by Mia Ford
Wendy sighs, “Yes, but then I got in the car and realized that I couldn't drive because I was drunk.”
Scarlett asks, “So what did you do?”
They both look at each other, “She called the ambulance to pick us up because at that point I was wailing in agony. I thought that at my age. I must have broken something.”
“I’m the one who nearly broke my back carrying you from the staircase.”
I sigh as I think that this is funny, but I need to put things into perspective, this will be the first and last time that I see Scarlett.
She’s laughing as well as everyone else in the room. But I know that it will come to a dramatic end.
“Well, seeing as the contract was for taking Scarlett for the weekend, but with the hospital phone call it’s been put to an end. I take it that you’ll still be able to keep to your side of the bargain?”
I’m looking at Ms. Young, but I can feel Scarlett’s eyes on me. I know that soon they’ll be filled with tears, but this was the agreement. I don’t want her back in my house. Or anywhere near me right now.
Wendy asks, “What contract?”
“The land on Westfield, Ms. Young said that if I took her niece to my house for the weekend and showed her a good time she would sign it over to me.”
Scarlett’s standing up, her eyes are moving from her aunt to me as if she’s watching a tennis match. I don’t say a word as the tears start to flood from her eyes.
“Scarlett dear, just know that I did this for you. Gretchen told me that you'd been down since that rat threw you out. I did it for you…”
Ms. Young calls after her as she runs out of the room.
I stand frozen thinking that I should be pleased with myself. The result was exactly what I wanted, but as I turn to leave the room and Ms. Young tells me to take the land. I wonder why I don’t feel proud?
After all I’ve achieved exactly what I wanted to do.
I walk out knowing that the best woman that I’ve ever been with has just left the room, because not only did I end up breaking her heart, but mine too.
Chapter Twelve
Scarlett
I decide to go to the house and wait for Daniel to come back. I could get a taxi or even on a train, but after what happened last night. I feel even worse than I did when Sam broke up with me. I don’t know if it was because I connected with Joshua? Or the idea that he’d only slept with me because he was going to get something out of it.
Either way, I knew one thing for sure. I wouldn’t see him again. That’s what he was after, he wanted to end it and he did that in the worse possible way. I hope that he's proud of himself.
The hospital told me that Aunt Betty wouldn’t be out for at least a couple of days while they observed her. She may look as if she has a body of a teenager, but at her age, they said that they couldn’t be too sure. Also, both her and Wendy were vague about what part of the stairs she fell, because they were both intoxicated.
I knew that Daniel could take me and I wouldn’t have to face her either. The crazy part was I woke up this morning and I didn’t feel like eating Ben & Jerry. No longer did I feel the desire just to binge out.
I went up to the attic, the place that I used to find comfort when I was a kid and did the one thing that I loved to do.
Paint.
I’ve spent all day up there; I didn’t even know what the time was or even care. My phone was off, and the house phone was being picked up by the staff. Aunt Betty had kept all of my paints. I even think that there are some new ones. It’s as if she kept the room for me, whenever I felt the need to come back.
Maybe her surprise wasn’t only for me to spend it fucking Joshua, but for the room too. If she knew about my break-up with Sam, then she must have known everything else. That I had nowhere to stay and this was her way of making it better.
I didn’t even hear her enter the room as my mind starts to wander and I think about Joshua. I shouldn’t have expected anything different from a man like him. He’s probably playing with some other woman in his playroom.
Good for him!
I’m fed up of being used, and from this moment onwards I vow to never have another man in my life again.
I can’t believe something that I haven’t done for so long has flowed so naturally today. I knew my subject from the moment I sat on the stool. I have the natural sunlight and everything I need to do the one thing that I love to do, and that’s to paint.
“Good, you’re still here!” Aunt Betty hobbles into the kitchen with her walking sticks.
“What are you doing here? I thought that you needed to stay there for a couple more days.”
She nods, “This is my home. Besides if you left here feeling the way that you do, then I don’t know what I’ll do.”
“I’m waiting for Daniel to come back.”
She shakes her head, “He’s here. When I told him about what I’d done. He told me that I was wrong and I needed to apologize.”
“Okay, so you can do that and go back to the hospital.”
I turn around; I know that I'm cold and she doesn’t deserve it, but to say that I’m hurt is an understatement.
“You’ve been to the attic?”
I nod, but then I grab my drink and start to move in that same direction once again. Maybe I’ll just clean out my account and get a last minute ticket? Anything to get out of here. I didn’t think that she would be out now. And now she’s in front of me. I don’t know what to do. Well, I have a clue, I want to do one thing, and that's left.
“Scarlett don’t go. I can’t move that fast, and I need you to hear me out. Please?”
I stop for a minute; I take my time as I face her. I think about Joshua for a moment and the man that he is. The type that doesn’t have photos in his house and he probably has no friends. I scolded him when I discover that he’s alone and I realize that I’m not acting any differently to him if I don’t at least hear her out.
“Can I sit down?”
She asks as she’s clearly out of breath and it wouldn’t seem right if I didn’t hear her out. She’s been more of a mom to me than my mother, but then for different reasons and I should at least hear her out.
I nod, "After all it's your house."
She sighs, “Phew! If you said no, I think that I would hurt myself and probably end up spending a lot more time in the hospital.”
She’s laughing, but by herself and I want to say something, that she should hurry up. I’m working on a piece. Something dear from the heart and one that I don’t feel the need to stop right now.
“I knew about Sam’s stealing for a while. Before you lost your job.”
She’s nodding and looking directly at me. I feel numb because now I feel like a fool. She knew, and I lived with the man, and I didn’t have a clue.
“I look out for you. Maybe a bit too much. To cut a long story short. I overheard him one time when you were here.”
“At your annual barbecue?”
She nods, “Yes, how did you know?”
“Well, after that time Sam said that he didn’t want to come back. He said that you didn’t like him.”
“I wish it was that simple. You see I knew that he was cheating on you. He had made advances to a couple of the girls and that upset me. But I didn’t think that he was stealing from you too. I don’t want to tell you the exact details, but when I saw the remains of your trust fund from your granddad, I knew that it had something to do with him.”
“There’s hardly anything left,” I start to sob. “The million dollar's that was sitting in my account. Sam helped me spend it, but then most of it was spent on him. Then when the second amount was released when I was twenty-five. It was gone so fast, maybe by the end of my twenty-fifth birthday. I was a fool in love. I thought that we were going to get married, what’s mine was his and all that.”
“You don’t need to explain to me. I know that he manipulated you, pretty much like your dad does with your mom.”
There’s so
mething that I need to tell her.
“Anyway, I’ve been a submissive in my younger day, and I knew through the grapevine that Joshua Moore is a heavy practitioner.”
“Really?” I choke thinking about Aunt Betty being a sub.
“I’m eccentric for a reason.”
“If at all,” I point to her. We look at each other for a second, and I think about Sam and Aunt Betty trying to protect me from him.
“But that doesn’t mean that I forgive you or want to stay here any longer.”
“Did you feel a big connection with him?”
I nod.
She smiles, “It’s natural. Being a sub is not an easy thing. Well, it wasn’t for me. I ended up marrying my dom.”
I gasp, “You and Granddad.”
I shake my head, because I don’t want to know if the pair of them had their playroom or any detail of their relationship, but I do know one thing. I love her. Even if her methods were not the best and she interfered a little too much. At least I know that she’s got my back.
I stand up, and I hug her, “I love you, Aunt Betty.”
“So, you’ll stay?”
I wink at her and say, “I’ll think about it.”
She smiles, “That’s all I can ask you to do. I know that I don’t deserve any more than that.”
She does, but I’ll make her suffer a little while longer. Make her think that there’s a possibility that I may leave. I had one man who controlled me and left me penniless and with a broken heart. It’s about time I grow up and it starts and ends with when I finish the painting, the one that I’m painting with all my heart.
Chapter Thirteen
Scarlett
Two weeks later…
I’m so damn nervous. My paintings are on display at the art gallery. My old ones that I used to do as a teen is on display too, but the big one. The one that I worked day and night on is on display, and I can’t get it out of my mind.
My parents and Aunt Betty will see it for the first time. When I told my dad that I was painting, he said that he’s not coming to see splash pieces of paint on a sheet of paper. He has my collection from when I was five, and he’s sure that it’s no different from that.
Then Aunt Betty said something to him, and he changed his mind. I don’t know what she said, but she told me that it would really be the last time that she interferes in my life.
“God, everyone’s here,” Gretchen whispers as she stands by my side. I told her parts of my childhood, and she knows that today, I’m going to tell everyone about it. I don’t know who’s more nervous? Her or I?
“You look beautiful Gretchen.”
I smile at her dark hair and matching shift dress. She has on red heels, and I have the opposite color of hers. I have a red dress and black heels; I think that she went all out to support me tonight and she knows that it’s a big deal. She was trying to lighten the mood, by coming up with something to make us seem cool on the night. I think that it’s worked because I do feel better having her with me as support. Aunt Betty’s too busy being loved up by Daniel and it seems that Wendy has a drinking problem or her husband left her? She’s spending too much time chasing the waiters around for flutes of champagne.
“Well, I’m hoping that I can get myself a Mr. Moore.”
She sees the frown on my face and then says, “Sorry bad joke.”
I walk up to a photo, that isn’t mine. I didn’t notice it when I came here earlier. I wonder who put this up. I see the owner of the gallery, Fiona and ask, “What’s this?”
She smiles, “Oh Mr. Moore asked to put it up. He said to call it…”
I read about it, “Home.”
“Wow, that’s weird, why has he put a picture of his living room and bedroom in your art gallery? Gretchen asks, and I know exactly the reason why. It has photos, maybe his childhood pictures and his parents all over the walls. A secret message to me, but that doesn't change the way that he tried to dismiss me as a piece of trash.
“Scarlett,” Fiona whispers, “If it bothers you then I’ll take it down. He insisted and paid way too much money to have it up.”
I shake my head, thinking that I thought that he’d given up. The first week, every single day he was sending roses. Notes of apology. He even told Aunt Betty not to sell the land, and he tore up the contract. Aunt Betty said that I should give him a chance. She changed her tune; she said maybe I touched him the same way that he’d touched me.
Either way, I’m not ready to settle down now. I hear my name being called, but a tear falls as I think about him putting up the pictures. I wonder what other changes he’s made, and I’m lost in my thoughts as I think about him.
“Scarlett it’s time,” Fiona whispers as all lights are on the centerpiece. The main reason that we’re all here tonight.
My eyes dart around the room, and then they land on both mom and dad. She’s standing next to him. She came with a broken arm and said that she hurt herself while skiing. I think that she forgot her excuses because it’s not even ski-ing season yet.
I close my eyes as I hold Gretchen’s hand one more time and head to the painting. The one that’ll break my family for good.
Fiona gives me the mic as I take it I hold my breath, and there I see him standing. Joshua Moore, he looks completely different from the last time I saw him. He’s in red polo shirt and jeans with a jacket. He seems more relaxed with his subtle stubble. He doesn’t smile or even change the expression on his face. He just nods at me. As if he’s giving me permission to go ahead.
Either way, I start my speech. The one that I’ve been practicing all week as I start to do the unveiling.
“Thank you for coming tonight. I know that most of all you know me from hanging here as a kid in Rowtons. I was lost for the best part of my teens for one reason or another. But coming back here…”
I clear my throat as I stare at Aunt Betty. I know that this will break her heart, but I want her to understand my heartache and the reasons that I made bad choices. Which began and ended with Sam.
“And opening my eyes for the first time. Has helped me express how I feel about my past. The torment and danger that I used to escape from every time I came here. The reason why as an adult, I never go to my family home and the reason why I hate the man in the picture.”
I nod to Fiona so that she can remove the sheet.
“I want you to see my masterpiece. It’s called the man in the dark.”
As it's removed, I see my mom faint and Daniel by her side catching her and stopping her from tumbling to the ground. My dad muttering something and then leaving. Aunt Betty gasps and I turn to Gretchen and see the tears uncontrollably leaving her eye and as for everyone else. They’re clapping, pointing to the picture and the man in the light and the child at the back.
The woman on the floor in a pool of blood and the man, his face smiling as the light only focuses on his face. The paintings black with only light on the woman in black but in a pool of red signifying blood and the child, who’s in a corner witnessing it all, but then she has a zip over her mouth implying that she’ll never tell a soul.
Fiona is nodding as she’s the only person that’s seen the picture and said that it would sell for thousands. I’ve put my heart and soul into the piece and as much as not everyone understands exactly what it means to me.
I start to look for him. The man that made me go from hiding the darkness that was in me, to bringing it out into the light.
He’s by my side, I don’t see him, but I know his woody scent.
He kisses me on the cheek, he says, “That's beautiful.”
I don’t hesitate in wrapping my arms around him. I know that I shouldn’t. I should hate him for how he treated me and made me feel, but how can I despise someone who helped me face my past. He's made me express exactly how I feel about my childhood. Something that I’ve kept hidden for so long?
“The piece is beautiful. Just like the artist.”
I push him back; he whispers, “Wait, I know th
at I don’t deserve another chance, but I would like to try.”
“By fucking me all weekend?”
I say as I wipe the tears from my eyes.
He shakes his head, “No. I want us to go on a date. Maybe a weekend. Maybe a week and then in time…”
“You want to fuck me all weekend?”
He shakes his head and says, “No, maybe if you’ll let me I’ll like to fuck you for life.”
I stop and stare at him. I don’t know if he’s serious, but as my dad ends up by my side he lifts up his hand and Joshua blocks him.
“You ungrateful spoiled bitch!” Dad yells as Joshua wrestles with his hand. The one that was just about to hit me.
Aunt Betty’s hand comes beside me as dad runs off, probably to avoid her.
“I never knew,” she whispers and then Daniel comes holding mom and they all leave together. I’ve set mom free, she can now do whatever she wants and I know that Aunt Betty will help her.
I turn to Joshua and say, “One more try. But if you hurt me again..”
He lifts me up and says, “I wouldn’t dare!”
Epilogue
Scarlett
I never thought that I would make Rowtons my home. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it as a kid and even a teenager, but to think that this the place that I’m going to call home feels as if it’s too surreal.
I hated my aunt for making the one man that’s made me ever feel like a woman part of a business contract. She apologized so many times with the explanation, “I don’t have long dear, and I wanted you to be happy.”
Mom's in therapy and officially divorced from dad. She’s living with Aunt Betty and trying to get on the road to recovery. Something that she should have done a long time ago, part of me feels guilty about it. Maybe if I’d told Aunt Betty or someone else, what was going on earlier then it would have stopped a lot sooner?
I try not to think of the past and just concentrate on the future these days. I’ve never been happier in my life, and I didn’t even think that it was possible. Joshua respects me, but then I feel the same way about him.
“A penny for your thoughts,” he growls as he creeps up next to me.
