Coerced

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Shannon POV

The rims of Mara's eyes were inflamed. She yawned and rubbed her nose with the heel of her hand making a face. So cute.... and then she asked me. "Do you want to know the answer to your question?" Her voice felt so small and delicate like the feather touch of a butterfly.

I did not know what to answer. Didn't I make my question clear to her? While the canvas was going through my head, Mara's eyes met mine. With a grave expression she put her hands around my neck. I felt possessed by a spirit as her pale face came closer, her sleepy gray eyes closing, her sweet lips puckering up and all the sounds around the world went silent. Somewhere deep, my heart went thudding in its chasm folds as her lips ultimately met mine with longing passion.

My soul moves to a dilemma between two important forces. One was excitement, she is mine forever. And the other was fear. Will she accept me after knowing the truth? I tried to hold up my end on both the things and she whispered from the corner of her lips. "You are my man, but...." 

Holy Jesus! No cliffhangers anymore please….My heart began to beat oh so rapidly and I stopped kissing her, holding her stiffly with my hands on my sides. She broke the kiss, looked at me blankly for a moment and then responded. "The key for a successful marriage is trust. I believe you will confide in me everything one day, have faith in me just like I do to you and then I will tell you my answer."

If only she knew....my complete life with her was based on this secret. And I cannot tell her the truth or confide in her everything about me. I cannot change my past. But I can promise her that I will do my best to give her an amazing future. 

My hands went around her slender waist, caressing her there tenderly with my fingers. Her long free flowing tresses went in curls covering the sides of her face reaching her hips and a few strands beautifully entwined around my rough, muscled torso. I lay my head on her shoulder breathing in the beautiful scent of her midnight dark hair and kissed her in fervor. She is an enthralling enchantress that I know is born to kill me. Yet I cannot abandon her and move away. Love is a sin, love is a challenge and love is a fight.

I play with her long locks and ask her. "What do you want for Valentine's day tomorrow?" She inhales heavily, digging her hands slowly and deeply into my thick black hair which felt so soothing like a lullaby of a mother. Her chest raising and falling completely naked compressed to the hardness of my body. "An engagement..." 

I fondle her pink soft buds with the tips of my fingers. "Then we are having an engagement very soon. Get ready by nine tomorrow. We will go shopping for your ring."  Her eyes turned down as she played with my fingers and shook her head. "I want it to be completely your choice. I only have one wish. I want it with letters engraved MINE FOREVER."

I tip her head up to meet my eyes, a slow smile lapping my features. "Am I going to be yours forever?" She giggles softly which feels like music to my ears and nods her head in shyness burying it under the crook of my neck. 

“Is my cupcake blushing?” I circle my hands around her, inhaling deeply. I am hers and she is mine....forever.  Tugging her bare body closer to me I cover ourselves pulling a comforter and close my eyes in tranquility feeling the soft beat of her heart to mine. 

The next morning we celebrate our engagement in the midst of close family friends. "So your father is only a clerk in a private bank? Very sad, he probably earns just a few thousands a month. It might be very difficult for you to manage with his meager salary." My aunt says to Mara in a mock pity sipping her glass of wine. 

I lay my hands around Mara's slim form and answer my aunt on behalf of her. "Yes, aunt Semi, Mara's father is just a bank clerk but he had brought up his daughter with manners that most of us don't have. She works for me to meet the needs of her family. Mara is self reliant just at the age of eighteen unlike most of us who were dependent upon our parents for food and education at that age. Thus I consider myself fortunate to be marrying her." My lips form a thin line addressing the witch in front of me. 

With a scowl on her overly caked up face, my aunt walks away to meet the other guests attending the function.

That night we had dinner with my parents along with her little brother in the midst of fun and laughter. After a long time since my brother's demise I felt the heartfelt smiles of my parents. Mara is the best choice I made in my whole life. I instructed the servants of our mansion to take away all the photos of my brother before we arrived for dinner. I have a few more days left to pull on with this secret and settle everything between us to be a man of refreshing candor.

I already told her father my ugly truth. Initially he was hot under the collar for destroying his happy family which was totally understandable. But then he also understood the strength of my passion for Mara. Though he warned me never to hurt his daughter, he also knew the toughness of my love to fight hell and beyond for Mara. Institutionally in the end he had to pioneer in giving me the permission to marry her.

I do not want to break faith with Mara and totally believe in her words - the success of any marriage relies on trust. That is why if not for her at least I wanted to be faithful to her father. But my greatest fear would always be - will she forgive me after knowing my gospel reality?

I hardly believe Mara would agree to this marriage after knowing I'm the killer of her mother. But she is a girl brought up with moral values. Sanctity of a wedding, the importance of wedding vows and being a believer of God who goes to church every Sunday I don't think she would leave me and bring on par the reputation of our family even though she would know the truth one day. 

With the love I have in me for her, I am confident she would ultimately withdraw her case. There is no force on earth bigger than love and this is the theory she herself taught me. But till I win her heart perpetually I should be careful, very patient and keep managing the situation considering the depth of our circumstances.  

The next day after our engagement, my parents went to meet our church’s father and fixed the date of our marriage which is in two weeks from now. Hopefully Mara's dad will be all fine by then considering his fast recovery after the surgery. As per her wish we planned a simple wedding inviting only our closest relatives.

Tomorrow I and Mara will be going wedding shopping. I will buy her the best dresses available in the market. One of my business clients came to me on facetime yesterday and showed me some of the most impressive apparels available in his showroom. If Mara likes them, she doesn’t have to choose. Because I will buy all of them for her. Afterall for whom am I earning, if not for my family? Gone are her impoverished days with a count of every penny and pound spent. I want to see my wife happy from the clench crimps of her heart.

Since the time I met Mara's father in the hospital I would keep visiting him off and on. Though we often wouldn't make the best of our times, which is understandable by the loss he and his family endured because of me, he is a kind and an understanding person. To my serendipity he is mature enough to comprehend the best for his daughter.  Whenever I visit him, he strives to maintain a cordial relationship with me and keep things discussed between us confidential for the best of Mara. 

"Sir, I have spoken to the doctor and he told me you require one more month to stay here for a complete recovery. I cannot postpone this wedding till you get discharged from the hospital. It is like walking on eggshells for me before Mara acquaints herself with the actuality of the facts." I tell her father and hear the hiking footsteps inside my room.

My eyes scroll upwards from the golden heels adorning the dainty feet to the curvaceous waist scantily hidden under the crop top. I wouldn’t allow anything sexy on her but for my eyes. However these days she had learned to play tricks on me. She hid the crop top by wearing a cardigan above it.

I reached her arresting silver Grays for a faint peep and saw she was faltering her look from my angry gaze. But could I stay annoyed with her for more than a few minutes? Beautiful, awesome and mesmeric are the instantaneous words that strike my mind. 

Mara folds her hands to her chest exhibiting her cosmic peaks and valleys invoking an involuntary soft groan in my throat.

"What kind of facts that you were sharing with my father and I am not aware, Shannon?"

Damn!