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Chapter Ten
“You know when they say stranger things have happened?” Alice said, as she stood beside Arabelle and they watch Mickey working in the garden. “They meant this.”
Arabelle turned her head and stared at Alice. For the life of both of them, they couldn’t understand what had overcome Silas that he had ordered Mickey to plant red roses in his other flowerless garden. Alice had said she had never seen anything like it from Silas. Mickey was gobsmacked himself, but he was following his boss’s instruction which had been delivered quite grumpily, Mickey informed them. And for her, it was the hardest thing in the universe to understand.
Flowers in his garden. It didn’t go with his personality.
A few days had passed since her meeting with Everleigh. Arabelle had finally gotten around to opening the wedding gift baskets Everleigh had given her. No wonder she had giggled when she handed over the boxes. The first box contained a beautiful frame with a note to capture her first love. The second box contained extravagant bath salts and bubble baths. But the third box wasn’t a conventional wedding gift at all.
Arabelle found bags of edible panties. Crotchless lingerie, nipple tassels, bunny ears, and loads of lubricant. She also found dildos and remote-operated sex toys.
Arabelle had giggled to herself over the last one, not that she would use any of it. Since losing her virginity her body had changed somehow. She had tried to touch herself once but the yearning to feel Silas’ touch instead had overridden the desire she had tried to create for herself. He had ruined her in more ways than one.
She had also tried her best to continue doing what she needed to do to stay sane. And Silas continued to ignore her. She might as well have stayed home, and their marriage might have worked out even better.
Giving up on reading, she set aside her worn copy of Tess of the D'Urbervilles and stared out the window at the setting sun.
It was the night of Silas’ business dinner, the one he had warned her to stay up in the room for the length of its duration.
She tried to reason that it was a business thing, and of course, she shouldn’t have to be there, but the way he had said it, made it sound like she embarrassed him. She couldn’t help but feel slighted over the whole thing.
She had even asked Alice her opinion and Alice agreed that the wife was always present if the dinner was being hosted in her house, whether it was a business affair or not. She also reasoned maybe Silas was too accustomed to his bachelor ways to adapt to his new marital status. But Arabelle knew the truth. He wanted her hidden. Like a dirty little secret.
The sky had turned a magnificent shade of magenta as the sun started to set. Her attention was snagged from the beauty of the sky when a car pulled into the driveway, indicating that his guests were arriving.
A smartly dressed, very attractive man climbed out of the car. He looked around then up, but Arabelle knew he couldn't have seen her spying on him from the window upstairs.
Another car, this time what seemed to be a husband and wife. Were they both business associates, or was one spouse just accompanying the other because that’s what married people did?
She had counted a total of twelve people already, but it was the thirteenth guest that sent weird vibrations down her spine.
The first thing she saw was a stretch of female leg so long and shapely it could only belong to a supermodel. And then the woman came into view and Arabelle gasped. She was the quintessential model type. Tall, sleek, the symmetry of her dress suited the lines of her body as if a magic wand had been waved and the fabric layered over her like a second skin. The dress wasn’t ostentatious. It was stunningly simple yet she knew it would have cost as much as a luxury car if not more. Long blond hair was turned up into a coiffured style that set her long neck on display.
She reminded Arabelle of Silas’ house sans the red roses he had instructed be planted everywhere in his garden. Sleek, luxurious, sophisticated. She reminded Arabelle of the type of woman that Silas would touch, kiss, laugh with and take to bed, drag his lips down her body. Worship her. They would make perfect babies together.
She swallowed but the sudden lump in her throat made the common task painful. She closed her eyes and yet again knew she should leave. Pack her things and just go. The only reason he kept her there was to control her. He married her so he owned her, like an ornament that someone had given him at a warehouse sale and one that didn’t go with his lifestyle, his heart.
The woman who had stepped out of the car was what he wanted. Everleigh had been right. He only dated supermodels and she was only being kind when she complimented Arabelle.
She watched until the woman disappeared through the door before she realized a tear had slid down her cheek.
She tried to pick up her book again. It didn’t work. She swapped it for her copy of Pride and Prejudice and that too failed to keep her occupied. Her mind exploded with scenarios of Silas and the model, laughing together. He would smile at her because she was beautiful.
When she put the book down, she caught a glimpse of the velvet box he had given her and then ordered her to wear the ring.
For the first time, she opened it. A blue diamond set in platinum stared back at her. She knew that the cut of such a diamond would cost multiple millions of dollars. She should have been awed but all she saw was Silas’s hand, the one where he wore his ring traveling up the silk smooth thigh of his supermodel as he pinned her to a wall.
She couldn’t stand it anymore. She wanted to throw things and scream. She was tired of trying to make the most of a hopeless situation. She had tried her best to resume her life despite the boulder of change she dragged around her since getting married.
She slipped the ring onto her finger. It fit with such clear perfection, it felt as if it were made for her specifications only.
But having that ring on her finger seemed to stir the fight in her. She wasn’t going to remain complacent anymore. She wasn’t going to stay in the shadows, hidden because Silas didn’t want her there.
She stripped off her clothes, quivering with excitement and anxiety. She took a quick and brisk shower, scrubbing her skin until she glowed.
She stepped into the walk-in closet then without hesitating she picked out a shimmering gold dress, the last one Monique had gotten her.
The dress didn’t require underwear and she wasn’t going to force the issue either. Using her scented lotion, she rubbed it into her skin, curled her long hair then stepped into the garment. It felt like flimsy gold paper on her body. Deep slits ran down both sides of her thighs and the hem reached just above her knees. Thin straps ran over her shoulders and the dress dipped in the center of her chest to showcase her cleavage. She’d always had a handful of breasts and a bit more, but at least they were still perky enough that she could forego wearing a bra.
