Page 126 of When Fate Breaks
I spin back towards the building and begin to raise my head as my bodily functions start to normalize. I close my eyes, letting out one final breathy sigh. When my eyes open, my spine instantly snaps straight and I turn to the side, a figure in the shadows catching my attention for the first time. I take a step forward, seeing Blake sitting on the steps of the back porch leading off the house. His elbows are resting on his knees, fingers laced together. His shoulders are stiff and his gaze is fixed on the ground, his tongue pushing hard against the side of his cheek.
“Blake?” I breathe.
He doesn’t respond, not moving a muscle as he remains on the porch before me. I hesitantly approach him
“Blake?”
Nothing.
“Blake?” I push, exasperated, as I stand right in front of him.
His eyes snap suddenly to my face, looking coldly up at me through his thick eyelashes and dark curls of hair, but he stays silent. Though his icy glare is pushing me back, I fight against it, taking another step towards him. “Please say something,” I whisper.
“What do you want me to say, Evangeline?” he asks flatly.
“Anything. Please,” I beg.
He stares at me for several painfully long seconds, his chest rising and falling heavily. Right as I begin to think he won’t speak again, his jaw shifts to the side. “Okay,” he says. Before I realize what’s happening, Blake is up off the porch and storming for me. I don’t even have time to open my mouth to question him before he’s bending over, briskly scooping me up, and throwing me over his shoulder.
I let out a grunt as my chest hits against his back. “Agh!What the hell, Blake? Let me down!” I demand, pounding my fists against his lower back. Blake doesn’t react to or acknowledge neither my verbal nor my physical complaints, striding around the side of the Old Scarlett House. “Blake, I swear to–Ah!”
He suddenly yanks me down by the hips, plopping my feet onto the ground in front of him. I straighten my disheveled dress and yank out the pieces of grass and leaves that made their way into my hair on the short journey. “Are you insane?” I growl.
“Why am I here?”
I pause my fidgeting, my eyes finding Blake’s. He stands just feet from me, his gaze burning into me, the color of his eyes reminding me of a churning lake in a storm. We both seem to swallow at the same time. I blow a breath out of my nose, refusing to shy away. His eyes dart all over my face, his own face giving me no clear indication of what could be going on inside his head, as per usual.
What I would give to have any idea what he's thinking right now…
Blake
I can’t think. I can’t breathe. How can she expect me to speak?
I walked out of that party with every intention of leaving for good. I would have walked all the way back to Lake Placid right then if I had to. The words are still spinning in my head and grinding in my ears.
I have watched Annie grow up right along next to him.
It’s not often that two people with so much shared history find their way into each other's arms later in life.
Here’s to the soon-to-be Mr. and Mrs. Van der Michael.
Mr.
And.
Mrs.
Van der Michael.
How did it never occur to me that I didn’t know Remy’s last name? That I didn’t know whathernew last name would be? Maybe it’s because I could never fathom the idea of her being anything other than Evangeline Jacks.
Or Evangeline Di Fazio.
I keep pushing away the image. The image of a young Remy–No, Jeremiah–Van der Michael in Evangeline’s yearbook. The way she rolled her eyes and cringed away at the mere sight of him and mention of his name.
And now she’s engaged to be married to him.
I curse myself for not putting the pieces together sooner, but know there’s no way I could have. No way I would have ever predicted or anticipated this. None of this makes sense. All of the things she said about his family. All the dreams she had for herself and her future.
