A wife for my brother

Daniel stood waiting for her as she returned from her “show”. She was walking as if nothing had happened, a little agitated and trying to gather her hair.

– Come with me,” he said.

– Where to? –

– Just come.

She followed him until they came out into an empty room where tables and chairs were stacked.

– What was that? –

– What was what? – Deanna didn’t understand what he wanted to tell her.

– That “show” with Harry –

– We just dance, we do it often on campus –

– You have to stop doing it, it’s embarrassing –

They had only been married a few hours and he had already started to forbid her to do things. Daniel was very upset, but not because she danced, but because she did it with Harry.

-Give me a break, I won’t do it again for another year – If it were up to him she would never do it again.

– You’re married to me now and you must behave differently. You can’t put on that kind of show in front of everybody –

– Did I step out of line? I’m sorry – She was being sarcastic.

– Apparently there are things you don’t understand yet, but marrying me involves a lot more than just pretending, you have to behave in a certain way –

– It was just a dance –

– With Harry! – They were starting to escalate things a bit.

– Yes, with Harry! What is it that bothers you? He’s your brother –

– You said nothing ever happened between you two! –

– What’s that got to do with it?! –

– It looked like something else to me! – That was the real reason for his anger.

– He’s my friend! –

– Now he’s your brother-in-law and you can’t do those things with him anymore! –

– That’s ridiculous! –

Deanna wasn’t going to put up with this any longer, she slammed the door out of the room and went back to the party room. Daniel was trying to calm down, he was more upset with himself than with her. His head kept bringing back the image of the two of them together and that made him angry and having to admit why, made him even angrier.

He was seeing her as a woman and that was out of the question. It couldn’t happen, it couldn’t be happening to him. She would leave when it was all over, she was only doing this for her friends and it didn’t make any sense to think anything else could happen between them. He was 15 years apart from her, it was impossible for her to see him in any other way than as her friend’s brother.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Besides, it was clear that they could never get along. They were as different as oil and water. Daniel wasn’t going to let anything get past her and she would defend herself just as vehemently. He had to erase those thoughts from his mind and go back to the original plan. Yes, she was pretty, she was smart, she had freckles on her back and defined shoulders, but she was too young and too combative.

If this was going to be the case for the remainder of the drill, Deanna could already see herself getting into a lot of arguments about “appropriate behavior.” Why couldn’t he be a little more flexible and less conservative? But seeing Harry and Laura so happy gave her the cue that it would be worth putting up with Daniel’s sullen nature, she would have to work hard to contain her own attitude.

It didn’t do him any good to be so attractive with that attitude. She understood why his children, with the exception of the youngest, were so sober and shy. But there was still the question of “the rules” for her to coexist at home. All the excitement of the dance and the fun of that night faded away as she tried to process why it bothered him so much that she danced with Harry.

When Daniel returned to his seat he was even more serious, he didn’t say anything else to her for the rest of the night and just watched and talked to some of the guests. In his head was spinning the idea that they would still have to spend the wedding night at the hotel… together.

– I don’t understand why we should stay here tonight? The guests have all left, we could go our separate ways and first thing tomorrow morning I’ll be at your place with my things.

– I can’t come to my so-called “wedding night” to sleep at my house, anyone can see me and wonder where the bride is. If we are going to go through with this we must do it right -.

They had booked the presidential suite for the occasion, which meant they would have enough room so they wouldn’t have to see each other for the rest of the night. Since Deanna’s mother wasn’t at the wedding and no one in her family helped her with her things, it was Susan who was in charge of setting up the “night” for them. And of course she was going to help… in her own peculiar way.

Daniel immediately sensed his sister’s intentions. She was ready to torture him mercilessly. In the room they found a bottle of champagne chilling next to two glasses and roses everywhere. As soon as they walked through the door, romantic music started playing from somewhere and the lights automatically dimmed. What was Susan thinking? Whatever it was, it did the trick: Daniel began to feel uncomfortable.

He turned on all the lights and found where the music was coming from to turn it off. Deanna watched everything, but said nothing.

– I had nothing to do with all this – He told her, trying to guess her thoughts.

– I know –

Of course she knew, with the little he had shown her about his way of being it was obvious that he would never come up with a decoration like that. But the surprise still awaited in the room.

– You can take the master bedroom; I’ll sleep in the living room.

– Okay – She was still mad at him.

Deanna thought about taking a bath and just going to sleep, but when she went to look for her suitcase she couldn’t find it anywhere. They forgot to bring her things, she thought. She went into the bathroom and found something hanging on one of the hangers, it was the bridal trousseau. And it was too much, it was too much. How was she going to wear that with him on the other side of the door? A little pink nightgown that barely covered her thighs with a matching robe of the same size.

She couldn’t sleep in her dress; her clothes weren’t there let alone could she sleep naked. She resigned herself to wearing it after her bath. She went outside checking the coast was clear and hurried to the bed, but just as she was about to get in Daniel knocked on the door and walked right in; he wanted to use the bathroom too. And once again, time froze. He felt his heart pounding and a warmth sweep over him from head to toe.

Deanna froze, her face burning with embarrassment. It was the longest seconds of her life and to make matters worse, he didn’t move. Suddenly, Daniel looked away.

-I’m sorry,” he said and hurried into the bathroom.

Susan wasn’t just trying to annoy or torture him, she was a pervert. At that moment she would be laughing out loud at his expense. He tried to calm the sensations that assaulted him before he went back out, he carefully opened the door, but the lights in the room were already off and a figure was on the bed covered up to her head.

He leaned back on one of the living room couches with his suit on and tried to close his eyes to sleep, but all he could see when he did was Deanna’s nearly bare legs and her abundant hair draped over his shoulders. He had to suppress his urges, he couldn’t live with her if he kept feeling that tingle in his stomach every time she smiled at him or he could see a piece of her skin. What was it about this woman that threw him off center like that? It wasn’t the first smile someone had given him, nor the first pair of legs he had seen; he couldn’t understand it.

In the morning her things were brought in and Deanna was finally able to change into her own clothes. She left the room covered from head to toe in a pair of sweatpants and a sweater that fit huge, but hid everything. She still felt ashamed of what had happened the night before.

Maybe it was the image Daniel still saw in his head or the shame she still felt, but all the way home, they barely spoke. As if they were afraid of saying something inappropriate or out of place. She didn’t complain to him that he’d walked into the room like that and he didn’t say anything about her legs. They would have to accommodate each other and it was getting more and more complicated.