“I’m not saying I’m leaving you. I remember the promise I made to you all of two hours ago. What I am saying is I understand if you want out of this marriage because I don’t know that I’ll ever regain my memory and, quite frankly, I can’t reconcile the me I once knew with the me I’m supposed to be today.”
“I don’t want out of this marriage.” His nostrils flared. “I will never want out of this marriage.”
Her nostrils did a little flaring of their own. “Why? What do you possibly have to gain by staying with an amnesiac of a wife?” Her eyes rounded as a possibility struck her hard. She remembered the clicking cameras. “Does it help your poll numbers or something, having a pathetic little wife who can’t remember anything?”
“Damn it, Gaia, you’ve gone too far!” The implacable veneer was gone. In its wake was a flushed face, a clenched jaw, and a fist that pounded once on the table. “Way too far!”
She jumped a bit in her seat. She opened her mouth to speak, but he forestalled her with an upheld hand.
“Only my innermost circle even knows you have amnesia,” Ryan told her. “Those people cheering for you—for us—have no idea you’ve been hospitalized all this time. I didn’t want that information released to the public because I didn’t want word getting back to the rebels that they were able to hurt you in any way. They don’t deserve that satisfaction.”
His impassioned speech took the wind out of her irate sails. “Oh.” She cleared her throat. “So where do they think I’ve been?”
“At our home in Atlanta. I told the world you wanted some time to recuperate from the wars.”
“Is that how we met? Are you from Atlanta too?”
“I made it my official residence after we married.”
“I see.” She sighed. He hadn’t exactly answered her questions, but she was too bone-weary to needle him. “I guess I owe you an apology then.”
“I don’t want one.” He reached for her hand and squeezed. “I just want you to keep your promise and give our life together a fighting chance.”
She nibbled at her lower lip for a suspended moment. “You must have really loved me to go through all this.”
“Love is too weak of a word. Multiply that emotion by a thousand times.”
The sincerity in his voice and demeanor was unmistakable. Just like at the hospital, her heart broke for him again. He was in love with her and she didn’t even know his middle name. Gaia wished she could remember something—anything!—about him. Despite the spark of familiarity he roused inside her, she couldn’t. However, she could keep her promise not to dwell on the missing past and force herself to stay in the present for the sake of their future. She truly did owe him that much.
“How is it we live here if the election hasn’t happened yet?”
It was a neutral subject, but one that still interested her. On Ryan’s part, he seemed more than eager to turn the topic.
“I’ve been the interim president until the people have a chance to cast their ballots and elect the first president of United Christian America.” He frowned. “As today is election day we’ll know by tonight if we’re staying on or returning home.”
Gaia recalled the endless sea of supportive faces, flags, and signs. She highly doubted they were going anywhere. To keep herself from feeling overwhelmed, she chose not to think about the fact she would likely become the first First Lady of UCA.
“Why did you choose the name UnitedChristianAmerica? Is there no longer a separation between church and state?”
“There is a degree of separation, but not as vast as it once was. Anyways, I didn’t choose the name. The people chose it. They also chose Christianity as the nation’s official religion.”
Her nose wrinkled. Why on earth would Americans have abandoned one of the founding tenants of the United States? Religious freedom was part and parcel of the American DNA. She thought back to the world events she could remember. Jihadists had been a rising threat at the time. “Did ISIS invade us or something?”
“Terrorists did, yes. They were just domestic instead of foreign.”
Gaia blew out a breath. She decided she didn’t need to know more right now. “Would it be okay if I took a shower and a nap? I’m feeling tired.”
“Of course.” His smile showcased his laugh lines, putting her at ease. “I’ll show you where everything is.”
Ten minutes later, Gaia was in the bathroom’s colossal shower, her eyes closed as hot water sprayed down on her drained body. The walk-in shower was quite elaborate with a sitting and standing area. Three main nozzles rained down while hot mist came at her from all sides. It reminded her of a waterfall in a rainforest. She took her time, letting her muscles relax, until she felt like an overcooked noodle.
Turning the shower off, she padded out onto the plush rug in front of it and grabbed a towel from the nearby rack. Drying off, her gaze flicked to the massive wardrobe where her clothes were stored. Her pajamas, if she remembered correctly, were housed on the left side of the massive walk-in closet.
Toweled off and her hair brushed out, she next walked into the wardrobe. She frowned as she leafed through her so-called pajamas. “Was I a raging slut before I got shot?” she muttered to herself. The old Gaia would have worn a long t-shirt to bed or maybe a matching set of night shorts with a cute little top. Apparently the new Gaia didn’t believe in leaving one’s body up to the imagination. “I can’t wear any of this shit,” she ground out. “I might as well be naked.”
She sighed. This was just too much. She supposed it made sense—a wife wanting to look sexy for her husband—but she was definitely not ready to be intimate with Ryan. Good looking he might have been, but her nerves were too taut and frayed to consider it. In the end she went with the least scandalous nightie she apparently owned, but that wasn’t saying much. Practically see-through, the silky turquois thing sported spaghetti straps, a plunging neckline that showcased her ample cleavage, and a dress that barely fell to her upper thighs.
Well, Gaia thought, at least the negligee looked good on her. The gossamer fabric was a nice contrast against her light caramel skin and brought out the flecks of turquois in her hazel eyes. She just wished she didn’t feel so naked.
