Marriage Bargain

RONALD'S POV

Dinner was set and I was waiting for Emily's arrival but she seemed to be taking awhile. I decided to reach her on the phone but it was going to voicemail.

‘I hope she gets here safely,' I said under my breath .

I walked down to the mansion hallway where a series of arts were hung.I dialed Emily's number again and it finally went through.

“ Gringgg,” a phone rang in the distance

‘ That sounds like a phone ringing. I think she is here already' I made a mental note tracing the ringing tone to the other side of the hallway.

“Emily, is that you?” A voice echoed in the hallway as I approached but there was no response from the other end .

That sounds like Ethan . He must be here for the dinner.I was against inviting those who are not relatives to this dinner but my stepmom won't agree. ‘How does Ethan know Emily by the way?’ I said in my thoughts as I approached them.

“Babe, you are here.” I said smiling , closing the distance between us, placing my hand on the small of her back

“ I hope you had a stress free ride,”

“Babe?” Andrew muttered audibly enough to hear him.

“ I enjoyed the ride,” Emily replied, locking her eyes on mine. “I apologize for being late.”

“ Apology accepted,” I replied, surprised to see a sweet side of her.

I glanced at Andrew who stood dumbstruck looking at us.

“ Pardon me Ethan. Meet my fiance ,Emily,” I introduced with gestures “And Emily meet the Hoffman's family friend's son,Ethan”

“ It's nice meeting you ,Ethan,” Emily said.

“ Fiancee?” Andrew's face paled as the word rolled out of his mouth. “ It's nice meeting you too , Emily,” he muttered

“ Let's get to the dining table ,the others must be waiting,” I said, changing the topic.

We took the elevator and got to the dining room. Everyone sat around the huge table adorned with different delicacies .

“ You got us waiting, Ronald,” Stepmom's saccharine voice rang across the room.

“I'm so sorry for the delay , Ma'am” I apologized .

“Ma'am Claire!!” Ethan spouted , hugging her side .

“ My dear. You made it, come join the table,” she said patting Ethan on the shoulder, showing him where to sit on the table

“And who is this beautiful young lady?” Stepmom said, staring and accessing Emily with her eyes.

“ Good evening, Ma'am,” Emily greeted with a small smile on her lips.

“ Huhh,let's eat first ,Ma.” I said changing the topic of discussion.

Hoffman's relatives sat round the large table according to the birth order. All the chairs were occupied except for Father's and two other chairs reserved for us.

I nodded my head in respect to those who made eye contact with me on the table . I held Emily as we sat side by side on the table

We said “grace” as we dug into the delicacies placed in front of us. We ate in silence for the next few minutes and after we were served dessert while every person in the room mingled and chatted with each other.

“Attention, everyone.” I called icily. The room went quiet as I seemed to draw people 's attention.

“Thank you for honoring me and having dinner with me today.I called everyone here today to introduce my fiance to you,meet Emily Adair”. I said , sliding my large palm into Emily's hands.

Displeasure was written all over most of their faces but I don't care what any of them feels.

“ We plan on getting married in a few weeks” I said, breaking the news to them.

“Congratulations Ronald ,I knew she was someone special when I saw her” Stepmom cooed, taking Emily by the hand, showing her around.

“ Congratulations to you both”said some of the family members .

“Congratulations Man,” Colin said, giving me a brotherly hug.

“Thank you bro” I replied smiling sheepishly.

“ How could I have missed this? ‘“ I thought dating was a waste of time,” Colin said with sarcasm. “ Here you are ,not only having a girl but you are also getting married. I'm happy for you,Man”

“ Thanks bro”I said, shaking hands with him.

“It's my pleasure,we will talk later,” Colin said,excusing me so as to give room for others to congratulate me.

“Congratulations,” said a distant relative of the Hoffman

“Thank you Mr. Duch,I appreciate it,” I replied.

The gathering was dispersing and everyone seemed to be exhausted.

“ Ronald,will you be staying for the night? It's late and I don't want you to travel by night considering what happened last time.” Stepmom said, concerned written on her face.

“ I have a lot to do at work tomorrow but on second thought I and Emily will stay the night. Thank you Ma'am,” I let out a sigh , realizing that it didn't occur to me that it's quite late.

“I will have the room prepared for you and Emily. I guess you must be looking for her, I left her in the garden earlier,”

“ Okay Ma'am” I replied , going in the direction of the garden.

“ Ronald dear,you chose an intelligent lady and she is beautiful too. You did well,” Stepmom said smiling while I nodded in affirmation.

'Too bad we would go our separate ways after we both get what we want.’ I said in my thoughts.

“ Good night.” Stepmom said , retiring for the night.

“ Good night.”

I made my way to the garden. I wonder what Emily is doing outside at this hour.

I walked into the garden looking for Emily.I was tempted to call out her name but didn't want to disturb the peace of the whole house in the process.

I walked down to the middle of the garden where beautiful flowers were in array , when I heard voices and one of the voices was that of Emily.

“Get your hands off me,you jerk,” said Emily.

‘ Who could she be having a heated discussion with by this time of the night?’ I muttered

I moved closer to the scene so as to know what it was all about when I saw Ethan holding Emily's hand.

'Ethan? What's he still doing here?’

“ You are getting married to that asshole? Was that the reason you broke up with me? You know you can't do this to me.You love me ,don't you?”. Ethan said, tightening his grip on Emily.

“You are hurting me ” Emily said, struggling to loosen Ethan's grip on her.

“ What's going on here?” I said walking into their midst . “And why are you holding my girl's hand? Do you wish to lose those filthy hands of yours? I said with a cold, calculated tone.