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15 hours later

“YOU’RE GOING TO DO WHAT??!?!?!” My sister Jenny had arrived and was yelling at me.

“HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST YOUR MIND?” My ears were ringing she was screaming so loudly.

“Please keep your voice down, “ I urged her, hands still over my ears.

She took a deep breath and I could see her trying to calm down.

“Three days Annie. You’ve only been on this island for three days and you’ve gone totally mad.”

I shrugged; I didn’t know what to say. This was the craziest idea I’d ever heard in my entire life, but I also knew that it would destroy Trev and Tess’ day. And right now, after what they’d done to me over a year ago and last night, that was worth its weight in gold.

My sister was pacing now and turned to my brother in law Eric who was staring at us from the sidelines, “ERIC!” She snapped at him, “For Gods sake, say something please. It’s clear I’m not going to be able to talk sense into her.”

Eric paused for a moment to consider things. He was one of the smartest people I knew. A businessman through and through, he was governed by logic and I knew what he was going to say- 

“Well,” He walked up to the window and looked out. “Lets think about this logically.”

There was no way you could look at this situation logically. I knew that. There was nothing rational or logical about it- in fact, it was governed by pure emotion alone.

“The wedding won’t be real?” He asked.

I nodded at him.

“You say this Chris guy is going to hire an actor to play the priest?”

“Yes, through his connections, he’s tracked down a local actor.”

Jenny slapped her hand on her forehead, “Oh my God I can’t even listen to this. I need a drink.”  She practically flung herself at the bar fridge emerging with a dinky bottle of whiskey. She cracked it open and had a swig.

“So it’s just for show?” Eric looked like he was trying to figure out the answer to an equation.

“Yes. Nothing about it is real.”

Jenny moaned and plonked down on the bed. “A fake wedding… it’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard. Only a movie writer could think of something like this! It's like a crazy plot from a far fetched comedy.”

She shook her head at me a little more, in case I was still wondering what her feelings on the subject were.

“And what are you going to do afterwards, is he going to “fake” move in with you so you can keep up the façade of being married?” She asked.

A pause. This was a good question. What the hell was I planning on doing after this? But I hadn’t thought that far, I suppose the fact that I was no longer in contact with any of our so-called mutual friends, and that Trev and Tess were immigrating to London soon, would mean it would be easier to keep the lie going. We would have no contact, there would be no chance of bumping into each other, so they would never really find out if our wedding was in fact real or not. After this, we would all go our separate ways- knowing nothing about each other’s future lives. This was probably the last opportunity I would ever get to exact revenge. 

“Can I tell you something Annie….” Eric interrupted my thought process and moved closer to me. He rested his hands on my shoulders, “I love you like a little sister and I regret not telling you this sooner, it has been one of my biggest regrets. I hated Trev. I absolutely hated him. I thought he was dishonest, distrustful and I knew that he would ultimately hurt you.”

ALMOST A BRIDE (Open On Annie)Where stories live. Discover now