Chapter 5: By Invitation Only

It was a small old church in suburban Glencoe. A few people had arrived and came inside and some lingered outside, chatting happily.

His boss was among one of the people lingering on the church's entrance. And he really didn't want to bother thinking of the cover put in place for the presence of Arthur and Joan Campbell.

According to his watch, the bride should be arriving now. True to his estimation, the guests rushed inside moments before a sweet Corvette drove pass his parked car. The classic car stopped right on the path leading to the church's door. He allowed himself a moment appreciation of the beautiful car, a kind of car that he'd always want to drive. But that's the kind of luxury he was stripped off.

A man who looked a lot like the groom opened the door, an older man came out of the car, followed by the bride. The sight of her in the wedding dress took his breath away all over again.

In the past week he'd lingered around in town, he'd seen the dress and even seen her fitting the dress with her sister and future mother-in-law. But today, gorgeous didn't even begin to describe her appearance. She was shining, more like glowing, as she walked in by the older man's arm.

Retrieving a black fedora from the passenger seat, he exited his black sedan and approached the church's entrance in wide strides. He got to the door as her father handed her hand to the groom's awaiting hand.

There weren't that many people inside and his outfit of white shirt, plain dark suit and royal blue tie wasn't exactly calling for attention. He sat quietly in one of the seats in the back row as the priest started the sacred ceremony. In the silence of the room, they both recited the vow eloquently, causing some of the ladies to sniff.

"Now, I declare you as husband and wife. You may kiss the bride…"

…

Things had been quiet in Taiwan these days. An asset of high value he'd rescued from the chaos of Syria was well adjusting to his new life in the East Asia city. At least, his children were happily running around in the garden as he took watch of them.

So, it really was a quiet Tuesday. That was until a beep of his phone alerted him of a new incoming message.

It was from Arthur Campbell. And instead of seeing orders for new mission, he saw a photo of, wait, was that…?

His heart dropped to his stomach and broke to pieces. It had been years but he was in no control of the emotions raging inside his own body. But his calm stance and expression gave nothing away. A small twitch of his hand was the only visible sign as his eyes narrowed, studying his phone screen closely as if he were captivated by it.

There, written in elegant script and must be embossed over the royal blue paper was the words. It announced the wedding of Anne Catherine Walker to August Anderson.

…

The room erupted in loud clapping and whistles. He found himself standing to his feet, applauding the newly married couple soundlessly.

The kiss lasted a few seconds longer than necessary. A blush spread at the bride's cheek as she turned and buried her face in her husband's chest. The husband coaxed her out of her hiding and her face glowed brighter than before, if that was even possible. It was a shame the supposedly happiest man today didn't get to see that. Though that depended on who the man was. He was happy for her. But he was not the lucky man.

They took down the aisle, receiving warm hugs and congratulations. He'd like to greet the bride, too, but it was yet another luxury he didn't have. So, before anyone in the room noticed his presence, he took his cue to leave.

It might've been the last time he'd seen her. But he could look at a new image of her on his phone screen from now on. She'd changed a lot since those free days in Sri Lanka. It hurt him but he knew he'd never do anything to deserve her.

…

"You aren't coming to the party?" A deep male voice with an accent asked out of nowhere, stopping his hand mid-air from reaching his car door handle.

He turned around, a hand ready to draw a gun from the inside of his jacket, to see a tall man slowly raising his hands in sign of peace, one hand holding a small bouquet of flowers.

"Looks like we both aren't invited to the happy occasion, huh?" The man remarked.

His eyes regarded the stranger who oddly looked familiar. Where had he seen his face? Newspaper? TV? That was when the recognition came to him. He knew him. Of him, at least. He'd read his file. Mossad agent with quite the track record and reputation. One of the best in his country.

And he was the man who rescued Annie from a Russian prison two years ago.

"Eyal Lavine," he muttered the name, not leaving his eyes off the man.

The Israeli smiled. "Ben Mercer. Leaving so soon?" He nodded to the car behind him.

"I have other business to take care of." He replied.

"Yeah? Well, my business is to get this beautiful flowers to the beautiful bride," he brought the bouquet up in front of him. "Care to join me?"

The plan he made didn't include this. He was to come and go unnoticed. He also long to talk to her, though, to hear her voice. Perhaps he could ask her for one dance. That saying if the husband didn't strangle and kill him first.

…

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking up to his worried face. No one else would notice it, but she'd been paying extra attention to his expressions for years.

"Yeah," he replied.

She smiled, knowing exactly what caused his distress. "We can sneak out the back door and leave. We'd be at the hotel room before anyone notice we're missing."

"Sounds like a great plan," he pulled her close to his body. "But, I'm not stealing the bride from her own wedding party. So, I'll live."

"Yeah? Even if you accidentally step on my dress and we both fall to the floor?" She whispered in his hear, teasing him.

He chuckled nervously. "I will reconsider my fate should that happen."

"You are charming, Mr Anderson," she kissed his cheek.

"And that is why you married me, Mrs Anderson," his hand trailed up her arms and stopped at her cheek, stroking the soft skin affectionately.

"Oh, thank you for being so…"

Both their heads turned in the same direction together. Her eyes landed on two men whom she didn't thought she would see on her wedding.

"Who's that?" He asked, turning his face back to her.

Her eyes followed the two men as she answered. "Eyal Lavine… and," she paused, uncertain at how to tell him of the other man. She closed her eyes shut, "Ben Mercer."

She could feel the second his body tensed at the latter name.

He trained his eyes in the direction where the two uninvited men were making their way toward them.

"Annie," it was Ben's voice, sounding the same as ever.

She waited to see her body's reaction to his voice. But she felt nothing after the initial surprise at seeing him came off.

"Ben," she replied in greeting, then turned to his companion. "Eyal,"

"Very nice of you to not invite me, Neshama," he replied in a playful tone.

"Very nice of both of you to come regardless," Auggie said with a smile, offering his free hand.

"Auggie, my man," Eyal ignored his hand and went ahead to envelope him in a man hug. Auggie should have seen that coming. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Auggie returned the hug, a tad bit less tense and awkward than he did that first time years ago.

...

I know, I know. What the hell, right? But, I actually like Ben (and Eyal, too, of course). And I think he did love Annie back then even if the majority of us don't believe that. I have my own thoughts and opinion of their two weeks romance. And I think what they had was real. As Ben said, it was complicated, but real nonetheless. Whatever. I just hope you enjoy my version of Auggie-Annie's wedding. Maybe I'll write one from the couple's perspective. But I promise nothing as I'm terribly awful at keeping them. - PA