Chapter 40
Avidya
Standing in front of the full-length mirror that was in the master bathroom, I looked myself over once more. My cheeks were still slightly red from this morning. Would everyone know what happened? My blue eyes stood out more than normal; they were brighter than I could hardly ever remember before. My long blond hair was over my shoulders, left down in soft curls, covering the tops of my gray shirt that wore. My matching washed out jeans paired my look with some simple black sandals.
I wasn’t sure what to wear, but Zachariah had said to dress in what I felt the most comfortable in. No one was going to judge me by what I wore. I had met most of the people that would be there for a late lunch, but it didn’t help my nerves the slightest.
“You look beautiful,” Zachariah said, pausing in the doorway as he glanced over me. He wore dark jeans and a white long button up shirt. It was a similar outfit to the first time I saw him. “Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I sighed out as I played with the ring that was on my finger. It glistened off the lights in the mirror.
“It won’t be that bad,” Zachariah laughed out, wrapping his arms around me from behind. He was still so much darker than I was with being more of a sun kissed look compared to my pale complexion. I needed to be outside more often, I noted. “Mom will want to do some pictures, though. It’s one of her things.”
“A thing you aren’t a fan of, I take it,” I said, letting my shoulders relax.
“Not too fond,” he said, staring at our reflections. We really did go to together well. His dark to my lightless, inside and out. “We’re perfect,” he echoed my thoughts.
“We are, aren’t we?” I sighed out.
“I wish things had been different, but we would still be here now either way,” he replied. “Fate wanted us together one way or another.”
“Why haven’t we gone to church all the time I’ve been here? I had seen you a few times there before,” I asked. The thought hadn’t really bothered me all that much since I hated the way Cody ran the church. I was happy to not go and face him, or anyone I knew for that matter.
“I don’t much care to see Cody or his other followers,” he answered. “And I didn’t think you wanted to go back to his church if any. If you had, you’d have told me so.”
“I would have,” I agreed. I was glad that we seemed to be on the same page about many things.
“Now, to warn you beforehand, my grandparents tend to be a bit . . . different from what you see from my own parents. Like many people in my family, we knew who we would be married to by the time we became teenagers. My grandparents are one of the few that had to marry someone to gain power in their family.
“They work well together, don’t get me wrong, but they are both extremely hot headed. And they speak their thoughts, grandma, more often than anyone else, so don’t take to heart on anything that they say, okay?” he finished.
“Alright,” I said.
“It’ll be okay. They will love you, just like the rest of my family,” he said, letting go of me. “Now come along before we are late.”
“You hate being late,” I stated, following him out of the bathroom to grab my purse and a light jacket to take along with us.
“Being late is never a good idea in my line of work,” he deadpanned. “I may be late on purpose when I call a meeting anywhere, but otherwise, no.”
It didn’t take long to get from Zachariah’s house to his parents. The house was just as it was the first time and only time I had been here. It felt like it was such a long time ago when in reality it was only over a month by a few days.
There were two other cars parked in the long, wide driveway already. I knew that Zachariah’s parents, grandparents, brother and sister-in-law would be here today. Would there be anyone else?
“I should have known everyone would be here before we were,” Zachariah muttered out as he parked the car behind the two that were already there.
Maybe he was as interested in doing this as I was.
“Let’s get this over with,” he said, shooting me yet another encouraging smile before exiting the car. I followed after him, meeting in on the sidewalk that lined the pathway up to the front door.
The door opened before we made it halfway there. Julia stood there, waiting with a huge smile on her face. She wore a knee length dark blue dress that had a belt at the waist. Her hair was left down in soft waves.
When we reached the door, she quickly brought both of us into a tight hug, ignoring Zachariah’s look about telling him the wrong time to arrive.
“Welcome, welcome,” she gushed, taking ahold of my hand and dragging me into the house. “How are you doing Avidya?”
“Fine,” I said, giving her a tight smile.
“Good, good,” she said, ushering us all further into the house. It was as clean and grand looking as the last time I was here.
Julia led both Zachariah and myself to the living room where everyone seemed to be waiting for us. There were a few banners that said congratulations in an array of colors. On a small black fold up table was a few gifts.
“About time you two showed up,” Melio said, wagging his eyebrows in the process. Of course, I had to blush as everyone’s eyes were now on us. Melio was the total opposite of his brother. Clean shaved and a bit more built. His dark hair was shorter, too.
“Well, mother didn’t exactly tell me that this would be a party such as this,” Zachariah said, shooting another glare at Julia.
“Don’t get your britches in a bunch,” spoke an older white haired lady that sat in the chair that was placed a bit farther back from everyone else. It looked as though everyone had to cave to her needs. Her white hair was pulled back into a bun off her very thing angler face. Although she was older, her skin still had a slight sun kissed look to it.
“Now,” she spoke, her voice firmer than someone her age would have. “Introduce me to your girl, Zachy.”
“Avidya,” Zachariah said, taking me by my hand and leading to the older woman. “This is my grandmother, Naomi.”
“Great to meet you, deary,” she said, pushing herself into a standing position. She came up to just below my shoulders and brought me into a tight, bone crushing hug. Naomi was much stronger than she looked, that was for sure.
“Don’t squeeze her to death, mom,” Carlos laughed out.
“Oh, I’d never do such a thing,” Naomi said, letting go of me before quickly bringing Zachariah into a tight hug, also. “So good to see you again grandson. You sure have grown up.”
Zachariah, still holding my hand, returned the hug awkwardly before they let go of one another.
“He hasn’t grown up at all since the last time you saw him,” spoke a man I had yet to meet.
I turned my attention to him, as he sat not that far away. He looked like a much older version of Zachariah. It was obvious who had the strongest genes in this family; not that I minded, mind you. Even in his old age, he looked very well put together. His white hair was still strong and thick on top of his head, and a bit of gray in his mustache. His skin still held the dark color, which was a shade or two darker than Zachariah’s own skin.
“Avidya Ray,” he said with a nod my way, his dark brown eyes taking me in from head to toe. “I can certainly see why Zachariah chose you. You aren’t the normal type he goes for, that’s for sure.”
“No, she isn’t,” Julia agreed. “She’d just what he needs.”
“Isn’t she that pastor’s daughter?” he asked out after a pause.
“He’s not my father,” I stated, proud that my words were never more true.
“Gosh dang. Everyone knows that,” Naomi stated with an eye roll. “Kent, you can’t possibly think she didn’t know that herself. Look at her. Looks just like that mother of hers.”
“Now that you bring it up,” Kent stated, leaning his head to the side. “She does look like Rachael.”
“You knew her?” I couldn’t help but ask.
“Oh, yeah I did. I remember her being your age hanging out with that stupid kid back then. I’m still waiting for the perfect reason to put that man in a grave,” Kent was quick to say. “Rachael was a sweet little girl. Too bad she didn’t end up where she was headed. She had big dreams.”
“Can we not talk business?” Violet said. “You men can do that later. Right now, we have an engagement party to get going.”
“Right,” Carlos said, taking the lead. “Lunch should be done here anytime.”
“You never like our business,” Kent muttered out.
“Not at a time like this,” Violet said without a beat.
“How about we all go sit in the dining room?” Julia proposed.
After a few agreements, everyone began to move that direction. Everyone sat around the table, Carlos at the head with Julia beside him on one side, and Kent on the other. I sat next to Zachariah, his hand on my knee.
“I heard you met in the most unlikely way,” Kent stated across the table.
“Then I don’t need to repeat it,” Zachariah said, keeping his shoulders straight. His hand slightly squeezed my knee, though. He didn’t like the line of questioning.
“Does your wife-to-be know that you run that brothel?” Kent went on.
“Yes,” Zachariah said through gritted teeth.
“I know what he does,” I spoke up. I didn’t like how we may have come across one another, but that didn’t mean I’d let someone talk like that to Zachariah.
“And you okay with that?” Kent asked, his eyes pinned me to my seat.
“He saved me from a painful death that Cody surely had lined out,” I stated, holding my head high. “So yes, I’m fine with what he does. There is nothing I could do about it anyway.”
“Hmm,” Kent said in thought. It seemed as though he knew something I didn’t. He probably did, since I hardly knew anything about myself anymore.
“Enough,” Carlos stated in warning. “This is not the place to interrogate my future daughter-in-law.”
“Fine, fine,” Kent said, letting his hard look drop away. “Just gotta make sure she’s right for my grandson.” I could understand that. It certainly would have been something my own father should have done.
“She’s perfect for him,” Melio spoke up for once. “She wouldn’t still be here if she wasn’t. You know that.”
“True,” Kent said with a one shoulder shrug. “Sorry for that, but in my line of life . . .” he trailed off as he looked at me once more.
“You’re worried,” I spoke. “As you should be. I won’t take his money, nor make his life any more difficult than it is. He saved me; I owe him my life.”
“You owe me nothing, Avidya,” Zachariah spoke, a soft look on his face. “And everyone here should know by now that you would never take my money. It was a fight to let me buy you the clothes you have on today.” He laughed at the end, knowing if I knew the price the clothes were, I probably would have certainly put up a fight.
“See, they are perfect for one another,” Julia stated in awe. “Now, let’s eat, shall we?”
“You’re mine, forever,” Zachariah whispered in my ear as the food was brought out to the table. “Your body, mind and soul, Avidya Ray.”
His words went straight to my core, and I flushed as deep of a red as ever.