Her Disabled Heir

Chapter 9: Mrs. Eleanor Williams

We were back at the Williams mansion and my new reality as Mrs. Eleanor Williams began to sink in deeper and harder than it ever had.

Chase was back home and well, but ever since we got back, he began to act like that night in the hospital never happened, and I didn’t have the will to remind him of anything. It was like we were back to square one, and it was something that I just had to accept.

A week had passed, and I only saw him at breakfast and dinner. True to his word, he and I only co-habited. Co-existed. While I tried my best to convince myself that I was okay with it, I knew that it was far from the truth. My perspective about Chase had shifted that night, and although I hated to admit it, I craved that human connection we shared that day. I craved to see and experience him in all of his depth just one more time, but that was a truth that was better kept hidden in my heart.

It also didn’t help that I felt like I was going to run mad from loneliness and boredom.

Rolling some pasta around my fork, I waited to see if Chase would say anything. I was used to our routine by now. It was simple, brief, and shallow.

He would usually ask how I was, how my day went, how I was settling in, and finally, if I enjoyed the food. It came in that order. Shallow and brief.

Chase hadn’t said a word since I joined him at the dining table for dinner so, as I did any other day, I waited for the usual questions to come in.

I snuck a glance at him, and I was surprised to find him staring at me intently as if he had been waiting for me to look at him, himself.

“How are you?” The first question came in, and I was ready to provide my usual answer.

“The same as I was yesterday.”

For the first time during our dinners together, Chase broke into a laugh. “You’ll have to stop giving me the same reply someday.”

“And you will have to stop asking me the same questions every day, Chase,” I quipped.

He nodded knowingly and that was it. I expected him to ask another question or try to push our conversation further, but that was it. He didn’t even bother to carry on with our usual routine.

Forcing myself to take my mind off of Chase, I shoved some more pasta into my mouth. Unfortunately, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get past the feeling of disappointment that bloomed in my heart.

Dinner went by fast, and I was ready to go up to my room and resume the mundane life I had been subjected to ever since I married Chase Williams, but his voice held me hostage.

“You’re right,” he said, and I felt everything in me stop momentarily. My thoughts. My steps. My breathing. Everything stopped for one slight moment.

Turning to face him, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I should stop with the same old boring routine. I get to go out, interact with others, focus on my business, and come back home to you. You only have me and this mansion and me saying the same things to you every single day isn’t fair, now, is it? Don’t worry, that all changes today. We have an event to attend together by the end of the week. It would be the first time I presented my wife to the world. From now on you’ll have proper wife duties, Eleanor Williams,” he explained.

My thoughts came roaring back in. While I craved to talk to Chase again and do something a little different in this mansion, going out into society as Chase’s wife wasn’t something I had prepared myself for, mentally.

Ever since the night of the accident, I had turned off my phone and hidden it somewhere. The reason was simple. I didn’t want my friends contacting me and asking weird questions; most importantly, I didn’t want my mother to try to reach me again. I had had enough of the crazy woman for a lifetime.

So, my diary had become my best friend for the past week. When I had no one to talk to, and it felt like my thoughts were going crazy, I wrote. I wrote about my new husband, his crazy father, Mr. Finn Williams, and my mentally deranged mother. It was liberating, in a way.

I released a breath that I didn’t realize I was holding. “Fine. That’s okay, but I’m not entirely sure how you would want me to dress as I would be representing you. Also, I don’t think that I have a lot of event-worthy clothes at my disposal.”

Chase laughed lightly, shaking his head. “You seem to forget that you’re the wife of a billionaire. That would be fixed and as for mentally preparing you for all you would expect, that would be taken care of.”

I nodded, slightly embarrassed that I had forgotten just how much power Chase could wield with a flick of a finger.

“Thank you. If that is all, then, good night,” I turned to leave again, but once more, he stopped me.

“I’m not done yet. That’s not all that’s going to be changing here.” Chase rolled his wheelchair forward until there was just a small distance between us.

All playfulness in those chiseled features of his disappeared and was replaced with a solemn mask. I swallowed under the severity of his gaze.

“So, what other changes do you have in mind? Just go ahead and say it,” I pushed.

“We will have a lot of public appearances apart from the event happening soon. It would be good for business.”

The knot in my chest loosened, and I found myself feeling comfortable. “I understand. I think I already got that part, Chase.”

Although my voice was light-hearted, and I tried to laugh off his last request, the seriousness in his gaze didn’t waver for a second.

“You will have someone to teach you basic etiquette from now on. I noticed that you do not know how to dine properly in a formal setting. We would also have to fix your posture and there’s also how you should speak to people in public. You’ll be framed into the perfect wife.”

In as much as Chase’s voice was light as he said everything, I couldn’t help but feel insulted. The smile that I had maintained all through the conversation faded and was now replaced with a scowl. I was never one who knew how to control her facial expressions and I never planned on being one.

“Maybe this was the reason he kept quiet during all your breakfasts and dinners together,” a snarky voice echoed at the back of my head, making it even harder to hide how offended I felt.

I forced a smile, although I was sure it didn’t look anything close to kind. “Is that all, Chase?”

“No.”

“Then please just say everything, so we can both get on with our day already!” My irritation was starting to get the better of me and it irritated me even more to see how unaffected Chase was by my outburst.

Chase’s gaze remained on me. “We’ll have to start sleeping together.”