Chapter 3

When the engagement party ended and all the guests returned, Arielle rushed back to her bedroom, her heart pounding in her chest. Esme and Maya followed her, both concerned.

"Arielle, what is wrong? Tell us. You are scaring us," Maya’s voice trembled as she entered the room behind her.

Arielle’s breath hitched. Her chest was tightening with emotions she couldn’t contain. "Zach…" Her voice cracked. "He is here…"

Esme and Maya froze, confused. "Who is here?" Esme asked softly, sensing the distress in her voice.

"Zachary!" Arielle's words were sharp and filled with anger and fear. She tried to fight the overwhelming wave of memories that threatened to crash over her and tried to ignore the part of her that wanted to believe that the same Zachary Gabriel's cousin, the one Sophia Anderson had mentioned, couldn’t possibly be the same Zachary she once knew. But it was impossible to deny the truth. The pieces were falling together and she didn’t want to face them. 

"How could he be here? He is in New York," Esme laughed. 

Maya turned to Esme as her voice laced with suspicion. "How do you know? Didn’t you say you are not in contact with Zachary or Arielle’s friends? What else are you hiding?"

"Maya, I’m not in contact with them," Esme said, her voice quiet and defensive. "But I have ears. I hear when people talk. It is just… I never say anything. You know that."

Arielle sank onto the edge of the bed while her emotions bubbled over and threatened to consume her. "Leave me alone," she whispered, though her voice wavered with the burden of her pain. "I need to sleep. Tomorrow is my bachelorette. I won’t let anyone ruin my day. I’m getting married in four days, and it is fixed." But even as the words left her lips, they felt like a lie. She wasn’t sure if she could go through with it,  not when Zachary’s ghost had returned to haunt her.

As Maya and Esme left the room, Esme couldn’t hold back her concern. "She is suppressing her emotions again. If she really saw Zachary, I don’t know what we would do. She acts like she is strong, like nothing affects her, but we all know that is not true. She is breaking inside, and I don’t know how much longer she can keep pretending."

On the other hand, the Hawthorne and Anderson families were excited to see Zachary after so many years.

"Zach," his mother, Crystal, said with a smile. "Have you met Emmaline?"

"Emmaline Kennedy?" Zachary asked, confused. He remembered her from the past. She was the daughter of his father’s old friend. But it felt like so long ago.

"Yes, that’ her. She works in the government now, in a high position. Did I tell you that?" Crystal said, smiling proudly. "Why don’t you go meet her?"

Zachary felt something twist in his chest. His thoughts were foggy, and he couldn’t focus. "Ma," he asked slowly, "Is Gabriel’s fiancée a civil servant too?"

"No? Who told you that?" Crystal looked puzzled. "I don’t know much about her. I just know her father’s a retired teacher, and he opened a school in their town. She helps him run it. You know your Aunt Sophia, she doesn’t care about social class. She met Arielle at a community event and liked her. She tracked her down and got her engaged to Gabriel."

The mention of Arielle hit Zachary hard. The world around him seemed to stop. Arielle was the woman he thought he would never see again and the one who still filled his heart with questions and regrets. His stomach twisted as his mother continued but he couldn’t process the words.

He looked at Crystal with his face blank and his heart heavy. He couldn’t speak. There was so much he wanted to say, but his thoughts were all tangled up, and nothing came out.

Crystal, not noticing her son’s inner turmoil, said, "I like Emmaline a lot. She would fit in well with our family. I’m not asking you to marry her right now, but maybe just get to know her."

Zachary just stared at her. His heart felt empty, and he didn’t know what to say. He didn’t have the words to explain how he felt, or even how to make sense of everything. All he could do was stand there while feeling completely lost.