Let Love Win

Chapter 34 - Hadley

I looked again at the invitation that was delivered to the door of the orphanage a week before, addressed specifically to me. I know that I was being civil with him the night of the arts performance, but that was out of courtesy for Mel and more importantly for Brad. Whatever was happening with Zeek and whatever hostile feelings were there was between Zeek and I. I had no right to drag them into the crossfire. They were happy. and just because my happiness turned out to be a lie, they didn't need to deal with that—I was a big girl, and Zeek was a big boy. Then again, after everything that went on I didn't think that a 10 minute conversation would imply that we were best friends.

Hell, it wasn't supposed to imply that we were friends at all, never mind giving him the idea that I would want to be a guest at the very same wedding that broke us up in the first place. On top of that, I had no motivation to go and watch his snob of a bride walk down the aisle dressed in pastel colours to put a ring on his finger and drag him away to his big castle in a faraway land. All the fairytale shit was never my forte and I wasn't going to pretend that it was for him. Sure I'd become a little more angry at the situation versus being sad, especially after he thought it would even be logical to send out that invitation and expect me to say yes.

I huffed my way through packing the last of my clothes and zipping the suitcase up. I left the invitation on top of my suitcase and went into the bathroom to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything important for my trip. I couldn't apologize to him now, not that I would, but if life went according to plan for once, I'd be on my plane to Italy while he said I do. When I came out of the bathroom, a small bag of toiletries in hand, I saw Monty sitting on the edge of my bed. For the past couple hours, through running around the house getting all of my belongings together, all I'd been able to do is smile in her direction. After all, I wouldn't even be dreaming of a tour around Italy without the help of my mother.

"Hey honey, I just wanted to come and drop off the plane ticket and let you know that I called a cab to come get you," she said.

"Perfect," I said elatedly. "Everything is perfect, thanks to you."

"Are you happy?"

"I'm more that happy. I mean, I never imagined I'd be packing my bags to fly halfway around the world."

"Good, that's what I wanted to hear."

I gave her a big hug and she pulled away from me suddenly. "Hadley, what is this?" She picked up the invitation that had been resting on top of my suitcase and held it up in front of me.

I sighed before answering. "I got invited to a royal wedding today. I guess Zeek—Prince Xavier thought it would be a good idea to include his ex-girlfriend in the celebration."

"The nerve of that boy. I should—"

"Understand that I'm leaving for Italy in less than 6 hours and won't be able to make it to the grad Parade anyways. Seriously Monty, it's no bid deal."

"I was going to say I should go crash the wedding. Wouldn't that be fun? I could take all the boys with me and woe could wreak havoc all night and show him who's boss around here. Give him a nice little goodbye to wherever he came from in the first place."

I laughed. "As funny as that would be, I don't even want to give him the satisfaction. Besides I'm sure you guys will find something better to do for the afternoon."

"I guess so. But I'm telling you, if there's nothing going on tonight, I will go and make a mess of that wedding."

"Fine. In the meantime, can you help me get all of this stuff downstairs to wait for the cab?"

We worked together to get all of my bags down to the main floor of the orphanage and rested by the front door. I sat on the couch and was quickly surrounded by the boys who all had drawings and letters that they made for me so I wouldn't forget them on my trip. Michael and Collin, the oldest and youngest, teamed up on the iPad and found pictured of different landmarks and sights in Italy that they wanted me to take pictures of. They ranged from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to colourful houses over the water to random pictures of gondolas floating down the river. I told them that if they sent it to me in an email, I would try and recreate them. From there, they went to Monty to show them how to use electronic mail.