Marriage of the Will

By Eternity Rose

E-mail: [email protected]

Rated: Pg-13

Standard Disclaimer Apply

Chapter 6

Waking up the next morning was surprisingly easy for Serena. Usually she had one hell of time getting up. But now she just leaped out of bed, showered and changed into a soft white sweater which clung to her chest and black cargo pants. She put up her hair in her odangos, tying white ribbons around them and bounded downstairs where she could smell something delicious being cooked.

She walked into the dining room and found Darien and Raye eating and chatting with each other. She took her place beside Raye and smiled at them.

"Good morning," she said pleasantly.

"Looks like someone had a good night's sleep," Darien remarked as he looked up from his newspaper.

"I did," Serena said, smiling. She picked up her fork and forked some scrambled eggs into her mouth.

"Hey, do you want me to help you unpack today?" Raye offered. "I don't have any work today."

"What do you work as?" Serena asked curiously.

"I'm executive manager of Artists Records," Raye replied, sipping her heavily creamed and sugared coffee.

Serena smiled. "That's nice. It must be exciting to work with people with musical talents. That reminds me. I have to go to the hospital today and resign from working there seeing that now I have to help Darien out with the business."

"Good. We can unpack today in the morning and go during lunch," Raye suggested.

"That would be excellent," Serena agreed.

Darien looked between the two chatting girls and was happy to see that his overly protective younger sister was warming up to Serena. He didn't want any tension between them while Serena was living here for the year. He especially didn't want to be in the middle of it. Raye could be very vicious when she didn't like someone.

Breakfast was over with quick and soon everyone headed their own ways. Raye followed Serena back up to her room and Darien went to work.

~*~

"You like white, gold and pink, don't you?" Raye asked as she unpacked a white dress and hung it up.

"Yes, they're my favorite colors," Serena said, nodding.

"You also have a lot of black," Raye remarked.

Serena nodded. "That's for mourning."

"Your still going to wear black?" Raye asked as she folded a black top in half and placed it in the dresser drawer.

"Yes," Serena said, nodding. She smiled as she folded the last of her pants. "There, everything is unpacked."

"That's good. The rest of your things will come later in the day, probably a little after 2 o'clock. Until then, why don't we talk?"

"About what?" Serena asked.

"I don't know. Your past?" Raye suggested.

"It's pretty simple. I was a child genius, I am a nurse and I loved my father dearly. I'm going to run his business carefully and try to make it the best there is," Serena said, shrugging. She sat down on the floor and leaned against the end of the bed.

"Did you have many friends?"

"Yes, but they all left me eventually to pursue other things in life."

"I had friends. But then they left as well. I stuck around here to make sure brother and grandfather were okay," Raye said. "I have a boyfriend, you already met him."

"Yes, Jadeite is a really nice man. Are you two going to get married?"

"Probably. I'm totally in love with him." Raye sat down beside Serena and smiled mischievously. "I bet you had a lot of boyfriends before you married my brother."

"Actually, your brother was the first man I've ever kissed," Serena admitted, blushing scarlet red.

Raye gasped. "You've got to be kidding me!"

"Raye, please, spare me. When you first met me I think you thought I was a bit plain. And I am. I'm very plain. With too pale of skin and too pale of blond hair. I don't have any real beauty."

"No," Raye agreed. "Only when your beautiful is when you smile or have some kind of energy inside of you. I guess you had none before because you were mourning."

"I guess." Serena twirled a strand of blond hair around her finger.

"But your hair isn't too pale. It's very golden actually," Raye added. "Serena, your a really pretty girl with low self-esteem. If you just made yourself up more and crawled out of that modest shell of yours, you'll be stunning. Like you were on your wedding day."

"It's all right, Raye. I like the way I am," Serena said peacefully.

Raye looked at the serene girl beside her and suppressed a sigh of exasperation. She knew she was right. Serena was a beautiful girl but she didn't think so herself so she doesn't make herself up. But that natural beauty was there. And Raye was determined to at least try and bring some of that out.

~*~

"That's the hospital," Serena said, pointing to the official white washed building. "Why don't you wait out here and I'll go in and come out in a few minutes."

Raye nodded and turned off the engine.

Serena bound out of the car and dashed into the hospital. A few minutes later she reappeared.

"There, I resigned," Serena said as she got into the passenger seat of the black Saab.

"Great. Where do you want to go now?" Raye asked.

"Actually, I want to go to Blackwood and Knight Inc.," Serena said. "Can you drop me off there?"

"That would be all right. Darien can drive you back. Besides, I have a date with Jadeite I have to get ready for," Raye said as she drove towards the more business part of Baltimore.

She stopped in front of a fifty floor building made up of black glass with the words Blackwood and Knight Inc. in gold letters written at the head entrance.

Serena got out and thanked Raye before the raven haired girl zoomed off. Serena adjusted her purse and smoothed down her black dress. Her hair were done up in her odangos with black ribbons streaming down from them, entwining themselves with her golden hair. She had gained some confidence from Raye and noticed that she did have golden hair. She like Raye a lot. She was a really good friend.

Serena looked up at the business building and took a deep breath. She's been here many, many times but this time when she goes in she won't be seeing her father but her husband, Darien Knight. She licked her lips nervously and walked through the revolving double doors.

"Hello, Mrs. Knight. Congratulations on the marriage with Mr. Knight. He's a catch," Mrs. Helen said, winking at the younger girl. Mrs. Helen was the secretary at the front office and Serena liked the older woman a lot. She was a very kind person even if she was a bit nosy.

"Thank you, Mrs. Helen," Serena said, smiling. She waved as she walked pass the front desk and up to the elevators. She pushed the up button and waited patiently. The elevator doors dinged as they slid open and she stepped in. She pushed number 15 and waited as the doors slid close. Her father's office was on that floor. He always liked the number fifteen. There was a good chance that Darien might have taken the main office up there. And if he didn't, he probably was in his grandfather's office which was on the same floor.

Serena decided to check out her father's office first and found it empty. She left before any tears could make their way up and walked over to the Knight office which was right next door. She knocked gently on the door and pushed it open. She stepped in and closed the door behind her.

"Hello, Mrs. Knight," Elizabeth Manner, the Knight's secretary, said, smiling. "Mr. Knight is busy right now but I don't think he'll mind you going in there." Her eyes glittered.

Serena tried not to blush and walked over to the oak door and slowly turned the knob. She opened the door and slipped in. She sat down on the couch and waited as Darien took care of a call. His eyes lit up when he saw her and held up two fingers to tell her that he would be with her in two minutes.

Looking down at her small hands, Serena thought about everything. She would start working tomorrow, her office would be her father's old office. She was a little nervous about starting this whole new business but she was ready.

Finally Darien hung up the phone and smiled.

"Hello, Serena. What brings you here?" Darien asked pleasantly.

"Oh, I just wanted to say hi and look around. I am going to start tomorrow and I wanted to know how everything works around here," Serena said, smiling. She stood up and looked around the room. "This place is really nice. I hope my office is just as nice."

"Don't worry, it's nicer than mine," Darien chuckled. "What do you want to know about the business?"

"Everything," Serena said, and meaning it. She did want to know everything. She didn't want to make a single mistake. She took a seat in front of Darien's desk and folded her hands in her lap. She looked at him attentively and smiled slightly.

Darien was delighted at Serena's enthusiasm to learn everything and was more than willing to explain everything to her.

"All right..." and Darien began to explain everything.

~*~

"So, that's it?" Serena asked as she glanced at the papers before her. "That's basically what my father's business is all about?"

"Yes," Darien said, nodding.

"That's pretty simple." Serena looked down at the papers again and thought. "I think I can manage this without much trouble."

"It gets hard sometimes but it's relatively easy. Except for all that paperwork. That keeps you up all night long," Darien groaned. He looked down at his watch and saw that it was well past business hours. Didn't he vaguely remember Elizabeth coming in and telling him that she was leaving for the night? Probably.

Serena stretched and yawned. "Wow. I didn't know we talked for that long. I'm starving."

"Great. Why don't we go down to the local restaurants and eat. Then I'll drive you home," Darien suggested.

Serena smiled and nodded. "But aren't you coming home as well?" She blushed at her words. She sounded like a wife. But she wasn't his wife. Not really anyways. If she was really his wife they would love each other but they didn't. They were only business partners. "I mean...well, it's pretty late. Don't you want to get some sleep?"

"I have a lot of paperwork to finish up. Since you father passed away a lot of work has to be taken care of. It's like double of everything," Darien said, shrugging. "But that's all right. I'm used to it."

"Why don't I help out?" Serena offered. "I know I don't start until tomorrow but the earlier the start the better. You can show me around and I'll get the hang of it. I'm a fast learner."

"I know," Darien said, chuckling. "But are you sure? You look like you need as much rest as possible."

"Just because I look sickly, Darien, doesn't mean I really am," Serena said hotly. She stood up and looked down at him. "I want to help. Let me."

"All right. Why not?" Darien stood up and stretched.

Serena smiled and smoothed down her wrinkled dress from sitting down for so long. She looked at Darien and saw his hair all messed up from all the times he ran his fingers through them. His tie was loose and hanging dangerously. His jacket was thrown over his chair. It looked like he lived in this place.

Walking around the table and to Darien, Serena straightened out his shirt and tightened up his tie. She was so busy with her work of smoothing out Darien's experience that she really didn't notice what she was doing. That she was touching him and was very, very close to him. Close enough to smell the pleasant rose cologne that he was so fond of. She felt herself grow light headed from the teasing smell and tried to block it out. She focused more of her attention on smoothing out Darien's shirt.

Darien looked down at Serena who looked to be in a lot of concentration as she smoothed her small hands across his shoulders, smoothing out the material there. Her touch was very gentle but firm as well. He felt his body warm up against her touch. It was a very nice feeling. He resisted the urge to grab her and kiss the life out of her. He knew it was lust, not love, so he ignored it easily.

"There, all done," Serena said, grinning up at him.

"Thank you," Darien said huskily. He cleared his throat and picked up his jacket.

Serena walked back to her chair and picked up her purse. They left the office building and grabbed a meal to eat. Then they returned to their offices and began their work.

It took a while for Serena to get the hang of everything but once she did she was doing everything as if she had always been doing it. It came very easy to her and she just tapped away at the laptop that had once belonged to her father. Her delicate fingers distracting Darien each time he watched her work. She had the most beautiful look of concentration on her face as she worked, her eyes narrowing when she had some trouble and lighting up when they reached a solution. She was a very smart young woman and Darien was glad to have such a woman working with him. It made things a lot easier.

They worked until it was too late into the night. Then they closed up for the night and went home.

"Good night, Darien. It was nice working with you," Serena said before disappearing into her bedroom.

Darien stood out there for a moment, thinking. Then he went into his own bedroom.

~*~

Serena picked up the brush and began to brush her long golden hair. She felt very nice inside. It had been nice to work with Darien. He was a very good teacher and he was patient. For that she was glad. She wouldn't have liked it if he yelled at her each time she asked a question. It had been comfortable just sitting there, typing without worrying that Darien might be judging her. She knew that she and Darien were going to be good friends and would remain good friends after they divorced.

The thought of divorce gave Serena mixed feelings. She had been married to Darien for one day but she felt a bit protective of him. It was strange but she did feel it and she acknowledged it. So what if she was protective? Did it really matter? All friends are protective of each other. It's only natural. Right?

She wasn't sure since she had always girl friends, never boy friends. She really didn't know how to act around a man but she'll at least try.

She sighed softly and laid the brush down. She then stood up and went to bed.

~*~

E-mail! That's the only thing I have to say.

Eternity Rose