Page 69 of Dex

I’ve decided that I won’t go shopping for my wedding dress.I’ll just browse online, because I have work to do, and tomorrow I’ll go into the office.My father is only now starting to look better, but I think he should stay at home and fully recover.I’ve been away from work, leaving suddenly without an explanation and now I have to somehow break it to my colleagues that I’ll be getting married and moving to New York.

“How are the wedding preparations going, Mãe?”I ask my mother.“Is there anything I can do to help?”

“It’s all being taken care of, filha.Don’t you worry.We’ve hosted parties for three hundred people here, this will be easy.Less than one hundred people.”She looks a little downcast.

“The smaller the number, the better, Mãe.”

“We will put the Knights up in one of our other homes here in São Paulo.The wedding of course, will take place here, at the family home.Is that agreeable to you?”

I sigh.“It is.It’s fine.”I would have wanted some other place, but this isn’t about me.This is about Paul Knight’s wishes.And, I remind myself, this isn’t real.My parents exchange a look.

“It’s fine,” I say again, not wanting them to worry.

My mother studies me.“You know, it’s not impossible that you might fall in love with Dexter.”

It both amuses and irritates me that she refers to him by his name.As if she knows him well.I give a small, tight smile.“It’s not impossible,” I echo, because she so badly wants to believe it.

“You’re doing this to help the family and the business,” she continues.“It’s how it used to be in past times.Arrange marriages worked.Dexter is young and handsome.And the two of you …”

She trails off.

“Mãe,” I say cautiously.

She grins.“I haven’t seen a photo of the two of you together, but … my Photoshop skills aren’t bad.”

She turns her phone toward me and shows me a wallpaper of me and Dexter Knight.It’s a picture of me with what looks like an online image of Dexter, plastered on top.It looks strange.

“Mãe!”I groan.

She just laughs.

“I’m going into work tomorrow.”

She frowns, not liking the sound of that.“Why?”

“I’ll come with you,” my father offers.

“No, you’re taking more time off,” I remind him.“You’re resting, Papai.”

“I’m better now.”He exhales.“I’ve been going in for a few hours a day.I can’t be seen as weak.With you marrying a Knight, I need to show strength.Be the man I used to be .”

I hate that he says that.I want him to be the big strong, giant he used to be, and I keep telling myself what I’m doing will help his road to recovery.And to believing in himself.“Papai, you don’t need to go in.”

He doesn’t like my answer.“You’re getting married soon.Why should you be going to work?”

I swallow.“I’ve been away for so long.It will just take my mind off things until…” I inhale slowly.“Until Dexter gets here.”They both nod, eyes bright and eager as they hang on to my every word, hoping I’ll say something nice about my future husband and this situation.“He’s arriving with his brothers,” I continue.“The day before the wedding.They’re only staying for two nights.They leave the day after the wedding.”

“Why the rush?”Mãe exclaims.

“Business.They have a global enterprise to take care of,” my father reminds her.

“We’ll have them over for dinner as soon as they arrive,” my mother insists.“We won’t have much time to spend with them, or get to know them, reading the email your father-in-law sent.”

“The civil ceremony will be the same day?”I ask, wondering if anything has changed between the email Paul Knight sent out, and whatever discussions he and my parents have had since then.

My mother nods.“It will.Perhaps straight after the wedding ceremony.The garden will be done up.We’ll have a tent on the grounds, for the wedding reception later that evening,” my mother continues.“And that will be bigger.”

“Not that much bigger,” my father says.A worried frown creases his brow.He’s trying to toe the line, to do what Paul Knight says.My stomach feels heavy as I contemplate what a year of being in that family will do to me.

---