Butter for the Balls

Chapter Ten

The crumpled paper on the ground didn't seem incredibly important to Adrianna, and she didn't know why she picked it up, other than to distract her from the party surrounding her, but as soon as she saw the words on the page, her breath halted.

Mr. Walkplease,

I apologize for announcing this in a letter, and not to your face, but I am too much of a coward to say these words out loud. Unfortunately our fling will have to come to an end. I have just received an offer for my hand in marriage by a man my brother has approved, and I will be accepting his offer. After the ball I will be moving to the country with him. I am sure you will forget everything about me. Please move on. I never loved you.

,

Adrianna Sasquatch

The crumpled sheet was underneath Chad's window which means he must have tossed it outside the night before. This was the reason why he was so distant, and knew how she was engaged. But, the real question was, who wrote the note? Adrianna would never write such a thing. The handwriting was familiar, though. It reminded Adrianna a lot like the letter that she received by her brother. It had never occurred to her, but that letter might not have been her brother's doing at all! This handwriting didn't look like her mothers... so, who could it have been?

"Oh, Adrianna? Where art thou?" A voice called, and Adrianna turned to see Harold walking out of the ballroom. "Adrianna!"

Instead of running and hiding, like her gut was telling her to do, Adrianna couldn't move. Her muscles refused to budge and she was like a deer in the headlights of a very bright horse and carriage lantern.

"There you are! I have been looking all over to find you! But 'Love looks not with the eyes but with the mind, and therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.'" Harold announced.

"Oh, great." Adrianna mumbled and rolled her eyes.

"'Love sought, is good; but given unsought, is better.'" Harold offered his hand when he approached Adrianna, but she kept her arms firmly crossed in front of her.

"Dude, I am not marrying you. I am not giving you any love at all," Adrianna seethed.

"You are going to marry me, whether you like it or not," he said under his breath so that only she could hear. "There isn't anyone else who will marry you, anyways."

Adrianna had to bite her tongue in order to keep herself from lunging and pummeling him. This time he spoke loud enough so that the whole garden could hear his Shakespeare quotes,

"Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? Thou art –" THUAK! In a blur, Chad's fist collided with Harold's jaw.

"Oh, do shut up." Chad said.

"For what is wedlock forced but a hell–" THUAK! Chad hit Harold's jaw again, and he fell to the ground, but his recitation resumed, "An age of discord and con–" THUAK! "–tiued strife? Whereas the –" THUAK! "–contrary bringeth bliss, –" THUAK! "And is a pattern of celestial peace."

"Walkplease! Walkplease, please stop!" Adrianna cried as Chad kept on pummeling the man, "Walkplease!"

Chad seemed defeated, nothing would silence the man, especially not the violence that was drawing in a pretty decent crowd into the snowy gardens. "You are not marrying Adrianna," Chad stepped back to his feet and slid a bloody hand through his hair, "Because I am marrying her."

At that, Harold was silent, staring up into the cloudy sky. Finally, he seemed defeated and reluctant to continue his act. "She promised that you would marry me." Harold mumbled towards Adrianna, lifting up a weak hand to point to her.

Adrianna stepped forward so that she could hear him better, "Who told you that?"

"She did." He lifted his hand to Adrianna's right and motioned to a lady in the back. "Meg."

"Meg? What does she have to do with anything?" Adrianna wondered out loud.

Chad stepped up next to her and took her hands in his, "She has been trying to separate us. She wants my wealth and fortune and has been trying to threaten me into marrying her. She sent me a fake letter saying that you will be married off to another man in an effort to divide us."

Adrianna looked at the note that was in her hands and gave it to Chad who read it and nodded, "It wasn't untrue though, even though I didn't write it. My mother has plans to marry me off to him and move me out to the country."

"Your mother didn't know who I was," groaned Harold. "I lied and said I had never met you before, even though it was Meg and I's goal to be put straight into your hands."

Adrianna saw Tamlin in the crowd surrounding them, seething with anger. "Harry Dick Mann, I am going to make you suffer!" Tamlin raised Harold to his feet by the front of his shirt and lifted a fist.

"Tamlin! No! Just let him go. I have no intentions in marrying him, but I also have no intentions on hurting him as well." With Adrianna's words Tamlin dropped Harold, who landed with a thud, and then scampered off into the ballroom to hide. Tamlin turned to face Adrianna,

"I had no idea what was going on, I am so sorry! I mentioned to Mother very briefly what you had said to me a few days before, but I didn't know that she would take it this far. I will make sure that he will not come within ten miles of you again, sister."

Tamlin and Adrianna hugged, and then turned to their mother who was looking as guilty as a cat with a handgun, "Darling! I was just trying to help you out! I didn't know who he was! I wanted you to have a secure future, somewhere away from all this... butter. I didn't realize you were already in a relationship with a Duke! Much better! Much, much better." Adrianna gave her mom a sympathizing hug, and turned to Chad.

"Meg is behind all of this. I slept with her without realizing she was your sister-in-law months ago." Chad said, and Tamlin tensed at those words, but Adrianna held him back. "She has been trying to come between us by intentionally giving Harold to your mother as an eligible man who wants to marry you."

"How did she know we were together?" Adrianna asked.

"I remember seeing her face around the castle recently, but I couldn't place where I had seen her before. Now I remember. I believe she posed as a servant and has been spying on me for a while. Spying on both of us."

I looked around to where Meg was standing, but she was gone. "Where did she go?"

Everyone looked around, searching for the woman, but she had disappeared. Chad raced into the ballroom and I chased after him, looking for the woman behind it all. When we entered the ballroom, it was nearly empty, save for two figures that were in the center of the ballroom.

"You made me lose my chances with her! You made a fool of me in front of everyone, too!" Harold was screaming at Meg.

"I didn't make you lose anything! You lost it yourself!" Meg shouted back.

Harold raised an open palm and smacked her across the face.

A collective gasp could be heard from the crowd filtering in from the garden. Chad ran up in between them and pushed them away from each other. When Adrianna, Tamlin, and their mother joined, they both looked ashamed of what they had done.

"You two must be married immediately." Adrianna's mother spoke, "There are people here watching, and it is unbecoming of a man to strike a woman who isn't his wife! We must tell people that you two are married, because a wife beater is much more acceptable than just a regular man who is hitting a woman."

Everyone grunted in agreement. They drug a pastor from the crowd and begun the ceremony, "Will you, dearly beloved... "

Adrianna took Chad's hand and led him away from the commotion, she wanted to talk to him in private.

"Do you really want to marry me?" She asked him as they got to a dark and empty corridor. He grasped her hands tighter and said,

"Yes, of course I do. I want to marry you right now."

Adrianna squeezed back, "I do too."