Chapter 6

An Accidental Marriage

Several hours had passed since Victor had fled from the Everglots' home. Now, he found himself leaning against the bridge on the outskirts of town. In the center of his palm, he held the little sprig of flowers that Victoria had given him, along with the gold ring. As he gazed upon these items, he recalled the events that had led him to this place.

Do you not wish to be married, Master Van Dort? Pastor Galswells had asked him. And, of course, Victor's immediate response was to shout a definitive 'no.'

You do not? Victoria had asked him. She had looked at him with such sad eyes and a frown was beginning to tug at her lips.

It was then that he realized what he had said. He did not mean it like that. He wanted to be married. He did. However, the circumstances weren't exactly ideal and he had only met his bride-to-be mere hours ago. Of course he was hesitant!

He had tried to explain his meaning, but his words came out in a jumble and he was rudely interrupted before he could continue. And things only got worse from there.

"Oh, Victoria," Victor murmured to himself as he tucked away the flower and the ring into his coat pocket. "She must think I'm such a fool." After all, he did exactly that: make a fool of himself. And not just in front of Victoria and their parents, but in front of Emily as well. Her's was an opinion that he held in the highest esteem and the thought of ruining what good opinion she had of him, which he doubted was very high as of late, was unbearable.

At the thought of disappointing Emily, his angel, Victor sighed deeply and said, "This day couldn't get any worse."

But, it did.

It was at the moment that the town crier chose to announce Victor's humiliation to the entire town. "Here ye, here ye! Rehearsal in ruins as Van Dort boy causes chaos! Fishy fiancé could be canned! Everglots all fried up as Van Dort disaster ruins rehearsal!"

Poor Victor. He threw his arms up over his head and shook his head at the heavens as if to say, Why me? He then began to wander toward the woods that sat on the edge of town and contained part of the graveyard.

As he walked, he began thinking over his vows. How did they go again?

"It really shouldn't be all that difficult," he said to himself. "It's just a few simple vows."

He brought is palm up so that it was level to his face. The first part had something to do with a hand, right? "With this hand," he started, biting his lip as he tried to recall the next bit, "I will be your wine." He sighed. "No." That was not correct.

He continued onward. Come on, Victor, he thought to himself. He raised both his hands this time as he spoke, "With this hand..." he pulled his hands toward his chest trying desperately to remember the next line. "I will cup your..." Relizing what his actions and words insinuated, Victor dropped his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Oh, goodness, no."

Perhaps if he tried a different line, it would help move things along. Forget the hand thing for now. Candles. There was something about candles.

"With this candle, I will..." Damn! What's the next line? "I will... I will set your mother on fire."

Victor grumbled to himself as he continued trudging forward, bringing a hand to his temple. "Oh, it's no use!" he cried.

"What is no use?" a voice asked.

Victor looked up, startled by the sudden interruption. What he saw, however, soothed his nerves. In front of him was the image of Emily, slumped on a stump that sat at the base of a twisted looking oak tree.

"Emily," he called to her, genuinely happy to see her. Oh, but then he took in her appearance in greater detail. Her eyes were red and puffy, clearly caused by crying, and she was trembling. For heaven's sake! It was freezing out here and the poor girl wasn't wearing a coat!

"What on earth are you doing out here in the cold and the dark?" He cried as he hurried to her side. Without thinking too much about it, he shrugged off his coat and placed it around her shoulders, but not before removing the ring and the sprig, and putting them in the pocket of his trousers.

Emily offered him a weak smile. "I should be asking you that question," she said with a raised brow, brushing off his question.

"Well..." Victor started, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. "I need some time to think, and, well, to learn my vows."

"Your wedding vows?"

Victor nodded.

"Well," Emily started, "I could help you with them, if you'd like."

Victor sighed and fell to his knees. "Oh, please?" he said, hope filling his words as he clasped Emily's hands in his.

Emily gave a small giggle and gave his hands a squeeze. "Okay. Just do and say what I do." She raised her right hand and began speaking. "With this hand, I will lift your sorrows. Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness. With this ring, I aks you to be mine." She then mimed sliding an imaginary ring on to Victors ring finger. "Think you can manage?"

Victor nodded and swallowed thickly. He copied Emily and raised his right hand. "With this hand, I will lift your sorrows," he began, his voice the steadiest it had been all day. "Your cup will never empty, for I will be your wine. With this candle, I will light your way in darkness.With this ring, I ask you to be mine." And without missing a beat, Victor took the ring from his pocket and slid it upon Emily's dainty finger. It was a perfect fit.

An unkindness of ravens cawed from above their heads and the wind picked up, causing Emily's hair to whip vigorously about her head. Her eyes widened as she stared at the golden band on her finger.

"Good God, Victor," she cried above the howl of the wind. "What have we done?"

Victor looked upon her with a confused expression. What had they done? What sort of question was that?

Emily then began to remove the ring from her finger and rose to her feet. "No one has to know," she murmured to herself as she thrust the ring into Victor's hand. "I have to go," she told him in the next breath.

Just as she turned away from him, however, Victor caught her wrist and gently tugged her back to him.

"Let me go. Please, Victor, let me go," she cried, attempting to free herself from his grasp.

"No," he said firmly, moving to grip her shoulders. "Not until you tell me what is going on."

Emily began crying again, but she kept her voice steady as she spoke. "Victor, please. I can't stay here. He'll find me!" Again, she tried to push him away, but was unsuccessful.

"Who?" he asked, tightening his hold upon her. "Emily, who will find you?"

"Henry!" she wailed, finally giving up on fighting him.

"Your former fiancé? The man who killed your father?"

She nodded. "Yes, but he now calls himself Lord Barkis Bittern. He is the man who came during your rehearsal."

At the mention of the rehearsal, Emily's tears grew tenfold. Openly sobbing, she threw her arms about Victor's neck and buried her head into his shoulder. "Oh, forgive me, my darling friend," she begged in between her sobbing. "I am afraid I have gone and ruined everything yet again."

Victor was confused by her words, but returned her embrace. His fingers traced soothing patterns on to her back as he held her. "How could you have possibly ruined everything, my angel? You haven't done anything wrong."

Emily pulled away from him at his words. With irriation, she rubbed away the tears on her cheeks.

"Victor," she began, "we have done something so incredibly foolish."

Victor could only give her a puzzled expression and a shake of his head.

Emily sighed and took his hand, the one still clutching the little, gold ring, and held it between them. "Vows are binding, Victor," she told him. "Though there is no clergyman nor witness present, vows still hold their meaning. We both spoke them to one another, which would not have been binding had you not placed the ring on my finger."

Victor's eyes widened as he allowed her to open his fist, revealing the ring. Slowly, her words were beginning to make sense.

"Victor," Emily spoke again, "I believe we just accidentally got married."