by Gina Leuci
“Oh, dear God.” I gripped the door frame. “They don’t waste time.”
I closed the door and tried to close my mind from the implications of what the crib and rocking chair implied. I moved on auto-pilot to sit on the loveseat. The furniture was built from wood with large cushions, giving it a block look. The sheer size—or lack thereof—and style was designed to ensure very little comfort involved, and definitely ensuring no room to sleep on the tiny furniture. That left the one bed for the two of us to sleep on. Together.
I stared in numb silence as Caleb took a seat in the chair, waiting for me to talk. I crossed my arms to stare back at him.
“Last night you said you were going to get me out of this place and today—” I stopped. I couldn’t say the word that had been echoing in my head for a couple hours now, but for the first time today I felt anger. My voice cracked as I faced him. “Was this all part of the plan? Find some way to put us in compromising positions, it doesn’t matter with who?”
He leaned forward, balancing his forearms on his thighs. “No. Grace—”
I raised one hand. “Stop right there. I don’t want to hear anything right now. I have no reason to believe anything you say.” I stood and put the furniture between us. “Words don’t mean anything. If you’re not part of this, then you sure as hell better figure out how to be the damn solution.”
Chapter Three
I skipped dinner. The last thing I wanted was to acknowledge this farce of a marriage by sitting down for a meal with the in-laws. At the moment, there was no concrete plan on how to precipitate an annulment, as never in the history of Wellington had there been a request for one. I know, because I asked.
One thing I was sure of, I had no intention of consummating this…this…thing. When Caleb returned from his parents, I was behind closed doors of the bedroom. I’d left a blanket and pillow on the floor in the living room. My point was made.
Monday morning brought on new challenges. We were polite to each other as we moved from bedroom to bathroom, to kitchen. I’m not sure how to explain how I felt, except that numb might be the closest. Nothing seemed real. The events of the previous two days remained more of a haze of a dream.
Except I was still in Wellington, and there was a man in my bedroom.
I pretended not to look as Caleb pulled a t-shirt on as I walked in, but how could I not stare at the massive six-pack he sported? I felt a quickening of my pulse and immediately turned and walked back to the living room area. I had to allow him time to change and give me time to push away whatever attraction I thought I’d had for this man over the past weeks.
“I got a call when you were in the shower,” he called out. “Our first appointment is at the jewelers at nine-thirty. At ten-thirty we need to be at the clinic.”
I wandered back to the doorway. He wore his usual blue jeans and tee. I’d seen him dressed that way several times over the past two months, and normally I would drool. Today felt more clinical. I noticed how the blue fabric conformed to the muscles on his chest and how his biceps bulged beneath the short sleeves. There is no denying the man was attractive. I felt a pull of something magnetic between us.
I’d fought this attraction for Caleb for weeks. I’d shared a couple kisses with the man. Hot, mind-boggling kisses. Any woman with a pulse had to admit he was sexy. Right now, I pushed that all aside. I’d been forced into an unimaginable situation and had no intentions on acting on a moment of lust.
I needed to find my anger, or sarcasm. Or some kind of emotion other than this feeling of watching my life unfold before me as though I was outside looking in. “Can’t we skip it? Pretend none of this happened?”
He grabbed socks from the top drawer of the dresser. He must have unpacked before I’d arrived yesterday. My clothes still lay in my open suitcase on the floor. “Ignoring it won’t make it any less legal or binding.”
“How can it be binding? We never actually exchanged vows. Now that I think about it, did Caroline even say I do? I don’t remember that part.” I paced the tiny confines of the room, nearly tripping over Caleb as he now sat on the edge of the bed “This whole thing is bogus. You need to make it go away.”
“I’ll go to the council meeting this week and plead our case. Due to the Fourth of July falling tomorrow, it won’t happen until Wednesday.”
I snorted, watching as he put on his boots, talking as though today was like any other day. “Like any of them will even listen. Roger has had it out for me since day one. I’m surprised he allowed his precious son to come anywhere near me this summer.”
He gave me one of his soulful looks that screamed a maturity far beyond his years, or at least far beyond mine. “Let’s just get through today, Grace. There’s not much in the way of food here, so how about we go to the diner for breakfast. We can hit the store this afternoon and pick up some essentials.”
“Like what?” I huffed, his calm reasoning in direct opposition to my growing agitated state. “A situation like this deserves copious amounts of alcohol, and we’re not going to find any of that in this wholesome, dry town.”
He shook his head. “Not even old enough to drink, and you think alcohol is the solution? I thought you avoided the party scene.”
With hands on my hips, I whipped to face him, pouncing on his rebuke. “You know nothing about me. Just because I told you what happened to me during my freshman year at college, doesn’t mean I never drink.”
Other than a few glasses of wine, I hadn’t been drunk since the night I’d been roofied. And of course my first weekend here when I’d been invited to a private party in the woods, sponsored by some of the Wellington rules-breakers. I wasn’t about to let him know that, so I continued my attack as I followed him out of the bedroom into the living/kitchen area. “Don’t tell me that when you were twenty and in the Marines, you didn’t drink. I won’t believe it.”
Caleb gave a slight shrug. “I’ll admit I did have the occasional beer, but not once did I ever drink to become drunk.”
“Fine. You’re the epitome of a saint. You don’t drink. You don’t smoke. You…”
“Do you smoke?” he interrupted.
“Well, no.”
“Good. Nasty habit.” He gave a pointed look to my bare feet. “Are you hungry? We should get going if you want time to eat before our first appointment.”
I slipped on my sandals and moved out of the apartment as he held the door open. He’d effectively ended the conversation by distracting me. It didn’t go unnoticed, and I continued to fume silently.
We didn’t speak much during breakfast. At least not to each other. He was a popular man. Every person who entered or exited the diner said hello. And no one, not one, mentioned yesterday’s joyous occasion.
The trip to the jewelry counter, located inside the big outlet store, was quick, but painful. Frank, who was the manager of the store, also ran the jewelry counter.
He was a tiny man, shorter than my own five foot seven, and I think he had a running board behind the glass counter to lift him high enough to see over. With his graying hair and white beard, he reminded me of a garden gnome. Except gnomes don’t talk, and this little goblin was talking a mile a minute.
“We have a selection of matching bands to choose from. Why don’t you take a look-see and decide? In the meantime, I need to measure your fingers for size.” He took my hand and slipped a band over my finger until he had the right size, then repeated the procedure on Caleb, writing down the measurements then turned back to us. “See any you like?”
The display he’d pulled out of the cabinet had six different designs, from completely plain, to almost ornately intricate. I shuddered. No matter which one I picked, it would make this farce of a situation all the more real.
My body vibrated with an emotion I couldn’t explain. I turned away from the store manager to whisper to Caleb. “I don’t think I can do this. Can I talk to you?” I pulled him away from Frank and any other curious ears, stepping down an aisle full of handbags “We can�
�t order rings. We’re not married. Or at least, we won’t be as soon as you talk to council.”
I wondered if he’d give me some kind of excuse and say there was nothing he could do. I expected it. Instead, he took my hand and gave it a squeeze. “Okay. I’ll handle it.” He walked back over to the jeweler, and I trailed behind, shoving my hands in my pockets as I listened in. “This is an important decision. We want to make the right one. How about we come back in a couple days to look again. Give us time to think on it.”
Frank hesitated, as though he was going to argue, but then pasted on a thin smile, almost hidden by the beard. “Of course. After all, if you are going to wear this the rest of your life, you want to choose the best one for you.” In a matter of moments, we’d escaped the store manager and exited the large store.
“Thank you,” I said as I gulped in the fresh air filled with the smell of fresh mowed grass. “That ring… That symbol…” I shivered.
Caleb looked beyond me, his stare the closed-off one I had gotten used to seeing at the beginning of the summer. I bit my lip. “This can’t be easy for you, either.” I muttered, trying not to be completely selfish.
He refocused, his blue eyes held a hint of sadness. “No. I wasn’t exactly looking to remarry yet. It’s too soon for my kids.”
I wrapped my arms around my waist. I didn’t know what to say. I wasn’t about to apologize for running away from the fracas at the farm on Saturday. And it’s not like I knew getting stranded alone in the woods was another freaking taboo.
He sighed and motioned for me to start walking. “Come, we have another appointment to get through.”
I dragged my feet. “Of all people, why do we have to meet with Dr. Todd?”
There was an almost unnoticeable hiccup in his pace, and if I weren’t already a jumble of nerves about meeting with the hated doctor, I may not have noticed it. But his slight hesitation had my stomach doing flip flops. My experiences at the hospital were limited, but had been enough to know I hated that particular doctor to the core. The last thing I wanted was to have a doctor-patient visit with the loathsome man and Caleb damn well knew it—and why.
“His job is to counsel all newlyweds on the joys of parenthood.”
I froze. Caleb took two long strides before he realized I hadn't moved. He wore a pained expression when he turned back to get me. “I’m sorry, Grace. This is one appointment I can’t get us out of.”
“It’s easy,” I said, stomping one foot. “We. Just. Don’t. Go.”
Caleb waved a hand around, motioning down the street. “It’s not that easy. You’ve been here long enough to know if you don’t show up, the police are sent to escort you.”
I threw my hands up with frustration. “You are the freaking police chief. Order your officers to back down if they arrive.”
He gave a long-suffering sigh. “Technically, during the next two weeks, I’m off-duty, which means I’m a regular citizen. I have no say.”
I cocked my head. “The longer I am in this place, the more I don’t understand it. The rules are bizarre. Antiquated. It’s like they were formed in 1900 and haven’t updated with the times at all.”
“That’s basically true.” He motioned for me to walk again. The streets were practically empty. Most of the townsfolk were at their respective jobs, and Caleb led me down side streets away from the downtown area, as we walked the few blocks toward the clinic “Let’s get through this next appointment together. To tell you the truth, it’s new for me. I didn’t live here during my first marriage.”
“What? Are you curious? Or too much of a rules follower.” I taunted him. “I don’t want to be anywhere near that man. I don’t trust him. He’ll probably find another reason to drug me, and you, and perform some kind of twisted experiment on us.”
Caleb grunted. “It won’t be like that. I promise.”
“Huh.” I stood my ground. “You can’t promise anything. You admitted you have no idea how this meeting will go because you’ve never attended one. Besides, you promised to get me home and less than twelve hours later we were married.” It was petulant and cruel, but it hit its mark.
He blew out a deep breath, running a hand over his head. Yep, he was frustrated. With the situation? Possibly. With me? More than likely. I didn’t really care, though.
“I know. I’m sorry, Grace. I didn’t say getting you out of here would be easy, and I certainly didn’t consider how the town would react to our being out all night.” He moved closer, blocking out the morning sun as he put his hands on my shoulders. “I might not know what the doctor is going to talk about exactly, but I do promise I will not allow any harm to come to you.”
Maybe it was his hands, secure on my shoulders, maybe it was his firm tone, or maybe it was because I’d seen over the past seven weeks that he was actually a pretty fair guy, but I believed him.
I gave up. “Fine, but know that I am not happy about this at all. And if he does anything to me, anything…”
“He won’t. Trust me, Grace.”
Huh. I don’t think I can trust anyone here, not anymore, but when Caleb reached down for my hand, I took it. We were going to meet with Dr. Todd, and I had a very bad feeling about it.
****
“The key to a healthy marriage is a healthy sex life,” the doctor stated as he sat across from us in his high-backed rolling chair behind his desk. “We pride ourselves on how prolific our townsfolk are and believe it is because we are educated on carefully tracking menses, as well as when and how often we have sex.”
I gripped the arms of the chair so tight my knuckles were white. I had to be trapped in a horror movie, it’s the only explanation.
“The most fertile time to become pregnant is during the five days before your menstrual cycle.” He gave me an inquisitive stare. “Do you know the date of your last period?”
Not only were my knuckles white, but my legs began to shake. I wanted, no needed, to bolt. “What? No.”
“Hmm, okay.” The man typed into the computer on his desk then flipped open a small pocket calendar, making a notation on one of the pages. “Based on your last purchase of tampons, I have marked in here the projected start for your next period.”
He handed over the pocket-sized calendar. When I didn’t take it, he placed it on the edge of the desk in front of me. “From now on, you’ll be tracking your cycle on this calendar along with each time you have sex. A minimum of two to three times a week is recommended.”
I strangled on a cry.
Caleb placed a large hand over mine and gave a reassuring squeeze. “Todd, you know the situation between us is a bit unusual. The wedding was not exactly planned. Having children is not exactly a topic we’ve discussed. We have a lot more on our plates at the moment.”
The man in the white coat waved his hand as though such thoughts were inconsequential. “If you’re talking love, that’s only a small part of marriage. Family is the glue. The rest comes as you build on that foundation.”
“You’re shitting me, right?” I finally found my voice. “What kind of town is this?”
He settled his glasses more firmly on his long, pointed nose. “There’s no need for vulgarity,”
That did it. For the first time in two days I finally felt my first real emotion.
“Vulgarity? I’ll give you vulgarity.” I leaped up, leaned over the desk, and got in his face. Close enough to see the blackheads at the corners of his nose. “You want to talk sex? Fine. Go fuck yourself.”
I grabbed the calendar and threw it, hitting him in the face, knocking his specs to the desk. “And when you do, don’t forget to track it. I’ll see you in hell before I give you any information on my life.”
For a large man, Caleb reacted quickly and positioned himself between me and the desk, pushing me backward until there was as much distance as could be in the cramped office.
“Let me go. I’m just getting started.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.” He used his police chief voice, soft
but steely firm, while maintaining a secure grip on my upper arms. “I get where you are coming from. I understand your frustration, but don’t let it get physical. Any type of altercation means jail time.”
“But…”
Doctor Depraved stood behind his desk, his fingertips tapping on the wooden surface. “When you have your wife under control, Caleb,” he sneered, “there is another piece of business to attend to.”
If I hadn’t been eye level with the wide chest, I may not have noticed the ever so slight intake of breath before he turned back to the man behind the desk. “Now what?”
“A small video. Bridget has it set up in conference room two.”
Forty-five minutes later, we exited the clinic, and I moved almost on auto-pilot as we moved from the cool interior into the bright, cloudless day. “I cannot un-see that.” I pressed the back of my hands to my flaming face. “You could have warned me.”
Caleb was quiet, perhaps just as stunned as me? “I’ve never seen it before.”
I scoffed. “But you had to know what they show.”
We walked down the sidewalk; I was too much in shock to care which way we headed. “No one discusses the details,” he explained. “All I’ve ever heard is they showed a sex education movie.”
I grabbed his arm, turning him to face me. “That was not a sex-ed video,” I huffed. “That was a porn flick with a voice over.” I spotted the twist in his mouth before he turned his face away. “It’s not funny, Caleb.” I threw my hands up in disgust and walked ahead. “Gahd, you are such a guy.”
The video itself had been bad enough, but watching it beside this hulk of a man while the narrator described the mechanics of sex, then oral sex, in excruciating detail, made it worse. I’d wanted to crawl under a table.
Caleb’s longer stride had him keeping pace with me as we headed toward the center of town. “You’re right. The video isn’t funny, but your reaction, well…?” He gave a slight shrug earning him a jab in the arm.