They had met at one of those New York parties where the only reason you go to them is to be seen. If you wanted to advance in business anywhere in this city you made sure you attended every party you were invited to. The more connections you made, the better. He’d first seen her across the room, a blonde goddess surrounded by men. Some were asking her to dance, some were bringing her drinks, and most were just fawning over her and hoping she would pay attention to them. Even though he thought she was beautiful, Mark stayed right where he was. A beautiful woman that commanded that much attention would never be interested in him and his boring life. He was content to admire her from afar. Until, she showed up at his side and asked him how he was enjoying the party.

“Oh, hi!” Mark extended his hand to her.

“You look familiar to me. Have we met?” The woman asked, as she looked down at his hand, gingerly putting her own hand into his palm, grasping lightly and giving the hand a shake before releasing it quickly.

“I don’t think so.”

“Weren’t you on the cover of Newsweek or something?”

“No.” Mark laughed. “You must have me mistaken with someone else.”

“Hmm.” She pondered. “How come I haven’t seen you around the room before now?”

“I’ve been meeting with a few associates, trying to get my name out there. You know how it is. I’ve just moved here and don’t know a lot of people yet. I guess I’ve just been observing.” Mark explained.

“Well, come on.” She grabbed his arm and tugged him towards her. “Let’s go meet some people.”

“Wait a second!” Mark grinned as she spun around to face him. “What’s your name? What do you do?”

“What about you?” she challenged.

“I’m Mark. I’m what you’d call mid level management at Atkinson and Associates. Just started.”

“My name is Chelsie, I don’t do anything, really. My dad owns this building, so I get to enjoy the parties and meet all the people!”

She gave Mark a dazzling smile and took his arm. “Let’s go circulate, Mr. mid level management.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Their circulating led to Chelsie returning with him to his apartment after the party, which led to their getting together every weekend, which soon turned into seeing each other every day when Chelsie would make “unexpected” visits to Mark’s office. This, of course, all led to Mark, who was head over heels in love, proposing to Chelsie after just six months.

Her parents were extremely happy that someone had finally managed to hold on to Chelsie for more than a month and had made a serious commitment with her. They liked Mark and her father soon offered him a position with his company. Mark’s mother wasn’t as crazy about Chelsie, however. She didn’t like her from the moment she met her, but couldn’t put her finger on the reason why. She held her tongue for Mark’s sake though. He was in love and she couldn’t tell him who to give his heart to.

Mark had a few moments of doubt himself, but he put them down to Chelsie being a nervous bride to be. There were days when she would burst into his office and demand to know who a certain female was, only calming down when Mark assured her that the woman was someone’s secretary or a client. When they were looking for places to live after they were married, Chelsie wanted the house of her dreams. If the real estate agent showed them something with features she didn’t want, she would rant and rave until Mark took her aside and explained that not every house they looked at would be exactly what she wanted. Those moments were few and far between though and Mark pushed them aside and out of his memory, as their wedding date got closer.

One week before the wedding Chelsie was meeting Mark for lunch in his new office in her father’s building. “Who the hell is that?” Chelsie slammed the door and threw her coat at Mark.

“Lana, she’s my secretary.” Mark caught the coat, lifting it over the desk to avoid knocking his coffee over.

“Since when do you have a secretary?”

“Since your dad gave me a new job, remember?” Mark hung the chic black coat on the rack in the corner and tossed Chelsie a grin.

“He gave you Lana too?”

“No. He gave me you. Lana just came with the job.” As he moved to Chelsie, he pulled her close to him and gave her a hug. Chelsie pushed herself away and began pacing the room.

“She’s too pretty. I don’t like her.”

“Chels, she’s just my secretary. It’s no big deal.”

“I’m going to talk to daddy, why do you need such a good looking secretary?”

“What?”

“You’re mine Mark. I’m not sharing you with anyone.”

“Chelsie, I love you. Did someone say something? Because it’s total bulls…”

Chelsie cut his words short. “I don’t want her in this office with you. Get rid of her.”

“Chels, I…I can’t just fire her. What’s the big deal? I love you, you’re going to be my wife.”

“Just get rid of her. I never want to see her again.” Chelsie peeked out the window in the door and locked it to make sure no one would bother them. “Now, about the wedding…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The wedding.

It had been a disaster almost from the start. Looking back, Mark wondered how he missed all the signs of what Chelsie would become. He’d been so blinded by his love for her that he had ignored her actions and passed them off as nervousness. He now knew how wrong he’d been.

It started with the guest list. Any female that Mark put on the guest list that wasn’t directly related to him, Chelsie immediately crossed off. He insisted on a few female friends that he had grown up with and Chelsie grudgingly relented. Later, when he called his friends to find out why they didn’t come to the wedding, Mark found out she’d never mailed the invitations to them.

Then came the wedding party. Chelsie had no sisters, but she refused to have Mark’s sisters stand up with her. “They don’t like me.” She’d pouted. Mark tried to convince her that his family loved her, but Chelsie wouldn’t listen. “They all hate me, your whole family!” she’d screamed. She finally chose some of her distant cousins, people she barely knew, as her attendants, convincing her father to fly them in so they would be there in time for the rehearsal lunch.

The cake almost didn’t make it to the reception because the chef finally gave up and told them he couldn’t take the constant badgering phone calls and daily last minute changes to the design. Mark found a bakery that finished the cake for them and delivered it to the reception hall just before they arrived. Chelsie was furious because the cake looked nothing like her plans for it. Mark told her to be thankful they had a cake at all after her behavior.

While the wedding itself went without a problem, the reception was another matter entirely. There was the cake, of course. She hated it and didn’t even want to pose for the traditional cutting the cake photos. Chelsie would glare at Mark whenever he danced with someone else, even if it was a relation of his. She kept pulling him back to the chair at the head table and angrily exchanging words with him. Mark didn’t want to argue with her, he could see people staring as Chelsie’s shrill voice echoed through the room. He smiled and kissed her, agreeing to sit with her and dance with her, whatever it took to make her happy. Finally, their duties over, they left the hall to the sound of cheers and applause, but Mark saw his mother shaking her head and brushing tears away with a napkin.

Mark had wanted to take Chelsie to his birthplace of Hawaii for their honeymoon, but Chelsie wanted to go to Italy. She argued with him that he would have too many former girlfriends there and that his family would want the couple to spend all their time with them. Neither of them knew anyone in Italy and they wouldn’t be bothered, she had explained to him. Mark grudgingly agreed to her logic and they travelled to Italy a few days after the wedding. Once they were there, the first few days and nights were amazing. They spent all their time in the hotel room; their only contact with the outside world was ordering room service. With Mark’s undivided attention, Chelsie was once again the woman he had fallen in love with. Once they ventured out to do some sightseeing however, Chelsie accused Mark of staring at other women.

The first three years of their marriage progressed in much the same way. Mark tried to keep Chelsie happy by doing whatever she wanted, whenever she wanted. They took trips often, bought a bigger house, and had the best cars. Mark only wanted one thing and Chelsie refused to give it to him. Mark wanted a child. He thought maybe if they had a baby, Chelsie would settle down, that she would see how much Mark did care for her. But Chelsie said no, a baby wouldn’t fit into their plans, she would be out of shape and Mark would turn to other women. Mark backed down and kept the hope in his heart that someday they would be a family.

So their married life went on. They rarely went out together in the city because Chelsie would always accuse Mark of flirting with other women. She had her father get rid of any female associates that worked close to Mark, surrounding his office instead with businessmen. Mark took to working longer hours, frustrated with Chelsie berating him every time he might not pay enough attention to her. That, in turn, led to Chelsie getting even more jealous because he wasn’t home with her. They had their rare good moments though and Mark loved Chelsie at those times. She could be caring and thoughtful and loving and when she was, Mark forgot all the bad times. It was almost like she was the girl he met and fallen in love with again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Where the hell have you been?” Chelsie greeted him at the front door with her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face.

“At work.” Mark muttered. “Someone needs to work to pay for this palace.”

“What keeps you there so long? You didn’t use to work such long hours.”

“I have projects.” Mark explained. “Things I can’t pass off to other people that need to get done.”

“Well you have a project here now. You finally got your way.” Chelsie sat primly on the edge of the sofa in the living room and glared at Mark.

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m pregnant!” Chelsie screeched.

“That’s…that’s…wonderful!” Mark dropped to his knees and placed his hands on her stomach. “How far along are you?”

“Two months. Why didn’t you listen to me? I don’t want a baby.” Chelsie complained as she pushed Mark away from her.

“But sweetheart, we’ll finally be a real family.” Mark tried to draw her into his arms again, but Chelsie squirmed away.

“I’ll be all out of shape. I’ll get fat and ugly. You won’t want anything to do with me.”

“I love you, Chels. You won’t be ugly to me, not ever.” Mark sat beside her and turned her face to his. “Why won’t you believe me when I tell you how much I love you?”

“If you loved me you wouldn’t have gotten me knocked up!”

“Me? I’ve always worn protection, you make damn sure of it every time!” Mark wondered, even as he was screaming at her, how such a happy event could turn into yet another fight.

“You probably put holes in all of them, or something. You’ve always wanted me to have a kid.”

“Because I want us to be a family.”

“No. You want me out of the way, home with a baby, so you can sleep with your secretary!” Chelsie slapped his face and ran out of the room.