ONE

JOLENE

I blinked back tears as the Priest’s droning voice sounded in my ears. “I now pronounce you man and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”

I sucked in a breath, hating the tremor that ran through me as Jake stepped closer. He was so close I could feel his body heat, that wiff of lime scented aftershave.

I closed my eyes, angling my head up as I remembered the last time we’d kissed. The last time he’d held me in his arms, treated me like a meant a thing…

Someone laughed, and a few other sniggers followed. I could hear the ever present paparazzi cameras clicking away.

My stomach dropped and I sucked in a breath opening my eyes, only to see Jake walking away.

He had left me standing there by the altar, waiting to be kissed.

I bit down my lower lip, feeling my lips stretch into a huge, fake smile when all I wanted to do was cry.

In one single morning, I had lost my best friend, my sister’s future hung on a thin line, and I was married. Married into a family that hated my guts.

I could already see the headlines that would be splayed all over the Internet soon. Jacob Henderson was the darling of the press, their most eligible bachelor. They’d all be wondering why he announced an engagement so quickly, then they’d check my background, and they’d probably all arrive at the same conclusion –

That I was a gold digger.

I stormed away, towards the car that brought me, before my sobbing would get worse and I’ll end up a nervous wreck on my own wedding day.

My hands shook on the door handle, but it didn’t bulge. I turned to one of the Henderson family chauffeurs. “Please take me home,” I whispered. I was already shaking, and I hated the facts that the camera clicks had gotten closer now.

“Charles? Please take me home,” I repeated, and he shook his head, offering me a sympathetic glance. “Mrs. Henderson instructed you are not to use the family cars again. I’m sorry, I can give you a little money for a cab –”

“What on earth Charles? You literally brought me here to this church, take me home!” I tried not to shout

He shook his head again. “I’m sorry Ma’am, but that was before Mrs. Henderson gave the instruction.”

I dragged in a breath, closing my eyes tight, and pushing the tears back.  When I opened them again, the fake smile was back on as I headed outside.

I stopped caring about the paparazzi and their million pictures, the only thing I was focused on was Jake. I needed to get him to fall for me.

How the heck was I supposed to get my husband to love me if he couldn’t even bring himself to kiss me?

But I had to do it for Stacy.

I flagged down a taxi and got in, ignoring the dirt and dust my white dress gathered. “11 Henderson avenue,” I choked out, ignoring the look the driver shot me.

And that was it. I was married into the richest family in Manhattan. The Henderson’s were so influential, they had a whole street named after them.

And now, they’d just decided that the latest enemy they needed to crush under their feet was – me!

My eyes were thankfully dry as I stepping into their sprawling mansion, and made the long walk up their driveway. Jake was standing by the front door as I pushed it open, and I felt hope surge through me.

“Listen to me Jake, I’ve  been trying to get you alone for a while, I swear I –”

He dragged in a harsh breath, and pulled me inside, slamming the door shut.

For the first time since the wedding, there was another emotion on his face that wasn’t just that bored, cold expression, and this frightened me even more. 

He looked angry, livid. And of course his anger was directed at me.

“In case you haven’t figured it out before now,” he spat, “there is nothing between us, and there would never be a single thing between us. You’re a lying, conniving, manipulating bitch. You may have think you’ve won, but trust me….”

His voice trailed off, and I fought hard to wipe of the tears that kept coming. “Jake, listen I –”

“You disgust me,” he said so quietly, it hurt like a million stabs to my chest.

“Jake let me explain,” I whispered.

He shook his head. “Save your breath, for your own good. There’s nothing you’ll say now that wouldn’t make you look even more disgustingly desperate, even more like a selfish, freaking gold digger to me, so just shut it.”

His hand curved around my neck, oddly gentle, and I imagined he wanted to squeeze. Instead, he pulled closer till he could bend and press his mouth to my ear.

“I will still keep sleeping with my women you know? Funny thing is, I don’t discriminate, so if you’re up to being fucked by a man that hates your guts, your call.”

He turned and walked away then, and while I stood there crying my eyes out, I knew what I had to do.

I had just one year to make Jacob Henderson fall in love with me.

And I had to do it.

For Stacy.

*THE PREVIOUS DAY*

 I ran into Mrs Henderson while trying to return back to the kitchen, I tried my best to hide my puffy eyes from her sharp gaze.

The Henderson family had weird rules, one of which was that servants couldn’t morn a member of the family.

And so, even though I had been Logan Henderson’s caregiver for over three years now, even though I had been the one beside him at his death bed, the last person to see him before he died, I was still not allowed to morn. I was still required to stay in the house with the rest of the servants while the whole family went for the funeral.

“Where on earth is Jake!”  She snapped, at the same time carefully studying me with her dry eyes. 

“I don’t know,” I answered, she dismissed me nonchalantly as I quickly turned to walk away. 

Only, I collided against a rock hard body. A body with a cologne that was already etched in my memory.

“I’m here Mom,” he answered, and in spite of myself, I felt a smile form at my lips.

“Jo,” he said in that deep dark voice of his. The hand he’d used to steady me was still curled around my waist, and unwittingly, I remembered another time that hand had curled around my waist.

I stared up into intense green eyes, and realized he remembered too.

“Don’t be in a hurry to leave,” he murmured in a voice that felt like if was just for me, as his hand transferred from my waist to my wrist. “Father’s lawyer is here already, he requested that you be present to hear the will.”

“Oh!” I exclaimed, feeling my cheeks heat. Jake wasn’t the only one that was watching me intently, Rebecca had an odd calculative look on her face.

“Why did my husband request that you be at his will hearing?” She asked softly, and that was even more scary than when she was barking out orders. It meant that she was paying too much attention to whatever answer I was planning to give.

“I don’t know,” I lied.

Because I had begged and cried that he secure my little sister’s medical bills as I sat with him on his death bed.

Logan had been the grand father I never had. From the moment he fell ill with a stroke and I became his primary, non-medical care giver, he’d treated me with a dignity the rest of the Hendersons refused to show me – well, Jake aside.

And finally, he’d told me he was going to order that he be taken off life support that night. He’d told me to take a walk, clear my head. He didn’t want me to be there when the doctors pulled the plug on him.

And even though I had cried my eyes out because I was losing the only parent figure I knew, I had selfishly demanded he make provisions for Stacy my eighteen year old sister. She was way past the date of her scheduled surgery, but I hadn’t been able to scrape up the money on my maid salary, and I couldn’t bring myself to ask Jake.

Now, the rest of the family was going to find out about my selfishness.

“Good evening, Mrs. Henderson, Jake and – ah the maid, Jolene?” A sixty something year old man’s voice interrupted my trail of thoughts, and Rebecca who was about to say something transformed into smiles and charm.

“Why, good evening Philip. This way please, Hailey would be with us soon.”

I swallowed, forcing each leg in front of each other. For some reason, Jake had not let go of me, his hand was flat on my back now, drawing circles, and I could not deny how reassuring that felt. 

“As you well know, Logan Henderson was estimated by Forbes to be the richest man in New York. “He was the sole owner of Apex, the highest grossing furniture company in the country, a house in Manhattan, this one, one in Connecticut, one in the Bahamas, a private island, and seven other houses overseas, as well as a dabble of businesses here and there.

His words; to my lovely wife, the love of my life. You’ve stuck around this old bore all his life. To you, I give our house, you’ve always made it a home – cold and bitter sometimes, but a home nonetheless. Our Manhattan home, and an income of a million dollars each month.

To Hailey, Daddy’s spoilt little princess. Of course, I leave you the house at the Bahamas….”

My mind trailed off as the lawyers voice droned on. All I needed was the twenty thousand dollars for Stacy’s surgery…

I stared around the room, wondering if I would still be allowed to keep my job once they found out what I had done. Rebecca was staring daggers at the attorney, and I already knew she would contest that will.

Hopefully, she would be too busy fighting for more, she’d not notice me –

“And to Jake,” the attorney was saying. “The only person aside Jolene that ever really understood me…”

I felt my cheeks heat as almost all eyes in the room turned to glare at me.

“Jake, I leave all I own behind to you, deal with them at your discretion, I know you’ll make me proud, and I’m smiling down from here at you – but! There’s a clause.”

The attorney paused, and I could feel the tension in the room skyrocket as everyone leaned in. Why the heck was he looking at me? Now everyone was looking at me.