At his will

Alicia POV: It's the day, the morning, the Moment when Raymond would become my husband. "Do you Alicia take..." was all I remembered hearing until I zoned out and felt a sharp poke from my maid-of-honor Rachel, then I knew! I knew it was my cue, the time had come for me to say "I give up" to my mother Julia Lambstone, Chief Executive Officer, of the Elite Group of Companies; Goddess Extraordinaire and beloved heiress; she had finally succeeded in having the perfect life, the perfect daughter (me), the perfect son-in-law (my soon to be husband who I barely knew), even her car had to be perfect, had to fit the life she always planned to have. "I do". It was was said above a whisper, it sounded breathy and passion-filled to my ear, sincere even; it was not the feeling I was experiencing either. Raymond looked proud, his sleek golden, blemish-free skin and the too ecstatic look on his face only serving to break my heart even further. The priest continued his service, with me there but not, I tuned in just in time to hear the words, "By the Power invested in me by the Almighty God, I now pronounce you, Husband and Wife!" There it was, the tears came instantly, not only from Julia but from me also, except her tears were tears of joy. "Look at my baby, this is the best day of her life, she's so happy" was what she kept saying all night but if anyone was looking, they would have seen the truth. I was just pretending; unless I was a really good actress which is impossible to believe because drama is the only class I have EVER failed in my life. Now, don't get me wrong, Raymond Johansson isn't a bad guy he's sort of perfect actually, maybe that's why my mother thinks he'll "fit". Raymond is a doctor 'duh' a surgeon actually, and very well accomplished, he finished high school at 16, did four years of college (double major) and got his BSc. At 24, he completed medical school, while doing a Masters! His residency was short-lived because he was fast-tracked to further his education as a Pediatric Cardiovascular Surgeon, at 30 he was voted the most eligible bachelor, coincidentally my mother is the owner of ELITE the magazine that published the story 'how shocking'. Raymond however has no kids, has never been married, volunteers at a Children's Hospital has his own practice and he just adores my mother, 'perfect!'. Raymond POV Wow! I am so speechless, ecstatic, amazed, all the feelings my brain is trying to decipher. This day is finally here, I'm getting married to the most amazing woman in the world, Alicia Lambstone. Either I'm one really lucky guy or my life has just taken a turn for greatness. Alicia is beautiful, caring, brilliant, amazingly sexy, comes from an awesome family, and from what I can tell faithful. What more can a man ask for? "you can ask for a woman who loves you!" my brain interrupts and I force myself to cease any kind of negative thinking. I will be a very happy man and I will make it my life's goal to make her a very happy woman; don't get me wrong, I'm by far no beast in terms of looks, ladies continuously throw themselves at me daily. I know im considered attractive, even above average, but I've never been one to focus on relationships until the day I met 'her'. I saw her and my world ceased for a moment, when we parted ways I couldn't get her off my mind. I vowed that day to make her my wife... Here it comes, this is the moment when she says if she will be my wife! There should be a new word invented that trumps 'nervous' because it fails n comparison to what I'm experiencing right now "I do" the words flow out of the most beautiful lips on this planet, the lips belonging to my new wife! Alicia POV: Approaching 27 and not married is the end of the world for my mother. She got married at age 20 to my dad whom she'd known for four years prior. Honestly, I don't know how he can put up with her, my dad is caring, sensitive, strong, brilliant, and considerate of others feelings. If I was in his position I would have told her scrawny butt to hit the road a long time ago but he's him, my support, my comforter, my rock, Jonathan Michael Lambstone, without my dad I wouldn't have made it thus far. I would have had a mental breakdown years ago, although I'm not too proud of where I am now as my mother still has every say in my life. "Stand up for yourself Lici, I can't always do it for you" his signature line when Julia, my mother, signs me up for another major, or gig, or job she thinks I should do. I know I'm going too, just not today, but one day, you just wait... ................ I'm actually happy! Is that a real smile across my face I haven't felt one of those in a while. I'm on a plane waving goodbye to my parents 'oh my' I can think for myself for a few hours, no demands on what I should do, no suggestions on outfits to wear on my honeymoon, Urgh, no nothing!. That is, until the plane lands and she calls and starts giving orders again. It's only after I buckled in I realize that I am about to go on my honeymoon, with Raymond! Oh my God, what have I done?! "I love you" he suddenly blurts, he doesn't even look like he knew he said it out loud. He has a smile on his face and I'm here wondering if it's genuine. It couldn't be! You can't love someone who has given you nothing to love. I've never felt any warmness from his eyes; any mind-blowing chemistry and all that jazz when you're in love. I think you should be able to see if the person in front of you has love in their heart for your Maybe it's because I've never opened up myself to him to feel the warmth he had to offer. Then how could he love me if I've never shown him the true me? My thoughts are racing and going around in circles as if I'm at a Nascar race. It must have been a couple of minutes because Ray is calling my name as to see if I was asleep, "are you tired baby? Do you want to lie down? Let me hold you, the wedding must have worn you out, come rest" he requests. It's all too much and I decide I should take a nap because I deserve it. I deserve all the peace that sleep brings. My eyes flutter open and the flight attendant is saying thank you for flying, I can't believe I just slept through a seven-hour flight. I look at my face in my compact and sure enough its a mess. I kiss Ray on his cheek and head to the bathroom to look like a blushing bride because the morning face isn't working on the first day of being a wife. "Don't be too long darling" Ray mutters. It sounds so fake, so forced like we are puppets and we're supposed to say things like that, I smile my best 'AML' Anti Mona Lisa at him, a fake smile I've developed when I need to pretend I'm in love with my mother's latest breakthrough idea; I'm an expert at it now and I'm only going to get better at it... Raymond POV: We're on our way to our honeymoon and I'm nervous as hell, my palms are sweating and my mind is racing, I don't know why I'm so nervous, I've been with other women, I'm by no means a saint, and we have spent time together before. We've been on dates and as strange as it sounds we have had a weekend getaway together, nothing happened and we had separate rooms but we did meet for at least 2 meals per day and went on some outings. That's the weekend I asked her to marry me, four months ago.... I look over to Alicia and she's in her own zone, as usual, then a smile comes over her face, she's so extraordinarily beautiful when she smiles, it made me smile too "I love you" I blurted out and I'm sharing her smile, she looks at me as if I've grown horns. I know she doesn't feel as much for me as I do for her but I have our entire lives to change that but I hope it's sooner rather than later. Alicia POV: On my way from the First Class washroom, I get bumped into by this guy who randomly decides to step into the lane and I fall on my rear; "Oww.., damn, damn, damn" my goodness it hurts, the sharp pain is increasing consistently "My hand is broken" I exclaim aloud while examining it; Yes, I'm quite the drama queen because nothing is wrong and the pain is subsiding as quickly as it came. "Are you alright? Did I hurt you? Please let me help you up, I am so sorry" my smooth-voiced attacker said. I grunted and pulled my hand away "I'm fine", I said with as much attitude that my ignorant ass could sum up. He laughed and said, "I can see that, but are you ok?". Im sure my cheeks are tinting red but the tan will hide it. the Smug bastard! "Yes, no thanks to you" I say and roll my eyes, I can be so brave sometimes too bad I can't ever be that brave toward 'other people' namely Julia, who we shall not think of until absolutely necessary. The quite handsome gentleman if you like tall (really tall), dark and sexy, rock hard abs, bearded types of guys said "I'm glad to hear you're doing well, take care of yourself and again I'm really sorry" and he waved. I'm looking at him leaving the plane because I can't figure out why he is being so nice, maybe my mother sent him to spy on me but, I'm sure I'm just being paranoid, she wouldn't go that far. Though it's really not that far-fetched for her. I put on my AML and now I'm ready. Ready for the Caribbean, ready for three weeks of Ray, ready for all the AML's to come with my new husband. My existence is so sad... A limo is in the busy car park of the Airport waiting for us, the huge car was good for no reason it couldn't move with all those people in the way, so typical of him to be extra. Ray opens the door for me; his beautiful, slim thick, 1/2 sista and I go in, I look at Ray as he gets in the car and I must admit he is quite nice, sculpted even, he is a great catch, he is handsome, clean-shaven, rich, has a great body and is very kind, so what is the problem? My problem? Nothing, that's for damn sure. The Hotel is magnificent, it's grand and there is marble everywhere; the marble is ivory with black finishings and gold touches everywhere, the drapes are gold and funny enough for such a large accessory it doesn't overwhelm the decor. The hotel has sporting grounds like tennis, horseback riding, golf (I hate golf), canoeing, etc I am going to have so much fun here, I'm trying everything. We're checking in and for the first time since we've been engaged, the taught crosses my mind that we might actually, have to have s*x, we're in the elevator, and knots are in my stomach; he holds my hand, and there they go again getting tighter, he pulls me into him and kisses my neck and there it was like a bolt of lightning. I start to suffocate and sweat; have I taken this too far? am I ready to give in to him? what am I going to do? I am heading to my honeymoon suite, the one where I will lose my virginity in my mother's pawn game of life. This is the most terrifying moment of my life. He laughs when the elevator door opens, grabs me up, and carries me to the room and to the bed..