An Engagement Party?

Emma~

I’m going to kill Orion.

I say this to myself over and over as the women have been dragging me through their closets. Nothing so far has been ‘good enough’ for them, and they’re now only using the style of dresses for inspiration when building the considerable online order on one of their laptops.

Good, I hope it leaves a nasty dent on Orion’s credit card, though I doubt he’d even notice if his closet is anything to go off.

So far there has been no chance to confront him, and it’s taking everything I have not to take my frustration out on them. How could he not tell me that I am catering for my own engagement party? How could he book it without even asking me?

Was his plan just to throw me out there in front of the family and hope I’d play along with it?

“Yes, I’m loving the navy blue!” Jessica exclaims when I’m wrapped in blue velvet. I can’t deny how bright it makes my hair seem, but the material feels odd to me.

“Maybe in silk?” Delilah reads my mind, and I nod more enthusiastically. I can’t keep this one on for another minute, never mind a whole night.

“How much skin is too much skin?” Lily wonders out loud, and I turn to her nervously to see whatever it is that she’s looking at. So far I’ve had my arms out and most of my legs, what’s making her question this now?

“If you can see her navel, it’s safe to assume Mr. Neville won’t like it,” Helena comments with a laugh and puts back the cut-out dress Lily had just taken from one of her boxes.

I don’t even want to know what that one would look like on, even if the green is a heavenly shade.

“Laugh all you want, Helena, that dress got me with child.” Lily laughs, and I blush fiercely.

Clearly, all of the women here have had relations with their partners, while I’m a full-on virgin. Remind me why I wanted to wait for my true love again? Eugh, the idea of how naive I was makes me sick.

“You’re not?” Lily gasps at the look on my face, and it only serves to make the blush travel deeper. I have got to get better at hiding my emotions.

“Lily, you can’t ask that.” Delilah scolds, trying to save me, but it’s too late. The others have caught on, and now the conversation has turned to why I haven’t jumped Orion’s bones yet.

Like today could get any worse?

“You do realize that you’re talking to Mr. Neville’s fiancée, right?” Delilah reminds them, and thankfully that dilutes the subject considerably.

I’m able to avoid the question for the duration of the visit, and I’ve decided that when I have my own money, I’m sending Delilah flowers... hell, I’m doing it anyway.

When I get back to the house, the kitchen is half painted from when they’d stolen me away to dress up, and I find Orion there picking at the remains of the snacks. Just the man I was looking for.

“You.” My eyes narrow in on him, and he holds his hands up as if I held a gun to his head.

“I only ate one.” He says defensively, and if I didn’t have bigger things to scold him on, this could have been a playful moment for us after a week of awkward silences.

“I’ve got two words for you, Orion, and I can’t wait to hear your defense this time.” I cross my arms so that he can see my displeasure. “Engagement. Party.”

“Oh, you figured it out? Took you long enough.” He shrugs before picking up another snack.

I stand there for a second, speechless at how blasé he’s being about this. Does he not realize how furious I am right now?

“You didn’t think to warn me? To ASK me?” I emphasize the last part, though I needn’t have bothered; he clearly doesn’t care.

Instead, he turns to face me slowly while brushing the crumbs from his fingers and leans against the counter. This is the most at ease I’ve seen him all week, and I have no idea what’s gotten into him.

“Emma, you are my fiancée. As my fiancée, we need to announce it. Most engagement parties are done the day after your arrival, consider yourself lucky that I was able to wait so long.” He talks as if speaking to a child, and I want to scream when he goes to continue.

“After what happened, I need to take responsibility. If you’d been caught by someone else, found running without protection while my people were searching for you, you’d have had a target on your back and half of my enemies trying to track you down first.” The tension in his voice makes it clear that he’s not joking around anymore.

“You could have told me.” I try to reason, but he only raises an eyebrow.

“And have you sulking the whole time while refusing to prepare?”

I mean, he’s not wrong about the preparation part. There’s no chance I’d have put in all of this effort towards the menu if I knew what it was truly for. But sulking... really?

I thought I did fairly well with the group just now, all things considered. My face had said ‘mildly displeased’ rather than my true feeling of ‘burning rage’ when trying to play it off as no big deal. I didn’t want them to feel worried about telling me things in the future, who knows what else he’s hiding?

“You know I don’t want this,” is what I settle on saying because it’s the truth, and I’m already feeling the pressure closing in around me.

I didn’t ask for a powerful husband, I didn’t ask to be his wife, and I didn’t ask to be brought here. Not that it matters to him, though.

“Emma, your safety is far more important to me than your affections. I have time for you to warm to me, but I might not always be there in time to protect you.”