Feel My Love

Chapter Thirteen: The Rehearsal Dinner

“I can’t believe you’re getting married,” Lisa Smith murmured giving Aoife a hug, she had arrived that morning for her friend’s rehearsal dinner and was going to be the maid-of-honour at the wedding.

Darren stood next to his girlfriend and looked around the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner was being held; he had no idea what to expect but it was clearly going to be an expensive night.

“Lisa… Darren this is Marco,” Aoife said introducing her friends to Marco, she was wearing a magenta sequin maxi dress and scarf paired with gold lotus sling-back shoes for the evening.

Marco smiled wrapping an arm around Aoife and holding her close, things had gotten interesting since their kiss and he was hopeful that it was sign that this could all work out for them better than he could imagine.

“Marco… these are my friends from Paris,” Aoife continued blushing as Marco drew her close, she peeked at him with a smile knowing that things had changed between them in the past five weeks.

Darren stared at Marco for a moment, he didn’t know what it was but he could see that something had changed since the last time that he had seen Aoife; he moved forward to hug his best friend having missed her since she moved back to Germany.

“He’s so much better looking up close,” Darren whispered into Aoife’s ear making the brunette snort back a laugh, she grinned knowing that she should have expected that from Darren.

Lisa rolled her eyes, she knew what her boyfriend was like and she was sure he had taken a liking to Aoife’s fiancée; she smiled politely while Marco looked a little confused about what had just happened, since he didn’t speak a word of French.

***

“You look beautiful,” Irene whispered standing next to her youngest daughter, she had no idea how to thank Aoife for going through with this and she hoped that Aoife would be happy married to Marco.

Aoife took a deep breath looking at her mother, she knew just how much this meant for them and she was trying not to be a little angry that her father had borrowed so much money from Marco’s father.

“I’m so sorry Aoife,” Irene murmured moving to sit down, she wished that she had more to say and she didn’t want to lose the only daughter that she had left; Belle had made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with her.

“I know mama…” Aoife replied looking over at Marco, she was starting to fall for the man that would be her husband and she didn’t want to spend her life being angry at her parents.

Irene looked down at her hands, tomorrow her daughter would no longer be a Beckan and it seemed so strange to think that the entire world would know Aoife as a Reus; she wanted nothing more than to make amends for everything that was happening.

“What was the money for?” Aoife asked wanting to know why Frank had borrowed €10,000 from Thomas, it was something that she hadn’t been told and she hoped that it was worth it now.

Irene chewed on her lip, she knew that there was no use in lying to Aoife now; the brunette was sacrificing her own life to pay of a debt that didn’t belong to her, it was only fair that she knew the truth now that she was about to get married.

“The business is failing… we are on the verge of bankruptcy,” Irene whispered softly, tears filling her eyes knowing that Frank had worked so hard on his bakery and now it was in ruins.

Aoife stared at her mother confused, she had no idea that things had gotten that bad only that her parents had been desperate for the money; she couldn’t understand how it had gotten that bad.

“I thought Belle was in-charge of the accounts,” Aoife stated worried, her sister had always been better at the business side of things and had helped their parents run the business by managing their accounts for them.

Irene nodded her head, she looked over to where Manuela was chatting happily with some of their mutual friends everything would have been similar if she hadn’t offered them the money that had led to this mess.

“She was… there were a couple of bad investments and we lost everything,” Irene revealed not wanting to really talk about it, she had trusted her eldest daughter and it had backfired badly in their faces.

Aoife closed her eyes, she now understood why Belle had been the one chosen first; she had caused the mess and had been expected to help clear it up only instead she had fled when it had mattered most with no intentions of helping their parents.

“It’ll be okay,” Aoife murmured moving to hug her mother, she would do what she could to make sure that her parents wouldn’t lose everything; the bakery had been in their family for generations and it would be a shame if it was to be lost now.

***

“I’m Mario, the best man and I would like to thank everyone for coming tonight,” Mario started kicking off the speeches, he had been informed by Mats about what was going on and he was surprised to see how close Marco was getting to Aoife.

It had been a wonderful evening and in tomorrow, they would all be back together for the wedding; it had been a quiet Christmas for them all and now they were preparing to watch Marco and Aoife tie the knot.

“It’s been a whirl-wind and tomorrow they get married, I truly wish the two of you the best in the future,” Mario continued raising his glass of champagne, he didn’t know what else to say and he had talked to Marco a lot hoping to be sure that his friend was making the right decision.

Aoife smiled a little, she had no idea what to expect tomorrow but the meal had been wonderful and she was looking forward to going home to sleep before the big day.

“I’m Lisa… the maid-of-honour, most of you don’t know me but I’ve known Aoife for several years now,” Lisa said getting to her feet once Mario was done, she could see how tense everyone was about what was going to happen; the only people who seemed completely at ease was Marco’s parents.

It was slowly becoming the worst kept secret in the world and they all knew what would happen if the truth became common knowledge; it would destroy more than one person’s life.

The sound of a knock at the door made the group grow quiet, they weren’t expecting anyone else to show up and it was coming to the end of the rehearsal dinner; they were all finishing their meal and had to get home soon.

Marco rested a hand on the back of Aoife’s chair, his fingers brushing against her bare shoulder and the door opened; he wasn’t looking forward to spending the night without her.

However the couple stared shocked at the sight of the person that stepped inside, they couldn’t believe that she had come back after what she had done to them; she hadn’t spoken to anyone in the room since she had fled to live with her other boyfriend.

“We aren’t late, are we?” Belle asked softly stepping into the private restaurant room followed by David, she rested a hand on her small bump and smiled knowing that she had come at the right time to stop Aoife from making a big mistake.