"I do", said Robin in a ringing voice, looking straight into the eyes, not of her stony-faced new husband, but of the battered and bloodied man who had just sent her flowers crashing to the floor.
Moments passed until anyone woke up from the oblivion. It was the vicar who broke the silence and decided to continue the service by addressing to the fiancé with the question: "Do you, Matthew John Cunliffe, take this woman to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold, in sickness and in heath, in good times and bad times, till death do you apart?"
You should have seen the face of fiancé to understand the current situation. All the congregation instantly shifted attention from the stranger to the altar, staring at Matthew and waiting for his response, except for the bride that apparently has already made her decision. Matthew was a jerk, but not a fool. Looking at his not-long-ago bride whose attention was forwarded to the man, he hated in this moment the most, he didn't said a word and simply disappeared. It took Robin a couple of minutes to come to understanding what exactly had happened and to feel shame and relief at the same time.
If it was a TV melodrama, you would probably anticipate that Robin would rush into the arms of the man who had just ruined her wedding ceremony, but it was real life. Certainly, one of the reason this wedding came to an end before happy ending was the man that now were trying to become invisible to the judging congregation, but there were a few other reasons that Robin pushed away for too long. She should have faced the truth that Matthew is not the one she desired to spend the rest of her life with even prior Cormoran appearance on her way. It is just she got used to him. But, his unraveled betrayal and his too obvious hatred to her detective job were the things that showed his real nature.
Robin disappeared in the back room where half an hour ago she prepared to be a good wife to Matthew for the rest of her life. She changed her beautiful, bot now useless, wedding dress to the cozy jeans and sweater and penetrated from the church through the back entrance to avoid the glances from the congregation that were still in some kind of frustration.
She met him standing near the car talking with Shanker. Although he was covered in blood and bruises, he still looked handsome to her in his best suit. Side-glanced he noted her coming:
"Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt the ceremony"
"Mhm..."
"Nice dress"
"Thanks"
"Need a ride?"
"I'll drive"
In a second, Shanker disappeared from a drive seat to appear in the back seat and Robin took her favorite position in a car. In her confident manner, they arrived to her parents' house in a few minutes.
Robin got herself from the car and waited for Cormoran.
"Can I consider it as a return offer?"
"Haven't you got my message?"
"No, what was it about?"
"Never mind, I'll meet you in office on Monday"
"Thanks for coming and for taking me back"
He didn't respond in words, but as it soon-to-become their thing, he took her hand and left a brief but very tender kiss on the back of her hand.