“Cook is on call and awaits your dinner request.” I shook my head putting my hand on my stomach.
“Oh no! I’m still full from lunch, I think I’m just going to take a quick shower and lay down.” He nodded his head.
“Alright, if you need anything just press two on your phone and it will connect you to me.” I smiled at him.
“Thank you so much for all your help.” And I really meant that. The poor man had not blinked one eye as he was dragged from store to store. He returned my smile.
“It was no problem.”
I closed the bedroom door and leaned against it as I took in the room. He had stacked all my bags neatly against the wall next to the doors that led to the closet and the bathroom area. I would just leave them there so that when I was gone Gabe could return all that stuff and get his money back. Stacy had spent a small fortune on it.
I shook my head. That kind of spending was so wasteful to me. That money could’ve taken care of the bank and secured the farm for me.
The farm!
I exhaled. Over the last few weeks since I’ve been here in New York, I haven’t allowed myself to think about my farm. It had been in my family for generations. I got my curse, which is my beauty from my pa-pa’s side of the family. But my gift, I got from my granny’s side of the family. Our jams, jellies, and pastries were a best seller in Sweetwater.
Each year our berry pies won first place at the Perish Fair. I missed baking. I missed taking care of my berry groves. I missed William, Ms. Willa Mae’s bipolar bull that always found his way on our property. I miss my pa-pa, I miss my farm. I walked toward the closet on a mission. I may not be able to go home, but I could go back south. New York wasn’t for me. I needed to go back to where people were simpler and less wasteful.
However, about an hour later I sat on the foot of his big bed defeated. I searched the room from top to bottom and couldn’t find my bag anywhere. Where could he have taken it?
His office!
Would I dare go in the man’s office? I don’t think so. He may have cameras or something in there. But if my bag is in there, I could grab it and be gone before he could do anything about it. I didn’t even know where his office was.
Why was I sitting here arguing with myself? Of course, I had to find his office. If not, I was going to find myself married to a complete stranger—an overbearing possessive stranger.
Casually, as if I was just taking a tour of the place, I discovered his office was not on the third level. There were only bedrooms on this floor. However, I found it on the second level at the end of the hall, just underneath his bedroom. When I first twisted the knob I was surprised to find that it wasn’t locked. I slipped in and quickly shut the door behind me.
His office was big and masculine. Like his bedroom, most of the furniture was made with dark mahogany wood and deep warm tones of burgundy and browns. I liked it! It was much homier in here than in his kitchen. There was a bookshelf filled with books on one wall and on the opposite wall was a small basketball rim. On the floor underneath the rim were three little basketballs. I didn’t waste any more time taking in the sights of his office. I needed to find my bag and get out.
Quickly, I searched through drawers that were big enough to hold my bag but found nothing. There were a few cabinets underneath the bookshelf but my bag was not there either. I looked around for a closet or something, but didn’t see one.
“Dang it! Where could he have stashed my bag?” I said to the empty room. Exhaling, I accepted defeat. He must have taken it with him. With slumped shoulders, I walked back to his bedroom—as the reality of what this meant settled in on me.
I was stuck here!
Dear God, could I actually be forced to marry this man?
Will I actually be forced to suffer the same fate my great-grandmother suffered?
I didn’t know. But what I did know for sure was that I was not going to be able to sleep in his bed. He was not here, and he couldn’t make me. When I was exploring the other bedrooms, I found a small little quaint bedroom toward the back that was just perfect for me. It probably belonged to a live-in-maid once upon a time. But it had an old charm to it that reminded me of home.
I transferred the lavender bath products that I had fallen in love with out of Gabe’s bathroom to the smaller bathroom in the room I had chosen. I wanted to take a shower but I had no clothes to change in.
My eyes fell on the bags that still rested against the wall. Stacy had insisted I buy night wear. Most of the things she had chosen were scandalous, but there was a pair of pajama’s that wasn’t that bad; a peach colored silk cami with a little pair of matching shorts.
Yeah, that would do just fine. When I finally slipped into bed, I laid awake for a while pondering over my future. But eventually I fell asleep, only to be plagued by nightmares. When Gabe had held me in his arms last night I felt so safe. How could that be? How could the same man I feared would destroy me make me feel safe?
Exhaling, I got out of bed. Stacy would be here at noon to take me to the hair salon and I needed to be ready. The first thing I noticed was that all the bags
