Bernadette, Wife For A Year

Chapter 8

Chapter-8

Julian's POV :

The next morning, I woke up to the yelling of my mother. 

“Wake up, Julian, or else I will pour this ice-cold water on you,” 

That was enough for me to instantly open my eyes. My parents were looking at me as if they had spotted an alien from Mars. I noticed my mother was holding a glass of water. 

“Good lord, mom, I am up…” before I could complete my sentence; my mother pushed a toothbrush down my throat. My dad was grinning at the scene in front of him. 

“It's already eight, I want you downstairs in twenty minutes,” she ordered in all mom mode as she forced me into the bathroom. 

“I have kept your clothes on the bed,” I heard my mother say from the other side of the door. Jeez, I was almost twenty-nine and still had my mother treating me like a toddler. 

*

*

 While climbing down the stairs, my eyes directly landed on the girl sitting beside my mom. She was wearing a knee-length white dress. A lovely pearl hair mane was adoring her beautiful hairdo.

“Shall we, beautiful lady?” I leaned down and forwarded my hand.

 Her first reaction was to look at my parents. My mother nodded and squeezed her arm. Steadily, she placed her hand on mine. Again her hand was freezing. I was holding her hand in a firm grip as we approached my car. 

I held the door open for her. Just as she lowered herself to sit, I caught a brief glimpse of her cleavage.

 Good lord, she is going to be the death of me. 

None of us spoke the whole ride to the courthouse. Mr. Thompson was already waiting for us. 

“Miss Peterson, would you like to take Mr. Robustelli’s last name? You can always restore your maiden name if ever you plan to part ways in the future,” the county clerk asked Bernadette.

“Yes,” she answered.

 It was a part of the contract that she would take up my last name for a year after the wedding. Since Bernadette was already living with me in my parent’s home, we had applied for a confidential marriage license.

After all the documentation was done and signed, we paid the respective amounts for the credible witnesses and the marriage license. 

“Please ensure, you complete your marriage ceremony within 90 days. If you aren't married within 90 days, you will have to reapply for another license,” the clerk informed.

“The wedding is scheduled to be held the day after tomorrow,” I said to which he nodded.

*

*

I placed my hand on her thigh. Her breath hitched. Her body instantly tensed, I could feel it under my palm. We were heading to my penthouse. 

“Please remove your hand,” she said in a trembling voice. 

“Sorry,” I said and withdrew my hand from her thigh.

She was looking outside the window every time I glanced at her. For the rest of the ride, neither of us attempted to start a conversation. 

Bernadette was rooted at the corner of the elevator as it scaled up the 60th floor. 

“Hey, it's going to be okay, I am here,” I said, clamping our hands together. She flinched when I raised my hand to wipe her forehead which was beaded with sweat. I grabbed her arm and turned her around; so that now she was facing me. 

“Bernadette, I will never hurt you, okay?” my handkerchief gently brushed across her forehead as I gingerly dabbed it on her forehead. I was still holding her hand when we entered the penthouse. 

Alice, who was vacuuming the living room, rushed in our direction as soon as she spotted us. Alice was the housekeeper, she was in her late forties.

“Oh my God, you must be Bernadette. You are absolutely beautiful, my child,” I noticed an instant flush covering my wife's cheeks. My wife.

 Alice pulled her in a tight hug.

“Thank you,” she spoke, once Alice pulled back.

“I will set the table,” Alice said before disappearing into the kitchen.

“Come, I will show you around,” I said tugging her with me. I showed her my study, the master bedroom, and the library. 

She was very fondly staring at the books as she lightly brushed her fingers along the shelves of the books.

“Do you like to read books?” I asked her, moving closer to where she was standing. 

“Yes,” she nodded. 

“Well then, you can come here whenever you want to, okay? I will ask someone to stock up on some new genres,” I said, brushing a strand of hair from her face.

“I appreciate it, but you don't have to,” she said softly. 

“It's nothing, I am willing to do a lot more than this,” I said.

 She stared at me with a lot of unreadable emotions. 

“Thank you,” she replied softly. 

I walked out of the library to see Bernadette's gaze settled on a particular wall-size photo nailed in the hallway. It was a photo of my parents holding a two-year-old me. 

“Is that you?” she asked in a barely audible voice. Her fingers were lightly grazing the frame. 

“Yes,” I answered, smiling. As a toddler, I was always a chubby-tubby.

“You were an adorable baby,” she said, directing a beaming smile my way.

She was looking through every photo frame present in the hallway. 

“Soon, our wedding photos would join these frames,” I stated. Promptly a small smile appeared on her face. 

“Do you wish to have kids?” I asked her after a while.

“Yes,” she nodded.

“How many?” 

“Two, maybe three,” I smiled at her answer. I always wanted a big family. Being a single child myself, I used to sometimes feel lonely during my younger days. Though I enjoyed the undivided attention of my parents but still sometimes would wish that I had a sibling.

Nicolina never wanted kids. She didn't like the idea of giving and changing her body just to change dirty nappies. 

Since you intend to have two or three children, we should begin the baby-making process,” I said.