Chapter 8 Guarding Her Heart

• Rosemary was so upset, she cried sorrowfully. Her husband doted on her. He had never reprimanded her, but today he did it in front of Victoria, an outsider. That was too much to handle. “My dearest wife, I’m sorry, please forgive me, I didn’t mean to upset you,” said her husband, hugging her. “My son is sad because of you, you forced him to marry a stranger and you reprimanded me in front of Victoria, I hate her, she will never be my daughter in law, I prefer Serene over her. Please let my son divorce her, I’m begging you hubby.” Her husband sighed and said, “I asked my son if he wanted to divorce Victoria. He refused. He said he was sad because Serene refused to take his calls. Not because of Victoria.” Rosemary didn’t believe her husband that he was telling her the truth. “Give me my phone. I want to call my son.” Her husband took her phone and gave it to her. She dialed James' number, James picked up his phone, “Mom.” Rosemary wiped her tears from her face and said, “Son, do you want to divorce Victoria? That is why you are sad, tell mom.”
• “Mom, I’m sad because Serene is not taking my calls, not because of Victoria. Sorry Mom, I made you misunderstand. I don’t want to divorce Victoria, I want to teach Serene a lesson. She took me for granted because I love her. Let her wait for me for two years. Mom, please don’t fight with dad over me. Victoria is my wife, Mom. Please respect her; I won’t allow anyone to bully her. I love you so much Mom.” Then he hung up.
• Her mother was so upset. James had never spoken to her like this, even when he was angry, but because of Victoria, her husband, and her son, they ganged up on her. Her hatred towards Victoria was piling up. She swore that she would seek revenge, Victoria would never be happy, and she would never be her daughter-in-law. Her husband tried to coax her; she told her husband to sleep in the guest room. For the first time since they got married, Emmanuel was chased out of their bedroom. His heart was conflicted; he left their bedroom, instead of going to the guest room, he went to his office. He had so much work to do, he came back early to celebrate his son’s marriage.
• When he arrived at the office, he was surprised to see James working. “Dad, what are you doing here?” Emmanuel sighed, “your mother chased me out of our bedroom, hence I’m here. Why are you here?” “Dad, I was so upset to see you reprimanding Mom in front of Victoria. I spoke harshly to her, then I left the apartment. I will apologize to her when I get back home. I don’t know why she agreed to marry me,” James sighed. “Did you ask her son?” asked his father. “I didn’t give her time to explain. She looked at me as if I had wronged her,” replied James.
• “Son, when you feel that it is too much for you, please tell me, I don’t want to lose you. Tomorrow I will send Butler Ed to serve you and Victoria.” “Thanks dad.” Then his father went to his office. He sat at his desk, he was starting to doubt his decision, he made his family unhappy. He started working but he couldn’t concentrate. There was a room with a bed and bathroom in his office, so he went and lay down. He was exhausted, he thought it would take time for him to fall asleep, but within a few minutes he was sleeping.
• In James' apartment, Victoria was tossing and turning, she missed her dad so much. Her first day at the Johnson mansion was bad. She made enemies of James’ mother. She was called a gold digger. Her heart ached. She understood why James was upset, she replaced his girlfriend, Serene, but it didn’t give him the right to call her a gold digger. Her tears fell on the pillow. She was very sad. She vowed that she would guard her heart, she would never fall in love with James. She prayed for her future husband, her soulmate. Then she fell asleep.
• Victoria woke up early in the morning at 6 am, she took a shower and wore her knee-high blue dress, and she fastened her hair into a bun. She went to the underground garage and went home to see her father; she missed him so much. Her father was so happy to see her. She flashed a big smile at her dad and hugged him. “I miss you daddy.” Her dad laughed and said, “you are a married woman now. Are you still missing your dad? How was your mother-in-law?” She grinned at her father, “she doesn’t like me, dad, because her son was sad, so she hated me.” Her dad became angry. “ Come back home sweetheart, the Lord will provide.” Victoria shook her head and said, “the Lord has already provided dad, I will persevere, two years will be finished before we know it then I will come back home dad. May I take leave today, daddy? I need to sleep. I couldn’t sleep last night. I was sad, I was tossing and turning. Everything is new. I’m overwhelmed.” Her father nodded his head, “take a few days to rest sweetheart. Have you eaten?” asked her father. Victoria smiled at her dad, “I didn’t have an appetite, let’s go and eat dad.” They went to the dining room hand in hand.
• After breakfast, Victoria went to her room and sat on her bed. She applied for a day’s leave. She needed to shortlist those candidates who applied for the Finance Director position. She called her assistant to invite the HR manager to sit with her during the shortlist. Too much had happened within a few days, she was drained. She just prayed for strength and for her future husband, then she fell asleep.
• James arrived at his apartment after 8 am. He went to Victoria’s room and knocked but there was no response. He pushed the door; the bed was neatly made but there was no sign of Victoria. He wanted to apologize to her for what he said. He thought that maybe she had gone to work. He went to his room and took a shower, he wore a black suit and red tie, then he went to work. Serene had not called him yet, but he was no longer upset about that because he was going to teach her a lesson.