[Atlas]Cordelia's screams shock me, sending my heart into a frantic rhythm as I think of a dozen possibilities. "Wait here," I tell our guest who just arrived. "Let us check on her." Looking at Clark, he nods and we both rush towards the suite to find Cordelia on her knees sobbing, a velvet box lying on the floor nearby along with a card stamped with Fisher Pharmacuticals' double fish insignia. "He sent her a present," Tilly reveals showing us the necklace and earrings Magnus sent, clear indications that he knows where we are and what we are doing. Kneeling beside my bride, I hold her tight, struggling to put her back together. "We won't let him take this day from us," I say as I rock her through her tears. "We won't let him break us." "Atlas, what if he...what if he..." she sobs around her words unable to say what we are both thinking. What if Magnus hurts our son? What if he kills him? What if he's already done so?What if he heard about our plan? "This is just the sick basta
[Cordelia]Atlas called my Dad. Of all the people I expected to see on my wedding day, he was not on the list. Stephen Greyson, the man who helped raise me but was never really my father. This man and his wife, Meghan, let me believe for 25 years that I was their daughter and that because I couldn't live up to their expectations of being just like my "sister" Angelica, never good enough. "Why are you here, Mr. Greyson," I cross my arms glaring at both Atlas and the man I once called father, equally upset with both of them. "You aren't welcome." He holds out his hands, in one of them is a velvet box not unlike the one that Magnus sent me. "Cordelia," his tone is sad. "Please, give me a chance to explain." Atlas leans in. "It's your call. If you want me to make him leave I will."I didn't think it was possible to love Atlas more than I already did. I was wrong. "I'll speak to him," I concede.Mr. Greyson's tight posture eased."But that doesn't mean you get to stay," I express with
[Cordelia]If this crazy world has taught me anything, I have learned that you should never throw love away. So few of us find family even when we are born into one. Stephen Greyson didn't need to come to Napa from LA to give me a necklace. He came because he cares. He could have said everything he just did over the telephone or via video conferencing, but he didn't. Vulnerable and brave, he came to me "Wait," I call after him and he stops, his back turned. "Can you help me put these on?" His expression is carefully blank as he asks, "Are you sure?"With a tiny smile, I nod and he lets himself relax. Coming over to me, he moves aside the veil and clasps the beautiful necklace around my neck while I adjust the earrings. Giving my shoulders a gentle squeeze he places a kiss on the back of my head like he always did when I was a little girl. My heart feels heavy as I watch him walk away again. "Hey, Dad?" He turns, "Yes Cordy?""Did mom come too?"He is very silent, his eyes shifting
[Cordelia]I close my eyes. This can't be real. It must just be the stress of the evening getting underneath my skin. Angelica was buried. Her body was brought out from beneath the rubble. I saw her body. She was dead when they pulled her out. Atlas was also dead and I saw his body too..."Are you okay," Dad asks and I blink my eyes open, smiling, pretending that I'm not secretly chilled to my core. "I'm fine," I lie as I scan the room briefly. After the stunt Atlas pulled, I understood that anything is possible and that things are often not what they seem on the surface. Angelica might be dead, or not. The one thing I know for certain is that she isn't really a ghost. Ghosts aren't real. Either she's here, my mind is playing tricks on me, or Magnus is trying to scare me. Either way, hallucination or party crasher, I know I'm not being haunted. But I can deal with this later. Right now, there is a nervous, handsome man waiting for me at the end of this very long aisle. He's waited
[The Messenger]When I got the message that I needed to drop off an important package at this vineyard I groaned. It seems that I always get chosen for very difficult, very long assignments, and no other courier wanted to come out the Silverado Trail on the bike while the sun was still high. It gets hot in this valley this time of year.But our client was insistent that it be delivered before the wedding started. I almost refused myself, except that my boss insisted it be me. "If your dad is going to drop off last-minute packages, you're going to deliver them." He huffed. "I don't care if he's willing to pay double, let's see how he likes risking his daughter getting sunstroke." I could have saved him the trouble by just letting him know my father stopped caring about me years ago when he sent me out to boarding school in California, but he didn't care, so I didn't bother. "Here you go, Ms. Fisher." Derek shoved the box in my hand. "The wedding is at sunset. You have 45 minutes."
[Clark]If I hadn't seen the truth with my own eyes I wouldn't have believed it. Shortly after Atlas and Cordelia retired for the night, the party started to wind down, and all the remaining guests seemed to hover around the bottomless wine bar. That's where I found Cordelia's dad, Stephen, talking to a beautiful young blonde girl. At first, I thought nothing of it. But then I saw her face and I stopped in my tracks. Thinking maybe my mind was playing tricks on me, I left in search of my fiance to see if I was indeed losing my mind. "I need you to take a look at someone and tell me what you see," I pull her away from the clothing rack where she had been putting dresses back on hangers. Confused but also curious, she goes along with this, letting me take her to the edge of the bar. "Who do you see speaking with Stephen Greyson right now?" I point to where he is sitting at the bar. She squints and then opens her eyes extra wide. "You've got to be kidding me! She's dead! I know this
[Cordelia]For someone who only a moment before seemed so eager to disrobe me, it feels like time has stopped as Atlas slowly unbuttons my dress. "It has a zipper too," I remind him and he chuckles at the rising frustration in my voice. "So eager," he kisses the newly revealed skin on my back. "Patience, Lover, I want to savor you." "I thought, you wanted to devour me," I tease.A mischievous spark flashes in his eyes, "If I must," his hands are rustling underneath along the edges of my skirt, pulling it upwards, bunching it between us until his hands are touching my thighs. As he rubs up and down along their outer edges, he leads me until my back is flat against a wall."What are you doing," I giggle as he gives me a quick peck before diving under the voluptuous layers of my skirt even though I have a pretty good idea what his intentions are as soon as he begins kissing a trail along the inside of my leg. Using his teeth, he unbuttons my garters and rolls each silk stocking down,
[Atlas]As I watch her sleep, the sun shining on her dewy skin, I know that I am the luckiest man on Earth. She and I are an improbable pair and every moment I'm with her feels like a denial of the universe's plans for my life. If I had made the mistake of marrying her sister, Angelica, I would have never known the paradise which is loving Cordelia Steele. Placing a gentle hand on her waist, I let it fall to her small belly. I hope we created another child last night, not to replace the one we lost, Jasper will be coming home, but because I want our next child to be created in love, not as a mistake. I want to remember this night forever. I never want to forget how it feels to be near her, knowing that there is no other place either one of us would rather be. "You know it will be weeks yet before we know if your plan succeeded," Cordelia smiles as her eyes flutter open. "I know our next little one is already in there," I reply as I bend down and kiss her belly button. I'm tempted