The Enchanted

Chapter 1

  "Marriage is about compromise; it's about doing something for the other person, even when you don't want to."  - Nicholas Spark   

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"Repeat after me," the pastor speaks, and Fletcher did.  Every word that had escaped out of Bella's father's mouth, made her want to return them from where they came from.  She did not want him marrying another woman that wasn't her real mom.  If only she had the will to stop him, she would, but seeing her father smile completed her, for she had not seen it in years.  His smiling mouth told a story of a happy man, yet his wary eyes had told a rather different one.

"I, Fletcher Adams, take you, Rayne Seymour," a pause, one could only describe as hesitation, Fletcher resumed. "to be my wife.  I promise to be faithful to you, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and to honor you all the days of my life."

"Repeat after me," the pastor spoke again, turning towards the hideous woman standing two people ahead of Bella.  She did not understand how her father could marry such an awful woman like her, a woman who was so evil, she could be the devil herself.  Bella watched as the woman wiped tears from her beady eyes, fake tears.  

"I, Rayne Seymour, take you, Fletcher Adams, to be my husband.  I promise to be faithful to you, in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, to love and to honor you all the days of my life," the woman rushes through each line quite rudely after the pastor recites them.  Saying each line with only a single breath, impatiently, not announcing them with as much seriousness and importance as the bonding of two humans really is. 

Bella rolls her eyes, checking the ticking clock every so often.  She could feel the minutes grow longer.  

"You may now kiss the bride," the pastor closes his bible.  Bella watches as her father lifts the veil of her now official stepmother and leans in for a kiss.  She didn't believe Rayne deserved to wear a white wedding veil, for they symbolized virginity, modesty, and purity, none of which symbolized the woman wedded to her amazing father.  Cheers had filled the church, but the loudest cheerleader was Chrysanthemum, Rayne's favorite daughter, Bella's sworn enemy and stepsister.  

After a long, unbearable reception dinner, the night had finally come to an end.  Corned guests, intoxicated,  stumble out of the hall waiting to see the newly weds be carried to their honeymoon in a horse drawn carriage.  Bella watched them in the distance, her small figure illuminated from the streetlamp above.  Her father has always been a gentleman and she could see how oblivious he was when her new stepmother took advantage of it.  The sound of a whip echoed through the streetlamp lit alleyway and she watched the horses take her father and Rayne with them.  

It was 31 nights before the arrival of her father and stepmother.  She hid in her room every day, only coming out to eat.  Fortunately she had everything she needed in her room, a bathroom, enough pencils, and her sketchbook.  She tried to avoid the hostile Chrysanthemum, for she was too much to handle along with letting her new life sink in.  At times she would cross paths with her on the way to the kitchen, which always led to a long string of rude retorts and constant eye rolling.  Bella was always annoyed; annoyed that her father had married into this family, of all families, annoyed that her father left her for thirty-one nights, annoyed that she was forced to cooperate and communicate with such difficult people.  

She was glad that her father had arrived when she was in the kitchen, so she would be the first person to greet him.  His face surprised her when he walked in, instead of being joyful and stress-free, he was nothing but stressful, his eyes had bags that must've contained weights of sand; his posture was no longer tall and confident, but tired and weak.  The only thing that stayed the same was his strong grip when he hugged her, but she could feel the weight of the world on his shoulders.