Marrying my high school bully

Melissa

Lilly rushed to me as soon as I returned from work later that evening, her countenance sullen. I planted a kiss on her forehead and smoothened her hair while her nanny came to me.

“She has been crying to see her father since you left, but Mr Hemmingway shut himself in since morning and he doesn’t even want to have anything to eat.” She explained and my heart sank.

Dexter had been that way since the awful revelation came in. With each passing day, he got more withdrawn and cranky. Unwilling to speak to anyone, including Lilly and I.

I understood how he felt so I let him be while attending to all our needs alone. But Lilly was already beginning to sense that something was wrong, and I didn’t want that to happen.

“Daddy,” She muttered and I sighed, and plopped down on the couch.

“I’ll bring Daddy to you so that he can play with you and you’ll both get some ice cream, alright?” I promised.

She nodded, a sweet smile spreading on her lips. I loved her so much and I would never let her go even though Dexter decided to.

Lilly didn’t deserve her biological parents, and if Dexter didn’t see that he was the best father that she could have, then I’d make him see it myself.

“Stay here and keep playing with your doll. I’ll be back soon.” I calmly said and patted her head.

“Yes, Mel.”

I traipsed to the kitchen and found a tray with covered plates on the countertop. I uncovered the plates to confirm that it was his abandoned lunch, then placed them inside the microwave and set the timer for them to be heated.

My eyes darted to the fridge and I began to recall all the times he prepared dinner for me. He was a good cook and a good man. He was just as unlucky as I was.

The timer went off and I brought out the plates and arranged them on the tray. My heartbeat raced as I climbed the stairs to our room.This content © Nôv/elDr(a)m/a.Org.

I couldn’t remember the last time I saw him eat properly or recall when we even had a proper conversation.

I pushed the door open, flitting my eyes around in search of him. Then the bathroom door went ajar and he came out, his chest bare as he wore plain black sweatpants.

His eyes had bags of exhaustion underneath them, and his chin was covered with beards that weren’t even trimmed.

I placed the tray on the bed stand, watching him sink on the bed in a bid to lie down.

“When will you stop mourning over the loss you never had?” I began, my voice laced with a tinge of irritation.

He didn’t bother to say anything as he ignored me and turned to his side like he usually did whenever he didn’t want to speak to me.

The urge to yell, nag, and scream at the top of my lungs was threatening to consume me, but I held them back, forcing out every droplet of understanding that remained inside of me.

“You can’t remain like this forever, Dexter. You’ve been skipping your meals. You don’t even go to the office or receive any work-related calls. And the worst of it all is that you don’t even care about me or your daughter.”

At the mention of ‘daughter,’ he sat up with a huge frown on his face.

“Is she my daughter?” He rumbled, his nonchalant tone grating on my already rattled nerves.

“Are you asking me such a question?” I scoffed. “You watched her grow, and deep down I know that you love her. So why are you beating yourself up over this issue?”

“Because you don’t know what it means to be lied to, Lorraine! Lilly was my rock after the ordeal from two years ago. Though she didn’t come the way I expected, I was happy to have someone from my loins. Victoria died and you were kidnapped. She was my only family and now she’s not…” He admitted and I palmed my face.

I understood his pain, but I hoped that I would be able to convince him that Lilly would always be his daughter. Biological or not.

“Dexter,” I sat beside him and placed my hand on his shoulder. “I want to ask you a question and I request your honesty.”

He shrugged, a silent way of telling me to go ahead.

“Do you think Liam is good enough to be a father to Lilly?” I asked intently and he flinched.

“No one is going to love Lilly like I do, and definitely not Liam. He doesn’t even give a hoot about her.” He snapped.

A smile crawled to my lips. “That means you’re just scared of losing her.” He glanced at me and bowed his head. My heart fell, seeing him so defeated and resigned. “But you can always fight for her. Your withdrawal towards her is because you don’t want it to hurt if Liam ever decides to ask for custody, but that won’t happen because he’s going to be in jail. You can adopt Lilly legally and you won’t have to be scared of losing her anymore.” I advised him and his shoulders sagged.

He bobbed his back and pinched the bridge of his nose to keep himself from crying.

“I don’t deserve you, Lorraine…” His voice cracked as he trailed off.

“Let it out, honey. You are human and I’m not going to look down on you just because you decided to be vulnerable.” I caressed his back and hugged him.

His body vibrated as he sobbed silently. I cried along with him, letting out the pain with a flicker of hope hovering over us. After everything, we were going to start life afresh, in a new place where new memories would be made and the hurtful ones would be thrown into oblivion.

After what seemed like an eternity, we pulled away from each other and stared at our puffy faces, bursting into giggles.

“You look like a chicken that was taken out of the freezer.” He teased with a chuckle. Crying isn’t good for you right now.”

I slapped his arm playfully, happy that the invisible cold wall that grew sporadically between us had crumbled, and he was back to being the man I fell head over heels for.

“Keep teasing me and I won’t talk to you anymore.” I pouted and rolled my eyes.

He inhaled and stared at me passionately. “Thank you, sweetheart.” He said.

“For what?”

“For always being there. For having a large heart. Not every woman can be accommodating and loving to the child that came from the person who caused her pain. I guess you’re one of the fallen angels, not as fallen, but what I mean is that you fell in the right place which is my life. I won’t promise not to annoy you or be grumpy sometimes, because that’s what makes me lovable, you know,” He winked, “But I’m sure that I won’t abuse the second chance you offered me to take care of your heart. I will treasure you for the rest of my life till death do us part.”

Both of my cheeks had heated beyond red, and my eyes glistened with unshed tears, but I was happy.

My wishes had finally been granted.

“Why does this sound like wedding vows?” I giggled.

“Because I never said this the day I coaxed you to marry me and I don’t regret making you my wife. I’m just sad that I didn’t do it the right way.”

“We never had an official wedding, remember? I was kidnapped so we are going to plan another wedding ceremony after those people have been put behind bars.” I said and a light knock sounded on the door, followed by Lilly’s shrill voice.

Dexter rose and picked a black vest that was hung on the hanger. He stretched his hand and helped me up. While staring at me tenderly, he said, “Let’s go get our daughter. ”

I chuckled. “We better do, because I promised her that I’d bring you to her.”