A sudden series of angry outbursts erupted around the table. Cassandra heard Mary gasp something like, "Outrageous!"; Hope uttered one like, "Insolent bitch," or it might have been something else because Cassandra just couldn't imagine Hope saying the word bitch; William Strindberg just said, "Oh Holy God..." and closed his eyes.

Cassandra on the other hand couldn't really find the right words—after all, she didn't really know what was going on. Thank goodness though that Philip was still in his senses because he grabbed the woman's slender shoulders and pushed her away none too gently.

"What?" Angelica asked with amusement, oblivious of the six pairs of eyes throwing daggers at her.

"What do you think are you doing, Ange?" Philip snapped and his eyes instinctively searched Cassandra's startled ones and said, "I'm sorry about that, sweetheart," he frowned up at Angelica and continued, "Angelica here seems to have had too much to drink." He reached for his wine and took a big gulp as if to erase the evidence of the woman's drink.

"I..." Cassandra started but had no idea how to continue.

Angelica's pretty head quickly turned down toward Cassandra with a frown. "So," she staggered back on her heels in two tiny steps as she looked Cassandra over. "This is your little secret fiancée?" She turned to look at Philip like he was crazy and added, "I thought she's like a goddess out of Homer's tales and not some..." she looked back at Cassandra to emphasize her point, "witless—"

"That's enough, Angelica," Chanty interrupted, held her friend by the arms and turned toward the group around the table. "I'm sorry guys, I did not intend this to happen," she turned to Cassandra and said, "I would have loved to meet you in a much better way, but..." she trailed off.

"Oh, come on, Chanty!" Angelica cried out, chuckling at her friend. "You can't mean that!"

"Get her home," William's authoritative voice spoke from the head of the table.

"I can't believe you brought her here in her condition, Chanty," Mary said with disappointment.

"Mom, I'm sorry. She started drinking early. I didn't want her to come but she insisted, saying she'd make a scene if I don't let her," Chanty apologized at the group, holding her friend tightly by the arms. "I'll go get her home now."

"That's the best thing to do," Hope nodded, looking at Angelica disapprovingly.

"No, I wanna have dinner with you guys—" Angelica started.

"No, Ange, go home," Philip's cold voice stopped her and Cassandra almost felt sorry for the poor lady.

"Let's go, Ange," Chanty ushered her friend backward, embarrassed with the attention they drew from the other guests in the restaurant. "I'll make it up to you," she said as goodbye to the group before turning her friend around.

"There's still time to back out, Philip!" Angelica shouted over her shoulder just as Chanty dragged her out of the room.

The table was silent for a very long time.

"I lost my appetite," Hope said, placing her napkin on the table.

Mary grabbed Cassandra's hand across the table and squeezed it gently, "I'm sorry about that, dear. She's not usually like that."

Cassandra was not feeling sorry at all. She was actually feeling great. The dinner was coming to an end without a lot of effort from her part. "That's okay—"

"Of course it's not okay!" Hope fumed. "That girl needs some help."

"Couldn't agree more," William shook his head slowly as he said that. "Ever since she lost her sister and mother..." his words trailed off as he shook his head.

"Angelica's having problems of her own," Mary disagreed. "She was once a sweet girl."

"I think Cass is in shock," Philip noticed, wiping his mouth with his napkin, "Maybe we should go home?"

"But the main course—"

"I don't think anyone can continue with this dinner in the same energy as we started," Philip interrupted his mother's protest.

"Yes, I agree," William nodded. "We can always set another one."

"No," Philip said too quickly, "I mean we can always have a blast at the wedding party, right?"

"We'll reset a date tomorrow," Hope said to her grandson.

"Tomorrow's the day before the wedding and we have so many things to patch up," he took Cassandra's hand and smiled at his family, "I don't want Cass getting tired."

"Oh, yes, of course," Mary said with understanding, "Well then, see you at the wedding, my dear. And if you have any trouble tomorrow, don't hesitate to call, okay?" she smiled warmly at Cassandra.

Cassandra tried to smile back—she had no idea what tomorrow's schedule was—but thankfully, the group understood that she was not up to it as she was five minutes ago even though it was all just pretend. "Yes, okay, I'll remember that. Thank you and see you," was all she could muster before Philip guided her to stand up. She turned to William and Hope and gave them a small smile. It was awkward. Should she kiss them or hug them? Okay, fine, a smile was the safest.

"See you at the wedding, guys," Philip said and they walked out of the restaurant hand in hand.

She snatched her hand back the moment she was sure they are out of sight and glared at her surprisingly handsome, crazy future husband.

"What?" he asked with irritation and faced her, their faces just inches apart it almost threw her back when she felt that same current flow through her again.

"What's what?" Apparently, she was able to gather herself again despite everything that happened to her in one day.

"Is this about Angelica?" he asked. "If you're worried or jealous—"

"Ha!" she huffed, cutting him off, "jealousy is the last thing you'll get from me!"

"Then what's the problem?" his brows drew into a straight line.

"I just want to make it clear to you that once we're married, I don't want to be humiliated like that again. I don't care what you do with that girl," she stopped to stress out her next statement, "just make sure to be discreet about it."

He looked at her incredulously. "What made you think I'd do anything with her? She's just someone who—"

"Whatever. Just remember what I said," she started to walk out the restaurant. "I'm quite sure you can be a bit modest for six months."

"Wait," he grabbed her by the wrist and whirled her around to face him, "I don't really have something going on with Angelica—"

"You don't have to explain—"

"Stop interrupting me," he ordered rather harshly, "because I have news for you too."

She did not dare ask, so she kept silent.

"Once we're married, I don't want you to have any sexual encounters with anyone. Understand?"

She frowned, "Sexual encounters?"

"Lovers, boyfriends, whatever you call them," he explained.

"And you can?"

"Can what?"

"Can have lovers, girlfriends, whatever you call them," she repeated his words.

"Why would I need one when I have you?" His frown slowly disappeared and he grinned down at her. His sudden change of mood unnerved her in a way she couldn't explain.

She gasped. "In your dreams, Mr. Strindberg!" She grabbed her hand back and whirled around. "That's another of the last things you'll get out from this marriage."

She heard him chuckle in a low voice behind her which only infuriated her. She walked out of the doors and she tried to ignore him as much as she could as the valet maneuvered the car toward them. The moment it stopped in front of them, she walked to the back door, climbed inside and slammed it shut.

They drove in silence for a while before she finally managed to say, "Tell me the real reason why this wedding is happening. I know my father would not just sell me out. I don't care about your own reasons. What I want to know is why my father would do this to me."

He stopped the car and she realized they already reached her home. What the hell! Was he driving too fast or was the silence in the car longer than she had thought?

She did not make a move to open the door. She waited for his answer. What he did though was look at her through the rearview mirror and say, "Since you asked me that question, I figure your father did not say a lot earlier."

"He told me bullshit which I don't believe."

Philip shrugged. "Don't expect anything from me, Cassandra. But expect that your father did not go through with this for some lame excuse."

She stared hard at him through the mirror. "You're not going to tell me, are you?"

He shook his head. "No. I'm not the right person to."

Cassandra chose to accept that for now. She was tired and she wanted to be alone inside her home. She'd dig for answers some other days, she decided. As she motioned to open the door to get out, Philip said, "I'll pick you up at ten AM sharp. You have to fit your gown and we'll have to do some food tasting."

"Okay, fine," she replied, opening the door.

"Before I forget," his voice stopped her. She turned back to face him and saw him fumble inside his breast pocket. When his hand reappeared, it held a small black box. He handed it to her. "It's the proposal ring from the ice cream. It's a good thing things happened so fast at dinner no one remembered to ask about it. If they ask why you were not wearing it tonight, just tell them we had it refitted."

She took the box without opening it and climbed out of the car without a word. She started to walk up to her door and when she reached it, she heard his car rev down the street.

Opening her door, she sighed, not really sure how she should feel. In just one day, her life turned completely nuts and she was trying her best to hang on. She had never had the same feeling of disbelief, of feeling as if she was floating, confusing reality with a dream.

She closed the door behind her, leaned her back against it and looked down at the little black box in her hand. She opened it and there she saw the simple silver band with a round-cut diamond ring resting on top of it. The stone glittered despite the darkness of her living room. With her right hand, she took the ring from where it was safely snuggled and slid it down one slender finger. She held up her left hand in the darkness and gave a faint smile.

"Hello, again," she said to the ring.

The constant blinking of red light for her answering machine finally brought her back to her senses. She switched on her lights and punched the button to listen to her messages. The first one was from her mother, asking her to call back as soon as possible. The second one though was from the least person she expected to call.

She froze in the act of admiring the diamond ring in her finger when she heard the familiar baritone voice that said, "Cass, it's me, Harrison. Uhh...it's been a long time, but...I want to catch up. Call me back when you get this, please."

At that very moment, Cassandra realized that today must be the most unfortunate and craziest one of her life.