"Congratulations!" Lalie exclaimed, as Georgia and James passed by, making their way down the aisle. "You two look beautiful!"
"I'm glad you made it!" Georgia exclaimed, as she tried to stop to hug Lalie but James kept pulling her along.
"I am, too!" Lalie replied. "Certain people didn't want me here, but, oh well!" she declared, looking over at an angry Vivian, who was, in turn, looking at her but then quickly turned away.
Just a little while had passed before everyone gathered for the reception.
Frankie looked at her watch, and realized that the paper had to be on the newsstands by now. How was she supposed to get a copy of it without leaving and looking suspicious?
She took out her cell phone, and walked off to the side, so no one could hear.
"Markson," she heard a voice come through.
"Mr. Markson, it's me," Frankie whispered, peering at the reception to make sure no one saw her.
"Hi 'me'," Mr. Markson replied. "So, what did you think? A beauty, eh?"
"I don't know, I haven't seen it yet!" Frankie exclaimed, trying not to be too loud, as she turned around to face the bushes. "Look, I'm at this wedding with a good number of people. How would you like to come here and leave a copy for the crowd? I'm sure you'd make some good money, and the guests would get such a good read!"
"Well, where are you at?" Mr. Markson wanted to know.
"I can't believe it went off without a hitch," Georgia remarked to James in complete happiness, as she kissed him.
"Did you think there would be a problem?" James questioned.
"Well, with Trey here, who knows?" Georgia laughed, as she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around to see Savannah standing there. "Hi, Savannah!"
"Well, I'm going to head out into the backyard," James announced. "Are you going to join us in a few minutes?"
"I'll be right there, of course!" Georgia exclaimed, kissing him once again before he left. She watched as James' figure walked out into the backyard and then turned to Savannah. "Savannah, you did a great job on that altar."
"All I had to do was hand you a ring," Savannah recalled. "Georgia, I wanted to ask you something and I hope that you'll agree."
Georgia fixed her dress. "Name it!"
"I know you'll be leaving for your honeymoon and no one will be in charge of the company," Savannah reminded her.
"Father will be," Georgia let her know, and then sighed. "And, so will Trey."
"Father isn't that familiar with that office, and I'm not even going to comment on Trey," Savannah told her in a serious tone. "Why don't you let me work there while you're away, that way Father can see that I am important to the business?"
"Father already decided that he'd be working there next week, Savannah," Georgia reiterated. "Maybe in two weeks when I come back, you can be my assistant and then we can take it from there. Does that sound okay?"
"No, it doesn't!" Savannah came right out with it, as Georgia widened her eyes. "I wanted you to see that I could do something other than file my nails or use a remote control, and you won't even give me the chance!"
"I will give you the chance but not next week," Georgia let her know. "You don't know the first thing about the office. You can be my assistant first, and then maybe you can work in a cubicle."
"I'd rather die than work in a cubicle," Savannah noted.
"That's a shame, because you know that funerals are my least favorite event to attend," Georgia replied, as she watched Savannah's stunned reaction.
Lalie filled her glass with punch, as she saw someone walk up to her in the corner of her eye.
"Is that punch ravishing?" she heard Trey's voice ask.
Lalie clenched her teeth as she turned to Trey and made eye contact with him. "It's fine. Why?"
"Because your dress is ravishing and more," Trey told her with a smile, as she watched Phil come up from behind him and grab him by his collar and drag him off to the other side. "Oh, my God, Phil!" she shrieked, as she set down her glass and prepared to run after him, but felt something pull her back.
"For the last time, Lalie, stay away from Trey," Frankie demanded.
Lalie was speechless. Trey was the one who approached her.
"Do you want me to let go?" Phil demanded to know, as he still had his hands on Trey's collar.
"It... would... be nice!" Trey managed to reply, as Phil watched James come up and take his hands off of Trey's collar, and separated them both. "Jim, my savior."
"I'm far from it, Trey," James let him know. "Phil, I'm not Trey's biggest fan either but let's try not to have violence at this wedding!"
"That could be arranged, as soon as Trey learns what is and is NOT his!" Phil shouted, as he turned to Trey.
"Would you lower your voice?" Trey requested in a soft tone, leaning toward him a little.
"Getting me kicked out of the hotel wasn't enough? You want my girlfriend, too?" Phil demanded to know.
"Of course, I don't!" Trey shouted. "I can't even compliment someone's dress?"
"You did a lot more than compliment her dress!" Phil reminded him. "I know what you did in that office last week, and if Lalie didn't stop me, then you wouldn't even be at this reception right now!"
Trey looked like he was trying not to smile as he adjusted his suit jacket. "I can't believe you could make threats to the person who took you out to Pennsylvania!"
"I paid for most of that," Phil reminded him. "Remember how I was supposed to pay for the initial trip and then you'd pay for everything else?"
"If your anger is about money, then-" Trey began, taking out his wallet.
"It's not about your lies!" Phil let him know. "Just listen to this: you're not Lalie's type, so don't waste your time with those advances. It's pathetic!"
"Didn't I encourage you to pursue Lalie?" Trey wanted to know. "You seem to have forgotten who's on your side."
"You may have Frankie trained to be on your side, but not me!" Phil warned him. "Maybe I didn't know who you were before, but I do now. Stay away from me, and stay FAR away from Lalie!"
Trey felt Phil give him a slight shove, as he walked away. He let out a slight laugh of disbelief at the confrontation.
Frankie watched as Phil walked over and joined her and Lalie.
"I hope we made everything crystal clear," Frankie said to Lalie.
"I know I did," Phil affirmed.
"Did you?" Frankie wanted to know.
"OH, MY GOD!" a scream filled the air from inside the house. "THIS CAN'T BE REAL, IT CAN'T BE REAL!"
"Come on, Phil, let's go see what's going on," Lalie urged in a worried tone, as Frankie watched them dash off into the house.
Frankie took a few steps and looked through the window, as Savannah held a paper in the air. "Gee, I wonder what's going on," she giggled.
Savannah swallowed for almost the hundredth time, as her eyes swelled looking at the headline: "A Caldwell lovechild turns out to be a Neelan."
"Savannah, you can't believe that rag," Georgia urged. "They knew it was a big day for the Caldwell's and Neelan's today, so they chose to attack us with a false story."
Savannah ignored Georgia's words, as she watched her parents rush up, and mostly all the guests gather around her and whispered as they caught a glimpse of the headline.
Grant read the headline, and put his hand over his mouth. "Oh, my God, no… it couldn't have gotten out. Who could have found out?"
"Father, or whoever the hell you are, ANSWER ME!" Savannah demanded to know. "Is this TRUE?!"
"Who did this to us?" Marietta wanted to know, as she collapsed, and Grant immediately rushed down to her side to revive her.
The room began to spin for Savannah, as she saw her parents down on the ground and numerous faces of devastation and shock among the guests. Judging by her parents reactions, Savannah concluded that the article must have been true.
Georgia stared blankly at Savannah, and looked at James, as she felt his hand go on her shoulder.
"You're her brother?" Georgia finally asked the question, as she began to sob uncontrollably and stepped away from the crowd. "How could you do this to Savannah, Father? HOW COULD YOU!"
Vivian remembered how Bob confessed that he had fathered another child but had no idea what happened to him or her. She couldn't believe that the child that he fathered was a member of the Caldwell family, and that they were all under the same roof at the moment.
Her eyes widened when she saw Bob appear, and he slowly began to walk toward Savannah.
The room began to stop spinning a bit, but Savannah's tears wouldn't stop rolling down her face. She couldn't even look at Grant without feeling hatred, anger and immense sadness.
Savannah began to shake as Bob Neelan came into her focus, and walked up to her.
"Savannah," he said softly to her.
"No," Savannah whispered, as she shook immensely, dropping the paper to the ground. "Stay away from me! I want EVERYONE to stay away from me! STAY AWAY!"
"SAVANNAH!" Georgia screeched, as Savannah ran up the stairs and fled into one of the rooms and slammed the door. "It couldn't have been anyone here who did this… everyone here is our friend…" she mused, as Trey came into her line of vision, and remembered how he knew a family secret about the Caldwell's. "ALMOST everybody."
Frankie walked into the room holding a glass, and tried to act surprised and saddened as she witnessed the events.
"Did you have something to do with this?" she heard Ryan's voice come up from behind her.
Frankie turned around and made eye contact with Ryan. "How could you even accuse me of that?" she demanded to know.
"Very easily!" Ryan informed her.
"I don't know even know Georgia that well, let alone her family secrets!" Frankie tried to sound convincing.
"She's right," she heard James' voice call out, and turned to look at him. "Ryan, there's no way that Frankie could have had anything to do with this."
"Well, thank you, James," Frankie said to him. "It's nice to know that someone has a little faith in me around here."
"How dare you plan this and have the nerve to show up for the unveiling!" Georgia shouted at Trey. "How could you hurt my family like that?"
"You think that I had something to do with it?!" Trey demanded to know.
"Not 'something'," Georgia let him know. "EVERYTHING!"
"IT WAS YOU!" she heard Grant roar. "You did this!"
"No, I didn't!" Trey protested.
"I don't EVER want to see your face around me, my husband or my family again," Georgia hissed. "You disgust me, Trey. You are a complete disgrace, a horrible human being with no consideration for others. You are a poor example of a man."
Trey was silent for a few seconds. "Georgia, I had nothing to do with that article. I love you!"
"LOVE me?" Georgia demanded to know. "No, you don't. I HATE YOU with all of my heart, GET OUT and don't even think of showing up for work ever again… I'll have you banned from all corporate offices."
Lalie was watching Georgia and Trey, and then turned back to Phil. "Maybe we shouldn't be here," she whispered to him.
"Lalie," she heard Georgia's voice call out.
Lalie turned around to look at Georgia. "Georgia, if there is anything I can do to help-"
"You're our new president effective Monday," Georgia told Lalie in a stern tone. "Do you understand?"
Lalie gave a simple nod, not even able to believe what was happening, as she turned back to Phil. "This has to be a dream. It HAS to be."
"How dare you, Lalie!" she heard Vivian shout. "How dare you use this situation to better your business status!"
"What are you talking about?!" Lalie demanded to know.
"You didn't think twice about accepting that position," Vivian hissed. "You've overstayed your welcome here. I want you and Phil to leave right now."
Lalie closed her eyes, and didn't fight Vivian, as she grabbed Phil's hand and left quietly.
James stood outside by himself as he couldn't believe what his wedding day turned into. He knew that he had a sister or brother somewhere, but to think it was Savannah. Wasn't it just the other day when he was joking with Savannah about being brother and sister?
Just as he was about to go back inside, he saw a gun come up from behind him in the corner of his eye. He jumped but tried not to scream, as a black glove came over his mouth.
"Come with me or die," a scratchy voice muttered, as he felt himself being dragged into the woods.
"Frankie, Georgia thinks that I was behind that article," Trey told Frankie, as his eyes were honestly tearing, as he couldn't believe he was being accused of something so vicious. "Only a monster would do something like this."
"And that's exactly what you are!" Georgia shouted.
"Georgia, get off Trey's back, maybe if you gave him a chance instead of constantly knocking him, you'd see that he's a great guy!" Frankie replied, convincingly.
"Frankie, the only thing I have to say to you is: wake up!" Georgia shouted.
James felt the gun pressed into his back, as he was held in the woods facing his house.
"Why?" James wanted to know. "Why are you doing this? Why did you stalk Georgia?"
He felt the gun's pressure lessen on his back, and the person grabbed his hand and put it over the gun, placing his finger on the trigger.
"When I say shoot, you pull that trigger or else I'll pull it on you," the person's scratchy voice demanded.
"Oh, my God... you're pointing the gun right at Georgia," James shrieked, as he followed the path in which the bullet would go. "Why do you want to hurt her?" he began to quiver.
"Use your left hand and pull off my veil," the person ordered. "You'll get your answer."
James carefully pulled off the veil and squinted to get a good look at the person's face. "OH, MY GOD, NO!" James gasped, as he tried to pull back only to feel the pressure tighten on his hand. "IT CAN'T BE!"
"Oh, it is," the person confirmed with an evil laugh.
"Oh, my God, no…" James gasped again, as the person held his hand tighter on the gun.
"Shut up and do as I say, or die!" the person once again demanded. "Are you ready? Because I certainly am!"
James' hand began to shake as he looked down at the gun in his hand. Was there anything that he could do at this moment to escape this psychopath, and refrain from killing the love of his life at the same time?
Chapter 30
Non-Nsync Fiction
I'll Never Stop {Fiction}
Email Tracia