28. Chapter 28
Chapter 28
-Kace-
I knocked on the door to my wife’s room, and she appeared in that beautiful dress we had agreed on in the shop. Earlier today, I had also sent her to the hair salon, and her hair was wavy and running down her back. She looked so beautiful that I could barely take my eyes off her.
“You look amazing,” I told her, seeing the way she blushed sweetly.
“Thank you. You look great too,” she said.
I grabbed her hand and pulled her to me, kissing her and hearing the soft gasp that left her lips, making me even crazier for her. But there was no time to continue. We had to get ready for this dinner from hell, as Annabella called it.
“So, are we ready?” I asked as we went toward the entrance of the house.
“Not really. I’m ready to run,” she admitted.
I laughed, shaking my head. “We just have to seem overly happy and satisfied with this pairing.”
“Are we not satisfied?” she asked, sounding a little nervous, and I noticed her twisting her new wedding ring on her finger. I reached out, taking her hand and making sure she wasn’t being too obvious about how she felt. She smiled down at me, and we stopped in front of the door leading to the entrance.
“We are satisfied,” I replied. “But we need to make it seem like this was a match made in heaven. Remember, we are still learning to be around each other.”
“You’re right,” she said and nodded. “We are.”
“So, just smile and act all in love,” I instructed.
“We are not in love.”
“For tonight,” I told her.
“Very well.” She didn’t sound happy about it, and I couldn’t say I really looked forward to this as well, but there was no time to back out.
Soon, her family arrived. We greeted them, and before we knew it, we were in the dining room having an interesting dinner. No one said much at first.
We all smiled and looked at each other as we enjoyed the first meal, yet it felt like we were sizing each other up, ready to see who would strike first.
“So, Anna,” her mother began, becoming the first one who dared to speak a word. Annabella turned to her mother. “How is everything going?”
Annabella glanced at me, then turned her gaze to her sister seated in front of us. Her parents were placed beside her sister and her fiancé, who was smiling smugly at me, as if everything had gone exactly as he planned. How involved had he been in sending Annabella here?
“It’s good,” Annabella replied.
“Good?” her sister pressed. “Don’t we get more than that? We need to know you’re happy here.”
“I’m happy here.”
“Really?” her sister asked, and we could both hear the disbelief in her voice. But we didn’t fall into her trap.
“Are you coming to your sister’s engagement party?” her mother inquired, wanting to change the subject since no one could get anything out of Annabella by going after her new marriage.
“Engagement party?” Annabella echoed.
“Oh, you didn’t know about that?”
“I'm so sorry, Anna. I think it slipped my mind,” her sister taunted.
I wanted to make a little comment about that, but I held my tongue. There was no need to get nasty so fast.
“Oh, it’s okay. We don’t need to—” Annabella began.
“You are, of course, invited,” her sister interrupted.
“Lovely…”
“Both of you,” she added.
“Oh, that’s really not—”
“We will be there,” I interrupted, this time surprising Annabella’s sister, who looked at me with a shocked expression, not thinking I would actually accept, but why shouldn’t I? I couldn’t wait to see the reaction of everyone when I showed up like this.
“We will?” Annabella leaned closer to me and asked.
“Why not? It’s a chance to celebrate your sister and her new fiancé. Shouldn’t we be there?” I inquired.
Annabella looked worried, though, and I could understand why, so I just lifted her hand and kissed it, making sure her family saw her new glistening ring.
“Okay,” Annabella said, turning to her sister. “We… will be there.”
She still sounded hesitant, but we could discuss this later. At that moment, our sole focus was on surviving such a “lovely” dinner. And I could see the others working on finding the next thing to use against Annabella.
“How’s work going?” her father questioned.
“It’s… fine,” she replied.
“Building houses?” Her sister laughed as if it were a ridiculous thing to do, but it was not like Annabella had a sledgehammer in her hand. She was the designer.
“Well, I’m still getting experience,” Annabella said. “But work is fine.”
“And here?” her mother questioned.
“Mother, I already said that everything is going well,” Annabella reminded her.
“Yes, but good how? Do we not get more?”
“What more is there to say?”
“Lots!” her mother exclaimed.
“Yes, we want to hear all about the romance!” her sister joined in.
I could see their behavior was getting to Annabella, who didn’t really want to talk about this. She began cutting her food more angrily, the knife running hard through the meat in front of her.
“It’s fine,” Annabella grumbled.
“Come now, give us some details,” her sister pressed.
“Yes, we want to know how your marriage is going,” Zac said, finally making Annabella snap because she put down her fork and knife and faced them all.
“What? What should I say? Do I need to talk about how many dates we have been on? What presents we have given each other? Or how many times we have done the martial act?”
I almost choked on my drink, and I seemed to not be the only one, but while the rest seemed to find her questions mortifying, I was trying very hard not to smile.
Slowly, Annabella seemed to calm down, and then she realized what she had been saying. Her cheeks grew red, and she looked away from her family, unable to look them in the eye. I reached for her hand again, though, and focused on her family.
“Just to make some things clear, I’m not completely paralyzed,” I said, shocking the others even more.