331 Mrs. Fort

For a while after the dance, everyone wanted a dance with Zaria and suddenly, Desmond couldn’t get his wife to himself. To say he was jealous was an understatement, especially when the male guests kept telling her how lovely she looked—not that they were exaggerating it.

When he finally had the chance, he pulled her away to the ocean view balcony closest to them and sat her down on the lounge chair, earning her laughter.

“Des, it’s a wedding. Everyone will want to dance with us. Have I mentioned how many women have asked you to dance?” She pointed out.

“Mostly ones with daughters your age, who don’t mind offering them to me as mistresses.” He rested an arm against the railing, laughing when she sat up straight like she was ready for violence.

“What did you just say? Who said that? I will claw her eyes out before doing the same for her daughter.”

“I’m just kidding.” He laughed. “No one would be so disrespectful at a wedding.”

She couldn’t be so certain. Some people were too shameless to consider their environment before making inappropriate jokes. She had invited some of the employees of Preston and Fort Group that she was close to, and one of them had brought his mother along, who found it appropriate to tell her that marriage didn’t always work out and she was free to ask for a divorce if she and Desmond were not compatible.

It was great advice to give to a couple whose marriage was on the rocks, not ones who were just getting married! Oh, and by the way, she knew a great divorce attorney whose business card she had slipped to Zaria when no one was looking.

Deciding not everyone was ready to enjoy a wedding without being salty, she ignored the woman’s advice and said, “I still can’t believe we are married. Do you think this is just a dream and I will wake up to find I dreamed the entire thing including the proposal? Heck, what if our entire relationship is a dream as well, and I wake up to find we don’t even know each other? Maybe I read an article about you and triggered this super-long and realistic dream.”

.....

“Don’t even think about it.” He took a seat beside her and rubbed her belly. “This can never be a dream. If it does happen to be one, let me sleep forever because I’m living the best days of my life.”

She closed her eyes, taking in a waft of cold air that blew their way.

Desmond, on the other hand, took it as his cue to take off his coat, put it around her and suggest they go back inside.

“Not you too,” she complained. Everyone was treating her like a fragile piece of glass. They all knew a little cold wind couldn’t affect her, especially when she liked to spend her time on cold nights on the balcony. Even so, her brand-new husband was determined to bundle her in a blanket if he had to. Their blanket battle came to an abrupt halt when they heard a voice from nearby,

“Isn’t the view lovely?”

“Angela?” Zaria was shocked to see the woman she had not met in months. She glanced at Desmond questioningly and when she met his shock that mirrored her own, she knew he did not invite her here either. Then how did she come in?

Desmond’s forehead creased. They should never have expected Alyssa to maintain the peace. The first chance she got, she had brought his ex-girlfriend who wouldn’t just jump at the first chance to ruin the wedding, but she would also enjoy doing it.

It was as if Angela knew what was going on in Desmond’s mind because she forced a laugh. “You can relax. I’m not here to cause a scene. Besides, what would it benefit me if I ruined your wedding? You are already married. Not that you would consider getting back together with me if you weren’t.”

Desmond looked her up and down skeptically. He did not believe a word that came out of her mouth. Those words that sounded like her self-realization might very well be her attempt at getting them to lower their guards before she did something much worse than anything she had ever done.

“What do you want, Angela?” Zaria stood from the chaise to face her.

“I just want to see my daughter.” She faced Zaria, “You are going to be a mother soon too, you understand how I feel, right?”

Zaria felt the need to protect her baby at the mere mention of it from Angela’s mouth. She tilted her body to be closer to Desmond and retorted. “No, I don’t. I love my baby. I would never use someone else for my selfish benefits, especially not my child, so I would never understand how you feel.”

Angela shrugged as though she had expected that kind of response. “I understand why you would put it that way. But Zaria, I love my daughter. A day hasn’t gone by that I haven’t missed her, wished we were still together and hoped the two of you could allow me to see her again.”

Zaria glanced at Desmond quietly. If she loved her daughter so much, how could the court decide to give her and Desmond full custody of Rosaly? If she was a good mother or if she tried at the very least, the court would have favored her for being the mother and the parent who had spent most of the child’s life with her. However, Rosaly had preferred to be with her dad despite missing her mother.

Desmond finally spoke up, “you are her mother, and I know you will simply cause trouble if I say no to your request.”

“Des!” Zaria warned in a whisper. She would never be against a mother’s reunion with her child but this particular mother was a selfish woman who would not care about her daughter nearly as much as she cared about herself. Rosaly would suffer the most from this arrangement. Desmond held her hand to reassure her as he continued his negotiation with Angela.

“However, I will not make it easy for you. You have to prove that you care about her. I also have to be certain you are not trying to use her against us. Which means, no monkey business. Aside from that, you have to respect my marriage and not try to use visitation as a way to get close to me or turn Rosaly against us. Only if all the conditions are met will we allow you visitation time—under strict supervision.”

He thought she would scowl at them for the strict conditions, but she was overjoyed.

“Thank you.” She smiled and left the balcony, leaving them to continue their battle.

Zaria was no longer in the mood for it, too puzzled by what had just happened.

“What if she is working with someone against us? What if the first chance she gets to see Rosaly is the one she uses to hurt her?”

She didn’t believe she was thinking such things about a child’s biological mother but with Angela’s track record, not only was that possible, but it was also highly likely.

Desmond pulled her closer to assure her. “She can try whatever she wants to try but this time, I will be ready. She will never hurt you or our kids.”

She tiptoed and kissed him on his cheek.

“What was that for?” He chuckled.

“Saying ‘our kids’.” He still had a frown on his face so she rolled her eyes. “Never mind if you don’t get it. Hey, let’s go back to the reception. It will soon be time for our grand takeoff.”

So they went back to the reception party. As expected, everyone was waiting for them and as soon as they arrived, Natalie shoved the wedding bouquet back into her hands.

historical

“It’s time for the grand toss.”

“This is going to be fun,” Lucy remarked, standing on the sidelines. She wanted nothing to do with the bouquet—but that didn’t mean Theodore wasn’t going to tease her about it.

“Don’t you want to be forced to kiss me?”

She rolled her eyes. “If it was something as mild as a kiss, I would be up for it. But having a garter put on me in a crowd is not something that interests me.” She lowered her voice. “Besides, who needs good luck to get married?”

He blinked in confusion. Was she implying that she could marry him any second of any day?

She had not said any such thing but the way she looked at him.. maybe he was imagining it, he thought. But Lucy was the queen of saying things that sounded perfectly platonic with that flirtatious gaze that he couldn’t be so certain even after all these years. He probably needed an expert to be able to understand whether or not she was secretly wishing for him to ask for her hand.

On the other hand, Zaria glanced through the females gathered around for the bouquet toss and frowned. “Where’s Ximena?”

“I haven’t seen her for a while,” Natalie answered.

She knitted her brows. “Guys, give me a second.” She said, then she ran out to look for her friend. There was no way Ximena would want to miss this part of the wedding.

But if she knew what she was going to walk into, she would have simply waited for Ximena to show up on her own or proceeded to toss the bouquet without her.