Page 12 of His Naive Wife

“I’m so sorry for how I’ve treated you,” she says.

Stunned, I’m without words. She takes my hand and leads me into her bedroom. The television is on, but whatever she was watching is paused. She sits on her bed and motions for me to join her.

“Is that why you’ve been crying?” I ask.

“Because of my apology? No.” She reaches for the remote and presses play. “I’ve been watching the beginning of Up. Have you ever seen it?”

I look at the TV and see an animated movie playing.

“It’s a cartoon?” I ask.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. You’ve never seen Up? You know, Pixar?”

“I don’t have a kid to go to the movies with.”

“Oh, Alex, you have no idea what you’ve been missing. This isn’t a kids’ thing. The beginning of Up is a montage of the best relationship ever. It’s my relationship goal.” Tears begin to form in her eyes. She looks up and blinks as she holds a finger up to me. “I’m sorry, I know it’s stupid, but all I have to do is think about them, and Ellie’s dying and…” Emilee gets choked up and shakes her head. “I’m sorry, I just can’t. I can’t talk about it.”

She wraps her arms around me again, and I hold her as I wonder what happened to the woman I left three days before. Once the tears stop, I reach over to her nightstand and grab a tissue box to hand to her.

“I’ll leave you to watch your movie,” I say.

“No, you should stay. You said you’ve never seen it, and we never spend any time together.”

“I didn’t think you wanted to,” I say.

“I know, again, I’m sorry about that. You’re right. I didn’t want to spend any time with you, but that wasn’t your fault. That was all me.”

“So what changed?”

She smiles as she crosses her legs underneath her. “I’ll be honest. The past few days that you’ve been gone, I’ve gone through your entire home. I didn’t find any pictures of women or children, nothing. You’re all alone. I asked Reggie, and he said you’ve never been married. He said you never had anyone serious, either. You were saving yourself for me, weren’t you?”

“Yes, I’ve been waiting for you my entire life.” I laugh. “I just didn’t have the time. If I’m being honest, I didn’t make the time. I didn’t think relationships mattered because all of mine ended so badly. Then, about a month ago, I was at my brother’s wedding when I realized what I’ve been missing out on. The next thing I knew, I was learning about arranged marriages. Is that why you were crying? Because of the marriage?”

She takes the box of tissues, pulls one out, and dabs her eyes.

“Not completely. I needed a good cry, and the beginning of that movie always gets to me,” she says. “There are a lot of reasons for me to cry. I’m a little mad at my dad about this,” she points back and forth between us. “But I’m also upset about my ex.”

I sit on the bed beside her, grab the remote, and turn the television off.

“I’m sorry I hit him,” I say.

She shrugs. “He had it coming. Probably always did, but I didn’t see the real him until the other day.” She’s quiet for a couple of minutes as she looks down at her hands. “I tried to reach out to him the day of our wedding. I was hoping he would come and rescue me from getting married, that he would finally tell me he loves me, and we would have our happily ever after. As you know, he didn’t come. All that fighting with my dad about him, and it ended up my dad was right all along. Dylan never cared about me.”

“I noticed you were distracted as you walked down the aisle. There was a point where I thought you were going to make a run for it. I was surprised you said I do.”

“Not as surprised as I was. I was upset he didn’t show, and I was angry my dad was forcing me to marry some old guy. No offense.”

“None taken. I told your father I was too old for you, too.”

“Then why did you say you wanted to marry me?”

I grin. “I wish I could tell you exactly why, but I can’t. There was something about you when we passed each other in the foyer that day. It felt right.”

“I felt that too,” she says as she nods. “It was overwhelming, but in a good way.”

“I agree. So I figured, if I felt that way from that brief moment, what would the rest of our lives be like? I texted your father right away that I would marry you.”

“I think that’s where my anger for you first started. I’ve read so many books and seen so many movies where the couple just knows immediately that they’re meant to be. I thought about how easy those fictional couples have it and how difficult things with Dylan and I had always been. I started to question myself about how I felt, and I was so angry that my father was right. I figured I just needed to see him again, hear him say the words, and then I would know for sure. But you know how that went. I had been awful to you, but you still defended me. You protected me. Just like my dad said you would.”

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