Ruth felt different today. She felt like there were a thousand butterflies in her stomach. Smiling and kicking her feet while she sips on her champagne. Ruth sit in the chair of the small bar inside the casino.
"What are you thinking about?" Ivy asked, standing in front of her.
"Oh, nothing" Ruth smiled little more.
"Who is it?" Ivy smirked.
"You'd kill me"
"Okay... I might but that doesn't mean I can't know"
Ruth touched her ear in hesitation, still smiling.
"I think I fell too deep in love with Maurin"
"You think??"
"Yeah"
Ivy laughed a little. It's the first time in a while Ruth has felt in love. She was glad her best friend had gone past her bad habits and finally found some peace in love.
"Maybe it's wrong, but I can't help it. I just feel like I want to leap into the sky and fall gently into his arms" Ruth spoke with a giggly tone and wrapped her arms around her body. Ivy has never seen her like this before, but she didn't mind.
"Okay well, back to work. I think some people over there need assisting"
"Yeah you go do that"
Ivy nodded and left the small bar. Ruth also left the bar and went outside. She took Ivy's car again, and she knew well not to speed again. Ruth drove to Maurin's house and rang the doorbell. As usual, Ivan opened the door.
"Ruth," he looked surprised, "you're not supposed to be here"
"Why not?" She asked.
"Gemmas parents, they're here. And they'll kill you if they see you here" He said worried. Suddenly it felt like someone pierced her chest straight through her heart. She almost forgot about Gemma and him. And their forced marriage.
"If you want to come in you can, but stay out of their sight" Ivan made space in the door for Ruth to come in. She didn't want to now. Maybe she was being crazy.
"When's the wedding?" She asked.
"Tomorrow evening, at the old chapel"
"Thanks Ivan" Ruth said goodbye to Ivan and left back to the casino. Tomorrow evening at the old chapel. The only old chapel she knew here was near her childhood home. It was kind of abandoned. No one really went there so Ruth would understand why they chose the chapel. She had an idea, she would call her sister and probably crash the wedding. Actually no, not crash it. Just ruin it.
♧♢♤♡
"You've gone mad" Roxanne finished her champagne and poured her a 4th glass. She wasn't so enthusiastic on Ruth's plan of ruining Gemma's wedding.
"You're mad enough to have 4 glasses of champagne, slow down or you won't hear my plan"
"Ruth, Gemma's family are like brutal as fuck. You're the mad one here" she took another sip from her glass.
"listen. We'll be anonymous—"
"How the hell will we be anonymous? Dye our hair?" Roxie laughed.
"Listen, we'll be anonymous and I'll object, you shoot a gunfire at the roof, I take Maurin and we will run as fast as we can before they try to take us" Ruth explained. It seemed dumber when she said it but it was what she had in mind.
"Wouldn't there be guards or something"
"Ivan's helping us. I told him before I called you"
Roxanne was skeptical, but she was finally down to do it. She said she's going to buy them cloaks now. Ruth was going to get the dresses for the attire. The dress code was red and black. And white for the bride of course. So Ruth bought herself a red dress, and her sister a black one. With matching heels and jewelry. And wow did she have taste. She brought everything back to the house Ruth allowed them to stay in and organized the clothes. Roxanne came in and saw the dresses. Ruth explained which dress is hers and Roxie's.
"Okay then. So it's simple, I fire a gunshot after you object and you do whatever with Maurin. And then what?" Roxanne asked.
"You come back here after you see I've left the chapel. I'll run to a crowded space until it's safe to go back to the casino" Ruth thought for a moment, "Then I'll come back here with him"
Roxanne nodded and took the dress back to her room. When she came back, she had a smile on her face.
"Have you met the twins?" She pointed behind her. The twins, of course. Ruth hasn't met them yet.
"I have not, where are they?" Ruth exclaimed. Roxie took her the twins room. Diana and Thomas, beautiful babies. They were sleeping in their cribs.
"Diana kind of looks like you when you were a baby" Roxie giggled.
"You think so?" Ruth tried to see it.
"Yeah, hold on let me get a picture. You stay with them" Roxie left the room. Ruth sat at the rocking chair next to the crib and rocked in it. She looked down at what she was wearing. She wore her white button down, khakis and converse. Ruth looked like a mess, thank goodness she had money to buy pretty clothes. She sighed and looked at Diana and Thomas. If Ruth didn't get children of her own the casino would be given to one of them. But she's getting ahead of herself. Roxie came back in the room with three baby photos of Ruth, some of them with Roxanne too.
"Don't you see it?" She brought the photo closer to Diana. Ruth got up the chair to see. She kind of saw it.
"Her nose is different" Ruth joked around.
"Well she's not gonna be a complete clone of you" Roxie replied. Ruth laughed quietly and so did Roxie.
"Maybe she'll turn out like you" Roxanne said after a bit of silence. Like Ruth? She doesn't believe so. Ruth has been through so much, seen so much and it made her become who she is. Almost ruthless.
"I don't know, maybe" she sighed. "We'll see in the future"
"The near future will be tomorrow, are you sure you wanna crash the wedding?"
"I'm so sure I can gamble on it" Ruth joked again.
"Ah, clever" Roxie winked. They both smiled at each other. Ruth decided she'd stay in the guest bedroom for tonight since it's near the chapel too. While she was getting ready for bed, all she thought about was Maurin and her. Those nights of lust and those nights of comfort. The days where it was so obvious they were in love. She'd only wish she hadn't run away, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Ruth sighed and lie on the bed. She was so ready for tomorrow, she was almost excited. Ruth thought and thought until she was too tired to think and drifted off into sleep.
