Chapter 23 Cole
Cole
Light from the stained-glass windows made Charlotte’s chestnut hair gleam like she was wearing a halo.
I held her hands and felt her fingers tremble.
I’d never expected to marry. Love is a weakness to be exploited, boy.
Today wasn’t about love. It was about putting things right by Mum and making sure my father didn’t win.
The minister was talking, but I couldn’t stop my mind from drifting. Being back in Ecclesdale again was affecting me. The memories still held too much sway over me. My father’s voice in my head was louder than ever.
I heard about your exam results. Apparently, you got the brains in the family. Unfortunately, Reuben takes after Janice. Your brother is not the brightest spark. I need you in New York.
A life? In this place? It’s time to get serious. The Thorner name means something. Play your cards right and you’re on the cusp of taking over an empire.
Charlotte’s tremulous voice reverberated around the church as she echoed the minister’s words. “I, Charlotte Ackroyd, take you, Cole Thorner, to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward.”
Charlotte’s beautiful eyes locked with mine. “For better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health.”
I took a breath, trying to focus, but Dad’s goading in my mind clamored too loud.
I’m bankrolling your cozy life here. I’m paying for your mother in that expensive rehab. I could pull the plug at any minute. You’d all be penniless without me. You do as I say, or you all feel the consequences.
Charlotte squeezed my hands, bringing me back to the present. “To love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law. In the presence of God I make this vow.”
Silence swept around us. I couldn’t take my eyes from this beautiful woman pledging herself to me.
We both knew it was false, but there was a lifetime where this could have been true.
In some other timeline there was a Cole and Charlotte making these vows and meaning every word.
A stark sadness gripped me. That boy was gone.
My father had destroyed him. Now, there was just a heartless creature in his place.
I’d done things at my father’s command that I’d never imagined myself capable of.
I’d dismantled family businesses. Bankrupted people.
Taken them for every penny. I’d made grown men weep in boardrooms all over the world.
Philip Thorner had shaped me in his image—ruthless and calculating—and perhaps in some moments I’d surpassed even his cruel acts.
He’d created a monster. By the time I’d escaped, the damage had been done.
Now, I was too stained to repent. I should have been burning in this church for my sins.
I should have been set aflame the minute I’d set foot inside.
The minister inclined her head to me. “Ready, Cole?”
I nodded. The minister took a step back. I’d written my own vows. If I was going to stand up here and do this, then I’d tell the truth.
“I, Cole Thorner, take you, Charlotte Ackroyd, to be my wife, to have and to hold from this day forward.”
The eyes of the audience were trained on me, and I should have cared about them because this was the whole point, but in this moment, all that mattered was this woman in front of me. This serenely beautiful woman who had agreed to a crazy scheme to help me out.
“We made a pledge to each other years ago. I was a boy then, but I saw my future with you, Charlotte. There is no one else in the world I would stand up here and make these promises to.
“I cared about your father, and I know it is so devastating to be here without him, but I vow I will do the best by him and take care of his beloved daughter.
You will be mine to protect and to look after.
I promise to give you a life that most people could only ever dream of.
You will never want for anything. I will meet every need you have of me.
“We are entering this marriage as adults and equal partners with our eyes wide open. You will always have honesty from me. I will never do anything intentionally to hurt you. You are giving me a chance to be a better man, and I’m grateful. I will always take you just as you are.”
Even if Charlotte was only making me a better man in the eyes of others, it mattered. Charlotte gazed at me, tears glimmering in her eyes.
“To love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God’s holy law. In the presence of God I make this vow.”
We exchanged rings. My hands trembled a little in the dreadful moment I thought the wedding band wouldn’t fit before it eased onto her finger.
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”
Our first kiss invaded my mind. All those years ago on a picnic blanket overlooking this beautiful village where I’d felt like I had a home for the first time.
Our future together had held so much promise, and the next day I’d left her behind.
I’d broken her heart, and hardened mine into something unrecognizable.
I cupped her cheek and kissed her in a chaste, restrained way.
A fake kiss to end a fake wedding. Except my heart pounded against my ribs and my chest filled with a kind of lightness I’d never known.
This was a business deal. Admin in front of an audience.
A kiss should have felt the same as signing on the dotted line.
I’d got the deal done, but none of this felt fake, and I’d meant every word of those vows.
And at long last, after all these years, Charlotte was mine.
Applause rang out in the church, and Charlotte’s grin was so broad it made her nose scrunch in the way I loved.
Loved. Love. Still love. It hit me like a proclamation from on high, as though it was written on a stone tablet and handed to me as a revelation.
I’d always loved her. I’d never stopped.
She was so funny and beautiful, creative and kind.
She was a heavenly creature. Too good for the likes of me.
And now she was my wife.
My fucking wife who was only marrying me for the money and seemed to hate me, and there wasn’t much I could do about it without besmirching the memory of her dead father who she had on a pedestal, and even then it might not be enough because it didn’t negate the fact that I was a prick.
But worst of all, I’d made her vulnerable.
I’d put her on my father’s radar. It was the epitome of selfishness.
Love! For fuck’s sake. I had no time for love. Loving my wife was a huge fucking spanner in the works.
She kept her smile fixed on the pews as she whispered low in my ear. “Pretty swell piece of admin. I think we pulled that off. Whoever wrote those vows for you deserves a pay rise.”