Accidentally Married

“Jessica was kidnapped today”

“What?” Leslie said the spoon in her hand dropping to the plate. Her husband had come home and was so quiet. She just assumed he must have had a rough day at work. She prepared a light meal and the opening line for their dinner discussion was this?

“What do you mean?” she pressed further when he said nothing to follow up the statement he had just dropped on her. He kept putting the food in his mouth and chewing ever so slowly.

“Brian? What are you talking about?” she asked again when her husband was not seeming to tell her everything.

“I just thought to let you know, I know you will get to hear from Jessica too” he answered before taking a sip of the water in the cup in front of him.

“So has she been found?” she asked worried. She could feel the way her forehead creased as she spoke.

“Yes, as when last I spoke with Brian he said that they were on their way to the house from the hospital” he explained.

Leslie wondered how he was so calm while telling her this situation. Did it not seem like a situation that called for immediate action?

“The hospital?” she gasped. “Was she hurt?” she continued. Brian almost regretted telling her because of the way she was reacting but he knew that she would hound him for not telling her when he knew.

“I need to call Jessica,” she said standing up abruptly, the hair screeching as it moved from behind her.

“Can you at least finish your dinner?” he asked as his eyes met hers.

“I will have it later”

“I am sure she must have been startled from the events of today so why don’t we let her rest up and then you can go see her tomorrow”

“She would be trying to rest up now right?” she asked slipping back into the chair and dragging it behind her to get closer to the table.

“Yes, the doctor must have given her something and she must be in recovery now,”

“I must go see her first thing tomorrow morning” she announced like she was daring someone to challenge her as regards her decisions.

“Sure, you do that” Brian replied before taking a sip of the water again.

Leslie eyed him up and down, how could he be so calm after delivering such news? How could he even deliver such so casually?

“How do you like the meal?” she asked sarcastically.

“You did a great job, I can not stop eating” he responded unable to catch up on the sarcasm she was throwing at him.

“Ugh,” she exclaimed which made his head lift quickly to her.

“What?” he asked quickly his hand shooting out to her face.

“It’s nothing, I am just so frustrated that I have to wait so long before I can know what’s up with Jessica” she answered eyeing him again.

“I wonder what happened” she murmured as she picked up her spoon back to scoop the soup in the plate in front of her.

Xavier strictly forbade Jessica from entering the kitchen to prepare dinner.

“I am fine, I am sure I can whip something up real quick” she protested when he tried to hold her in place to stop her from moving away.

“I know you are fine but you can not be standing on that leg,” he said pointing to her ankle.

“I would stand only when necessary there are a lot of seats in the kitchen too” she continued.

“If you do more trust any of the staff with your meal how about we order in then?” he said changing the course of the conversation.

He could not believe how stubborn she was about cooking a meal. They had sat there in the living room chair going back and forth about the cooking situation. He had managed to convince her to accept the bodyguards but there was something else she was not comfortable with. She was a different brand entirely and he could not deny it.

“It’s not that I do not trust them” she started when her eyes caught the eyes of Abgel as she passed by the hallway.

“See now you have made me feel bad and like I am the bad person” she added as she bent her head.

“I trust all the members of staff of the house and they can cook a meal for me but I always find it enjoyable when I cook for you,” she told him.

He cleared his throat to hide his smile. Hearing that the reason she was so adamant about cooking was because she wanted to cook for him warmed his heart but there was no way he would allow her to stress herself after all she went through.

“Okay then if that be the case I want to order Chinese food from Liston’s restaurant,” he said. “What I crave the most today is the meal from there” he added.

She narrowed her eyes at him and made a strange sound with her mouth. “You are only saying that because you do not want me to cook. I know you do not like Liston” she said and he looked like a child caught stealing.

“Says who?” he said trying to compose himself immediately.

“You had a beef with him on the day of Alicia’s party and when I mentioned his name at the house we stayed at Aurora Haven you flared up and refused to eat the meal,” she said laying out her evidence.

When she put it out there he knew there was no way he could deny it now. It was so glaring that he did not like him.

“I did not react that way because I did not like him,” he said trying to vindicate himself. Liston was not a close friend of his but was still his friend anyway.

“So?”

“He had eyes for you and was lusting after you all night and then you went ahead to make mention of him as if me seeing him lust after you was not enough torture”

“Does this mean you have had feelings for me for a very long time?”