The Seventh Day
That morning, Hon. David cast aside his pride and walked to the spare room to meet his wife, who had deserted their matrimonial bed, and knocked. To his surprise, the door was not locked, and it opened freely. He met his emaciated wife sitting on the couch and holding her phone as though it was a life support. Meanwhile, her eyes were red and swollen.
“We cannot continue like this, Cordelia,” he pointed out and sat beside her.
“Get my daughter for me, Kay,” she sobbed, and hit him with a pillow.
“Stop my dear. This is no time for this. Our only daughter has turned her back on us. Besides, we don’t have an idea of how to search for her,” Hon. David explained. Cordelia got up and tried to walk away, but he blocked her by holding her and made her to sit down.
“We are not getting any younger, Cordelia. We are talking about our daughter. If she had made up her mind to marry Henry, I will give her my blessing and nothing else.”
Now, his wife presumed that he had a point and mellowed down. They locked eyes for a few seconds, and she asked, “What efforts have you made in looking for her?”
“That is why we need to talk. I don’t know the steps you have taken. I want to avoid making a fool of us.”
“You are right. I did not take any step too for the same reason.”
“What do you suggest that we do?”
“I suggest that we contact her Godfather. She has so much respect for him?”
Her husband gave her a searching look and inquired, “Do you think that he would know her whereabouts?”
“There is no harm in giving it a try. At least we have tried.”
“It is all right,” he admitted, and gave Mr. Fields a call while his wife looked on anxiously. Luckily, he picked at once. Mr. Fields loved it when he was recognized in matters concerning his Godchildren because he had invested so much in them. Now that the Honorable had recognized him, he would ensure that the matter was resolved accordingly.
“Good morning, Hon. David. I’m delighted to hear from you,” he greeted with a normal tone.
“Good morning Nicholas. How are you?”
“I’m fine, honorable. You sound low. I hope you are well,” he inquired, and pretended to be unaware of the big mess he had plunged himself into. Then, Hon. David pleaded, “All is not well, and we would love to see you. Do you mind coming over or do we meet you at your house?”
“I prefer the former. If I may ask, when would you like to see me?”
“Thank you for that honor, Nicholas. I am not taking it for granted. If you can come now, we would appreciate it.”
“It is okay, Honorable. I will be on my way.”
“It is okay. We are waiting,” he said and ended the call. Then he looked at his helpless wife and pulled her closer. Then, he pacified, “I apologize for the trauma that I have caused you. I should have carried you along.”
“It is all right. Let us hope for the best,” she responded and rested her head on his shoulder. He gave her a peck on her temple, and she looked up. When their eyes met, he declared, “I love you, Cordelia. We are supposed to be happy by now.” “You are right. Let me prepare the breakfast for us. Despite their state of mind, they knew that they needed each other badly, and they satisfied each other’s emotional needs before she went to fix the breakfast.
Soon, Mr. Fields arrived, and met the worried couple. Then, Hon. David began to explain his reason for putting the marriage on hold. Then, he concluded with, “Putting it on hold was just to buy time. I want the best for my daughter, and I would not want to give her out to a criminal.”
After some seconds of silence, which seemed like an eternity, Mr. Fields smiled and said, “I would have said that you did the right thing by trying to protect your daughter if you will reveal your informants to me.”
Now, they focused on the honorable and waited for his response. To their astonishment, he was bereft of speech, and could not look at his wife’s face.
“Say something, hubby. Who are they?” His wife persuaded.
“I did not know much about them, but they introduced themselves as concerned friends, who I had shown some favor some time ago, and would not fold their hands and watch my family make a costly mistake.”
Subsequently, Mr. Fields ran his hand and inquired, “Is that all you know about them?”
“Yes Nicholas. I am aware that I have been nice to many people. I took them by their words when they said they wished to return my kind gesture by parrying an impeding danger.”
“I got it. Can you recall the exact date and time of their visit?” Mr. Fields asked. Hon. David supplied the details and ended with, “I remember that we sat in the porch.”
“That is good enough. Not allowing them into the house is enough security measure,” Mr. Fields pointed out to encourage the honorable, whose self-esteem was about to crash.
“Let us look at the camera for the footage,” he said, and they moved to the porch. Nevertheless, Cordelia was shocked, and she cried out, “These were the men who met me at Harriet’s and introduced themselves as concerned friends.”
“That is interesting. Let us watch to the end,” Mr. Fields requested. At last, Cordelia confirmed that they told her the same thing that they told her husband.
“What do you think that I should do, Nicholas? I have goofed up. I have ruined my family by my inability to judge correctly,” the repentant honorable admitted. Then, Nicholas continued, “As you can see, this is the plot of an evil minded person, and we would not let the person go unpunished.”
“You are right, my son.”
“From the look of things, Sir Taylor and his wife were not aware of the state of things. That makes the situation manageable.”
“Do you think they are not aware?” the petrified Honorable inquired, and his wife listened anxiously.
“I doubt. If he heard that you addressed his son as a criminal, you can be rest assured that he would not take it lightly.”
“You are right. What is the way forward?”
“In my opinion, the way forward, is to let things be. We would keep the concerned friends busy by giving them the impression that they have succeeded in ruining the marriage.”
“That is a good idea. From the look of things, they would be at the court that day to see things for themselves, and they would be nabbed.”
“You are right, honorable,” Mr. Fields agreed. Thereafter, they chatted about a few things before he said, “I beg to take my leave, Honorable.”
“It is all right, my son. We cannot thank you enough. Send my apologies to your Goddaughter.”
“It is okay.”
Goodbye, Nicholas.”
“All right, Madam.”
At the Registry
Just as Harriet’s father envisaged, the three men, who wished to get the details of the embarrassment, were at the registry earlier than everyone and were nabbed by the police even before the wedding session. They never had the opportunity to witness the wedding, or have any information for their sponsors. Meanwhile, Sir and Lady Taylor were enraptured with their beautiful daughter-in-law and flaunted her more than her parents, who were scared to interact with her for fear of embarrassment. Against the wish of the opposition, the wedding was well attended. Henry's elder ones visited with their spouses and children.
“You made a good choice,” his sister and her husband commended.
“Thank you, big sister. Thank you, brother-in-law,” he responded happily. After the wedding, and interrogations, they realized that the concerned friends were not connected with Sir Relish, but another Knight who had personal grudges against Hon. David. All the same, they had succeeded in putting asunder between the Honorable and his daughter.