No Deal Breakers (5 page)

"That’s interesting….so, tell me more about
your family, do you just have one sister, then?" He nodded,

"Yes, they just had the two of us, they
wanted a big family, but God had other plans. Julia is two years
younger than I am, she married her husband, Steven right out of
high school, and they moved to Maine shortly after. They eloped
too, my mom was livid; she’s going to hit the roof when she finds
out about us doing the same thing." He laughed and shook his head,
"Be warned; she’ll accuse us both, me more heavily, of taking away
her only other chance at seeing one of her ‘babies’ get married."
She swallowed hard, she hadn’t even thought about how his family
and friends would play into this whole mess. She let out a deep
breathe.

"Sorry to interrupt, I just thought about,
um, well," she swallowed again "how, your, um, family and friends
will play into all of this…will they be in on our secret, or will
we just act like everything’s okay? See, another thing we didn’t
think about!"

He put a hand up to stop her; "Just calm
down, Aria, I did think about this. I’m going to leave it up to
you, if you want them to know that we’re in a platonic
relationship, that’s up to you. If you want to just let them think
what they will, that’s your choice, too. I want you to be
comfortable with every single step in our relationship, no matter
how big or small. For the record, they’re our family now." A
family. That’s something she never thought she’d have again, not
that they would replace her own, they might not even like her, but
she now had people to consider her family. Brian was her family
now, at the very least. She was surprised how calm she felt at that
realization.

"Um, okay, can I think about that, and get
back to you on what I want people to think?" He nodded, and turned
a bright smile on her, "of course you can."

"Thanks, so, Julia and Steven eloped and
moved to Maine…." She prompted.

"Yes, and they have three young kids, Ami is
four, Samuel just turned three, and Jonathon is eleven months.
Here, my gallery is full of pictures of them; I wish I got to see
them more."

He handed her his phone and after a few
seconds she found the photo gallery and staring back at her was
picture after picture of the three most adorable kids she had ever
seen, she swiped again and saw a picture of what she assumed was
the whole Harris clan, "Is this all of you together?"

"Yup, my parents, Steven, Julia, me, and all
the kids, this is a pretty recent picture, taken about a month ago
when they came out to visit last." She looked down at the picture
again, and saw six pairs of the same brilliant blue eyes smiling up
at her.

"You all have your dad’s eyes." She observed.
"We do. Mom and Steven really stand out in that photo, don’t they?"
They did, though he did have his mother’s nose and hair color, of
course hers was now streaked with gray. She nodded and continued
her perusal through his phone, he wasn’t lying, they were all
pictures of his family.

"We need to stop in Ottumwa and pick up a few
things before we head home, it’s still about thirty minutes from
home, but they have actual grocery stores there. We live in-well,
outside of-Hanesworth, a tiny little town, everything is about a
dollar or two more than what you can get in town, but if you only
need bread, then you’ll probably head to the gas station and pay
three bucks a loaf instead of driving all the way to town."

This was different from what she was used to,
but being out in the middle of nowhere didn’t sound all bad. Then
again, just plain freedom was different than what she was used
to.

"How far is it to Hanesworth from the
house?"

"About fifteen minutes, depending on the
roads. We can either eat supper in Ottumwa or wait until we get to
Hanesworth, though, I’ll warn you; it’s Saturday night, and there’s
only one diner in town, it’ll be packed, and everyone knows
everyone." For some reason that sounded terrifying and exhilarating
at the same time. It was probably best to get all of the
introductions and speculation out of the way. The only problem was,
how would they act? Like friends, or like a couple? She spent a few
moments mulling it over. They were just friends, married friends,
and she didn’t want him to get the wrong idea. However, they were
married; it would be embarrassing for him if everyone knew the
truth. Didn’t she owe him that at least, after all he’d done for
her?

Brian was pulling into a parking space when
she turned to look at him. "Earlier you said it was up to me what
people thought about our marriage. Well, I think it’s best if
everyone, friends and family assume nothing out of the ordinary.
We’re a married couple like any other as far as anyone is
concerned. This doesn’t change how we’ll be behind closed doors. I
don’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends and family,
I’m already asking a lot from you to do this, and all you’ve
already done." He studied her intently for several long moments.
She could see the surprise in his eyes.

"Don’t do this for me. Don’t worry about me
being embarrassed; I only want you to do what you’re comfortable
with, don’t do anything you don’t want to. And, you mean our
family."

"I’m not. I want this too, I think it will be
better all around if everyone just assumes we’re a normal newlywed
couple. No one needs to know what goes on, or doesn’t go on, behind
closed doors."

"You’re right. Thank you, for that. Now, will
you promise me something?" She eyed him speculatively.

"Depends on the promise."

He winked at her, "smart girl." He reached
behind his seat and pulled out one of his bags from the mall.

"I want you to promise me that you will
accept my gifts graciously and without complaint." His generosity
had to stop at some point. She had had a few men buy her gifts, not
that she got to, or wanted to keep them, it usually made her feel
cheaper and nauseous, knowing they were giving them to her for the
services she could provide, and not for who she was.

With Brian it had nothing to do with what she
did, and everything to do with who she was. With Brian the gifts
and attention made her feel…cherished, and that made her feel
uncomfortable, not Brian himself, but how comfortable she was with
him. She felt the grateful tears starting to form again. She was
not a crier, she had to quit this, she just nodded, and smiled up
at him, she could accept a gift without complaint.

Brian was much more nervous than was rational
as he reached into the bag to pull out the first of his gifts, he
decided to go with the one she would be able to see as most
practical first. He felt around for the small black jewelry box,
and brought it out with shaking hands.

"I probably should have had you help me pick
it out, but I figured you’d fight me every step of the way, so I
decided to pick it out myself, I hope you like it." He angled
himself so that he was facing her and held the small box up on his
palm. He hoped she would like it, he didn’t know her very well, so
he went with a fairly plain band with one large princess cut
diamond in the center and three smaller ones on each side of the
wedding band that fit in around it.

He watched as she took in the ring, was that
a tear in here eye? She examined it for a few long moments and then
began to protest, he raised an eyebrow, and instead she smiled and
thanked him. She took the box by the lid, he was sure to avoid
touching him again, and slid the ring on her left hand. "It’s
perfect, thank you." He felt a weight lift from his shoulders, she
seemed to genuinely like it.

"I’m glad you like it, I got my self one,
too." He smiled and took his plain gold band from his pocket and
slid it on. "That’s not all; I have two more gifts for you. These
are yours, I hope you like this shade of green." He handed her a
pair of flannel pajama bottoms like the ones she borrowed from him
the previous evening. She tossed her head back in laughter, that
was a beautiful sound, he wanted to hear more of it.

"Thank you, they’re perfect, I love them."
She hugged them to herself before refolding them and placing them
on the center console.

"Okay, before I give you this last one
remember that you promised to accept them without complaint."

"What could be more objectionable than the
ring," she asked as she pinned him with her suspicious glare.

"I’m sure you could see the practicality and
necessity in the ring, so you shouldn’t have a problem justifying
the ring, and the pajama bottoms are useful, and not that
expensive, but you won’t be able to justify this one, so I’m
worried that you’ll put up too much of a fight to appreciate it."
He didn’t waste anymore time, he pulled out his last gift; a long
slender black box. He lifted the lid to reveal a silver chain with
a teardrop shaped blue stone set in a silver base under three tiny
diamonds.

"It’s gorgeous, but I can’t accept this," she
said, still staring at the box in his hands.

"Why not? I saw it and remembered that it was
your birthstone, and I wanted to get it for you. You agreed to work
at being my wife, allowing me to take care of you and buy you
things is part of that, whether it’s dinner, pajamas, or a
necklace, I do these things because I want to. Will you please
accept it? You don’t have to wear it, just accept it, please." Why
did she have to be so difficult? He was trying to be a good
husband, trying to do what his dad would do.

His dad was always showering his mom with
gifts, flowers, compliments, and more public displays of affection
than he cared to think about. He was sure that too many compliments
would scare her off, and anything physical, from the most innocent
to the most intimate of touches, was not an option, unless he
wanted her scared to death of him, and he did not. That left gifts,
and kindness.

"I just…I…this is so uneven, you’ve been
nothing but a gentleman, buying me gifts, respecting my boundaries,
giving me a place to live, not forcing me to talk about my life
before I met you. I’ll never be able to measure up; I’ll never be
able to give you anything in return. I mean, I told you this
morning I’ll get a job and try to pull my own weight, but any
bartending or waitress job I get, I’ll never be able to repay
you."

"This is a partnership, not a competition, it
isn’t about measuring or comparing, it’s about caring for one
another, and working together. I don’t want you to repay me,
everything I have is yours now, I’m your husband. I want to buy you
things and do things for you. It’s in my job description. And, like
I told you at breakfast; you’re welcome to get a job if you want
one, but you aren’t obligated to, and I won’t accept any of the
money you make as payment or some nonsense like that." She was the
most frustrating woman he had ever met; most women would love the
gifts and attention, not Aria.

"Fine. This is all really hard for me, I
don’t know what to do or expect, I’m not used to anyone doing
anything for me without expecting something in return, it’s hard
for me to get my head around it all." That was the most she had
opened about herself since they met, he wasn’t going to point it
out, though. He was an open book, and she had barely given him a
synopsis, if she was going to start leaking details, he wasn’t
going to do or say anything to thwart her. What had her life been
like that she assumed everyone was after something, he
wondered.

"I know, just be yourself, and I’ll be
myself, and I think we’ll be just fine. Just, please keep an open
mind about me; don’t assume the worst in me because of past
experience. Give me a chance to prove myself." She nodded and took
the box from him, she didn’t put it on, but took it and her new
pajamas with her to the backseat where she removed the tags from
her new coat and put it on and placed her new gifts in its
place.

They were back on the road after getting the
few things they needed, Brian wasn’t looking forward to facing the
inquisition that awaited them at Zimmer’s, but Aria was insistent.
"It’s like a ripping off a band-aid, people will find out about me
sooner or later, we may as well be the ones to tell them," she had
said when he tried talking her into eating at a chain in town. She
was right, it would be best to just let everyone know he was
married and face the questions all at the same time, and their was
no better place to do that than at the town’s only diner on a
Saturday night, during the dinner rush. The whole town would be in
an uproar over this news, his mom really was going to kill him,
Genie Harris had been mad when her only daughter had eloped, she’d
be spitting nails when she found out he had too.

He groaned loudly, "what’s wrong," Aria
asked, picking her head up from its resting spot on the window.

"My parents, we haven’t told them yet, we’d
better call them before the whole town knows and starts calling
them." He shot a glance at her out of the corner of his eye as he
dialed his parents’ number. She had only nodded, but her entire
body had gone even more rigid, if that were possible.

She was still keeping her distance as much as
possible when they were alone; her body angled toward the door,
leaning as far from him as possible, he wondered if she even
realized she was doing it. She never touched him in public, either,
but she seemed a lot more open when they were in crowds of
people.

"Hello? Brian?" His dad’s familiar voice came
over the car speakers.

"Hey Dad, can you have Mom pick up another
line? I have something I need to tell you both at the same time."
He heard his dad talking away from the phone, presumably to his
mother, and then he heard a loud shriek that was unmistakably
little Jonathon.

"Sorry about that, Julia and Steven are over
with the kids, and Jon’s ready for some milk—"