“We’re positive,” the doctor says, frowning.
“How long will it take to get results?” Waylen asks the doctor.
“If we’re lucky, we’ll figure out what the drug is quick,” the doctor says. “Unfortunately, some of the tests take a week. We’ll send you any results as soon as we get them.”
Leilani chews her lip as she walks to the car. Is someone drugging, Nanny? Why would they want to drug a woman who’s already in a coma? It doesn’t make any sense. She hopes the doctor’s team will get results soon, but she wishes she could talk to Charles. Nanny’s current doctor is supposed to be very good, but he doesn’t compare to Charles.
“What are you thinking?” Waylen asks, lifting her hand to his lips. “Do you know how you’re going to beg me?”
He licks the tip of her finger and then sucks it into his mouth. Leilani jerks her hand away and wipes the wet finger on her pants.
“I haven’t washed my hands recently,” she snaps.
“You’re so unromantic,” Waylen says, rolling his eyes.
He opens the car door for her and slides into the backseat. Though the back of the car is roomy, he sits right next to her, pressing the side of his leg into hers. He leans in and kisses her shoulder through the thin fabric of her shirt. Leilani bites her lip.
“I know how I’m going to beg you,” she whispers.
“Oh?” Waylen asks, arching his eyebrows.
“I’ll give you a preview,” she says.
She leaned in and kissed him softly on the lips. She pulls away and gently strokes his jaw. Then she leans in again and kisses him. He tangles his fingers in her hair and pulls her head toward him, but she turns her face away.
“I want proof that you’re going to hold up your end,” she says. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out the recording pen. “The doctor said that it’s better for you to visit in person, but I don’t expect you to go four times a week. We can play recordings for Nanny on the other days.”
“What should I say?” Waylen asks, taking the pen and tapped it against his chin.
Leilani stares at him. His eyes narrowed in concentration, and he smiles slyly.
“I’ve only ever had one woman: you,” Waylen says. “It was only you in the past, only you now, and it’ll only be you in the future. Do you remember when I asked you to hit me four times when the snake bit me? You didn’t do it then, but I want you to do it now.”
Leilani recognizes his words immediately—he’s quoting the recording she left for him when she went to meet Andrew. He’s barely changed a single word. She sits frozen in place. How many times did he listen to that recording? She wonders. He seems to have memorized the whole thing. He even pauses where I paused and breathes where I breathed.
“I want you to love me more than ever because I love you,” Waylen continues. The baby is ours. I want to have it.”
His deep voice is soft and low. Without realizing it, Leilani leans toward him. He takes her chin in his hand and kisses her deeply. Too soon, he pulls away and kisses the tip of her nose.
“At the end of the recording, you told me to come to find you,” Waylen says. “What if our situations were reversed? Would you come to find me?”
“No, I wouldn’t,” Leilani says, grabbing the pen from Waylen. “I trust you.”
“Are you sure about that?” Waylen asks with a small smile.
Waylen presses his leg against hers and strokes her arm. A few strands of hair have fallen across her face, and he tucks them behind her ear. Leilani looks away guiltily. She wants to swear that she trusts him, but she realizes it’s not true. A part of her still thinks he might have fathered Leonie’s child. She knows it’s irrational, but she just can’t forget about that afternoon in the bedroom—it seemed so real.
“I’m not sure,” she whispers.
“Why don’t you trust me?” Waylen asks. He lifts her head so he can look into her eyes. “Please tell me.”
Leilani puts her hands on his shoulders and says, “I don’t actually know you that well.”
It’s true, she thinks. When I married him, I was obsessively in love, but I didn’t know him at all. I was more in love with my idea of him than anything else. I don’t remember much of the last three and a half years, but I do remember his cruelty. He always looked the other way when his grandmother and Leonie tortured me. I know he can be tender when he wants to, but I don’t really know him at all.
“I want you to know me,” he says seriously. “And once you do, will you trust me? Will you come to find me?”
Leilani tries to look away—his eyes are so intense she feels like he’s reading her thoughts. His fingers tighten around her chin. He’s so close she can feel the warmth of his breath on her face.
“Leilani, you have come to find me,” he says. “You have to!”
Leilani nods silently, and Waylen takes her hand and presses it to his lips. His sudden intensity scares her. Does he know something that I don’t? She wonders. Why does he think that something is going to happen to him? He sounds so paranoid.
“Leilani, you promised me you’d never lie to me again,” Waylen says. “I want to believe you, and I want to trust you. I need you to believe and trust me in return.”
Leilani leans into his arms and rests her head against his chest. She breathes deeply, enjoying his particular smell and closes her eyes. He wraps his arm around her, and she sighs. When he holds her, she feels safe and warm.
“Where are we?” Leilani asks when the car finally stops.
“The supermarket,” Waylen says.
“Why?” Leilani asks. “I thought the servants did all the shopping.”
“Let’s play pretend,” he says with a small smile. “We can pretend we’re a normal husband and wife shopping together.”
“Yes, but Waylen, have you ever even been in a supermarket?” she asks.
She looks pointedly at the bodyguards behind them. She’s only been grocery shopping a few times, but she knows that a team of seven bodyguards will cause traffic in the narrow aisles. Waylen follows her gaze and shrugs. He tells the bodyguards to wait outside the sliding doors, and then he leads her into the store. Robert follows behind them.
“What are we going to buy?” Leilani asks. “Do we need a basket or a cart?”
Waylen looks at her like she’s speaking a foreign language. She rolls her eyes and slings a plastic basket over her arm. She leads him to the bath and body section and takes him down the men’s aisle. Shampoos, body washes, and shaving creams line the shelves.
“So um, what brand of shampoo and soap do you prefer?” she asks.
“So, this is what you want to know about me?” he asks.
Leilani nods—she wants to know what gives him his distinctive smell. She’s never seen any of these brands before; all of the labels look shiny and strange in the bright store lights. Waylen takes the basket from her and passes it to Robert. He leans down to look at a row of shampoos and frowns.
“Mr. Bamford, you won’t find your products here, I’m afraid,” Robert says. “All of your products are handmade with the best ingredients and imported from around the world. They come from a company called VKS.”
Leilani takes Waylen’s hand and leads him down the aisle to the razor section. A salesgirl is doing a demonstration with a new six-bladed razor. She lathers shaving cream onto a plastic model and glides the razor down its cheeks. Leilani suddenly looks at Waylen’s cheeks. Every time she’s seen him, he’s been completely beardless. She’s never even seen him with stubble.
“How often do you shave?” she asks him.
“Next time you can do it for me,” Waylen says. He takes her hand and runs it along with his smooth cheek, copying the salesgirl’s motions.
She leads him away from the demonstration toward the food section. She pulls him past the frozen foods, dairy, and deli. When they pass the fish counter, she has to cover her nose with her hand—the strong smell makes her stomach turn. She stops near the produce section. Piles of colorful fruits and vegetables line the shelves and fill the large wooden bins.
“What do you want to buy?” she asks.
The produce section is filled with housewives, students, and families doing their grocery shopping. They push carts and carry baskets, clogging the narrow aisles. Every few feet, someone stops to test the ripeness of a peach or to weigh an eggplant in their hands.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.
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