Prologue
"She's not here." Near the wedding arch, Charlie Grandson walked up to his son Kenneth and said, "It's been almost an hour, and she's still not here. Do you think she will show up?"
"She'll be there." Alexander Kenneth had been keeping his temper in check for the past thirty or forty minutes. "She has to be." One of the things he hated most was having to wait.
"No, son, I don't think so. Look, everyone is getting impatient," he said as he looked at the Grandson and Pallister families' relatives, friends, and coworkers who had come to the wedding. "Call her. "There must have been something."
How can tell him he can't call her because he doesn't have her phone number? After what happened on their first date, they never bothered to trade phone numbers.
"She's coming. The person in charge of the wedding could have already called her. Everyone would have been told to leave if she didn't plan to come."
"Well, you're right," Charlie said with a small smile, and then he went back to his seat.
Kenneth stared at the big double doors of the Grandson Hotel's grand ballroom, where the bride would come in. He had been looking at it for so long that his eyes were starting to hurt. 'Damn. She is trying to do this. Keeping me waiting and embarrassing me in front of everyone.
Kenneth muttered quietly, "She's really testing my patience," and then he turned his attention to the loud voices of people talking. He looked over at Constantine Pallister, who was enjoying talking to people and using the fact that his granddaughter was late to catch up with family and friends. He didn't seem to remember the wedding.
"Hey," Eross, one of my groomsmen, tapped me on the back, "you're getting roots from standing here for too long. I told you it was a bad idea to get married. Since we're still young, let's enjoy being single. Trust me, you should do it in your 40s."
"No more. I told you why, dude. I've already made up my mind, so stop."
"Come on, quit making a fool of yourself. She won't come. Where is your honor? Let's go to the party and drink some of those old wines. I'm already thirsty and my throat is dry."
He huffed and shook his head. "I'm pretty sure that she'll come."
"Let's hope for that," he said, pointing at the older officiating minister who was already sleeping in his chair. He laughed, mouthed the words "bad luck," and left.
Kenneth looked at the watch on his wrist for the ninth time. An hour after the wedding ceremony was supposed to start, everyone walked down the aisle and took their places at the front. This took thirty minutes. Only the bride wasn't there.
He tried to hold back his anger when he realized he had just made a fool of himself. Eross was right, they should drink some of those old wines. Kenneth was about to leave when the bridal entrance song started playing.
Everyone turned their heads toward the big double doors and looked very excited to see the bride walk in and down the aisle.
The doors opened so wide that the bride could be seen.
Everyone was taken aback!
The bride wore an all-black wedding dress as she walked down the aisle.
-----------*****----------- ****
About four months ago
Elleina's view
"Go home, miss, Mr. Pallister won't see you," the intimidating gate guard with the dark uniform and peaked cap told me again. When he looked down at me, he didn't look like he felt sorry for me.
I had been waiting outside the big iron gate of the Pallister mansion for a long time almost every day for the past five days, no matter what the weather was like. I was hungry, thirsty, and cold, but I could handle it all. My will to fight was so strong that I overcame the exhaustion that was killing me.
"I need to see my grandfather, please. This is a life-or-death situation," I kept telling him the same thing every day, and it was like a broken record.
He sighed and said, "The master said he doesn't know you."
"How couldn't he? "I'm his granddaughter," I kept telling him, even though I had already told him that too many times. "My mom is his only child."
"Which he doesn't acknowledge," he said, coming closer to scare me. "Go home now. He told us to send you away. If you won't leave, we'll have to use force."
My mouth turned up in anger.
My aristocratic and wealthy grandfather, Constantine Pallister, kicked out my mother, Céline, because she fell in love with my father, who was also her driver and bodyguard. When she ran away with Dad, he cut off all ties with her.
Dad died before he could get married to mom. On the day before their wedding, he was in a car accident and died right there. Mom was left with a child. She was only 19, so she didn't know where to go. She was used to living in a safe place where she was treated like a princess and kept safe. She had no choice but to call Grandpa and beg him to forgive her. But she was wrong.
My grandfather wouldn't take her back as his daughter. She has sent him a birthday card every year for the past 23 years to let him know that he was always on her mind. But he never forgave her anyway.
Mom never wanted me to hate him, no matter what he did.
I grew up hoping that one day our family would get back together. When I was eighteen, I gave up on that hope.
He was asked to come to our school and give a speech to the high school seniors who were about to leave. I was so happy that I told my classmates with pride that he was my grandfather.
"Wow, so you're his heir!"
Some people really liked what I said and believed me. But there were others who looked at me funny and thought I was crazy.
"I don't think you have anything to do with him. Riza, the meanest girl in high school, looked at my feet and said, "You can't even buy a new pair of shoes. You've been wearing those since, what, three years ago?" She and her two best friends laughed at me, which was heard by other students.
My face was so red, but I told myself, "I'm a strong girl." I lifted my chin and said, "You can believe what you want to believe." We both have the Pallister last name, right? That shows enough."
Riza said out loud, "My dear, I have the same last name as the King of England." Everyone laughed.
I wanted to show everyone that what I was saying was true. After grandpa finished talking, I went up to him with a big smile and told him I was his granddaughter.
I could still remember how his smile disappeared and he looked at me strangely. I didn't realize until later that what I saw on his face was hate and anger.
"Kid, I have no idea what you're talking about. "I don't have a granddaughter," he told me rudely in front of everyone, lifting his chin. That hurt so much.
I found out later that he did it on purpose to make me feel bad. To punish me for what my mother did wrong. He made fun of me in front of everyone, and that left an impression on me.
