Marriage For One

She looked into my eyes for a breathless moment. “You lied to me, Jack. Your lies are hurting me more right now. What did you want from me? Don’t give me that crap about you needing someone to attend dinners with. Was it really the property you were after? Just like him? And don’t even think about telling me this is nothing but a business transaction between two people. Don’t lie to me anymore.”

It was you. I didn’t know it then, but it was just you that I wanted.

“Nothing. I wanted nothing from you. I was trying to help.”

“You wanted to help a stranger. Am I this year’s charity case?”

I ground my teeth and stood up. She rose as well, standing only inches away. My hands wanted to cradle her face like I’d done so many times, but I didn’t have the right to touch her anymore.

“You changed me. You worked on it. You tricked me into loving you—you showed me this guy, this guy I could trust and love and not be afraid to be myself around. You showed me that I could have family that I could trust. You gave me an illusion. All your help with the coffee shop…and then when I was sick—you were right there, but you were acting, playing with me. It was all a lie, Jack. You were nothing but a lie, and you’ll never know how much it hurts me to know that. I wanted something real with you. You knew what Joshua had done to me, but what did you do? You went ahead and did the exact same thing, just with a different game.”

A few tears escaped her eyes, rolling over her skin before she quickly wiped them away in anger. I did nothing but watch, my pulse racing and my blood roaring in my veins, helpless.

“I hope you got what you wanted out of this. I hope it was worth it.”

“I risked losing you to have a shot at you, Rose. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

She shook her head and, her shoulder brushing mine, walked away. Stuffing my hands in my pockets, I turned around to watch her leave me.

She stopped with her hand on the door, her head hanging.

“Say something, Jack. Apologize. Something. Please say something.”

Her words were a whisper that sliced me open. I took a step forward but then stopped. Now that she knew some things, I wouldn’t lie to her about the rest. I wouldn’t say something I knew she wouldn’t believe.

“I paid twice the amount of the property’s worth to Bryan after he showed up at your coffee shop before the opening.” Her head snapped back, her expression horrified. “He didn’t like the fact that we pulled the rug from under him. He was going to contest the will, he called me countless times, threatened me with you. It wasn’t that he didn’t believe the marriage, I think he did after you moved in with me—especially after he saw us together at the coffee shop and then later at the event—he just didn’t want you to have the place. I paid him after that night at the charity event. That’s why he let it go and I told him not to show his face to you again. He was going to be a problem, so we reached an agreement. I paid him off.”

“How could he believe what we had is real? Why wouldn’t Joshua tell him you paid him?”

Had. Past tense.

“I believe he is playing your cousin, he couldn’t admit to what he is. He wouldn’t tell.”

“Why didn’t you buy the damn place if you could before you married me, Jack? Why not rent the place to me if all you wanted was to get close to me?”

“Would you have accepted the offer? You’d never agree to pay low rent. That’s not you. It doesn’t even matter, I still tried to do it, but like I told you that first day, Bryan was adamant about not selling. You were going to lose everything and lose out on the coffee shop. I thought if I jumped straight to marriage you’d think I was in it for the property, for other things. You wouldn’t even consider that I was in it for you. And you didn’t. You didn’t even like me.”

For a second she appeared to be at a loss for words, so I pushed forward.

“I won’t apologize for something I’m not sorry for. I’m not happy with how things went down, but I wasn’t going to do anything after marrying you. I wasn’t supposed to come close, and I tried my best to stay away. I did my best, Rose, trust me, but the more time I spent around you, the more I got to know you…I couldn’t stay away. When I realized I didn’t want to stay away, couldn’t stay away, I decided I would try to be what you’d want, what you deserve. Try to win your heart. I’m not lying when I say all I wanted to do was help you when I offered to get married. At the end of two years, we were going to get a divorce and you’d never see me again. That was the plan, but somewhere along the way, I fell for you, and because of that, I’m not sorry. I’d do it again. I wouldn’t take back a single moment I had with you.”