She woke to Victor pounding on her door.
"The attorney will be her in about thirty minutes." He shouted.
She heard June cry out from the next room and groaned. She hadn't slept much at all, and she was almost to the point of telling him where to shove this job slash marriage he was pushing her into.
She still didn't know what happened last night, and at this point wasn't about to bring it up again.
He pounded on the door again. "Either let me know you're awake, or I'm busting down this door."
"I'm up, shit." She shouted back.
"Get June ready to go out, we're gonna have to go in front of a judge since my idiot lawyer can't find a single corrupt one in all of New York City."
"I thought you said attendance was optional." She said as she opened the door.
"Shut up and get dressed." He growled. He turned and stormed down the hallway.
"Guess he's not a morning person, either." She grumbled under her breath. She looked at the pile of bags she still had to go through, and grabbed the first one. She could hear June revving up for a real screaming fit. The bag in her hand had a powder blue dress with matching shoes and stockings.
She was suddenly very grateful for Gary at Sak's, each outfit was bagged with its accessories, her morning just got easier. She decided to go with what was in hand. She put the dress on a hanger and just inside the bathroom door. She'd let the steam from her shower get out the wrinkles after she fed June.
She was glad the pajamas she'd bought were modest, and comfortable. She quickly changed June and laid out one of the new outfits to put her in after breakfast.
In the kitchen she grabbed one of the pre-made bottles and gave it a shake. Victor was in the living room watching the morning news.
"Here, you feed her if you're in such a rush. I need a shower." He glared at her but took the baby and the bottle from her.
"Just hurry the fuck up, if we don't get this done today we'll have to wait 'til Monday." He growled at her as she hurried to her room.
"I don't know what the big rush is, its not like we're leaving until Thursday, and its not like its real in the first place." She grumbled as she adjusted the water in the shower. At least the bed was comfortable and she had a private bathroom. "Five years around him and I'll be stark raving mad."
She stripped off the pajamas and closed the shower door. She stepped under the spray and let the hot water flow over her skin. She thought she managed to cover how hurt she'd been last night when he'd told her he'd made a mistake.
She knew she wasn't like these New York models you saw walking around everywhere, her chest was too big, her ass was too big, her skin wasn't perfect, and her shoulder length hair wasn't highlighted or colored. She was mousy, as Phillip's mother said.
"At least she has good hips, she can give you a couple children, and then you can go find a pretty mistress. We will have to make sure she wears a thick veil so none od your aunts or uncles can object before the vows." She'd overheard her tell Phillip during one planning session for the wedding. He'd defended her, and she'd been happy, but somehow the words hurt still. As much as his last night.
That was all she was ever good enough for, taking care of children. She loved it, and didn't mind, but Phillip had been the first person to see her for herself, not as the one with all the kids around. Her family had done it to her since she was small, all the 'adults' would drop off their kids, and leave her out of anything they were doing because she was watching the kids. She had one niece that was a year younger than her. In Karen's senior year of school, she'd had to miss Prom and graduation because her niece needed a babysitter those nights.
At least she knew where she stood. For a moment, last night, she'd thought he saw Karen, not June's nanny. Now she knew. She should probably thank him but right now it still stung. She quickly climbed out of the shower, and dressed in what, for all intents and purposes would be her wedding dress. She felt the sting of that too, but looked at herself in the mirror. Just once in her life she'd like to have some control of her wedding, at least to have that one special dress that was all hers.
"This is what you get for hiring a hit man to kill someone. Did you really think he'd fall in love with you and sweep you off your feet. Get back down to Earth, Karen. You're nothing more than a baby sitter, and that is all you are ever going to be. At least with this job you get to travel and see some of those places you've always wanted to go."
She straightened her skirt, squared her shoulders, and walked out of the bathroom. She had a handle on it now, as long as he didn't look at her like that again, like he wanted to devour her, as long as he didn't touch her again, like she was going to burn him, as long as she didn't look for anything for herself in her life, she could pretend it didn't hurt when he turned away.
The attorney was there with the paperwork. She was amazed at the stack, and contents. There was the marriage license, of course, and a pre-nuptial agreement that stated if they divorced at any time after the five year mark, that she would be entitled to half of any assets they held jointly, there were adoption papers for her to adopt June, as well as medical release forms, the forms for the buyout of her teaching contract, and her lease. There was even a resource protection agreement that made sure that if something happened to him or his assets, her assets were protected from seizure.
What shocked her the most were the wills, his left everything to her and June in trust, hers left the family farm to her eldest brother, her assets to her family, and any personal bequest she might want to leave to June.
"Why are you doing this?" She looked at him after signing everything.
"June needs a frail, I can't do it alone, so this was the best solution." He growled.
The attorney packed every thing except the marriage license and scurried out of the penthouse.
"Did you deliberately put the fidelity clauses in there?" She wasn't sure she was glad about them or not.
"Yes, I am territorial, I don't like ta share what's mine." He growled.
"And what if I decide I want a child of my own, as well as June?" She glared at him, the one obvious thing to her was the one she was the most upset about.
"There're labs and shit, we can make arrangements for that if you want." His snarl set June off, and Karen was focused on settling her down, and hoped he didn't see the hurt in her eyes. A lab? He despised her so much that his solution to her having a child was a lab. "We don't have time for your frail crap right now. I want to get this done and over with so I can concentrate on important shit."
She just nodded, and stood up to carry June to her room. She still had to get the baby dressed so they could get her wedding 'over with.' She hoped the dress she put June in was water proof. She now understood why people cried at weddings.
She set up the stroller after dressing June a blue denim dress and tights with matching shoes. She settled june in it and pushed it to the living room. She left it with him, and without a word walked to the kitchen and made a couple fresh bottles to put in the diaper bag. She didn't know how long they'd be gone.
"Do we have ta take this thing." He growled at the stroller.
"I'm not carrying her all the time, she likes the stroller, and it is New York, we're going to end up walking."
He just growled, but let her push the stroller out the door.
She waited in the elevator, and he stood silently next to her. She knew he didn't care, she was just a nanny, even if he was going through with this farce instead of an employment contract, but she wanted some answers, and express her feelings about this whole thing.
"This wasn't how I planned my wedding day." She said softly.
"I can't change it. Besides, its just til the cub's grown."
"I always thought marriage was til death do you part." She said as she pushed the stroller into the elevator. He stepped in behind her and the door closed.
"Never gave a shit about crap like this. Never had a frail that wanted enough to do with me to check it out." She stared at the door.
"They're going to make us have some kind of ceremony." She said softly.
"What do you want, Karen. I'm tryin' ta solve as many problems as I can at one time. This gives June a mother, you someone ta take care of, and I know you're both protected, because anyone who knows me knows better than to fuck with what's mine."
"I want a marriage, not a solution to a problem, I want..." She shrugged. "It doesn't matter."
She was surprised when he simply took her hand in his.
"I don't want..." He started, but the door opened and an older woman stepped onto the elevator.
"Hello." The woman said.
Victor grunted, and Karen felt like she had to smile to ease the brunt of his surliness.
"What a precious little one. You are so lucky." Karen muttered a quiet thank you, and tried to ignore her palm sweating in his hand.
They stepped out into the building lobby, and she took her hand from his to push the stroller. He walked out the door in front of her to hail a cab. He helped her into the cab, and handed her June while he collapsed the stroller and put it into the open trunk.
"The court house." He said as he climbed into the cab.