Alfonso's Bride

Wedding night- 3

Supper, wedding night.

"So...we are married now...How old are you now? Twenty-seven?" Alfonso tried to ease the tension that was caused by the silver clinking on the ceramic plates. He knew that if this was a scene from a movie at the theatre he was going to laugh but right now she looked like a cake about to breakdown and crumble. She looked like she would fall on the floor and cry till the off-white carpet dissolved.

She remained silent as she took a sip of her white wine. Well, she was terribly silent, probably scared to death by what would happen after the meal. Her hair fell gracefully on her shoulders but her pale skin and sharp eyes showed her fear clearly. They darted to him then back to her plate.

Slowly she forked a potato and placed it in her mouth chewing slowly.

Symptoms of stress- non. She was eating fine.
'At least one of them was not stressed' he thought.

She dropped her fork and held the steak of her chicken with her hands. Alfonso stopped eating and placed his cutlery down. He cleared his throat to catch her attention and luckily it did.

"Let me do that for you."

She pushed her plate towards him. Her father was the only one who had cut her meat and it bothered her now to see Sir Diego cutting the meat. It was a habit which her father loved and did with care.

Alfonso sliced the breast with ease, his muscles flexing when the knife sunk into the flesh. She watched as his fingers skilfully engulfed the handle of the knife. He did it effortlessly and the knife was handled gracefully firm yet loose. He stood up and went to her placed the plate carefully as if presenting a gift in front of her.

There was an awkward silence as he walked back to his place with his shoes making loud clucks as he strolled to his seat. He sat down and his eyes averted to Helena who was preoccupied with the food in her plate. He knew he shouldn't have married her but it was the only way -his father had said- to get on McAfee's good books.

His jaw tightened just as his sea blue eyes adopted an azure shade of blue as he thought of the mine. The company disgusted him so much. Ugh!

If they were going to spend the rest of their life together, then being hard on himself wouldn't help. It would just make the situation worse. He sighed and took a mouthful of the meat loaf on plate.
This marriage deserved to be in the Genius book of records for sure.
Splendid wedding!
A man's best dream wedding night.
Best Wedding romance.
Whichever was the title.

Helena picked up her napkin and her lips slowly, her expression was calm and she did all she could with ease even if her eyes sold her. They displayed fear and unease.

"Will you go to bed after the meal?" his voice was low but she almost choked as she dropped her napkin. Her lips parted as if she wanted to say something but nothing came out so she closed her mouth and sighed. He stared at her wanting her to respond.

Her lips were thin and only a couple of shades darker than her pale fragile skin. An image of Melanie hit him. God why hadn't he noticed, the two women were so much alike...only that Melanie was loud and jovial while Helena was quiet and... quiet still.

Melanie had been a year younger than him and beautiful... Just like...
No!
She had been beautiful and he saw a bright future ahead of them. Then she disappeared the day before their wedding leaving a sentence of blue ink on the long white sheet of paper, which had haunted him for for years now. That was bad.

It had hurt him very much much, but this could not hurt him, he was not into the marriage. If chance presented itself he knew that he too would not mind leaving a note next to Helena's bed then run to go and look for Melanie.

But that again would destroy the company, wouldn't it?

God, this was harder than he thought. An inaudible cuss escaped his lips and he thanked the heavens that the winds had not transmitted the vulgar to her. He wouldn't want to spoil her innocence especially now when she looked fragile in her blue nightwear. With ribbons from the collar of the dress hugging her neck as if holding onto dear life.

As if to brush away his thoughts he shook his head and stuffed a slice of chicken in his mouth.
"Will you show me the room...again," she almost whispered.

The sound of her voice shattering the silence almost made him jump out of his chair but he was wise enough not to create a scene.

"It would be my pleasure if you stayed for dessert. Strawberries and chocolate. What do you say?"

She nodded and rested on her seat. She looked young, way younger than her age and at that moment he knew that if on any day he forced her to bed he would look like a monster. She was attractive and all but right now she was probably thinking about that Peter monster who had stopped by to say 'hello' at their wedding.

Maybe if there was no Peter in her mind she would not mind to hit a romantic one night stand with him. Maybe get things hot before the divorce or something.
The thought was disturbing, and he shook his head and got back to focusing on her plate.

"Do I disturb you?" she asked her face expressionless.

Yes, a lot!

"No, why?" He asked a little unnerved by the fact that she had said At least something.

"You keep shaking your head as if in deep regret,"

"Regret- no. But I'm in deep thought. Just thought." He said just as the scullery maids in black dresses and white laces got in. They cleared the table and placed the dessert on it.

She picked up a strawberry and slowly dipped it in the melted chocolate before taking a bite.

"I... I love strawberries," she stated as a matter of fact and he smiled at her.

"Then I'll take you to the forest one day, these are wild ones which grow near a brook hundreds of meters before a kilometer away. So you'll have the strawberries till your heart content. But don't take a lot, I don't want to be responsible for you hating them." Her face lit up as she listened to him and this pleased him.
Oh, it pleased him a lot. He smiled at her.

"So...Helena? What would you do if I told you I had a chocolate factory then?" She did not want to laugh so she simply turned down her lips at the corners.

"I would run it for you, but this time it would be your fault if I hate chocolate." She said and he picked up a strawberry and took the steps she had taken and handed it to her. She took it from him and bit onto it signalling to him to get himself some.

He stood up and signalled that she too stand up then led the way to the bedroom after picking up two strawberries if not three. They silently walked up the stairs where Alfonso dropped her on a bedroom before he continued with his way.

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So here you go

That's all I have