Chapter Fourteen
Alex didn’t appreciate work intruding on their honeymoon.
The reports that he was getting back were all positive; everyone who had an opinion on such things was fascinated by his marriage.
Some thought it was a PR move, but many thought it was a romance novel come to life.
A workplace romance between the beautiful and warm heroine and the hard remote hero.
But one thing was becoming abundantly clear: his time away from work was beginning to be a bit too much, and he and Verity were needed back in the real world.
He found himself reluctant to leave, which was a strange feeling. Normally, his drive to work was the strongest drive he possessed.
But he found he wanted to stay here.
All the more reason to go, he supposed.
He took a breath, and walked through the kitchen area, deliberately not thinking about the failed birthday party from a week ago, through his shared bedroom with Verity, where she was not, and then outside.
He looked down, and saw her in the clear water, swimming like a mermaid with her blond hair streaming behind her.
“Wife,” he said, the word catching in his throat. “I need to speak to you.”
She swam over to where he was, looking up at him, her smile in pitch. “I’m afraid we have go back.”
“Oh,” she said, looking disappointed. He hated that he had disappointed her. He hated that he had made her frown.
He had never cared how he made another person feel before.
It was the strangest thing. Sometimes watching Verity was like watching a piece of himself out in the world.
He could not explain it. Like she had taken something essential from him, stolen it and repurposed it.
He wasn’t even certain if he wanted it back.
“We must. While the headlines about our marriage have been positive, ahead of the product launch we need to be seen.”
“Of course,” she said.
“And so, we will be,” he said.
A few hours later they were on the private plane headed back to Athens. “You said you wanted to go to London,” he said.
“Well, yes, I would like that.”
“Then we shall go. As part of all of this.”
She tilted her head to the side. “Oh right. Just for show.”
“We just had an entire honeymoon that had nothing to do with the outside world.”
“I know. But it’s hard to forget that this is actually why we got married in the first place.” She sighed. “Actually, it was really easy to forget. For a while. And now...reality is kind of lurching up to bite us in the face.”
“Is that how you feel?”
She lifted her hand and made a claw with it. “Yes.”
“Reality doesn’t have to be a bad thing.”
“In my experience, it is.”
“Ah yes. Because in reality, it is not a fairy-tale wedding, it is a secret ambush by your family.”
“Well. Yes. Not trying to be rude or whiny about that or anything, but that was a little bit rough.”
“I had thought that we were past that.”
“We are. Intermittently. Sometimes, I get a little bit mad about it, though.”
“Well, I will tell you what I have planned. We must be seen tonight going back to our home in Athens.”
She blinked. “I didn’t move out of my apartment yet.”
“Yes, you have. I took care of everything while we were on the island.”
Her eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “You have had all my things moved?”
“Yes,” he said. “It was a mere detail that needed to be seen to.”
“Right. My entire life was a mere detail.”
“That little apartment was not your entire life.”
“I guess not.” She looked irritated.
“Are you going to sulk, or are you going to tell me why you’re being difficult?”
“What we had was really special. And now we’re going back to life. We’re going back to work. It can work, I know it can. But I’m worried.”
“Verity, I cannot promise you that I’ll be a perfect husband in the way that the world would define it. But I’m not leaving everything that we were behind on that island.”
He didn’t know what else to say.
She seemed mollified by that. She looked almost happy.
“Well, I guess I can live with that.”
“I would hope so.”
“What is your plan then?”
“My plan is for us to be seen returning home tonight. Tomorrow we will fly out to London, we will stay in my town house there. Then we will go to dinner. I will take you off to Paris afterward, where we will swan romantically around the museums.”
“Right. For everyone else.”
“Also for us. Will you not enjoy it?”
“I will,” she said. “I will. I’m determined to.”
Though she didn’t sound pleased in any fashion. “Good,” he said.
When the plane touched down in Athens, he could feel her tension rising.
It was a short trip from the airfield back to his house, and he watched her face closely as they walked inside the ornate living quarters. Classical architecture mixed with modern design. If she was impressed, that wasn’t what she was conveying. Rather she seemed perplexed.
“What is the matter?”
“I feel like a commoner going to live in a palace, I guess. I feel like... Okay, I don’t actually care about that.
I don’t know how to live with another person.
All of my things are here. With your things.
We are going to share a bedroom. A life.
It was different when we were in a neutral place, but this is your house.
Your house, and here I am in it. And what do I even.
..? What you might even do to take up even a corner of a place like this?
I worked really hard to become myself and I. ..”
“You’re afraid of losing yourself,” he said.
Because of course she was. She had shrunk herself, made herself small and insignificant in order to please her family. And now she was staring down watching herself melt into his world.
“I do not wish for you to become someone else. I don’t need you to.
I am strong enough to stand on my own feet, Verity, and I would think you would know that.
Little Cricket, I want you to be my conscience.
I want you to tell me what you need. And I want you to make your presence known.
I always have. I did not hire you to sit there sight unseen. But you know that.”
“But you don’t feel attachment for anything. Or anyone. So what’s to keep me rooted to this place? What’s to keep you from replacing me? Or worse, me trying to reshape myself into something easier?”
He couldn’t really argue with the thesis of that question. And yet, he didn’t know for sure if he could say that he wasn’t attached to her. For a moment, he let that thought sit there, marinate, grow in weight.
“It is not so simple. I want you with me. I know that much.”
She softened. “Okay. Then I’ll stay with you.
” She let out a long, hard sigh. “I’m sorry.
You’ve been nothing but wonderful to me, all through our honeymoon together.
You have never acted like you were a cruel man, and I’ve known you now for two years.
But it’s amazing how much weight parental issues carry.
I know you didn’t have them, but it’s not. ..it’s not different, not really.”
“I know,” he said. “I... I carry the issues of my childhood obviously. They have made me into who I am. And who I cannot be. For you or for anyone. But I have decided to vow myself to you. To make a family with you. Do you understand that’s not something I would ever do lightly?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “I understand that.”
“Good. I’m glad that you do.”
“It’s so funny, because a few weeks ago it seemed reasonable to perform this for everybody. And now it feels a little bit too private.”
“We will not show them everything.”
“Of course.”
Then, he picked her up off the floor, and swept her up the stairs, because he couldn’t bear the weight of her uncertainty or sadness for another moment.
He wasn’t sure if that conversation had solved anything.
Had made her feel any better. He wasn’t entirely sure that he had gotten down to the heart of what was bothering her.
But he cared about her. And he wanted her to be happy.
Or perhaps he only cared about himself and he wanted his home to be happy.
Either way, he knew that talking wasn’t the answer right now.
And when he laid her down in their bed, they didn’t talk anymore.
And he felt everything he could not put into words.
The next morning they were off to London, and Verity was poring over the photographs of them entering their house in Greece.
“People really are...interested in us.”
She had had a near breakdown last night, and she felt a little bit embarrassed by it now. Because it had been a full panic with very little articulation behind it. She supposed she should feel proud that she had been able to have it, and not worry so much about what he would do or think.
She had wanted him to say that he...that he cared about her. She had wanted something stronger than what she had gotten.
But if she wasn’t willing to say...
She couldn’t quite find it in her to put words to her feelings yet. And if she couldn’t do that, then how could she expect him to do it? It wouldn’t be fair.
She took a sharp breath, and looked at the photos. Looked at the two of them. She could see her bad mood, but it didn’t seem like anyone else could.
She felt so exposed. They had been thrown from the gorgeous Caribbean and into a fishbowl. But that was the idea. This whole relationship was supposed to be for show. Acting upset about it now was pointless. Silly.
Childish, even.
Yes. It was childish.
She swallowed hard, trying to ignore the tenderness in the center of her chest. And trying to drum up some excitement for London.
“Yes, of course people are interested in us,” he said. “Because I’ve never been attached to anyone before.”
“I guess that’s the thing. I should say that people are interested in you. They’re only interested in me as an accessory.”
“It is important. If you were a sort of corporate-looking woman, you wouldn’t be right for the part.”
The word part graded.
“Yes. Of course. It was a good casting decision. Going with kind of a bohemian hippie chick.”