"You... you really found nothing?"

Uncle Felix\'s weasely little lawyer looked embarrassed but repeated to her again that he hadn\'t been able to find any reasonable excuse for her to break the contract.​​

When Delaney had woken up that morning she\'d gone straight to her Uncle as Selina had said. Constance was moving into the card club with her sister and mother so it was a busy day but Felix called for the man anyways.

The lawyer had broken the bad news almost as soon as he\'d walked through the door.

Now, Delaney dropped into one of the office chairs feeling defeated. What could she do? This couldn\'t be the end of her trying.

The lawyer said he definitely recommended not following through with her idea of finding another man to get involved with. He said the King had not been looking kindly on those contract breaks and most of the time both people were ending up in prison.

He said her only hope was to speak to Vincent and his mother. Delaney and her Uncle could meet with them when the time came and try to find an amicable way out of the contract.

Delaney knew that was hopeless though. Violet wouldn\'t allow the marriage contract to be broken especially not now. After sending her the ring, Delaney guessed Vincent wouldn\'t either.

She twisted the little ring on her finger and imagined a different life when Vincent, still strong and handsome, would\'ve given it to her himself, sliding it on her finger and giving her a kiss.

She couldn\'t imagine ever kissing him now.

The lawyer told them to just wait. Delaney should go on living her life and not worry about it until Vincent came. She decided she agreed and would do just that.

She was going to really live.

Delaney went back to the card club every evening where she\'d have drinks, gamble, and laugh and talk with the others. She was so proud of Constance, the regal club owner in her fancy gowns watching everyone and ensuring they were having a good time even if they weren\'t winning.

Delaney began to spend all of her time either at the club or at the local dress shop. She had begun work on all the gowns she\'d designed and was always checking with the seamstresses to make sure things were going as planned.

The only difference was these gowns had necklines that were cut much deeper and made of fabrics that were much more eye-catching. Delaney wanted to enjoy all her time being single while she could.

Every day though, she wore the ring from Vincent. She would often pause to spin it on her finger and get lost in thought. No more word came to her about his condition and she didn\'t ask. She preferred to imagine she\'d been forgotten.

As winter turned to spring, Delaney actually did manage to put her troubles with Vincent out of her mind. She stopped worrying and obsessing over how to get out and it became something of a threat in the shadows. There, but never too close.

The men that had been off fighting in the war were all home now so parties were back in full swing and Delaney loved to attend all she could. She was still a beautiful young woman so there was never a shortage of men happy to get a chance to dance with her.

Everyone in the high society knew Delaney was betrothed but she didn\'t act like it so no one brought it up. She would flirt and have fun talking with any man who caught her attention.

Even though the lawyer had advised against it Delaney found herself still wishing one of these men might fall in love with her and stand up to the King and the Adairs with her.

No man ever came too close though, apparently, all were aware of the dangerous ground they would be walking on by fraternizing with her. Delaney didn\'t know it but Constance was making sure the men in the club knew about her betrothal as well.

As it drew ever closer to her birthday, Delaney began to plan a party at the club, her worries of Vincent all but gone.

Constance wasn\'t all that comfortable with throwing a big party and not inviting Vincent or having him there. She mentioned her feelings to Delaney and Selina who was helping her party plan, but they were dismissed

Selina had been spending most of her time with Delaney lately. Duncan had been spending half his time at his estate and visiting her and the other half he spent back in the King\'s City with the Adair brothers and doing whatever the kind required of him.

Selina and Duncan hadn\'t made plans for their wedding yet which was making their families nervous but neither of them seemed to mind.

"I always thought you would be married as soon as you turned eighteen," Delaney had teased her one day.

"And I thought the same of you," Selina had sassed back and that was the last they said on the subject. Delaney couldn\'t stop herself from wondering though what was really going on.

Unlike when they were young girls at Win\'s club, Selina now let her guard down and flirted with the men around her at the club owned by Delaney and Constance. The other women were a little concerned with this but who were they to stop her?

Delaney hired extra servers and dealers to work for her party and since the weather was nice, had additional tables placed outside the under enormous canvas awnings. She used her earnings from the club to hire a group of musicians to play and deemed the area a dance floor.

With all her money coming in from the club, Delaney allowed herself to go overboard with her party planning. The bigger it got the more excited she and Selina got but the more uncomfortable the other women got.

"Delaney are you sure about all this?" Olive asked hesitantly one day, coming to visit after getting a worried message from Constance, "It seems a bit... much."

"It\'s perfect," Delaney smiled spinning around under the recently erected canvases, "It\'s my birthday. Why shouldn\'t I make it everything I want?"

"Invite Vincent then," Constance crossed her arms, "If it\'s going to be this enormous event then you have to invite him."

Delaney glared at her, "I don\'t have to do anything."

"Well then I\'ll send him an invitation," Constance replied raising her eyebrows, daring her stubborn friend to try to argue.

"Why would you do that?" Selina demanded, looking at the woman in disgust, "Why would you want to ruin her birthday?"

"She\'s betrothed to him," Olive sighed, folding her hands over her much larger, rounder belly, "If she doesn\'t invite him its a very obvious insult to him and his family, including the King."

"Fine," Delaney shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly, "Invite him if you want. I can\'t imagine he\'ll come. Unless his marks have faded why would he? He\'d just embarrass himself."

"Delaney," Olive hissed in disapproval, "Don\'t be so cruel."

Delaney felt a hard stab of guilt in her heart again. Olive was right. She was being cruel and Vincent didn\'t deserve it.

"I\'m sorry... I\'m just so tired of talking about him," Delaney confessed, "His injuries, our marriage contract, me not being there with him. All of it is hanging over my head like an ax waiting to cut it off! I\'ve been letting myself be happy and have fun planning this party and having something that doesn\'t revolve around Vincent and my future with him."

The other women were quiet. Delaney quickly dashed the tears from her eyes, not realizing they had formed while she was talking.

"You\'re right Constance," she admitted, "Send a messenger with the invitation today and have them hurry so inviting him won\'t look like an afterthought. I do pray that he won\'t come but I agree I can\'t not invite him at all."

So the invitation was sent with haste to the Adair city home. Delaney felt her stomach twist when she thought of it. She so hoped he wouldn\'t come. Surely he wouldn\'t come. He was still recovering, wasn\'t he?

She worked to forget about the invitation or assure herself that he wouldn\'t come anyways. He hadn\'t come to her club opening. He had still been in the hospital then though. He was out now.

Surely he still wouldn\'t come. She thought it over and over again like a mantra.

For the night of her party, Delaney had a blood-red gown made with a strapless, sweetheart neckline. The front dipped down almost inappropriately low but she didn\'t care.

For all she knew, this could be her last chance to enjoy being admired by everyone around her. If she were forced to marry Vincent no one would ever wish to be her.

When she walked into a party with Vincent before the war, all eyes turned on her in awe and even jealousy. If she were to walk in anywhere with Vincent now, those same eyes would hold only pity, possibly disgust.

Delaney felt the now familiar guilt pulling on her heart. She knew Vincent didn\'t deserve this but it was just the way things were now that he had been in his accident. She found herself wondering what he thought about that.

Did he think about all the problems that would arise for them in the future if they were to be married now? How could he think they could ever have a happy life together?