"What's happening?" I asked Margaret as I walked into the private dining room. She was setting up plates and I helped serve the water. She shot me a look and I shrugged. He wasn't here so he wouldn't know I helped.
"Darius doesn't like the food at the party and so he usually eats in the morning. Just be careful with what they give you, dearie. Miss Alvin cooks it herself and it's known that her pastries can make you quite sick."
I let out a small laugh, nodding. "Alright. I'll try to keep that in mind," I said. Personally, I thought it was mean that everyone knew it but no one told her anything. Won’t she be offended when she realises no one has touched her food?
But I couldn’t talk. I was a horrible cook.
I rubbed my eyes, leaning back in my chair as the chef came out with the food and served it on the table. I grimaced. He noticed my face and sent me an apologetic look.
"I can make o-"
"It's fine, don't worry," I assured him trying, to put on a strong face. He had made all this food and I didn’t want him to make more. He nodded and left and Darius came in and I stared at my plate in shock.
Seafood.
If there was one thing I hated, it was seafood. Great. Just perfect.
I stared at my plate longer and pushed the edible pieces to the side, which happened to be the vegetables in the sauce. The smell of the fish and prawns was overpowering and I tried not to show that I was sick.
I looked up and saw Darius staring and quickly grabbed a spoonful and shoved it in my mouth chewing. As soon as he looked away, I grabbed the napkin and placed it near my mouth, spitting whatever it was out.
It probably tasted good but for as long as I knew, I disliked the taste of seafood. There was a bowl of bread rolls and I grabbed one, taking a bite out of it. At least this was edible.
Margaret came into the room and looked around to see how things were going and then saw my plate and her eyes widened.
"Oh, Ivory, Charles has come. Would you like to go now or in a while?"
"Now's fine," I said quickly before she finished and shot up, a bit too soon, and threw my roll into my plate. I sent a quick smile around the room and rushed out with Margaret hot on my tails.
The moment I was in my bedroom, I rushed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth again, trying not to vomit.
"Oh, I am so sorry. I completely forgot you don’t eat seafood."
"Its fine," I said with a mouthful of toothpaste, probably something my mother would kill me and have a heart attack for. So very unlady like, she would say, this is not how I raised you! Well, she never did raise me. My nanny did and she did a terrible job.
I walked back into my bedroom and froze, looking at the new dresses on the bed and silently groaning.
Let the trials begin.
If I thought dinner and lunch times were awkward, sharing a limousine ride with this man would probably be worse.
Seated opposite each other, both of us stared out the window, not even a word of conversation. Did my parents even know who they married me to?
I finally gave a cheer of happiness when I saw the place but it soon died out when I saw how many people were going in. A lot.
Most of them were more lavishly dressed than me with jewelry and some of the weirdest dresses I had ever seen. I, on the other hand, was in a simple deep blue ink dress that make my skin look bright and glowing, and it wasn’t from the anger inside.
Margaret had pinned my hair up into an elegant bun with braids and decorated pearl clips that held up my thick wavy black hair that even I couldn’t tame.
Seeing all the makeup the ladies had on, I was suddenly feeling under-made with only lipstick on.
The door opened and I struggled to get up elegantly and winced as I got out, pretty sure something stabbed my foot. Darius followed. Whoever invented dresses definitely didn’t try getting out of a limo in one. I looked around taking in the view as I followed him to the entry. As soon as we were in the crowd, I felt his arm on my back and I bit my lip to keep from telling him to take it off. So now he wanted to act like the perfect husband?
He placed a hand on my lower back and I reached behind to move it higher, trying not to giggle. He looked down at me, confused, his eyebrows knotting.
"I'm ticklish!" I said. He ignored me and moved his hand in that exact spot and I shook my head, right like he would care. I walked a tiny bit faster, trying to maintain distance so he wouldn’t have any excuse, but a camera flashed in my face, making me halt.
There were cameras?
"How does it feel being married at-"
There were more flashes and I felt myself being pushed through a crowd to get in and I really hoped I didn’t look like a goldfish. All I saw were black suits and flashes before finally I saw decorated lights and a ballroom.
I squinted, trying to get my eyes used to the natural bright light in here. This didn’t look like a normal ballroom. Instead, it looked like a kid’s birthday party, a ten-year–old’s, in fact. Maybe this was what people meant when they said Miss Alvin was an odd one in the bunch, but for me it reminded me of being a kid, and that made me smile.
Darius led me to our table and pulled my chair out. I sat down looking over my shoulder at the stairs where a lady was dressed in a massive gold dress with what I think were card symbols sewed all over her bottom half.
Quite a dress.
"That's Miss Alvin," whispered a voice in my ear and I nodded, staring at the woman. She was a plump lady but seemed very friendly and childish with her ways, especially her dress. Her movements seemed over exaggerated as she waved her hand around talking very animatedly.
I decided then and there that I liked her. She didn’t seem like she fit in, just like me, but at least she made it look fun. I looked back at the table and saw the pastries Margaret mentioned about and smiled. You can tell they were made by her by the uneven crust and the uneven coloring of the pastry but they looked absolutely adorable. Kudos to her effort.
It was hard to believe these things were poisonous.
"Darius my man!" I looked up as a younger man came around the table and hugged Darius. I was surprised. People hug him? People talk to him? People actually like him? Calm down, Ivory, that was a bit harsh.
"Whatcha up to, couz," he said as he looked around Darius and flashed me a toothy grin. "And this must be the beautiful wife. Sorry, I would have come to the wedding but I wasn’t invited," he said as he grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on it, a very long kiss, and I pulled it out of his grasp as it felt uncomfortable.
"That's Al- Go-" he looked at me and I sighed.
"Ivory," I said, trying not to roll my eyes.
"Beautiful name for a beautiful lady. I am Adrian," he replied with a wink. He sat on the other side of Darius and I watched them both talk, listening in every now and then.
"No girl this time?" asked Darius, a smile on his face. I hadn't seen one in ages. Actually, I don't think I have seen one on him at all. He was always grumpy or glaring or emotionless at home, at me anyways. The last time he looked this happy was when he thanked Margaret for dinner.
"Nope, I think I'll pick up some lovely lady," he said, smiling and looking around. "There seems to be plenty here," he said, winking at me. Darius shook his head like he was used to all this and I raised an eyebrow, looking away.
I smiled and greeted the people as they stopped to say hi to us and made small talk as the rest of the table was filled up. I was glad both Mr. and Mrs. Cartwell were in my table. They were two people I got along with in the other parties.
"Oh, Ivory, it's so good to see you!" said Alicia Cartwell, practically running to our table and hugging me. I could smell her flowery scent as she sat down. Mr. Cartwell smiled before he joined the boys on my other side and I turned to Alicia.
"My, you look wonderful in that dress. I bet he hasn't been able to keep his eyes off you all night," she said, winking, and I laughed uncomfortably and looked away. That would be if he even looked at me to begin with, not that I wanted him to lo
ok at me.
Alicia had hazel hair and bright blue eyes that matched her bubbly nature that I seemed to get along with. She was the Rose of this world.
"Oh, tell me about your orchids. Have they blossomed yet?" she asked. Darius looked over at us briefly before continuing his conversation and I tried not to roll my eyes. I hadn’t run away yet; he had to stop looking at me like I was some sort of criminal.
“Not yet,” I replied and she frowned, tucking her hair behind her ears.
"Oh, they will soon!" she said, more excited than me. She was thrilled when I told her about my little garden. She thought of starting one herself with tulips and an apple tree. A shadow fell upon the table and we looked up to see Miss Alvin staring down at us with a smile so huge it was showing her gums, and I felt happy smiling back. She had that happy aura about her that just made you smile back.
"Isn't she just beautiful!" asked Alicia and I was about to reply when Miss Alvin beat me to it. Oh, the question wasn't for me.
"She is. If only I had a daughter-in-law like you. A lucky man you are, Darius," she said.
"Indeed so, Miss Alvin," said Darius, standing up and shaking her hand.
She looked at our plates and sighed loudly, shaking her head. "You can't keep the girls hungry, here," she said, leaning over. My eyes widened as she abruptly leaned over her bosom in my face. Any closer and I would have gotten a mouthful of that material. Alicia laughed when she saw my face as Miss Alvin moved back and I cleared my throat.
"Eat up, girls. I shall be right back," she said, turning around and leaving and I looked at the pastry on my plate.
Alicia and I turned to look at each other. The pastry was small and looked harmless but apparently she was warned about it too as she stared at me worriedly.
“Do we have to eat it?” she asked leaning over and I shrugged looking at it. Well, it would be really rude if she came back and the pastry was untouched. Maybe I could smash it into pieces, so it looked like I ate a bit.
I stared at it a bit more till a hand grabbed it and I watched as Darius placed it in his pocket. Wasn’t he afraid it would ruin his precious suit?
Alicia kicked me under the table and I looked at her.
"What?" I mouthed as she winked at me cheekily. She raised her eyebrows, smiling, and I whispered, "What?" still not getting what she meant.
"Nothing," she said in a singsong voice and stabbed her pastry with a fork till her eyes widened and she realised what she was doing. She looked around, seeing no one else was watching us, so she grabbed a tissue and scraped it off her plate.
She smiled cheekily as she chucked it under the table and smiled and I laughed, shaking my head.
The night went by fast as I stuck with Alicia as we walked around and she introduced me to more of her friends. They didn’t seem too bad. It was good to meet people our age. We hurried back to our spots as dinner was being served. Good, because I was starving.
I looked at my plate and frowned. Seafood. What was with rich people and seafood?
Alicia dug into her plate and I sighed, picking up the fork and moving the piece of prawn around the plate.
"What's wrong?" asked Alicia when she finished hers and mine was still full.
"I hate seafood," I said, flicking a prawn around in the plate. When was dessert being served?
"I love seafood. I just hate crab though," she said, wrinkling her nose. The guys were in a deep conversation so I swapped plates with her quickly and she stared at me till she understood and smiled, finishing off my plate for me.
"Thanks. I don't want to offend anyone," I said.
She waved a hand. "It's fine. The plates were tiny that I could fit yours in there too. Just remember I'm carrying your food," she said and I let out a laugh. I looked around and saw Adrian raise an eyebrow at our plates and I looked away quickly. Damn, did he see?
"How about green roses?" asked Alicia.
I leaned back in my chair and thought about it. "I don't think I have actually ever seen a green rose now that you mentioned it," I said. A bright light came in her eyes as she sat up.
"We should plant them!" she said excitedly and I shook my head with a laugh.
“I don’t think it’s that simple.”
"We'll just do what we do to get the other coloured roses with the cloth. If it works it would be amazing, if not then oh well, nothing to lose, right?" she asked. I shrugged. I guess we could do that, and I decided I wouldn’t mention the fact that the other roses didn’t exactly turn out like planned.
"I guess if-"
"This is my favorite song," she said, cutting me off, and I stopped and listened to hear soft music by the live orchestra.
It was soft like a lullaby and I looked over at the other couples dancing. How on earth did she hear the music above the loud chatter?
Before I can comment, Jake Cartwell stood up, and like a true husband, asked her to dance. She looked at me giggling like a schoolgirl and hurried off and I smiled at the cute couple. I turned back to face the middle of the table where there was a fancy tower that held all of the pastries.
"Would you like to dance?" I heard a voice ask me before I could muster up the courage to try one of the pastries. I looked up to stare into those mesmerizing green eyes and froze.
Did he just ask me to dance?
Chapter Six
6 Months Ago
What do I say? WHAT DO I SAY? Did she just ask me-
“No!” Was she absurd? Have they both lost their damn minds?
“Are you trying to ruin my life? Do you even know this guy? What if he is some type of serial killer? Are you kidding me? Dad, say something!”
Father nervously tugged at his collar and faced my mother who had an expressionless face as she stared at me.
“Maybe we should think-,” he began, but she cut him off with a simple look and faced me as I stared at my father. Was he so scared of her that he was just going to let her dictate my life?
"Ivory, you really have no option. If you break this deal, you will cause a rivalry and a war. He has no problem so why should you? This is the final decision. Do you want us to go poor? Do you want us both to live on the road and you as well? We are doing this for a family outcome. We cannot lose," she said and with that she elegantly walked out.
I didn’t care about money. We could live fine with what we have. We don’t need big houses and drivers.
And about that war, this wasn’t the ancient days when arranged or forced marriages were the custom. And what rivalry? It was just business. Can business be more important than your child?
"Dad," I whined, tears brimming in my eyes. How much can one handle in one day?
"I'm sorry, Ivory. Your mother is right. You should end things with that boy and marry this man," he said. I sighed as he left and I yelled in frustration and kicked the chair. Of course, James was the small boy and this so called man was the brave man, wasn’t he?
I scoffed. Why in the world I was protecting the guy who just deceived me was beyond comprehensible. Maybe this won’t be so bad. But who was I kidding?
Marrying a total stranger? I'd rather eat seafood for the rest of my life.
Present Time
Before I could even reply, he stood up, grabbing my palm and lifting me up. I noticed Adrian had also gone off with some girl to the dancing room.
"I don't really want to, it's fine," I said, waving a hand but stumbled when he walked while pulling me with him. Fine, then. Why ask when you are going to make me, anyway?
I sighed helplessly. I should stop giving him a hard time, but he was trying to act like the perfect husband when we both knew he probably wanted nothing to do with this and me at all.
Well, he should have said no when he had the chance.
The music was slow, which was good. There was no bumping or tripping over other couples but the slow music meant the couples had to talk. So while everyone else was talking, we just danced, not even a single word muttered.
So much for a good dance, eh
?
I met Alicia's eyes and she raised her eyebrows twice and I cocked my head to the side mouthing, "What?"
I really didn't understand all the mixed signals this girl was giving me today. She giggled and whispered something in Jake's ear and he turned around smiling. Were they talking about me?
"There you all are," said Miss Alvin, barging in her long dress trailing behind her. I looked to the side and watched her go up and grasp Jake and Alicia and then come over to us.
"The main reason I had this was to introduce my son but he's delayed his trip for another week. I just wanted to privately remind you that next week, all four of you must come. I'll tell Margaret and call you Alicia," she said.
Marriage by Law Page 5