Eighteen

Eighteen

When I awoke, I was incredibly uncomfortable, but I refused to move. I was curled against Isaiah. No matter how cramped it was, I never wanted to give up the feeling of being pressed against him in that tiny bed. My body was sore, but it was a good kind of ache, mainly coming from the muscles of my hips.

I could tell that Isaiah was awake. I opened my eyes to find him studying my face. His eyes softened when he saw I was up.

“What?” I asked. He had looked so emotional, just watching my lie there.

“Oh. It’s nothing,” Isaiah said softly. “It’s just I… I’ve never really watched you sleep.”

I thought back. He really never had. I wished I could say something profound to go with this moment, but I could not think of anything. “Oh,” I said.

I looked around. It was very light out. The bright sun steamed in through the window above and fell down on us. It was later than I would have thought.

“Why are you still here?” I asked. He would have to get back to the Johann’s soon.

“I told you I would stay,” Isaiah replied earnestly. “Besides,” he said, nuzzling my nose, “it’s Saturday, the house workers don’t have to work until noon.”

I giggled and fell back, so incredibly blissful I could not find the will to speak. Isaiah put an arm on either side of my body and held himself over me, bringing his lips softly down to mine. I held his face in my hands and kissed him back.

I sighed and extended my hands to Isaiah’s chest. “Will you be back tonight?” I asked hopefully.

“If you want me to,” Isaiah said, kneeling on the bed.

“Of course I do,” I said, coming up to kneel in front of him.  “I always want you to come back.”

“Then I’ll always come back for you,” Isaiah said, kissing my hand. “I promised you I would.”

I put my hand on Isaiah’s face and he put his hand on top of mine and closed his eyes peacefully.

We sat there like that for a few long minutes. I do not think I could have let Isaiah leave if I stayed with him much longer.

Then there was a pounding coming from under the floor followed by what sounded like Hannah screeching: “Don’t y’all make me come up there or…” and then a string of what seemed to be inaudible profanities.

Isaiah opened his eyes and chuckled. “And I thought this would be the first time no one interrupted us.”

“Do you have to go?” I asked, knowing the answer.

“I wouldn’t, but Hannah scares me more than the overseer,” he said lightheartedly.

I laughed lightly and Isaiah stood and looked around for his trousers, which had ended up across the room. I giggled and watched him hop around with one leg through the pants as I found the rumpled yellow dress I had been wearing yesterday and put in on.

Isaiah turned to me after he was dressed. He put his hands on my face and kissed me long and full on the lips. When we pulled away Isaiah looked back at me with deep emotion in his eyes.

“I’ll be back after sunset,” he promised.

I nodded, finding it difficult not to get lost in his eyes. Isaiah kissed my forehead, strode to the window, and dropped out of sight.

I sat on the cot for a while before I could force myself to go downstairs. I had let myself forget everything on the floors below me. Hannah would be raging. My parents would be wondering where I was. Roy would be coming home today.

Oh God. I had forgotten about Roy, his demands and his threats.

There was no more denying it. I would have to tell Isaiah the truth. I trusted him now more than ever and only he could take me away from this place.

As I suspected, I found Hannah was in my room as I lowered myself down. She sat on my bed, arms and legs crossed stiffly, a look of steely anger in her eyes.

“Hello Hannah…” I said, nervously wiggling my fingers at her in a half wave.

She shook her head in response, her expression unchanged. “How could you?” she asked coldly. “Why in the world would you make the exact mistake you two made four years ago?”

“Hannah…” I warned. I was angry. I hated it when she treated me that way.

“You are both going to end up exactly where you were last time, or worse!” She pushed me.        

But I was not going to let her treat me like that anymore. I pushed back. “You listen to me, Hannah!” I hissed. “I am not going to take this anymore. I know what I’m doing now. I am not the seventeen-year-old girl who didn’t know how to love him. I lost Isaiah once and I am not going to lose him again!”

Hannah sneered at me. “Your promises don’t mean anything anymore, not to me. If I believed that you would not hurt him again, I wouldn’t be bothered to care. But you will, because you are not honest with him, and that can only hurt him.”

“I’m going to tell him the truth tonight!” I said desperately. I did not want her words to get to me.

“Really?” she said, unconvinced. “You’re going to tell Isaiah everything? Even about the little McCalvin baby you promised Roy in exchange for the life of his daughter?”

“I…I…” I had forgotten about that.

Hannah gave me a cold, triumphant look. “I didn’t think so,” she spat.

She walked out of the room and left me get dressed myself. I skipped the corset, too hard to put on alone, and changed into a green cotton dress while I thought about what she had said.

We would have to leave soon, before Roy could do anything to me, before there was any chance I would have his son. It would be hard, but she was right. I had to tell Isaiah the truth.

How would he react, knowing he had a daughter? Would he be angry with me for keeping her from him? Would he understand what she meant to me? Could he ever accept her?

I wanted to believe that he would, but doubt consistently nagged at my mind.

I tried my best to put it from my mind as I went downstairs to what was seeming less and less like the real world.

My afternoon was completely uneventful. I spent most of my time staring off into the distance and thinking of Isaiah. No one noticed my preoccupation, of course, and that was just fine by me. The ignorance of my family often worked to my advantage in that way.

My fight with Hannah kept me from going down to see Jordan. I wanted to see her, but I did not want her to be there to witness another confrontation.

I was alone in my room when Roy came home. It was getting dark. I was waiting for Isaiah.

Everyone else had gone out, but I knew Roy had instructed them not to let me go anywhere until he got back. From my window, I could see him coming up the path in his carriage. Shuddering, I turned away, hoping he would not come after me.

There was no avoiding him though. I could hear Roy pound up the stairs. I stiffened. I considered escaping into the attic before he could come in, but there was no time.

Roy burst through the door without knocking. He was in some kind of rage, though I had no idea what could have set him off.

I was absolutely terrified, but I had to try to get rid of him. “Leave me alone, Roy,” I said, trying to sound strong, though my voice was shaking a little.

He said nothing in response, but stalked over to me. His jaw was set angrily, his mouth curled into a snarl. “Lie down,” Roy ordered. I did not move. I was petrified.

When he saw that I was unresponsive, Roy struck me brutally across the face. He had never hit me so hard. I fell back, rubbing my stinging cheek. “Lie down!” he screamed at me. I knew anyone below could hear him, but no one would help me.

It had happened like this before, but I had never wanted to fight back like this. I kicked and smacked and clawed at him, trying anything to keep Roy from getting under my skirt. It was not working. Nothing would stop him now.

Then I was exposed and he was on me and it hurt and I stopped trying. I knew I couldn’t beat him. I felt like I was being stabbed, but I could not scream. No one would hear me.

I tried to close my mind to him, to go into that place where I could forget what was happening to me. But it was too late. It was happening and I knew I could not win.

After what seemed like an eternity, Roy got off of me. My eyes were squeezed shut, so I did not see him leave. I did not want to see the satisfied look on his face.

When the door slammed, I still did not move. I pulled the sheets around me, trying to hide my shame. I felt more completely helpless than I had in my whole life. I felt like nothing in the world, not even Isaiah, could save me from this hell.

The door opened a few minutes later and I opened one eye to make sure it was not Roy again. It was Hannah, the person I wanted least to see after my husband.

“Adeline…?” she said quietly. I closed my eyes again and heard Hannah cross the floor. The bed creaked and sat down next to me. “I’m so sorry, Adeline,” I rolled away from her.

“I don’t want your apologies,” I said. “It won’t make it untrue.” That was what she said to me when she told me what Ethan had done to her, when I had not understood what she had been through.

“But Adeline…”

“There is nothing you can tell me!” I said angrily, fighting the urge to throw something at her. “I don’t want to hear it!”

Hannah sighed, defeated. “All right,” she said as she stood. She nodded up at the ceiling. “He’s up there,” she said flatly before walking out the door.

Isaiah. I needed him. That was the only thought I let enter my mind as I threw on a dressing robe and pushed the door in the ceiling open.

He was there, sitting on the cot, waiting for me. I did not think of hiding what happened. Isaiah would understand. He had to.

I started to cry as soon as I saw him, something I had not done even while Roy used me. Isaiah’s eyes filled with concern and he stood, wrapping his arms around me.

“What is it, Addy?” Isaiah’s voice was soft but serious. “What happened?”

“It was Roy.” I tried to make out the story between sobs. “He… he wants a son… he wanted me to… I wouldn’t…. I didn’t want to… he… he made me…”

Isaiah understood. His eyes hardened and narrowed. “Did he hurt you?” he asked angrily, putting meaning into the word ‘hurt.’ I, being unable to say anything else, nodded. Isaiah made an angry noise in the back of his throat and his fists clenched.

“Goddamn it,” he snarled, consumed with sudden rage. “God… Goddamn…” He looked around helplessly. He knew he could not do anything to take back what had happened. “I’m so sorry, Addy,” he said, as if it were his fault. Isaiah pulled me closer, trying to keep me safe.

We stood there for a minute. Neither of us really wanted to talk about it.

“I should go down there and kill that b*****d!” he growled, unexpectedly serious. I knew he would do it.

“No!” As appealing as it was to think about Roy’s death, I could not let Isaiah risk himself like that. “You can’t, they’ll catch you and…”

“But that son of a b***h… what he did to you…” Isaiah was in an enraged fury, he couldn’t have been thinking clearly.

“Please,” I cut him off. “Please just stay with me. I… I need you here.”

Isaiah took a few deep breaths, calming himself. “All right,” he said. “It’s all right. I won’t leave you.”

He kissed my forehead and, despite everything, I smiled. I was feeling a little weak. We lay down on the cot. I settled in against Isaiah’s chest and he wrapped his arms around me.

“I’m sorry, Addy.” He said softly after a while. “I’m sorry I left you. I’m sorry I didn’t come back sooner. I’m sorry you had to marry him.”

I shook my head and turned to look at him. “Please, don’t be sorry for leaving, Isaiah.” I did not want him to feel that this was his fault. “Be glad that you could come back.”

I put a hand on his face and kissed him before turning around again, thinking about what I was about to say next. We lay there in silence for a while as I worked up the courage to say it.

“I want to leave with you, Isaiah.” I whispered. He did not answer right away. I wondered if he heard me.

Isaiah sighed, sounding happy “All right,” he said.

I turned again, “really?”

“Yes.” He said with a light, happy laugh. “Give me one day, one more day and we can be gone from here forever.”

I was so happy I could barely speak. I started to laugh with Isaiah. He cupped my face to his hand and, still laughing, he kissed me, knowing for once that this kiss would not be the last.

 

Reviews

[Bexfinch]

I could imagine everything that was happening in cinema quality. Hannah the over protective sister needs to soften I think.

[Lorraine]

I would definitely love to smack both Hannah and Roy. They create a very annoying tandem. Isaiah and Adeline, on the other hand, are getting stronger. I'm just glad Isaiah isn't as dimwitted as that Roy. In spite of everything, he's still there, ready to support and love. I really admire their love. It's so noble and strong. Another wonderful chapter.

Keep Writing. ^___^

[Aekmy]

Noooo! It's over! Ugh. OH MY GOSH this is the best story I have ever freaking read! O-mazing. I can;t even tell you how good. Wow i was so near to tears.

You did great! Oh you have to write another one like this/ >.