Chapter 21

Rossalyn spent a few hours in the entertainment room reading since she really didn't have any tasks to perform during her morning. It was a nice vacation from how hard she'd been working the last several months between her actual job and dancing trying to save her brother's neck from Josiah's men. But she'd eventually grow very bored with the fact that she was essentially a trophy wife with no real duties to perform unless she gave him a child. Then she'd have something to do with her days, but only because she was tending to his heir. She needed something for herself. Before she could ask for that she needed to both figure out what that was that would be fulfilling for her days and get through the wedding and honeymoon.

She sat on the sofa with her feet propped on the cushion with a book in front of her. But her attention kept drifting away. She had a serious restlessness going on with her. Her feet tapped restlessly to a beat she only heard in her head since she was sititng in silence. She sighed and closed the book, giving up her game of pretend. Larry stood guard outside the door since she couldn't get into too much danger in the room alone. She longed to be able to go for a walk without her perpetual shadow following her around. But she knew the moment she stepped outside, the goons in the security office would catch her on camera and tell on her.

She tossed the book aside on the couch and got up to go to the door. Larry immediately stepped aside and allowed her to leave the room without questioning her where she was off to. To her knowledge, she hadn't been given any restrictions about wandering about the property and she needed some fresh air and exercise. She stepped out of the back door and took a long breath of the fresh air with a satisfied smile.

"Where are you intending on going, Ms Rossalyn?" Larry's polite voice inquired from behind her as she started walking towards the umbrellas she could see behind some bushes.

"I have yet to be able to explore out here. I'm curious as to what is over there." She pointed towards the umbrellas to indicate where she indended on going.

He didn't give any argument so she took it as permission and wound her way through the little garden path that opened up on a beautiful patio surrounding a pool. There was a section that had reclining chairs covered by the umbrellas she had spotted. There was also a covered deck with a comfortable looking sectional that had an ottoman for resting feet. There was a bar out to the side and what looked to be a dj set up for music and space for dancing as well. That certainly gave her some ideas for some summer time parties in the future.

She decided to make the most of her time and settled herself down on the couch in the shade. It was bright out and she hadn't had the forethought to get her sunglasses. But she wanted to enjoy the air for a while before going in to get ready for her luncheon with the other wives. She wondered which would be coming to spend time with her since she had only spoke with two for more than a minute the one time she met them.

She sat out on the couch and just thought about things for the next couple hours. The time went by pretty quickly considering how much her mind had to process that had happened the last couple week or so. Suddenly a shadow fell over her and she looked up curiously and found Larry standing over her with an apologetic expression.

"It is noon, Ms Rossalyn. Mr. Roja said its time for you to get ready for your lunch guests." Larry told her with a little smile.

"Alright, lead the way then." She said with a sigh as she stood up to follow him.

Larry led her back into the house and then followed her up to her bedroom. Once she was inside she went ahead and took a quick shower then fixed her hair into a tasteful french twist. She fixed her make-up then went to her closet to pick out something appropriate to wear. She'd gotten the message from Josiah loud and clear about wanting her to be a little more dressed up in case guests arrived. But she had a feeling he meant he wanted her to get up and always be that way. It just wasn't something she ever did. She didn't dress for a party with no party to go to. It just didn't make sense to her to waste the time and effort to impress people who may or may not show up. But, then again, she was new to this world. It wasn't like she didn't have the time and effort to waste on it since there really wasn't anything else for her to do.

She made it back downstairs just a little shy of an hour to find Jessica and Chelsea waiting for her in the day room just off the entrance. She was a little shocked to find them there since she had checked the time and it was definitely only ten minutes til their meeting. She wasn't prepared for them to show up early. But then again, they were meeting to have lunch, not a business meeting so the rules of punctuality probably didn't really apply to the scenario.

"Hey!" She said, relieved to find them there instead of some of the wives that she hadn't really interacted with. "I didn't mean to keep you guys waiting, sorry about that."

"No, don't be. We just got here, like, a minute ago." Chelsea assured her standing up to greet her with a smile.

"We are a little early anyway. No big deal." Jessica chimed in and beamed at her.

"Yeah, we just had time to kick our husbands upstairs right before you came down. I swear if you were ten seconds earlier you'd have ran into them." Chelsea said grinning.

"Shall we go out for lunch?" Rossalyn asked and gestured toward the back door. She'd noticed the table set for three on her way back in and knew that was where they were intended to eat and chat for the afternoon.

"Oh, definitely. I love the garden here. It's so beautiful." Jessica enthused as Rossalyn led them toward the back door.