Marry. Ride. Love.

It had to be enough

*Valentino*

I watched Isabella sweep across the dance floor with Pierre. She was the absolute center of the party and if I was honest, that had never happened to me before. Whenever I was anywhere, I was the center of attention.

But here, she clearly was.

I could understand it. She looked stunning in that dress and her laugh was even more beautiful. She filled the whole room with it while Pierre spun her.

It was a beautiful laugh and I was really sorry that her father had dragged her here. I was pretty sure by now that he had lured her with something, too. Just like he had lured me with the money.

He just had to have her with something in hand. Why else would she have rushed into marriage with such a much older man, who hadn't even thought it necessary to get to know her before the wedding.

She broke away from Pierre laughing and came in my direction. Immediately, panic rose in me. I didn't know what to talk to her about. I was not ready for it. So I got up a little hastily and walked over to Franky and Bez, who were standing drinking at a table with Bez's girlfriend Chiara.

"Hey, there he is! The lucky husband!" laughed Franky, putting his arm around my shoulder.

"She's really cute." said Chiara, leaning against Bez.

"You still seem everything but happy.", Bez said, bumping his glass against mine.

"I feel sorry for her.", I mumbled and took a big gulp of my whiskey "I mean...", but that's as far as I got, because Franky was smiling.

"Hey, are you drinking with us?" he asked past me.

Isabella stood next to me and nodded "Well, I haven't had my introduction drink yet." she laughed.

"Well, you've just had quite a bit to drink with your friends. We wanted to go easy on you," Bez grinned.

"Trust me, I just sweated it all out again with Pierre on the dance floor. This dress is killing me, I'll be glad when I'm finally out of it."

Franky picked up a glass and filled it before sliding it over to her "Welcome to the family and believe me, around here a dress like that is really impractical too." he toasted her.

A smile brushed her lips, then she drank with Franky.

I felt her looking at me from the side, but as before, I avoided her gaze. It was easier if I kept expectations as low as possible for both of us.

She and I would never be what was expected of a married couple. I was sure it would just be difficult. I had no illusions about that at all.

We came from completely different backgrounds, were basically even two different generations.

She came from the rich family. Her father had certainly cleared all the paths she had wanted to take.

I knew what hard work meant. Yes, my dad was a racer too, but we had always had to work anyway.

Her father could buy her whatever she wanted. And if it was a husband, then that too.

Whereby I wasn't sure if she had really chosen this, or if she had rather ended up here because her father had forced her. But he had certainly promised her nice things if she got involved. I knew he must have had something out of this, too.

My name still attracted some people. It would certainly pay off for him, and it would certainly pay off for her.

Maybe that had been her incentive.

She would always be associated with me. She now carried my last name.

That was certainly helpful for her job. That is, if she had one and wasn't just living the life of a daughter who had a well-off father.