"Hi" she smiled at him, she had mixed feelings, did he still have his memory, or has he forgotten who she was?
"Hi" he frowned at her and her heart swelled with panic, why was he frowning towards her? He was smiling to the nurse just before she walked in.
"Is something wrong?" she asked him as she went to the side.
The nurse excused herself and left the ward.
"Yes" he still had a frown on his face
"What is wrong?" she sat beside him, picking her words and moves carefully.
"What seems to be wrong is why my wife looks so pale and thin" he smiled at her for the first time in two weeks. She smiled back at him, he remembered her.
"That is because you left me alone to worry about you, Are you hungry" she was glad she had come along with food. She fed him as he slowly ate the food.
The doctor administer some injections, and advised Alisha on the best food and fruits that would aid his recovery.
At night, he had wanted Alisha to sleep on the bed beside him, she was scared to be too close to him, it was not good for her feelings, so she had insisted she would be fine on the comfortable couch.
There seems to be nothing compared to a bed, she was not comfortable on the couch, but she was used to it, this was the eightieth night on the couch, since Leonardo was admitted to the hospital.
The next morning, a few more tests were ran on him, he was assisted to go out of the ward and breathe in some fresh air, he had pestered the doctor to discharge him, he wanted to be home already.
The doctor agreed to discharge him on the third day after he was out of coma, but only on the condition that a private nurse was assigned to him.
"I do not like that nurse one bit." Alisha said to Leonardo while they were getting set to leave the hospital.
"Are you jealous or something?" he had asked her, the nurse was beautiful, but not the kind of woman Leonardo was interested in.
"I am not jealous, I don't just like her aura" Alisha had frowned
"The doctor recommended her, she is the best." Leonardo had dismissed the matter.
As they rode back home, the nurse was with them. He kept smiling and glancing at Leonardo, she was always touching him, giving the excuse that she wanted to be sure that he was comfortable.
Leonardo was enjoying the attention.
Alisha tried to ignore the obvious; she had wished out of desperation that Leonardo would wake up, even if it meant him going after every woman in California, she had not even been given a break, and here was one woman already flirting with her husband right in front of her.
Alisha occupied herself at the bakery for the next few days, she didn't want to watch the nurse flirting with Leonardo, she would have loved to be at the side taking care of him, but then he had a personal nurse for his comfort.
After a week, the doctor said the nurse could just come on once or twice a week, she didn't need to be there all the time any more.
This was great news to Alisha.
Leonardo still had a few bad headaches so he did only urgent task from him for the office.
The nurse was in the house the next week trying to check Leonardo's vitals when Alisha went to answer the door, Mary was out to get groceries.
"Hello Mrs Legend, I"d like to see Mr. Legend regarding the divorce may I come in?" the lawyer had said and Alisha felt a sharp pain in her chest.
"Does he know you are coming?" she asked with a grown.
"We were supposed to have seen before he had the accident, so I thought to come deliver what he asked me to work on."
"Could you maybe reschedule until when he is up on his feet and as resumed the office? he has a bad headache right now and is been attended to by his nurse."
"I"d take my leave then, and call him in the next week." the lawyer said his good bye and left.
Alisha had been so relaxed in this moment of peace she and Leonardo had had that she forgot he had said he would free her and end the contract before he had the accident. She didn't want this.
She admit she wanted an end to this, but not anymore.
She was not ready to let go just yet, maybe when the marriage has gotten to the third year as they had agreed, but no she was not going to do this, she was not in for a divorce.
Alisha went back to the room where Leonardo and the nurse were, she opened to door only to find the nurse kissing him.
"Hmm, the lawyer was just here, I will call him in." Alisha said and excused herself.
Maybe she was wrong, she didn't have to stay in this marriage with a ma that did not care about her.
She didn't have to stay with this man who wanted to be with every woman.
She needed to let go. She would be more hurt if she stayed with him. She ran out of the house and stopped the lawyer from driving out.
"I'm so sorry Mr. James for dismissing you the way I did, on the contrary Mr. Leonardo is feeling better and would love to see you." as she spoke, she saw the nurse hurriedly leaving the house.
She was disgusted but not in anyway surprised. She had seen it coming, only that she did not know she would be a witness to it. She didn't expect it to be in the mansion.
Leonardo was with the lawyer for a very long time, Alisha was mad at him but she still made muffins and fruit juice, and had Mary who had come back from grocery shopping to take it up to the study for the men.
Alisha thought about sorting her things together, maybe she could start packing her belongings since it wouldn't be long before she was given the divorce papers to sign.
Two days after Alisha had seen the nurse kissing her husband, and Leonardo had seen the lawyer, she waited for him to say something about the divorce but he did not. He did not apologise for kissing the nurse either.
Alisha got back from the bakery and met Mary cooking dinner, "where is Leonardo?" she asked as she took a drink from the fridge.
"He is in the study with Mr Alexandra"
"Grandpa is here?" Alisha was surprised. She set a tray with cookies and drink to take to the men up.
When she got to the door of the study, she was about to open the door when she heard something that caught her attention, so she listened, eavesdropping was wrong but she was sure this was the only way she was going to hear what was being discussed.
"Leonardo, I told you to fight for this marriage and I am quite impressed, it is a good thing that you did get married to Alisha.
I know you did it because of the condition I gave you, never the less I am getting old and I don't want you to have issues with my lawyer and your inheritance when I am long gone, so I have been thinking, I'm taking away the condition I had given you."
"What do you mean grandpa?"
"The three years ultimatum I gave you to get married isn't going to be relevant as regards your inheritance, you an Alisha should just be happy and have children in your own time, you don't need a child to have the third part of the inheritance."
Alisha's mind wandered off as she thought about what she had just heard, she went back to the kitchen to drop the refreshment she had taken up, she did not respond to Mary when she asked her if the men didn't want the snacks.
Alisha went up to the bedroom and lay in bed. "So he chose the contract marriage for his inheritance.
He was never really going to want anything serious with me, just like he had made it clear from the beginning."
"What was that about a child? Was that why he had tried to make love with me that night?
Was that why he kissed me those times? To get me Pregnant?"
"Now that Leonardo was free to live his life, he could access his inheritance without any condition, does that mean he would be sending me away from his life any time soon?
Would he wake me up tomorrow with a divorce papers?"
Alisha tried hard not to weep, she was in love with a man that would send her away from his life as soon as possible.
It's not like he deceived her, he had not given her his reason why he chose a contract marriage but he had made it clear to her that it was for three years and that he was not in love with her.
But would he have gotten her pregnant if this condition was not broken?
Was he going to let her go out of this contract without having sex with her like the other ladies he had one night stand with?
Was he going to pay her off and tell her that they could end the contract without waiting for the three years to elapse?
Should she tell Grandpa Alexandra that Leonardo had deceived him and that their marriage wasn't real?
She could not do that, that would be a breach of contract.
Leonardo had proposed a divorce earlier and had already asked the lawyer to work on the divorce, could it be that an informat had told him that grandpa Alexandra was going to change his mind about the whole condition of marriage and inheritance?
Alisha thought she was going insane, she had so many questions and no answers to any of the many questions.
"What am I going to do?" she asked herself repeatedly hitting her head on the pillow.
"Alisha are you okay?" Leonardo asked her coming into the room
"Yeah I'm awesome" she gave a weak and fake smile.
"Grandpa would like to say hello, but I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to wait for dinner."
Alisha went out to greet him, then stayed back to set the table with Mary.
As she and Leonardo sat to eat, she was very quiet, he asked her a few times if she was fine, she nodded and tried to force her food down her throat.
After dinner, Alisha stayed back to clear the table and do the dishes even when Mary insisted she would do it.
Alisha did not want to go to bed until she was sure Leonardo was asleep.
She also didn't want to use the guest room so he would not be suspicious of her.
When there was nothing left for her to do she went upstairs. She met Leonardo using his phone, she changed into her pyjamas and climbed on the bed without saying a word to him, not even good night and when he said good night to her, she did not reply him.
Alisha was already falling asleep when she felt Leonardo's hand on her lower back.
"Take your hands off me" she slapped off his hand. She was right after all, he was going to try to have sex with her, then give her the divorce papers, she would be no different from the other women he had gone out with, the only difference was that she stayed almost a year with him.
"Sit up, we need to talk now" Leonardo said and Alisha knew this was the moment she was scared of.
If he sent her out tonight, she had nowhere to go to.