You are cordially invited to the wedding of:
Alicia Rivera and Derrick Harrington
On June 31st at noon at Trinity Church
East 45 street, Manhattan, New York
XI. Heartbreaking Decisions
"Dylan!"
Dylan turned around and she almost fainted with relief. Bobby.
He looked extremely out of place in fifth avenue compare to the other richly dressed people, but Dylan didn't care. She approached him and sighed. "I'm sorry about what my mother did, Bobby."
"Never mind that." he shook his head. "Are you really not going to continue your acting dream? Are you not coming back to perform?"
She shook her head slightly, the tears blinding her. "No, Mother has forbid it."
"Dylan." he grabbed her hand. "You have great talent, the best I've seen. You can have a great career on stage. You can be more than a wife and have children you could be famous." he looked around. "Would you rather be here doing the same thing over and over again?"
"I guess not." she faintly. "but I have my family." But she knew that her family didn't care about her.
"Do you really?" Bobby said softly, not really believing her. "Please think about it Dylan. You know where to find me."
With one last glance, he left.
"Oh, Cam," Claire nearly jumped in shock when Cam entered the living room. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and she was in her oldest dress. A worn out plaid dress. "What re you doing here?"
"I came to visit." he said eyeing her strangely. "Nice dress-"
"I-"
"Miss Claire," one of the maids handed her an envelop. "Your aunt sent this. It's your return ticket back home to Florida on September 2."
"Wait, home?" he said even more confused. "You live in Paris. Not Florida."
Claire closed her eyes. There was no point in hiding things from him any longer. "No, I don't actually." she looked at her plaid dress. "I come from a poor faming community in southern Florida. I came to stay here with my cousins. I've been pretending to be a very rich French lady, but I'm not." she shrugged, her face flushed. "I'm just Claire. I'm just plain me."
"What's wrong with Claire?" Cam demanded, the hurt evident in his voice. "I like Claire. I didn't like you because you were from France or from money. Or at the least the way that you were pretending to be."
"Cam, please." she said trying to grab his hand, but Cam pulled away. "Let me explain, I just wanted to be different. To be someone in life."
Cam shook his head, not even looking at her. "I need time to think, Claire."
"CAM!" she shouted, sounding desperate. "Please Cam, please understand. Cam!"
But he didn't turn back.
Alicia sighed as she stared at herself. She looked beautiful if she did say so herself. The wedding dress that she was currently trying on was long and made of silk in a princess cut. It had pearls and beads along the bodice and the veil was made of French lace.
But she felt lonely.
As a little girl she had always imagined being surrounded by her best friends and bridesmaid laughing and talking while she tried on her dress. But here she was bitterly alone.
And she had no one to blame, but herself.
"Miss Alicia?" James stood awkwardly when he saw her in her wedding dress. "I can wait outside."
"No, It's fine I just have to ask you something." she said as she stepped towards him. "Are you positive that you and Massie will leave New York as soon as you get married?"
James nodded. "Yes, our home is in London."
She sighed. "Good, I was just wondering. I'm sorry I made you come this way."
"It's all right," he touched a stray curl that had fallen from her veil. "You look very pretty Miss Rivera. Congratulations, on your wedding." he kissed her hand.
And then once again she was alone.
"He's leaving?" Kristen whispered to her mother, Marsha who was eyeing the clothes in the catalogs that she wouldn't be able to buy this fall. "When? Where? Why?"
"On the 31st," she said bitterly disappointed. "He's going to Africa to help with the orphans. I told you he wouldn't be a suitable husband, you wasted a lot of time with him."
Kristen felt terrible. She had done such a horrible thing. She had played with him like a fool and now he was leaving for a long time.
"Now, Mrs. Whitmore called and told me that her youngest son, needs a date for the opera and I told her that you. . ."
"Shouldn't you be with your fiancée?" Massie asked coldly. Derrick was seated across from her in the Blocks' living room. Apparently Mrs. Block no longer believe that Derrick was a threat since he was engaged.
"You know I don't want to marry her," he rolled his eyes as he squeezed her hand tightly. "I want to marry you."
"Well you can't!" she said sourly as she took a cookie from the plate and broke it in half. "Because I'm engaged and your engaged and things don't work out. This isn't a fairytale book-"
"Massie, please listen," he said urgently, desperate. "I'm proposing to you. Or trying too. I want to marry you, but to do that we need to leave New York forever. Just you and me."
-End of Chapter Eleven-
