continued...

He looked at Dahlia, before turning back to his sister. “It’s actually about this…wedding. You see, she’s agreed to marry me to help me with grandfather’s ultimatum.” He watched the emotions play out over his sister’s face. She didn’t seem too surprised, even if she still hadn’t responded. “She understands what this whole deal has been about since I’ve talked to her about it since the beginning. She’s been kind enough to agree to help me. She is going through her own personal situations right now as well, so this agreement should work for both of us.”

As they waited for their meal, Jared had tried to explain the majority of what was going on with his sudden wedding to Dahlia.

Karinne sighed, reaching out to grab his hand. “I’m not going to lie, I was very surprised when you told us you were getting married. You’ve never seemed like the type of man who'd want to focus on a long-term relationship, but I was glad either way. What is the final ‘ultimatum’ he’s given you? Mom hasn’t said anything.”

“Well, I either go to work for grandfather or lose my house. The other option is to get married as a way to satisfy his need to control my damn life and be able to turn down his work proposal.” Jared grimaced.

“But you’ve never been interested in the company! Why does he keep insisting on it? He’s got his vice president who can oversee it if he doesn’t want to be in the office all day.” She glanced over at Dahlia who still hadn’t said a word. “I’m sorry that you got involved in our crazy family problems, Dahlia.” With a shaky laugh, she reached out to hold Dahlia’s hand as well. “And here I was talking to you about love and babies all morning. I’m so sorry!”

Dahlia gave her hand a light squeeze. “It’s alright. I made my decision when he asked me. I was free to turn him down. I just… I just got out of a really long and painful relationship that went downhill quickly. I found out that I was getting kicked out of my apartment since I can’t afford it and your brother offered an option. It’s been a very strange couple weeks to say the least.” She shrugged, glancing up at Jared. “Your brother knows where I come from and what my boundaries are. He’s made it very clear what he needs from this relationship and… he knows that I’m not in love with him either.” She brought her gaze down to stare at her water glass because it was still quite embarrassing to be talking about love, marriage, and relationship with the one person she should be keeping her distance from.

Part of her told her that she should’ve said no because it was a mistake that could cost her job. The thing was that no matter how much he made her angry, he still was a good man. He just happened to have a crazy mother and a controlling grandfather. It didn’t seem fair to her that he should be losing his home over something so trivial as a business title. Even though the not-so-crazy part of her brain was telling her to run because he was bad news and to remember every OCD thing that he had done over the last couple months, she just couldn’t bring herself to be that cold-hearted. She preferred thinking that everyone deserved the benefit of doubt.

Karinne on the other hand, was observing the way they interacted. Jared tried to be aloof about Dahlia but she had seen the way that his eyes had lingered on her when they’d come in to meet him. It was clear to her that no matter what her brother said he was still attracted to the younger woman, even if he hadn’t realized it yet. She just prayed that whatever happened from here on out, things would turn out for the best.

He deserved some happiness. They both did.

With a sigh she leaned back against her seat, taking in their appearance as Jared leaned back casually against the booth, one arm still over the seat, over Dahlia who was still pink in the face and casting him nervous glances.

“Okay, so enough about sad stuff! How about you tell me this story about an old lady and a poop specimen?” she asked with a mischievous grin.

Jared scowled, looking down at Dahlia. “You told her the poop story?”

“Yeah. It was hilarious! How could I not!?”

He shook his head, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

“At least I didn’t tell her the bathroom story…”

“What’s the bathroom story?”

Jared groaned, knowing full well he was out of his element with the two women.

……

She stood before the mirror in her room.

Her room.

In her new five-bedroom, 2- car garage, four bathrooms house…

The person looking back didn't resemble her. The person in the mirror was someone she didn’t recognize. Sighing, she tugged the small veil over her face and gave herself a look over. She was ready.

He didn’t know whether he was making a mistake or not, but it was too late to go back out now. He tugged at his tie and looked at the time on his watch. She should’ve been here ten minutes ago… Maybe she changed her mind? That was fine with him. He wasn’t so sure he wanted to go on with this either…

“Oh wow.”

Jared looked up from his watch to see her walking into the room. All of twenty-six years old, wearing a slim, form fitting hobo white dress and a small veil over her face.

He stared at her.

The front of the dress was high, ran across her shoulders to her neck. Small flowy lace cap sleeves fell on her shoulders. She turned briefly to close the door behind her and he noticed that although the dress was very modest in the front, there was a plunging ‘V' in the back which fell to a couple inches above her waist. The bottom was lace and satin with some designs he couldn’t make out, until she got closer and he realized they were small roses. It looked like a garden in white, sparkling and delicate.

He extended his hand out to her, helping her up the last three steps to where the judge was.

“Wow.” That was from Alex, her best friend, and the only person she'd invited to attend the ceremony. High school friends, they'd kept in touch over the years, it seemed he was the only one she kept in contact with mainly even if they did talk every three months or so.

As for Jared, his sister Karinne was the one attending. She was the only one he trusted not to divulge his secrets to the world and especially not to his mother. He would eventually face her wrath some other time.

Still holding on to her hand, he faced her. He could see her staring at him through her veil. It was hard to tell what she may be feeling at the moment, her face was calm, her eyes wary, although her mouth was set in a brief smile, he could tell it was almost forced. He didn’t mention it.

“We are gathered here today to witness the union of these two individuals…”

He didn’t even pay attention to what the judge kept saying. They were asked to repeat some words, to make some promises…

“Do you, Jared, take this woman to become your lawfully wedded wife…?”

“I do.”

“Do you, Dahlia, take this man to become your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do.”

“By the power vested in me and according to the laws of this state, I now declare you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.”

Jared could feel his hands trembling a bit. This was weird, this was different, this was something he had not expected to happen in his lifetime at all. He lifted her veil over her head and let it drop over the back to cover her hair. She looked at him from under her eyelashes, a small blush covered her cheeks.

He almost wanted to laugh. He was about to kiss his nursing supervisor. How did that happen? How did it get to this?

Placing one hand on her waist, the other under her chin, he tipped her face upward slightly and leaned down.

He was no romantic. He had very brief experience with women— some of it not so great— not for the lack of trying but just because he had always been so busy to explore during his youth.

He leaned down, saw her eyes flutter shut, and gave her a warm peck on the lips. It was more of a brush, just the touch of lips, nothing further than a simple, clean kiss. When he opened his eyes, hers were still closed, small tear rolling down her right cheek.

Was it wrong? Had she hated it that much?

She opened her eyes, face flushed, and gave him a small quivering smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

“Congratulations! Dahlia, Jared...” they pulled apart, as Alex and Karinne congratulated them.

……

...Four months later...

“Ok. Tell me now, what’s wrong with you?”

He stared at her from behind his glasses.

"You've been quiet lately," she started, and he shrugged. He really wasn’t in the greatest of moods. "Yeah, I've noticed. I'm not dumb. I just choose to keep the comments to myself." He took a sip of his coffee and shrugged again.

"Are you going to tell me what's going on?”

"My mother is coming to see us."

"You mean see you.”

"No, I mean us."

"What do you mean? Your roommate, too?"

"She is coming to see her son and his new wife, wife. It's not every day the oldest, forever single, rebellious son gets married."

She frowned. "I thought we said we were doing this whole marriage thing to appease your family, settle the house thing, and just, I don't know, have someone to talk to. "

“Yeah, but they're not appeased. Now my mother wants to meet you and make sure that their new daughter-in-law is not some crazy gold digger looking to take all my money."

She scoffed. “Oh, please. I don't need your money, Jared. Remember? That was another reason that I promised to help you. To save you from all those gold-digging bimbos you like to keep the company of."

Rolling his eyes, he said, "They're not bimbos, but that's beyond the point. My mother is coming to our house and she wants to meet you. Apparently, sending them pictures of us together was not enough to please them. They want to make sure I didn't Photoshop you somehow."

Dahlia put down the book she was reading to stare at him.

It was August and they been married for four months, living in the same house and pretending that they were a couple for his grandfather. Outside of the house, like at work, they continued to act like nothing had changed. She was still nursing supervisor and he was still the doctor who would occasionally piss her off even though he was a little bit nicer since the whole shebang happened.

Sometimes, it wasn’t just at work that he’d make her angry, but at home, too. There were some days that he was extra insufferable and it followed him home, making her want to pull her hair out. On those days she’d hide in her room just so she didn’t have to deal with him. Thank God the house was big enough that if they didn’t want to see each other they didn’t have to. They had learned to work it through and he’d learned to apologize. Sometimes.

She wondered if the only reason that this marriage was working out was because A, it wasn’t real and B, he was hardly ever home. She realized the latter after the first two weeks when he’d be out late after work, getting home at midnight or after midnight almost every other day. He either had meetings and dinners, or some kind of celebration with his “friends” who also happened to involve a lot of the women reps that came around the clinic. Which reminded her...

“Did you hang out with that woman, Sherry, again last night?”

He raised an eyebrow at her. “Why do you ask?”

“Because I dislike her. She’s also trying to get into your pants.” She gritted her teeth, trying to remain calm. “Also, because she really hates me and treats me like total crap whenever she sees me. Did you tell her anything about our ...situation?”

“Why should I? It’s not her business. She’s just like that.”

“Hmm.” Dahlia looked away angrily. “You didn’t even turn her down the other day. I had to meet your sister and husband alone for dinner. Didn’t you remember?”

“I, uh, forgot actually. Her invitation for that presentation had also been in place since like the beginning of February. I had already said that I'd come.” He frowned as he stared at her face. She appeared angry, had he hurt her feelings? He hadn’t thought she would be hurt by his decision. He could clearly see that she didn’t like Sherry at all, and he made a mental note to try to avoid the woman. Dahlia was right, however— Sherry was trying to get into his pants. Ha. “I’ll try not to do that again. I’m sorry.”

She sighed and looked at him again. “I don’t want to meet your mother. I feel horrible. I’m sure that she’s aware that this marriage is all because of what your grandfather wanted. It's awkward. What am I supposed to say or do?”

“I don’t know.”

“Jared! Then why is she coming over? You know how I feel about these situations!” She was starting to feel queasy with all these news.

“What the hell should I do about my mother who never listens? Dahlia, did you think I wanted to be in this situation? You knew it would happen eventually. You had your chance at the beginning.” Jared grumbled, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “We’re just going to have to deal with it. That was part of the bargain.”

Dahlia glared at him, saying nothing. She knew he was right, but that didn’t mean she would be whoop-de-doo happy about the whole situation. She had begun dreading a meeting with the woman ever since she’d listened in on a conversation he was having with her on the phone. She was mean, vicious, and if she loved her son at all, she had a very funny way of showing it.

She stood up, grabbing her book, deciding it was time for bed.

“I’m going to bed now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Are you walking away from the conversation?”

“I need some space to calm down.”

“I... Fine, we’ll talk about this tomorrow.”

“Goodnight,” she replied as she turned and walked away from him.

Jared leaned back against the couch, staring into space. His mother hadn’t even arrived yet and she was causing problems. He knew it was bad news, she was always bad news! He would just have to figure out a way to keep his mother from terrorizing Dahlia, even though he knew it would be nearly impossible.

He looked towards the doorway where Dahlia had disappeared through. For some reason, he felt like there was something more beyond Sherry that bothered her. He tried to give her space, to keep her freedom to do and go wherever she wanted as he did, but he’d seen the looks she’d get whenever she ran into one of this women friends at work. She seemed to shrink into herself and then ignore him for the rest of the day. On a couple of occasions, he’d found her still awake in the living room watching TV or reading, when he’d come home late. She'd look at him almost with some underlying anger, but she wouldn’t tell him anything or reproach him. 

This was new.

He groaned, rubbing his tired eyes. This was complicated, and he wished he knew what crossed her mind because most of the time she was a closed book.  

...