"So I've been thinking about a date, since Evelyn and I haven't set one yet, and I thought perhaps mid-April would work well for the wedding; things are slow with the company around then and so we'll have time to take a trip afterwards. Not a very long one, of course, I can't be away from my office for more than a couple of weeks at the most, but we'll at least be able to get away for a little while. It'll be a little warmer then, but not too warm, and since it's right around Easter, we won't have to worry much about decorations since the church will already be done up for the most part. Though that does only give us four months, so you'll have to see about a dress as soon as possible." Michael Smith patted at his lips with his napkin, looking with a smile across the dinner table first at Evelyn and then at her mother.

Corinne Pulitzer nodded. "I already have a couturier in mind for the dress, and we have a bridal party lined up. All we need now is a definite date and we'll be set."

Evelyn's father, Patrick, cleared his throat. "Well, I know you and I are planning to leave for Europe again in April. We decided on, what, the twenty-first?"

Corinne nodded. "That sounds about right."

"So anytime before that would be just fine."

"Alright, well, how about the fourteenth? That gives you a week between events to rest and gather yourselves together." Michael smiled at Patrick, as always in hopes of impressing him.

"That sounds fine." Patrick nodded, and all eyes turned to Evelyn.

"Does that work for you, darling?" Michael asked.

Evelyn nodded and took a long drink of her wine.

"Do you have anything you'd like to add to this, Evelyn?" Corinne patted her daughter's hand lightly, giving her a supportive smile.

"No, it seems to me that you've all got this fairly well under control." Evelyn finished her wine and stood, wavering a little as she did so. "But I don't feel very well all of a sudden, so if you'll excuse me..."

She made her way, tipsy though she was, out of the dining room and headed up the stairs to her bedroom, collapsing onto the old four-poster bed with a heavy sigh. Just a few short days ago, she had been terribly excited at the prospect of her wedding, but now she felt nothing but irritation and a sense of impending doom whenever she thought about it. Those particular feelings seemed all too familiar.

Why was this happening to her again? Why couldn't her life just be normal, why couldn't she just be happy? Why did Blink keep popping up in her life?

More importantly... what was it about that man that always turned her inside out? There wasn't anything particularly special about him. Yes, he was impossibly good-looking, but he was missing an eye. He was almost painfully uneducated, and though he could practically swim in the money he had now, he had been poorer than dirt when Evelyn had met him.

Everything about him drove Evelyn positively crazy. The way his accent seemed to have faded but slipped back whenever he got excited or angry, and the way he still couldn't pronounce anything correctly. The way he called her Evie, even though she'd specifically told him not to do so, just because it got her riled up. The way his whole face seemed to light up when he smiled. The way he moaned ever so quietly in her ear when they made love, or whatever it was that they did.

That, especially, drove her up the wall.

But in such a good way.