont as your lawfully married husband to have, to love, and to hold as long as you both shall live?" The priest asked, turning to Lila. She took a deep breath as she realized that this moment was going to change the course of things in her life for the next year and she wondered if she was ready for it. 

"I do!" she said. She was still trying her best to recover from her own words when she heard Levi speak. She raised her head at the sound of I do. He stared at her and nodded firmly. 

"I do!"