Consummate The Marriage

‘Marty will say yes if I agree to invest in his project,’ Kieran said. ‘Besides, I’m not going to order him to get a divorce. I’m just going to use the art of persuasion.’ I pondered the idea. From what Vanessa said, Marty married her for business purposes. By the same token, he might get a divorce for the same reason. Kieran’s idea could work. ‘Okay, but tread carefully. I don’t want there to be blowback on Vanessa.’ Kieran patted my butt. ‘You can come with me if you want.’ ‘No, thanks. I’ve got better things to do than watch you fast-talk a man into divorcing his wife.’ I started to rise, but Kieran pulled me back down and locked his arms around my waist. ‘Now that we’ve got other people’s business out of the way…’ He nibbled my earlobe. ‘You mentioned something about bridal lingerie last night? I heard it’s transparent.’ I cupped his face and turned it towards the window. ‘Look at the sun outside.’ ‘So?’ ‘It’s almost noon.’ ‘There’s no law against having sex at noon,’ Kieran teased. ‘It’d be a shame to let the crotchless teddy go to waste.’ ‘Did you look in my suitcase?’ I pinched his ear. ‘Hard not to.’ He lifted me and carried me over to the king-sized bed. ‘Come on, honey, we’ve got at least an hour before lunch. I’ll be quick.’ ‘You always say that, but you are never quick.’ He grinned. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’ ‘I need a shower.’ ‘We’ll take one together. Afterwards.’ He undid the belt on my bathrobe with one quick yank. ‘I’ve got your suitcase right here. Put it on for me, please.’ ‘Pervert.’ I kicked him in the shin. ‘It’s customary to consummate our marriage after the wedding.’ ‘Customary, my ass. We consummated plenty of times before the wedding.’ Kieran overrode my objections and helped me get undressed, then sat back and watched as I slipped on the teddy, which was nothing more than a few strips of sheer lace fabric stitched together. ‘Nice.’ He fingered the bow in the front of the teddy. ‘I’m ready to unwrap my present now.’ It was way past noon by the time we were done. Our guests were gathered in the banquet hall downstairs, enjoying a leisurely afternoon tea session. Kieran and I did our duties as hosts and saw them off one by one. Carole brought baby Ken over. ‘He just woke up from his nap.’ I kissed his chubby cheeks. ‘Hi, sweetie. How was your nap?’ With a tissue offered by Carole, I wiped the drool off Ken’s mouth. He looked just like his father. They had the same soulful eyes and impish smile. ‘Mommy.’ He held out his right fist. ‘For me?’ I picked up the crumpled rose and smelled it. ‘Thanks, honey.’ The petals had shrivelled. Ken giggled and clapped his hands together. ‘What about me, huh?’ Kieran said jealously as he took the baby from my arms. ‘Where’s your gift for daddy, hmm?’ Ken gave a tiny shrug as if to say, ‘Sorry.’ We checked out of the hotel after a quick lunch. As happy as I was, I couldn’t get Vanessa out of my mind. I hoped Kieran’s solution would work. In the evening, I put baby Ken to sleep after singing an out-of-tune lullaby for him. As I left the nursery room, I wondered if he was really feeling sleepy or just closed his eyes so I would stop singing. I brushed my teeth and fell backwards onto the bed. Kieran was still hard at work. With a pair of glasses perched on his nose bridge, he looked vaguely professorial as he perused the reports on his laptop. I was drifting off to sleep when he set aside his laptop and leaned down to kiss me. ‘Sorry, honey, we’ll have to postpone the honeymoon.’ ‘We already had one.’ I waved away his apology. I knew how much work he had to do. Neither of us could afford to leave Lisbern right now. ‘I’ll make it up to you after Christmas,’ he said. ‘We’ll take Ken with us.’ ‘It’ll be too cold.’ ‘We’ll go someplace warm. A tropical island. With white-sand beaches and fresh coconuts.’ ‘Sure.’ I rolled over to sleep. ‘There’s this place I saw online. It’s gorgeous. We can go snorkelling, scuba diving, or just lounging around and sunbathing.’ Kieran’s voice sounded dreamy. I made a sound in my throat. ‘Or go horseback riding. Hike through the rainforest. Or have sex on the beach, with the stars watching.’ ‘Hmm.’ ‘We should practice.’ His fingers danced on my back. ‘Let’s start with that last one.’ ‘You can’t seriously be horny at eleven o’clock at night.’ I rolled over to face him. ‘My libido doesn’t run on a clock, honey.’ He kissed me on the mouth. ‘For you, I’m always horny.’ ‘Aw, how romantic.’ I rolled my eyes at him. ‘Do it fast. You have twenty minutes before I fall asleep.’ He responded by yanking off his pyjama top. Then he cursed as his phone rang. I helped him pick it up from the nightstand. It was a request for a video call, from Zea. Kieran got dressed in haste. I handed him the phone. Zea’s suntanned face appeared on the screen. She was smiling. ‘Hello, Jai.’ ‘Hello, Zea. Call me Kieran, please.’ ‘Oh, okay.’ Her smile faltered. ‘What’s up?’ ‘Um, I’m just calling to see how you are doing.’ ‘It’s late,’ Kieran said pointedly. ‘Sorry, I didn’t notice. We are having a bonfire party to celebrate the harvest. Then I thought of you. I hear you got married. Congratulations.’ ‘Thank you.’ ‘Her name’s Amiyah, right?’ ‘Right.’ ‘Is she with you?’ ‘Why do you ask?’ ‘I just want to offer my congratulations.’ Kieran turned the screen to face me. ‘Hello, Zea.’ ‘Um, hi, Amiyah.’ She looked away from the camera for a second. I glimpsed flickering firelight in the background and heard plenty of voices talking, singing. ‘We, ah, we got the packages you sent. Li asked me to say thank you.’ ‘No problem.’ I knew she was referring to the cartons of seeds and fertilisers I sent to Sanders’ Hamlet after I left with Kieran.