4. Chapter 4
Chapter 4
-Kace-
I was more than surprised when I heard my now-wife speak about making things work and selecting a room downstairs so it would be easier for me to reach her.
I had been sure Annabella would pick a room upstairs and that she wouldn’t already try to prove to me she differed from my usual types, not just look wise. But she was, and it made me mute for a second.
“Was that so hard to say?” I asked, breaking the brief silence that had stretched out as I tried to overcome the shock of the news she gave me.
“Hard?” she echoed.
“That we are married,” I teased.
“Oh, um… Don’t you think it will take some getting used to?” she asked.
“That depends,” I replied.
“On?”
“On us,” I answered. “If we can make it work.”
“So, you do actually want to make it work,” she mumbled, like she wasn’t speaking to me, and it confused me.
“Why wouldn’t I?” I challenged.
“Well, we hardly know each other. I thought maybe you, um, wanted something special.”
“Like?” I inquired.
“I'm not sure,” she said, scratching her neck. “This feels very old-school.”
“Sometimes old-school works,” I countered. “Besides, didn’t you sign the papers?”
“I… did,” she answered, but looked away.
“Maybe we should look into why you did,” I suggested.
“I would rather we didn’t…”
“Then why is it so weird that I made the proposal?”
“Maybe because you didn’t propose,” she suggested and faced me again. Our eyes locked, and once again, I felt taken aback.
She is rather quick , I thought and smiled a little, enjoying our verbal sparring. I couldn’t say for sure what truly lay beneath all the layers, but I found myself wanting to uncover them little by little.
“There wasn’t really much time for a grand proposal,” I countered.
“No, I am just—” she began.
“If you want one, we can redo it,” I cut in.
“Redo it?”
“Yes, we could make something grand!” I suggested, but I was trying to trick her.
I wanted to see if she might say, ‘Yes, let’s spend thousands of dollars on it’. And I was sure she was going to agree, but then she seemed scared and began shaking her head.
“Could we not?” she asked.
“What?” I inquired.
“Anything grand. I mean, I don’t think a do-over is needed. We both chose this for whatever reasons we have, but I think I would prefer to keep it quiet.”
“You want nothing grand?” I asked, feeling a bit surprised.
“I would rather just… slowly get used to the idea without people joining in with their own opinions.”
“You don’t want people to comment?” I questioned.
“No, I really wouldn’t like that,” she said, continuing to shake her head and looking so nervous.
Was she scared of me? I began wondering. Or was it the idea of what other people thought? I was becoming quite intrigued by Annabella, and I had only been a few minutes in her presence. How had I not noticed her before?
“Why?” I asked. “People love to post about their happiness, their perfect lives and their marriages.”
“But this is hardly a marriage,” she retorted.
“Excuse me?”
Annabella seemed fearful again.
“I just mean, a marriage is like a partnership.”
“Isn’t this?” I countered.
“People are often in love as well,” she argued. “They chose to get married because spending their lives together was something they wanted, rather than being apart.”
“I see,” I murmured.
“And we don’t love each other. We don’t even know each other,” she continued.
“You’re correct. But you still signed the papers.”
“I did, and so now we are here. You can sign other papers, though,” she added.
“Other papers?”
She began fiddling a little with a small ring on her finger. I noticed how subtle it was—just a small gold band—but it fit her outfit well.
“Like… divorce papers.” She couldn’t look at me as she said it, and it was probably for the best, or she would have seen how angry that suggestion made me.
“Divorce? Have you come to divorce me already?” I snapped.
“No!” She turned to meet my eyes.
“No?” I echoed.
“No! I was just saying… that if you wanted to… um, stop it, you could.”
“Oh, could I now? I was almost scared that I was trapped with you,” I joked dryly, but she wasn’t smiling.
“It is almost like being trapped, isn’t it?” she mumbled to herself again, which was irritating me a little.
“If you have something to say, speak louder,” I instructed harshly.
She looked shocked, drawing back and clearly not appreciating how I spoke to her, but I couldn’t take the mumbling.
“Nothing,” she ended up answering.
“Do you want us to divorce already?” I inquired.
“No!” she exclaimed.
“We can.”
“We can?” she asked, and the shocked tone took me aback. It shouldn’t have been that surprising.
“I'm not forcing you to stay married. Say the word, and I will have my lawyer draw up the papers, and we can sign them.”
I really hoped she wouldn’t. I needed her to at least stay here until my grandfather arrived in about two months to speak about me returning to Russia to live with him and get married.
“We could really do that?” she inquired carefully.
“Of course,” I assured her.
Annabella thought it over for a moment. She even glanced behind her to see where the door was, but when she turned to me, she seemed determined.
“No, thank you,” she replied.
“No?” I pressed.
“No, I owe it to our marriage to try, right?” she asked.
“That’s all up to you,” I replied.
“You don’t want to try.”
“No, I'm all in,” I admitted.
“All in?” she inquired.
“All in when it comes to this marriage. So the question is, are you?” I challenged.