Reclaiming His Wife

“Why are you crawling under the bed?” Startled by the unexpected voice of her husband, Jessica Thomas bumped her head against the solid oak bed frame before gingerly making her way out from under it. “Mark, you scared me! I thought you weren’t coming up to bed so soon.” Kneeling on the floor while placing a hand over her racing heart, Jessica took a moment to settle her nerves. She had hoped he would linger a while longer with their remaining dinner guests, to give her enough time to pack an overnight bag and make her escape. Since she had made the decision thirty minutes ago to walk away from her marriage, she had begun to shore up her courage to leave him. She knew it would not be easy. He would not make it easy. But she was through being a doormat. She was through pining for the love of a man who had none to give; a man who no longer respected her; who once saw her as his best friend, his equal. But now only saw her as a business arrangement. She was disgusted with herself - pining for the love of a man who would never give it to her. Moreover, she was fed up living a lie. Three years ago, when Mark had approached her and proposed a marriage of convenience, she had been elated. She had thought it was an opportunity of a lifetime. They had met at college, her on a scholarship and him on his parents' dime. They had gotten to know each other while working on a few projects and had become fast friends. As they were nearing the end of the business program, Mark had begun to lament about his overbearing mother and her need to see him married off. He was set to take over the family business from his father who wanted to retire. However, his mother Elaine felt he should be married and settled before being given such a huge responsibility. Mark was opposed to marriage. He didn't believe in love. He felt marriage led to misery. His parents' marriage was a big shining neon light of what a nightmare the institution of marriage is. But he loved his mother and found it difficult to tell her no. The night before they graduated, Mark and Jessica had found themselves drunk and on the beach near the campus celebrating. However, graduating was bitter-sweet for both of them and they could not help the doom and gloom atmosphere. For Mark, completing his studies meant getting married and taking over his father's business. While he had dedicated his life to grooming for that exact position, he was dead set against getting married. For Jessica, graduating meant the end of her stay in America. She had entered the country on a scholarship with a student visa and would have to return to her country Guyana within the next thirty days. The Co-operative Republic of Guyana was the only English-speaking country in South America. However, its less than one million culturally diverse population was more connected to the Caribbean due to its history of slavery. Hence her country had a unique duality of identity. While the country of her birth was beautiful and boasted of numerous job opportunities for graduates like herself, she'd fell in love with America and had hoped it would become her second home. So when Mark proposed marriage, she had jumped on the idea as it would allow her to stay in the country and allow her to maintain her friendship with him. "Let's get married," Mark slurred. He was lying on the sand, hands behind his head supporting it, feet crossed at the ankles, staring at the starry sky. "What?" Jessica shrieked, spitting the beer out of her mouth. “Let's get married. It would solve both our problems." Jessica who only moments ago was lying beside him sat up and pulled her knees into her chest. "You must be drunker than I thought. We can't get married, Mark." "Hear me out Jess," he pleaded. "I need to get married and you don't want to leave the country. If we got married, that would satisfy my mom's desire for me to be settled and you would gain a green card and be able to stay here. You wouldn't have to return to Guyana." "Hmm, that actually makes sense. But you don't want to get married. So why would you marry me?" "True. I don't want to get married. But at this point, it would be a necessary evil." "So what exactly would this entail? I'm not agreeing to your drunken idea, but I'm not going to dismiss it out of hand either." "What I'm proposing is a marriage of convenience. We would get married and stay married for, um, let's say five years. That should be enough time for both of us to establish ourselves in our respective fields and then we can file for a divorce." "Will your mother buy that?" "She of all people knows that marriages don't last." Gnawing on her full bottom lip, Jessica considered his proposal for a minute. "Okay. So would we be married in name only or would you expect me to sleep with you?" "Gawd Jess, why would you even ask that? You are my best friend. I don't see you like that. Of course, we would be married in name only." "Okay, okay. You don't need to sound so alarmed. I don't have the plague you know. I was just checking. I like to get a clear picture of what I'm getting into before I make any decisions." "Do you agree? The sooner we get married the better. We can probably go to the courthouse next week and get this taken care of." "Yeah, you have my tentative agreement. But I think we should discuss it further when we are both sober." "Relax, Jess. Some of the best decisions in life are made when intoxicated," Mark said with a smirk. Three years into their marriage of convenience, Jessica was the i***t that went and fell in love with her husband. There was nothing she could do about it either. From the inception, Mark had told her he did not believe in love. He would not love anyone, least of all her. Love was too messy and he valued their friendship too much to jeopardize it with such a frivolously fickle feeling. Jessica was the definition of insanity – doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. She constantly found new ways to show Mark how much she loved him, hoping that her love would be reciprocated. It was not. Worse yet, every time her love got flung back into her face it broke her heart a little more. It was not his fault. He had been upfront with her. Too bad her stupid heart didn't get the memo. But she was through putting herself out there only to be shut down. Enough was enough. It was high time she reclaimed her life. Looking up at him from under her lashes, she took in his dark grey dinner suit that fitted his well-toned body flawlessly. The suit accentuated his light blue eyes perfectly. His chiselled face framed by thick curly brown locks which he wore at medium length should have looked weird on his 6’7” tanned muscular frame, but only added to his sexiness. Jason Mamoa had nothing on him. Every time she looked at him, her heart would skip a beat. She often felt as if she was gazing at the sun. His commanding presence was of a man born to lead. Wherever he went, whatever he did, people sat up and paid attention. They followed. He was that impressive. This was Mark Thomas, the internationally renowned Thomas Resorts owner and now CEO of the VIBE Nightclub chains. As his wife of three years, Jessica had a front seat view of the ruthless man her husband could be. She knew his drive and determination and knew above anything else, he hated losing. That’s why she was hoping to slip out into the night without him realizing what she had done. She had her reasons for leaving the celebratory party hosted by her husband early. And one of those reasons was staring at her with suspicion in his eyes as he loosened his cuff links. “To answer your question, the hook on my chain broke and my pendant came loose and rolled under the bed. I was retrieving it”. Standing to her feet, Jessica unclasped her right hand to reveal the simple gold heart pendant with a key engraved into it. “You should have left it for the maid to retrieve in the morning rather than taxing yourself. I don’t know why you treasure it so much. It’s the least expensive jewellery I’ve ever given you”. Placing the pendant back on its gold chain and returning it to her jewellery box with a mental note to have the clasp fixed Jessica took a second before she responded. “That may be, but I cherish it so because it’s the first gift you ever gave me.” He had given her the pendant the day they exchanged their vows. When she'd asked why the key symbol, he'd jokingly said he was giving her the key to his heart and thus the world, for he would do anything for her. For a brief moment, she had felt treasured. To her, that was the most romantic thing anyone had ever said to or done for her. But to his mother's everlasting horror, that was the day she knew her son was in the hands of a harpy for he had not signed a prenuptial agreement. She knew Mark was worth billions. So she wasn't hurt (too much) when his mother had labelled her a gold-digging hussy. Jessica was more than willing to sign the prenup. It was Mark who had refused. He was adamant he trusted her and hence would not subject her to the indignity of a prenup. Jessica told him he was being an ass, but there was no changing his mind when he got stubborn like that. His mother blamed her and the witchcraft she allegedly practices for corrupting her son's mind. From the inception, Jessica had liked Mark for himself. He was so self-aware and confident that his money never really factored into the equation. Besides, Jessica had grown up poor and had made peace with her lot in life. Her mind couldn't even comprehend the amount of money Mark promised her for agreeing to the marriage. Much less the billions he was worth. He had promised her two million dollars for each year she spent married to him and an additional bonus of ten million dollars at the end of their marriage. That had translated to twenty million dollars, nineteen million dollars more than what she knew what to do with. Taking off his suit jacket and loosening his tie, Mark made his way to her closet. Noticing the haphazardly filled suitcase for the first time since entering the bedroom, he whipped his head around to face his wife. He took the time to really look at her and realized she was avoiding looking him in the eye. “What’s this?” He asked, gesturing to the suitcase. “Are you going somewhere? I don’t recall seeing any plans for us to travel on my calendar.” His laser-like attention was fully on her at this point. All of his senses were now tuned to Jessica awaiting her reply. Jessica took a steadying breath and looked down at her emerald and diamond-encrusted gold engagement ring and matching wedding band set on her finger, giving herself one last chance to change her mind. She reflected on their happy times as a couple and questioned for the millionth time if she was willing to give that up. Then she remembered the dinner party. The final straw that broke Jessica’s back was watching Veronica shamelessly flirt with Mark. What made it worse was that he just sat there, not discouraging it. It had been rumoured for a few months now that he was having a torrid affair with his personal assistant. At first, Jessica hadn’t paid it any mind. Their relationship was not s****l, so she was sure he was getting his rocks off somewhere. But he was always respectful of their image and her to not do it in the public eye. She had never been made aware of any affairs in the past. The situation with Veronica was different though. As time progressed she observed their interaction, and she realized her husband was attracted to his PA. And who could blame him? Veronica was everything his wife was not: tall, slim, and a redhead with a knock out body – t**s for days and legs for miles. It didn’t hurt that she has a killer fashion sense and was a whiz in business as well. She always looked well put together and efficiently provided her husband with everything he needed. Apparently, in and out of the boardroom, Jessica surmised in disgust. Jessica was afraid of this happening. She knew it was possible Mark would fall in love with someone during their five-year marriage stint. She’d just prayed it was her. She never imagined it would be his PA. Then again, she wasn’t sure he was in love with Veronica, more like ‘in lust’. While they had not had a s****l relationship, they were still the best of friends. Mark would use her as a sounding board for most of his potential business deals. They went out together, ate together and watched Netflix and chilled together. They did everything married couples do, besides have s*x. However, just over a year ago Mark started acting weird and began to pull away from her. Initially, Jessica figured it was something she had done wrong, to turn his attentions from her. She began to scrutinize her appearance. Had she let herself go? Did she need a new hairstyle? Change her diet? Get a new wardrobe? In the end, she had made herself physically ill with her incessant doubts and self-reprimands. She even went as far as to make an extra effort with her appearance tonight. She had subjected herself to hours of priming and pampering for Mark’s big night. Before going down to the party, she had given herself a once over in her floor-length mirror and had been blown away by her transformation. She’d outdone herself. She’d worn this elegant gold strapless evening gown that complimented her mocha complexion and was designed to grab his attention. The high slip in the front of the dress did its part to show her smooth shapely thigh with every move she made, and her strappy gold ‘f**k me’ heels made her ass look juicy. Her long thick natural hair was in a twist out styled as a chignon and her face was professionally made up. The complete look was sophisticated yet sexy. She shouldn’t have bothered. For all the attention Mark gave her, she could have worn sackcloth. It was clear now that their marriage wouldn’t progress from a business arrangement. She’d realized it was time to leave when he’d caught her eye, she bestowed him with her prettiest smile, looked the best she could and he’d turned back to the conversation with Veronica and his business associates without a second glance. Jessica couldn’t fault him for not falling in love with her as she was finding it hard to love herself right about now. Somewhere along the way, she became so consumed by him, loving him, caring for him and catering to his every need that she lost herself and who she was. She woke up one morning and looked into the mirror and couldn’t recognize the woman she had become. It was time for that to change. Her husband’s rejection had stung. So she’d decided to walk away; to not subject herself to further heartache. It was the right decision for her. The only decision left to be made. Steeling herself, she lifted her gaze to him and said, “yes, I’m going somewhere.” Mark walked towards her, crowding her space, almost as if he sensed she was about to give him life-changing news. “Where are you going, Jess?” “I’m leaving you. I want a divorce.”