Lucas sighed aloud and simply steered her past the door and down the hallway. “Amy you will be my wife in a few days. I’m not only taking you as a wife on paper. We’ll live together, sleep together and be together in every way that a husband and wife are meant to be. I will only marry once. You will be provided for very well and in turn I expect to be taken care of. You will share my bed,” he once again spoke in that voice that brooked no room for argument.
She was suddenly very alert and seething mad. She was getting really sick and tired of him throwing his weight around and just expecting her to follow along with everything that he demanded.
“Okay Lucas, I’ve accepted that we are to be married and I plan on doing my ‘wifely duties,’ but for the next few days I’m not your wife and I would like to enjoy my apartment before my jail sentence begins,” she said to him, wanting to strike out and hurt him.
She had the opposite effect of angering him. Lucas had to keep from smiling at her. If she saw that then she would think he was laughing at her, which in a way he was. He was thinking he was going to definitely enjoy his marriage. He wouldn’t have been happy with some woman who catered to his every whim. He had enough people willing to do that. He liked that his future wife had a strong personality and felt a desire to fight him. He knew that he wouldn’t get bored with her ever.
He knew he could push the issue and she would stay with him but he also knew to win the war was far more important than to win each and every battle. He’d put her through the wringer already and her health was far more important than anything else. He would let her have this one.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way. It will make the honeymoon that much better,” he said as he led her back down to her door. Just as she was about to go through the open doorway he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, long and hard. Let her think about what she would be missing out on tonight he thought as he noticed her swoon.
He walked away feeling pretty good about himself. That was until he got into his apartment, alone and in need of release. He sighed as he turned his shower faucet to cold and prepared himself for a hell of a long week.
Chapter Eight
“Breathe Amy, just breathe.” She felt like she was about to hyperventilate as she stood in the dressing room inside the huge mansion. She’d spent the morning being pampered for her wedding day.
Her hair was up in a bun with curls cascading down her neck and face. Her make-up had been expertly applied to erase the dark circles and highlight her eyes and mouth. Her nails were extended and painted. She didn’t even feel like herself. They’d just put her in the most magnificent dress she’d ever seen and she was staring in the mirror at a stranger. Who was the girl gazing back at her? They had thankfully given her a few blessed minutes to calm herself, which she was grateful for.
“It’s time Amy,” she heard Joseph say softly. That was enough to make her turn her head. She’d never heard him speak without his normal booming tenor. He looked so handsome in his tuxedo.
She definitely knew who the boys got their great looks from. He was so alike and yet so different from Lucas.
Joseph had great looks and had aged well. The biggest difference between Joseph and Lucas were their eyes. Lucas’s eyes were always so focused and determined, where Joseph’s had laugh lines around them and always seemed to sparkle. He seemed to be so much more relaxed and at ease. She wondered if he’d been that way his whole life or if there was a time he’d held that same focused look as his son.
Joseph walked up and kissed her on the cheek. “I’m so glad to finally have a daughter in the family. You’re beautiful inside and out,” he wrapped his large arms around her for a gentle hug.
Those words meant so much to her. He would never know how much she needed to be included in a loving family. She would give up any amount of money to be loved the way Joseph loved his children. She was getting just a piece of that now and didn’t ever want to let it go.
“I know that your own father isn’t here and I wanted to say that I would be more than honored if you would allow me to walk you down the aisle this afternoon,” he said with some tears in his eyes.
Amy’s eyes were burning, as she replied to his kind offer. “It would be my honor to have you escort me. You’re the kind of father I always dreamed of having.” She couldn’t say anything further because she got entirely too choked up as she looked into his kind eyes. He pulled her close for a hug and she clung to him, hoping he would never let her go. She’d been so careful in her years to not get too attached to people, yet in a few short months she loved Lucas’s entire family.
“Now, now, you don’t want to get all teary eyed and ruin that makeup. I don’t think my son could handle any delays. He’s already pacing up and down the hallway. The preacher just led him to his spot at the altar,” Joseph chuckled.
Amy took one final look in the mirror and then took a deep breath, “I’m ready,” she said. She took Josephs arm as he led her out of the room. Amy heard the music begin as they stepped through the doorway.
She gasped and the only thing that kept her from running was Joseph gripping her arm. “I thought only a few people would be here,” she whispered to him.
“Now Amy, don’t be frightened. My oldest son’s finally getting married and we couldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings by not including them in the affair,” he said to her, making her feel some guilt about not wanting all the strangers staring at her.
Amy took a deep breath and felt the nerves running through her entire body as they took the first steps down the beautifully made aisle. She looked straight ahead because she feared if she faced the stranger’s faces she would turn around and run.
Suddenly she spotted Lucas at the end of the aisle, just a short distance from her. He took her breath away with how beautiful of a man he was. Their eyes met and held. He gave her a smile that seemed to tell her everything would be okay.
Amy felt like the wind had been knocked out of her. She stopped to catch her breath. Joseph looked at her quizzically, but she didn’t notice. She didn’t notice anything but the way her body was quivering.
She was in love with him. She loved him so much she couldn’t imagine her life without him. He was going to be her husband and he didn’t love her. She didn’t know how she was going to get through the wedding. She didn’t know how she could be with him every single day, making love and raising a child and knowing he didn’t love her. She was barely holding herself together.