Be My Wife, The Bell's Bargain

pte

per was st

ont of her little shop in

t N

hing: 10 Da

ich meant she had five days left before she lost

s a surprise that the landlord hadn't ch

oil. Inside a glass cabinet on the right were design sketches made by them. Celine ran her finger slowly along the glass, the way her m

he was going to lose

s old, and Celin

She knew what it would sho

ce: $

the phone against her chest, as

g.

. Her thumb hovered over the screen

ther's bill for last month's... Since there's

r had been lying in that bed in a coma for three months,

ll before the wo

i

screen flickered sharply. It was from the legal fir

showed: Final Notice: A

longer warning her; they wanted to e

she owed. The document carefully detailed the exact date and time

ees gave way. She slumped to the ground, and the pavement was cold and

ed her up. She sat Celine down on the chair acros

e and drank a gulp be

," she man

slumped on the ground,"

e had started from nothing, and now the little she

low, a tune that Celine couldn't place. She only knew it made her chest ac

ked softly. "Maybe I can give them a call to pick

the woman. She let out a bitter laugh. "Fa

thout him. Her only family now were her mother and her mother's sister. Her mother was in the hospi

continued. "But even if you are, y

looked at the woman with interest. The humming had stopped, an

is Lina. Wh

ll catch up with you later

you another tim

r, the soft humming started again. Her destination

her. From a black car parked down the road, someo

four month

e the words his grandfather had spoken early this morning, before he came to the company. The

married, or the shares he posse

oner hummed softly, and the city far belo

k, k

late twenties came in holding some documents. His

ents you told me to p

table and leave,"

ahogany table with a dry slap, and the smell

Bryan cal

arfully. Whenever Bryan called his

to get married wi

together, Harry got a rough idea of what Bryan was

est that you talk to your grandfather and ask

d so loudly that Harry took two steps backwar

y's tight shoulders and the way his fingers kept twitching at his sides, and something in his chest t

a lower voice. "That

surprised. "I

ryan muttered, not quite meeting

embers at 11:00 a.m.," Harry answered softly, a small

led his morning, he thought inwardly. He knew they were desperate to take the

icked on, steady

is time, and the board was alr

marriage. T