Page 2 of Knock Me Up

“Yes? Silverware is silver, honey,” Luke says, the confusion in his voice all too clear.

“Silver is for peasants. I thought you would spare no expense for my wedding, Luke, and you’re using silver!?”

“Did... did you want golden forks and knives?”

“No. I want more than that! I want platinum!”

“I don’t even know if platinum silverware is a thing that exists.”

“You’d make it so if you loved me, Luke. You’re a sham of a man. No wonder your family didn’t want you!”

“That’s low, Ophelia.”

“And I don’t want you either,” she says, shoving him, but he isn’t moving. “Shitty silverware, shitty flowers, shitty church, shitty wedding. I want no part of this! The wedding’s off!”

She stamps her feet and makes as much noise as possible in marching away from him. She walks right past me and I’m just staring in awe at her, wondering how the hell she could so easily give up a man like him.

I’m also trying to estimate how many brain cells are in her head, given her understanding of SILVERware.

She doesn’t even look at me. She thinks she’s too high and noble even to acknowledge the existence of the help.

Sensing that perhaps I shouldn’t keep up my work, I head over to Luke once Ophelia is out of the church. “So, uh... what’s the plan now? I’m guessing things have changed.”

He smiles. His demeanor is steel, although hints of confusion from his fiancée’s actions still remain. “Yeah, I guess the plans have changed.”

Goddamn, that smile. How could any red-blooded heterosexual woman walk away from a smile like that?

He stretches and lets out a long sigh, one that sounds like relief.

“For someone who’s a few hours from being stood up at the altar, you’re taking this well.”

“I’m free of her. It’s a good feeling.”

I rub my chin. “Free of the woman you were planning to marry? That’s a strange thing to say.”

“Hey, I’m honest with myself. Her walking out felt like the weight of the world lifting off of my shoulders.”

“Then, uh, why were you marrying her in the first place?”

Luke slides down into one of the pews. “My father wanted me to marry her. Thought she had the right sort of connections.”

“Connections?”

“Between his company and her family’s company. Old-fashioned blood ties to seal an alliance, but with corporations instead of warring clans.”

I blink rapidly, trying to process this oddness. “It’s the twenty-first century. Your father knows that, right?”

“He does. But old habits die hard. There’s a reason I left his company to go out on my own.”

I stare at him, more confused. “Then why are you trying to marry just to secure a business alliance for him?”

Luke laughs, a loud cackle. “Piper, if I’m remembering correctly?”

I nod. “That’s my name, yes.”

He stares into my eyes, his steely blue ones enthralling me. “Why don’t you have a seat next to me?”

“I don’t have any work to do given the wedding being canceled, so I guess I will.”

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