Stuck in The Marriage Pact
Chapter 58: his promise

Chapter 58: his promise

At a cemetery, Hunter walked with his cane, following Isabella along a narrow path between many neatly arranged graves, all with the same beautiful blue-black and glossy color on their tombstones. Occasionally, the man glanced around the quiet surroundings, then looked back at his wife, who was dressed all in white with a thin shawl covering her back and carrying a basket of flowers.

"Here," Isabella whispered, stopping at one of the graves.

Hunter stopped beside her, focusing on the tombstone inscribed with the name George Weasley Quinn, along with his birth and death dates, while Isabella immediately began scattering flowers over the grave, which was covered in beautiful green grass.

"Dad, I’m here with my husband," Isabella whispered after she finished spreading the flowers, crouching down and holding the tombstone.

Hunter glanced around and quickly sat down next to Isabella, who immediately turned to look at him.

"Your pants will get dirty," Isabella murmured.

Hunter grinned. "It’s fine... Better than squatting and being seen. That would ruin my act," he said.

"All right..."

"I want to talk to your dad."

Isabella nodded, then moved back and let Hunter shift closer to the tombstone. She remained silent, watching her husband, who placed his hand on the stone, looking so serious.

"Dad... Sorry... I... I hope you don’t mind me calling you that because I’m here as your son-in-law. I’m sorry for being late in learning about you, so I couldn’t ask for your blessing when marrying your beautiful daughter. You might even hate me if you knew how we first got married," Hunter said, frowning and then sighing, his heart racing. "But don’t worry, even though our relationship didn’t start well, I promise I’ll love her forever, I’ll take care of her... I’ll give her the best... I promise... She is my only wife for life... Making her happy is what I long for... I hope you believe that...

I truly love her, she’s gorgeous... incredible, I don’t know how to describe this feeling, but what I know is that I love her, she’s my life. Don’t worry about her anymore, rest peacefully in heaven... She will always be happy and safe with me. I promise," he continued, then turned to Isabella, who was smiling with tearful eyes, and reached out to hold her hand.

"You have to trust me too, put away your doubts. I’m sure... Your dad has heard my promises, and I won’t break them, or I’ll die in my life when I do," he said.

"Don’t put yourself at risk just for a promise," Isabella murmured, then looked at her hand in Hunter’s grip. "I trust you... I know you will do everything to make me happy and safe," she continued.

Hunter sighed, then leaned in and kissed Isabella’s cheek.

"You’re kissing me in front of my dad," Isabella whispered, smiling.

"Is that wrong?" Hunter chuckled. "I’m showing that I’ve fallen in love with this beautiful daughter!"

"Yes, I know, now let’s pray for him."

Hunter looked back at the tombstone, as did Isabella. They started praying for a few minutes, then scattered the remaining flowers. After that, they went back to the white car where Collin was waiting.

"You should have rented a better car," Hunter said while fastening his seatbelt.

"I thought we were just here for a short while, so I didn’t choose a car rental with luxurious vehicles," Collin replied as he started the car.

"How could you think that? You know I want to spend time with my wife here, where I feel so free... No pressure from my family. Of course, I’ll be here for a few weeks," Hunter said, frowning.

"Hey..." Isabella turned to Hunter, frowning. "You said you’d be here for a few weeks? What about your work?" she asked.

"Don’t worry, I’ve asked Robert to handle everything," Hunter answered with a smile, reaching out to hold Isabella’s right hand and interlacing their fingers.

"But I don’t like this... We should go back to New York soon. I don’t want your family to think you’re neglecting your duties just to be with me here. They’ll be disappointed..."

"They won’t be disappointed because I’ll give them a very reasonable excuse, and they won’t dare get mad at me."

"What’s that?"

Hunter took a long breath, looking at the serene and quiet scenery outside.

"I’m thinking of lying to my family again. I mean... I’ll tell them I’m here for therapy with a chiropractor... They’ll be happy and let me stay as long as I want," he explained while looking back at Isabella. "And then when we return, I’ll pretend I’m almost able to walk, and maybe just need two or three weeks to throw away my cane, to start walking again. They’ll think I’m healed... And then we can go on a honeymoon," he continued with a smile.

Isabella was stunned, looking at Hunter with a frown.

"Isn’t that a good plan?" Hunter asked.

Isabella swallowed and sighed. "It’s good, but... Suddenly I feel something’s wrong with all of this."

"What’s wrong?"

"Um... You, us... We’re lying too much to your family," Isabella explained anxiously.

"But what I’m doing is to stop all those lies," Hunter replied, frowning, looking at Isabella seriously. "If we don’t do this, then we’ll keep being liars and I won’t be at peace. I’ll continue to be seen as a weak husband, Davin will keep mocking me, and I’ll keep making Grandpa, Grandma, Dad, or Mom worry about me. I want to be strong again..."

Isabella remained silent, her anxious gaze fixed on him.

"I also want to be worthy of being your husband... Especially since you’re going to reopen communication with your mom. I want to show her that I’m a man who can take care of you. This has to be done for the good of us all!" Hunter insisted.

Isabella bowed her head, biting her lower lip as she suddenly remembered Estella, who would be getting married in three months, and even her task of designing the wedding and bridesmaid dresses was not finished.

"We have to do this, no matter what," Hunter said, looking out the window again. "After everything is settled, I want to give you the world... Maybe we’ll go to London, Switzerland, some Asian countries... the Middle East..."

"Does that mean we’ll miss Estella’s wedding?" Isabella asked before Hunter could finish his sentence. "Isn’t Estella the closest to you? It seems impossible for us not to attend her wedding just because we want a honeymoon, and I’m also the one designing the wedding and bridesmaid dresses."

"Hmm..." Hunter sighed, looking forward again.

"We can’t be selfish," Isabella said again, then took her phone from her small gray bag.

She checked for any messages from Loraine.

Sis, is it true you’re at our home? Kirkland? What are you doing there? I came to the penthouse... But the assistant here said you went there with your husband and his assistant. What are you doing there? How about Joe... Joe’s family, I think they won’t like your behavior.

Isabella frowned, remembering that Loraine hadn’t known about her decision to continue the marriage with Hunter and abolish the contract agreement.

"Boss, where are we going?" Collin asked, breaking the silence.

"Straight home. I have to call Loraine," Isabella replied, then turned to Hunter, who also looked at her. "I have to talk to him... It won’t be quick, so... We better go home," she continued.

"All right... I’ll cook lunch for us later," Hunter replied calmly.

Isabella scoffed and looked back at her phone. "I’m not sure you’ll do it."

Hunter chuckled.

"A Hunter cooking lunch... That would sound very strange," Isabella said as she typed on her phone.

"It may seem strange to you, but it will be a special experience for me, for the first time cooking, and it’s for my wife..." Hunter said with a smile, then glanced at the rearview mirror where he could see Collin smiling. "Why are you smiling like that?" he asked curtly.

"Um, nothing..." Collin immediately stopped smiling.

"After this, you should go back to the inn, don’t bother us!"

"Yes, Sir."

Isabella chuckled, shaking her head. "You shouldn’t be like that to him."

"He’s rude, he started to dare to smile like that, as if we’re weird," Hunter said curtly.

"It makes sense!" Isabella replied, putting her phone back in her bag. "Besides, since when could you cook? Huh? I’m worried you’ll blow up my kitchen. I don’t have an electric stove, my oven is very old... I don’t have sophisticated cooking tools like in your kitchen," she continued.

"That’s not a problem."

"All right, I won’t help you later... I’ll talk to Loraine about our relationship and then about the missing certificate."

Hunter frowned, remembering Isabella’s uncle. "We need to see your uncle for clarification on this issue," he said.

"No, I don’t want to, I’m sick of seeing his ugly face!" Isabella immediately shook her head with an angry look. "It’s useless to meet him; he won’t return anything he’s stolen, claiming he’s used up the money and can’t return it, he always does that!"

"Honey..." Hunter sighed. "This isn’t about asking him to return the money."

Isabella remained silent, looking out the car window.

"I just want to talk to him, to make sure if he took the certificate or not. And if he did take it and sell it, then he has to tell us who the buyer is so that we can immediately meet them... and redeem the certificate," Hunter explained, making Isabella turn to him immediately.

"I have to buy back my own house?" Isabella murmured.

"Yes..." Hunter raised his eyebrows. "Actually, we could take this matter to court, but it would only complicate things... I don’t want to deal with that kind of hassle; it would just be a waste of money to pay for lawyers, and your uncle would also be in trouble. I know he’s bad, but after all, he’s still your uncle."

Isabella was stunned, looking at Hunter who was so kind for paying off her debt, then planning to save her house, and even still respected her bad uncle.

"You are a good man," she whispered.

Hunter immediately blushed and looked down. "But I’m also a liar. I have a dark side."

Isabella smiled, reached for Hunter’s hand, and intertwined their fingers. "And I’m glad to know both sides of you, and that doesn’t stop me from falling in love with you. Whatever you do, I know you do it for a good reason. You’re not wrong," she said, then kissed the back of Hunter’s hand.

Hunter couldn’t hide the happy flush on his face as Isabella’s sweet lips touched the back of his hand for a moment. He quickly lowered their hands and then gently kissed her lips.

"Hunter... Hey..." Isabella chuckled, pressing against Hunter’s chest to push him away. "Collin can see us!"

"I don’t care!" Hunter kissed Isabella’s lips again, passionately.

Collin exhaled sharply, struggling hard to focus on driving despite the sound of their kissing, which bothered him a lot, making him jealous, wishing he could feel the same romance.