Marriage by Law
N.K. Pockett
Dedication
To my mother, whose grey hairs I probably caused;
to my father, who will probably have a heart attack thanks to me;
and my brother, for putting up with the fact that I am clearly the more beautiful child.
CHAPTER ONE
Six Months Ago
“What are you talking about?” I whispered as I hurried down Collins Street. It was lunchtime, and everyone on the street was either businessmen or tourists, and trying not to bump into anyone was quite a workout. The last thing you wanted to do was bump into one; I was sure the malicious glare they would give me would haunt me to my grave.
“I swear it was him, Iv. Just check it out,” Rose said in a rushed voice grabbing my arm, trying to make me slow down, as she followed behind me. I scoffed, rolling my eyes. Where did she even hear this rumor, the rumor mill? This wasn’t high school to still believe the rumours like I once did. And James would never do something like this; we’ve been together for nearly four years and now, out of the blue, she tells me he’s been cheating on me the whole time? I highly doubt that.
I am sure I can tell if my boyfriend has been cheating on me for four goddamn years.
James wasn’t like that; he would never do this.
“Rosemarie, wherever you heard this from, it’s wrong. James isn’t like this. You have the wrong person.”
I shook my head. In a week’s time it would finally be our fourth year anniversary and he had something planned out as a surprise. No matter how many times I said it, it was true; there was no way James would cheat on me.
I trusted him.
“If he wanted to dump me, he would have three years ago,” I added, shrugging her hold off me as I hurried to the tram stop checking the time.
Rose sighed, trying to reach for my arm again as I moved out of the way as people hurried off the tram. School holidays had just finished and school kids with their big bags were everywhere, with three times the amount of noise on public transport.
I climbed onto the tram after Rose, hearing the teacher tell them about the city and smiled. I remembered when I had city experience years ago, and James was with me then as well. I moved to the corner, avoiding the wet ground from all the rain outside. Winter was coming, and it was coming fast.
“He wouldn’t have dumped you,” said Rose quietly after a few minutes while I was scrolling down my phone.
“What?” I asked, momentarily confused before I realised what she was talking about. Was she still going on about this stupid rumor?
“Exactly. He wouldn’t, just like he wouldn’t cheat on me,” I said shaking my head. Will she let this topic go? Finally, she realised what she was talking about.
“No, he wouldn’t dump you because you’re beautiful, rich, and let’s not forget your parents make it very clear that the heir to their business, your future husband, inherits everything. No one in their clear minds would give that up” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.
I looked at her and how serious her face looked. There was doubt at the back of my mind. Rose has been my friend longer than James has been my boyfriend, why would she lie to me? And she can’t be telling the truth. James only dated me for my fame and wealth?
He wasn’t like that. James was an orphan. He told me that when I first met him. He had no one and he definitely didn’t need money; he made that very clear to me before I dated him. Maybe Rose was just looking out for me? I know she’s wrong, but maybe I just proved to her she was wrong. The poor girl has some absurd idea stuck in her head. It’s hard to believe, I guess in a way I was acting like how she acted when I told her that her latest crush was a jerk. She didn’t want to listen to me till I showed her.
“Fine,” I muttered as she smiled.
There was a bond between James and I. Lately things haven’t been going great but four years together, we loved each other, right?
Just because we fought more often recently, or he has been acting a bit like an obnoxious jerk, doesn’t mean we just forget about all the good times that we had. Something in the back of my head was telling me to check him out.
“Text him.”
“Why?” I asked, biting my lip. It was lunchtime; he was probably busy working and I didn’t want to disturb him.
“Just do it and ask him where he is.”
I shook my head sighing but complied, taking out my phone. I knew where he was, interstate on a business trip. I knew this because he was coming back tonight and wanted to meet me first thing tomorrow morning.
I scrolled till I found his name and sent him a text.
Hey, where are you?
xxIvy
“Done,” I said, showing her. She smiled, tapping her fingers on the pole she was holding onto-a thing she does when nervous. My phone vibrated seconds later and I smiled. He always took his time to reply to me.
Coming back home,