Becoming Mrs Miller

CHAPTER ONE

“What’s taking you so long fatty" a lady shouted from behind the queue. 

"One minute please" the fat man tried hastily to wrap up the pie he was packaging for the customer. 

The queue seemed so long today and Gabriella doubted if she had more time to wait for the rather sluggish sales man. 

She had just discovered ‘FAMOUS CRUST'. It was a rather old fashioned and poorly built outlet but they made the best pie in all of the city. 

There were still at least five people to be served before her and this fat man seemed a little too clumsy. It was his third day working in Famous Crust. 

The old lady who used to be the sales person had been fired for stealing as that was the gist going round town. 

"Are you sure it’s worth it?” Maxwell grumbled from behind Gabriella. 

"Every bite" she assured him.

Gabriella had to force her brother to have a taste of the pie. He wasn’t really fascinated by the idea but these days he was doing all he could to please her. He wanted to gain her trust and friendship once again. 

“Felix is new here” she explained in a low voice to avoid others listening to the gossip she was giving her brother “the former lady who used to work here got sacked. News is she stole a lot and she’s really beautiful you know" She smiled a bit sheepishly "It’s a shame" 

"That’s too bad" Maxwell shook his head. 

"How many is it gonna be?" Felix the sales man smiled warmly at them. She didn’t even know it was their turn already. 

"I’ll have three Felix." Gabriella answered "Good to see you. You are getting better at it."

"Well, we gotta pay the bills" Felix said dryly “you want them packed separately?” 

"No" she shook her head “ two for me and one for my darling brother behind me."

"You wanna eat two?” Maxwell looked at her in amusement. 

"You will understand why when you have a taste of it." she sounded a little defensive. 

"You got all of dad's appetite.” Maxwell said 

“Your wedding is the talk of the town. Heard it’s going to be one big-big occasion” Felix chipped in sounding a little bit excited “You ’re one lucky girl. I wish I had a daughter about your age, I would be so happy walking her down the isle with a billionaire. Maybe then I wouldn’t have to do this shitty job" 

Gabriella turned red. Her mood quickly changed. 

She grabbed the pie from him and walked away leaving Maxwell to pay the Bills.

 “Did I say something wrong?” Felix looked surprised at Max. 

“Learn to mind your own damn business fatty." he eyed Felix.

 “Get off the line asshole." the woman from behind screamed again, this time obviously irritated. 

“Shut up." Maxwell screamed back as he threw a few dollar bills at Felix and walked to meet up with Gabriella leaving Felix in utter shock. 

Felix should have known better than bring up that topic. Now Max was sure to deal with Ella’s mood for the rest of the day. 

“I'm so sorry about that." he said as he caught up with her.

 “No you’re not." she said bluntly. 

“Why do you think I’m not?” he asked as they got into the car. 

“Just shut up Max" she looked at him coldly. “You knew all along. You think I would forgive you for that?” 

“I swear I only found out about two weeks before your eighteenth birthday. You really think I would keep it away from you if I had known all along?” 

"Two weeks was enough to say something Max."

 “But they made me promise. I only stumbled on dad discussing with Miller. I swear it took everything in me not to say anything. I’m sorry for the thousandth time Ella." 

“Doesn’t really matter now. Let’s just go" she said harshly. 

Maxwell sighed as he started the engine. 

Gabriella loved her brother but she was angry. She didn’t have much female friends but Max filled the space of a brother and best friend for her. She shared everything with him from childhood. She remembered how he was the first person she ran to when she saw her monthly flow for the first time at thirteen. He had helped her get a sanitary pad and even showed her how to wear it. She had wondered then how he learnt it but he always claimed to be smart and that he knew a lot of things and he always listened to the health education lectures attentively. 

He had always wanted to be a doctor but their parents had never been able to afford college fees for any of them so he settled to doing menial jobs till he had saved enough for college. He was smart and he knew it was only a matter of time before he would have enough to pay for college. He was the only person she was close to in the family. 

Her dad had always kept her at arms length. As a child, she felt he hated her, he would often go out and return with lots of gifts for Max but nothing for her. He always gave Max preferential treatment and she doubted if he was really her father. 

Her mum, who she looked like so much had always made her understand that it was just how her father was. He was a kind and loving man but he had his flaws. Perhaps he wasn’t so good with the female gender but Ella didn’t think so. He had no issues playing with the little kids around but her case was always different. She had gotten used to the idea that her father hated her and was more than happy to sell her off, hence, he didn’t hesitate to do so the moment she was born.

Till today, he still hadn’t given her a good reason as to why except for his own selfish purposes. 

As they drew closer to the house, her frown worsened. Since her parents had broken the horrible news to her, she barely joked or laughed around them. 

It’s been almost a year. One year since she found out she was betrothed at birth. One year since she had quarrelled With and avoided her family. One year since she had been dodging the inevitable. One year since she last saw Ryan. The thought of him always warmed her heart. She was turning nineteen next month and on her nineteenth birthday she would be married off. Just like that. 

She had tried to run away once but Max had found her. Her family had begged her, she was well aware of the doom and consequences of running from such vows. She didn’t have much choice, wherever she went, she had no choice, she had exhausted her last savings the last time she tried to run and had returned home like the prodigal daughter. Max had found her when she needed to be found . She hated to admit but Ryan was right. The world was a shitty place. 

Her mum greeted them at the door “ I’ve been worried sick about you both” she said, eyes fixed on Gabriella.

"Hello mum." she answered dryly. 

“Ella you know I can’t do all the planning alone" she looked disapproving of her daughter’s constant neglect of the wedding plans “You need to tell me what colours you prefer. I can’t always make the decisions for you" 

“Mother let’s come in at least" Max chipped it as he squeezed himself into the house and Gabriella followed suit. 

“I don’t like any colours” she eyed her mum

 “But you must- "

 “I think I’ve made it obvious I’m not interested in this wedding” She cut her mum “You know I’m doing this against my will. So please, do yourself the favours since it was all your idea in the first place" she glared at her mum.

"But darling, I’m sorry but you know it wasn’t entirely our fault ” tears gathered in Mrs Longs eyes. “Your dad and I always wanted the best for you both. Whatever we did was because we thought it would be good for you. I love you Ella, I wouldn’t purposely hurt you." 

 "What about my happiness? Did you think of that before selling me off? Did you think I could atleast make my own decisions?” Ella was almost shouting now. 

Steven Long must have heard the exchange be cause he walked in at that moment. It was always awkward with him around.

"Ella you shouldn’t talk to your mum in that voice." he said.

 “What? I can’t even express myself again?” Ella looked at the man she called father. The man that cared less about her.

"Maybe you all should just let her be" Max who had been sitting, pie in hands, chipped in “the constant reminder is not helping" 

“Thank you Max." Ella answered dryly.

 There was a moment of silence in the small living room that stretched for about a minute. 

"Maybe if you even met him you would like him." Mrs Long suggested.

 “I do not want to set eyes on him" Ella shot back “The mere mention of his name irritates me."

Ella had refused on several occasions to set eye on her supposed husband to be. She had purposely avoided the Millers whenever they visited. She had seen Bruce's photo in the papers one morning but had quickly trashed it. She would hold off seeing them for as long as she could. She had heard rumours about Barrett Miller; her supposed fiancé and son to Bruce Miller being a charmer, most ladies would do anything to have him. Maybe he was not even happy with the arrangement, maybe he was just doing it because it was his parents bidding. If he had all the charms she heard he had, he would want to have any girl he wanted rather than being trapped in this marriage but her mum had convinced her that he particularly showed interest in her. 

“But you have to." Steven said a little too sternly. 

“Dad please....” Maxwell was going to say something but Steven would not hear of it .

“I would arrange a meeting for you to meet him tomorrow” Steven cut in “it’s about time."

Ella frowned. Her father always made her feel her opinion never mattered but how he could show no human sympathy made her hate him even more.

“I hate you" She shouted at her father as she jumped to her feet.

Steven froze. It was not the first time he had heard the words from his daughter but there was just something about the way she said it this time. He wondered if he had completely lost his daughter. He knew he did not make the best decisions but the damage had already been done and he hoped one day he would be able to make things right. He was a man that had made a lot of mistakes and had ruined his family but he still hoped one way or the other that things would be better. 

"I know I haven’t been the best father to you but I did what I needed to do to save this family. I don’t expect you to understand but I had to do what I had to do." That said, he turned to leave. His wife passed a ‘sorry' look to Gabriella and followed her husband. 

“I wonder how she ever married him.” Ella turned to Max.

“I often wonder too but dad has his good sides you know.” Max replied.

"Easy for you to say. You have always been his favourite."

" I don’t see it that way sis.” Max got up and placed his hands over her shoulder, leading her to her room “now cheer up okay? everything will be fine.” 

She tossed the pie into the trash can besides her room “Lost my appetite."

Maxwell squeezed her hands gently and opened the door “I’ll go talk to dad.” he said and turned away. 

Gabriella looked at the tiny space she called her room. This had been her room for nineteen years now. The curtains were old and worn out. The bedside light beside her bed was now a light shade of brown instead of the white it used to be. She had it repainted pink and white which were her favourite colours. The room was far from luxurious but it was her best place in the house. 

She sat on the edge of the bed and wondered how her life would have been if they had been rich. Many girls would be happy to have a taste of wealth after living such unfulfilling life but Ella wanted to make her own money, she never thought marrying a billionaire was the way out. 

The thought of Ryan crossed her mind again. Not a day had gone by without her thinking of him she wondered if he ever thought of her too, if she would ever see him again. She laid back and allowed thoughts of him flood her mind and she quickly fell asleep.