On The Border - Marry Him Or Die

16

Alex’s POV

I knock on the front door and wait for Sara to open it.

I look at Jennifer from the corner of my eye, she composed herself and wiped away all the disdain and resentment from her face as she wore a rather blank expression.

She was slightly still shaking as I looked down at her hands which were clenched tightly at her sides.

Per my command, she kept her eyes down the entire time.

Sara opened the door with a slight smile and backed away to let us in.

I walk inside with her following behind me.

I go right, round the corner and enter straight into the family living room where mom, April, Lucas, David, and Mathew were gathered.

They all stood up as we entered the room.

“This is Jennifer, she will be living with us from this moment onward as my wife” I simply said and looked at each one of them.

The only person I told about my decision before heading out this morning was my mother.

I had no idea how she would take it. Me, bringing the daughter of my father’s murderer to live with us under one roof. A normal person would freak out and refuse to let her step one foot inside this house. But my mom was no ordinary woman. She took it rather lightly. And said that she will welcome the girl with arms wide open. She said she will inform the rest of the family while I’m gone and warn anyone about treating her improperly through a word or an action or harm her in any way; physically or emotionally.

I cringed inwardly as I was sure she would be raging mad at me if she found out the way I spoke and treated her outside just two minutes ago.

But I had to. For all our sakes, including Jennifer’s.

April, David, and Mathew all wore the same expression on their faces. Acceptance.

Lucas on the other hand, well if looks could kill, Jennifer would drop dead right about now.

She was still keeping her eyes down, not looking at any of them.

But if she looked at Lucas right now, she would see the look of pure hatred plastered on his face.

It was rather expected. He was exasperated with my decision.

My mom takes a few steps towards Jennifer, and her trembling hands clench even tighter to hide her tremors.

She freezes with shock as my mother hugs her lightly.

Like I said, my mom was no ordinary woman.

Jennifer; too shocked, furrows her eyebrows in confusion and doesn’t return the hug. She didn’t expect a nice gesture from any of us. She was certain that we were all going to mistreat her, like I did.

“Welcome to the family, Jennifer” my mom said softly.

I saw her cringe ever so slightly at the mention of her name, it caught my attention outside when I called her name for the first time but I didn’t know what to make of it.

“I’m Diana, Alex’s mom. This is April and Lucas, Alex’s siblings. And this is David, their cousin. Mathew and Sara live with us as well and they help us out”

My mom introduces everyone gently, while Jennifer looks up for the first time and inspects the people in this room as they were being introduced.

Her eyes linger on Lucas; who kept his expression the same, and she doesn’t miss the hint of hatred and loathing. But instead of returning his gaze with the same look; like I expected her to do, she returns her gaze down to the ground and keeps her mouth shut, just like I ordered her.

Let’s hope this little act of obedience lasts.

My mom carries on the conversation with Jennifer “It was rather a last minute marriage, but I still managed to get Mathew into town to buy your wedding rings. I wasn’t sure about your ring size, but since April knows you from school, she told me you were so skinny, so I hope I guessed the right size”

She takes a small box from the table and opens it.

I didn’t know why it was so necessary to wear those rings when everyone knows it’s a forced marriage. My mom loves traditions, so I guess she wanted to do right by Jennifer and her family, despite our standing animosity with them.

She addresses me pointedly and says “You should put Jennifer’s ring on her, Alex. She will do the same too. It’s traditions”

I inspect the rings, and thankfully discover that she bought new ones for me and her instead of using the ring I was supposed to wear on my wedding day, my real one.

I take out her ring from the box, and look at her, waiting for her to give me her hand.

She looked a little confused at first as her eyes travelled between her right and left hand, it felt like she didn’t know which hand to extend towards me.

She sneaked a look at my mother’s hands and quickly extended her left hand towards me, shakily.

I slipped the ring right away and let go of her.

It was a perfect fit and size.

My mom extends the box towards Jennifer and she takes my ring from the box.

It was completely different from my intended ring, which held some kind of relief. I didn’t want to be stuck with a ring that held so much lost hopes and promises.

This one was a thick golden band with a black inlay line set in the middle.

She barely touched me as she slipped the ring more than halfway through my finger, then quickly snatched her hand back.

I pushed my ring all the way in and ordered Sara curtly “Sara, please show Jennifer to my room and help her with her suitcases”

“This way” Sara motioned for Jennifer to come with her and followed behind her silently.

My room was the first room on the left side of our front door. It overlooks the front yard. The opposite bedroom belonged to Jacob, and the rest of the bedrooms were upstairs.

As soon as I heard my bedroom door shut, Lucas almost exploded with anger “Are you out of your freaking mind Alex? Why the hell did you bring that asshole’s daughter here?”

I grit my teeth in frustration, because I didn’t want Jennifer to hear him, but I felt like he intended the exact opposite as he made sure his voice was high enough to carry outside the living room.

I was barely able to manage her as long as no one harassed her. But if Lucas keeps this up, things will get out of control again and I will be forced to hurt her if she oversteps and gets back at Lucas.

My mom intervenes before me as she chastises him strictly “Lucas! Keep your voice down please. I said it before and I’ll say it now, but I won’t be repeating myself again, so I suggest you listen this time. You will not go anywhere near this girl. She is our responsibility. No harm will come to her from any of us. Do I make myself clear?“

His eyes never waver away from me as my mom speaks to him.

His nostrils were flaring with rage and his breathing was ragged.

He says with a clenched Jaw “Yes, it’s clear. But I want to hear from him first. Give me one good reason as to why this girl has to live with us, share our conversations, our food, our life! How can you trust her with anything? How can you be sure she won’t kill you or any of us in our sleep? Or poison our food? How can you be sure she will not make any move against us to get back at us for killing her father? How can you be sure she’s not sent here as a spy for the walkers and that lord Z who was the master mind of our whole destruction? Do you honestly expect her to live peacefully with the family that murdered her father?”

“Aren’t we living with the girl whose father killed ours? Just as we have no intentions to harm her, I will make sure she has no intentions to harm any one of us. You know the exact reason for this marriage. It was the only way to ensure the peace in this town. And before you can tell me that we can wipe them off one by one, let me tell you that we were not raised as barbaric, heartless, criminals. These men have families in this town. Wives, children, and parents. We had to make peace. Jennifer will be my responsibility and mine alone. If I tell you that I will keep her under control, then you should know that I god damn mean it. End of discussion”

Sara comes back into the living room at that moment.

I turn to her and ask her “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I showed her the room, the bathroom, and the walk in closet. I tried to unpack her things but she refused my help, said she will unpack her own things”

“Anything else?”

“She asked for the Wi-Fi password, I told her it’s accessible without a password, that’s it”

I nodded my head.

She was about to leave when I suddenly remembered how Jennifer’s stomach growled in the car on our way here. She probably hasn’t eaten anything since last night.

“Can you make something like a sandwich and take it to her, please?”

She nodded her head and said “Yeah, sure” then she disappeared into the kitchen.

It’s enough that I have to be so scary, cruel, and cold towards her, I wasn’t about to let her starve in my house, too.