As Dark As Dusk( Dangerous Stranger Book 3)

Chapter 18

Mr. Rodriguez had left last night and he hasn't returned still. I was not serious when I told him that I am not going to marry him until he found Ibrahim. But I know once he had settled his mind on something he was not going to stop until it was done. Dana walked inside carrying a tray for me. "You are looking better already. I can see the color returning to your face." Then she frowned.

"What is it that is bothering you now?" I shook my head. I do not wish to trouble with my thoughts. "You can tell me everything. I am your sister. We are friends" She placed her hand over mine. "It's Mr. Rodriguez. He "wants me to meet his family." That is one part of it. "You are wondering if they will accept you." I nodded. 

"They will be a fool not to. And something tells me Katherine that it doesn't matter whether they accept. Mr. Rodriguez will marry you anyway." That is also true.

"Maybe I am worried because I don't know what it is going to be like to give up my freedom and get tied to someone like that," I told her. "Like as a wife to an influential man as Christin Ace Rodriguez?" She smiled. "He loves you. That much I know. It shows when he looks at you." Dana assured me. 

"How do you know?" her eyes turned sad. "It is a look I hope to see in James's eyes when he looked at me. But I was never meant to have that." I looked at her alarmed.

"Did something happen? Did he say something to you? It had been just a few months of your marriage." And then I asked her the most dreaded question that was gracing my mind. "Did he for some reason hit you?" She shook her head. 

"No Katherine. He is a good husband. He fulfilled everything a husband should. Yet every time we are close I long to feel that love." I shouldn't be asking this but as her big sister, I needed to know how far this crack goes.

"Did you two consummated your marriage?" I shouldn't be asking this. But couldn't help myself. She looked away. "Answer me, Dana, have you two..." "Once yes, but it felt like it was forced upon him. He sleeps on me on the same bed but he doesn't try to close the gap between us. I don't force him. I know he is in love with someone else." No Dana, it is not alright. "I know he is still in love with you."

"No, he is not. He is a married man and I always had loved Mr. Rodriguez. I have never thought about anyone else. The time when James thought he could marry me was a flaw. It was a misunderstanding, Dana." I have to talk to James. I cannot let him hurt my sister like this. "I appreciate your concern but I have married him. He will not leave me. Now, I am the one who has to make him happy. I am his wife. Sooner or later, he will begin to love me. Because if a man lives with a mere stone statue, he eventually gets used to it. Begin to give a place to it in his life. And I am a person." I wiped her tears.

"Men are stupid, they don't understand our love. Look at Mr. Rodriguez, he ran all the way to Paris to avoid me. He didn't want to admit that he was in love with me. How dumb is that? He couldn't have said those words instead he preferred running to a different place." She smiled finally. "Yes, you are right men are dumb." And we both laughed at that.

"You are right men are dumb. But women come from a strange place that makes it harder to understand them. Them and their mind." We both looked at the owner of the voice. Mr. Rodriguez looked at us.

 "I..." I saw he was still holding his cold posture. Not coming towards me as he should have. But maybe it was because of the presence of Dana. "But some men are dumber, like James. He better start appreciate the gift he has. Not many have this gift."

Dana stood up and walked away. "I will be downstairs if you needed me to call my name." She said and closed the door on her way out. Finally, he made his way towards me. He sat down beside me on the bed.