The Story of Us

Chapter{2}

 Chapter (2)

Edward Davenports’ mind was racing as fast as his black sleek sports car; never had anyone made such a fool of him.  Rosanna Watson, that sly little B*tch.  She seriously thought she could get away with that silly trick of hers? , he thought gritting his teeth in anger.

He had to admit though; her plan was enough to scare any prospective groom; that is if the guy had never seen her. He had seen her before only a handful of times, but each meeting had been more memorable than the before, unfortunately not in a good way.

The first time had been when he was 5, and she a small bundled red mewling baby. He remembered thinking that she was a pretty baby but extremely small. He had woken her up by mistake when he dropped a glass and she had cried so loud that he’d been surprised someone so small could make so much noise.

 The second time was when their families had gone to Hawaii for a holiday. She had been a small thin girl of six and Edward an extremely naughty kid of eleven. They’d gotten along like hay on fire. But that was only until the day when he got bubblegum in her hair and she had to cut it really short. She loved her hair and was very proud her shoulder length gold hair.  She didn’t take his prank kindly and there seemed no end to her tears. She refused to come out of her room for the rest of her stay going on about how she had ‘Boy Hair’ now. And Edward’s father had given him hell for troubling the ‘sweet, little girl’.

The last time he’d seen her was at her father’s party thrown for his success in a new business venture. She had been sixteen, slightly overweight, wore huge glasses and her spun gold hair had been tightly secured in a low bun, she was wearing a black linen unflattering dress. He remembered how she was severely criticized behind her back by reed thin fashionably clad society women. She had been very quiet and wouldn’t speak to anyone.

At that very party, a couple of guys dared Edward to not only get her to speak to him but also kiss him. Never able to resist a challenge he’d immediately accepted. It had started fairly well they had a smart meaningful conversation; not something he could have with the other women. But when he kissed her, that’s when it all went very wrong; she kissed him back, and the kiss had been mind blowing, but as soon as they broke apart, the guys came back and congratulated Edward for winning the bet in front of her. Hearing the kiss was a bet she just ran out of the room. He followed her out, and they had a huge row. The last thing she screamed at him was- “Never show me your face again, Edward Davenport, never.”  And in so many years he had done exactly that, never shown his face to her.

The bottom line was he’d had seen Rosanna Watson only three times and every time he had ended up making her cry.  

And that knowledge didn’t sit with him too well.

But marrying her was very important for both their families. This had to be done, he had to marry her. If he didn’t marry that shy, gauche, prudish girl he remembered; both their families would lose everything.

He drove into the driveway of Watson Manor and walked up to the grand porch, he was just about to ring the door bell when the butler opened the door and lead him into the huge Georgian mansion, welcoming him

‘Welcome Edward ! We were expecting you. Have a seat Rosanna will be here any minute.’ James greeted cheerfully, but Edward detected a deep underlying tension. Maybe things didn’t go very smoothly at this end, he guessed.

Taking a seat beside the fireplace skipping the usual courteous exchange of words, he asked the more important question,

 ‘Did you tell Rosanna why we need to marry?’