A wife for my brother

– It’s more than obvious, Harry how can you not see that? –

– I don’t know what’s obvious, Susan. Daniel is taking this too far –

– Harry, Daniel likes Deanna.

– Impossible.

– You can tell he’s got a crush on her, it’s like you don’t know him –

– Don’t talk nonsense, Susan. Daniel doesn’t like anyone –

– Why do you think he told you it was your fault? It’s because you’re close and it annoys him, he doesn’t know how to approach her in the same way. It bothers him to see you two together, he must think there was something between you and he’s jealous. Come on Harry! It can’t be possible that you don’t realize –

This wasn’t supposed to happen, it was a marriage in appearance only. Deanna was everything his brother didn’t want in a woman, let alone a wife.

– Susan’s right, dear –

– Do you feel the same way, Laura? I can’t understand it… Deanna isn’t nearly the woman for my brother…

– Anything can be, Harry.

Why does the idea bother you so much? –

– It must be because Daniel is a beast!- He yelled.

– Deanna doesn’t keep quiet, you know that –

Harry didn’t tell Laura about Susan’s idea of her brother’s jealousy towards him. He just wanted to check if he wasn’t the only one who thought Susan was crazy, but Laura thought the same. Daniel was jealous of Deanna because of their closeness. That was the reason for the fuss he’d made at dinner. He had to get Deanna out of that house, they had to get a divorce. It didn’t matter if it was a circus or if people were talking; Daniel and Deanna was impossible for it to happen.

But Laura went ahead of Harry’s intentions and made the announcement that she was pregnant, she couldn’t wait any longer. The news shocked the whole family, but it also brought a bit of relief from Daniel’s problems with his wife. Camila focused on Laura and forgot for a while about the idea of getting her other daughter-in-law off her back.

Daniel was trying to get closer to Deanna, but she kept rejecting him. Even the children realized that something was going on between them. She pretended he didn’t exist, if he spoke to her or asked her anything she answered with monosyllables. Gone were the smiles she would give him when he was polite or considerate, Deanna was furious with Daniel and she would not get over it easily.

Who did he think he was to forbid her anything or yell at her like that? She had gone to enormous lengths to fit into his lifestyle, to prove to others that she was a match for her husband. All to protect him from people’s gossip , she had put his “image” as a priority, she accepted her role of “model wife” and at the first chance he had, he would end up trying to impose himself rudely. From now on she would do whatever she wanted, they had nothing left to do but put up with each other for a few months and then she would ask him for a divorce. There was no point in putting up with him anymore.

Her friends at the University kept asking her out at night and she had been refusing them on the grounds that she was a married woman, until that night. They passed her the address of a new bar near campus and told her to bring her husband too, one of her classmates’ band was going to play. Which husband? Deanna wondered, why not go? It was the weekend anyway and the kids were with their grandparents.

She didn’t go down to dinner with him and got dressed to go out.

– Where are you going dressed like that? –

– To a bar with some friends.

– Dressed like that? –

– Yes – That was all and she walked out the door.

Daniel felt the urge to stop her, how could she walk down the street dressed like that? That dress barely covered her thighs and all that makeup and hairstyle. She was doing it on purpose to tease him, he thought, and she had succeeded. He had to bite the inside of his mouth to keep from yelling at her that she couldn’t go out, least of all in those clothes. “Let her do whatever she wants!” he thought. He was sick of that feeling inside him that kept growing every day, he was sick of that frustration of not being able to get close to her, he was sick of the jealousy.

The best thing would be for everyone to make their own life, Laura had already announced her pregnancy, why wait a year? A year of this torture of seeing her every day and not being able to touch her, of wanting to be by her side and her rejecting him, a year of feeling his chest expand just seeing her smile. He cursed the moment Harry had proposed this madness and he had accepted.

And despite his anger, he couldn’t sleep. He tossed and turned in bed so many times that he finally went down to the kitchen for a glass of water and then sat in the living room, in the dark, waiting for her to return. What time was she planning to come back? It was already late in the morning. She was planning to come back, wasn’t she? Suddenly he heard the door and knew it was her. Now she was going to listen to him.

But Deanna was barely standing, all disheveled and with her shoes in her hand. She looked like she didn’t want to make a sound, but she was bumping into everything in her path, she was drunk!

– Deanna! –

– Hello…

– Look at the state you’re back in, it’s the last straw! –

– I had a few drinks with my friends… Come… Come… Come… – Daniel came closer…

– You stink of alcohol…

– Come…

And when he was close enough, she threw herself on him, wrapping both arms around his neck. Daniel froze, she was hugging him. Her shoes fell to the floor and she brought her body closer to his, trying to hold herself up so she wouldn’t end up on the floor. But she was giving in to the dizziness of her body and each time she became more and more unsteady, Daniel had to grab her waist to keep her from falling. She looked up at him and smiled.

-My sexy and rude husband…” She told him, as she ran one of her hands through his hair from the nape of his neck.

Daniel’s blood ran cold. Sexy husband? My sexy husband? She was drunk, that’s why she was saying those things.

– You’re drunk, you’re talking nonsense –

– Of course not! Aren’t you? Mmmmm…? –

– Stand up…

– Noooo, take me to bed… –

Oh, for God’s sake! Daniel closed his eyes tightly and held his breath. Deanna seemed to want to climb on top of him. He could feel her whole body against his, the heat of her skin, the perfume she was wearing, every curve. He was making a superhuman effort to restrain himself. If he didn’t separate her from him, he couldn’t endure it.

He took her in his arms and carried her up to his room, she kept touching his hair as she seemed to be humming a song. By the time he laid her down on the bed she gave the impression that she was already asleep, he had to get out of that room fast. But she felt the loss of his warmth and took him by the hand.

– Don’t go away…Ccontent © exclusive by Nô/vel(D)ra/ma.Org.

– You have to sleep… –

– Sleep with me, mmmmm? –

– I don’t think so, Deanna, please –

– Nooo, sleep with me… – She clung even tighter to his hand and began to pull him down, until he sat on the edge of the bed.

He would wait a few minutes until she was completely asleep and run out. But she wouldn’t stop moving, tugging at him. When he wouldn’t budge she grabbed him by the lapels of his robe and using the weight of her body she managed to get him to lie down on the back of the bed.

– Deanna, stop it… –

– Let’s go to sleep… –

She began to settle over his body until she had her head lying on his chest and one of his legs on his. She clung to his robe and made a contented sound and fell sound asleep. Daniel couldn’t move, didn’t know what to do with his hands, didn’t know what to do with the sensations of having her clinging to him. He could see her bare legs over his pajama pants, feel her hands gripping him tightly, the scent of her hair so close and the movement of her chest as she breathed.