Chapter 17- First Dinner and Temper
Rey stood next to her husband, Ben holding her hand in front of the holy man from Naboo. Ben had also gone to their daughter and waking her up, brought her into the room. Ben had explained between kisses how he had wiped their daughter's memories. He had put them back with Rey's promise that, as Briana's father, she would obey him and not try to run from him. Rey had promised, but considering how stubborn their daughter could be, Rey wasn't holding a breath on her promising to behave.
Rey's mind went back to the ceremony as Ben slipped a cold ring on her finger. Ten years earlier, Rey had removed the ring Ben had given her on their wedding day, but now this was Ben's way of saying she was his wife again and belonged to him. The ceremony ended and Ben pressed his lips to hers. Rey felt her heart beat fast as she raised her hand to Ben's face and she twisted her fingers into his long dark hair. Ben was her husband again.
"I love you, Rey," Ben whispered softly against her lips.
"I love you too, Ben," Rey whispered back before kissing him again. Kissing Ben could be addictive. All Rey wanted now was to kiss Ben and never stop and judging from the look on his face, Ben felt the same way.
Ben pulled his lips from her and looked at the holy man. "Thank you for your time. This should compensate you," Ben said handing the man a credit chip.
"You are welcome, Supreme Leader. I hope you and the Empress will be happy," the man said with a reverential bow to Ben before leaving the room.
Rey looked at her husband and he gently traced hers and Briana's faces tenderly with his fingers. "You both are so beautiful," Ben said as he hugged them both and pressed kisses to their foreheads.
"Mother, can we get something to eat? I'm hungry," Briana complained.
Rey looked at Ben. "Ben, please. Briana is not one of your soldiers," Rey begged. Ben's lips lifted in a small smile as he ran his fingers through Briana's hair tenderly.
"No, she is not. All right, Briana. Come with me and we'll see about food," Ben said as he gripped both their wrists and led them to the private dining room in Ben's quarters. The table was as laden with food as it had been the last time Rey had eaten a meal with her husband; which had been the morning he had hit her from what Rey had remembered. Rey flinched as she thought about that day. Rey had been heavily pregnant and she had come into the sitting room to hear Ben talking with Hux about hunting down the Resistance. Rey flinched again as she thought of her husband's hand connecting to her face in a harsh slap the same hand that stroked her hair and would touch her swollen stomach to feel his unborn daughter kick his hand.
Ben looked at her with a warm look in his brown eyes. He expected her to say something about the food. "It looks like a lot, Ben," Rey said. It was all she could think to say about the large quantities of food that her husband ate every day.
"No more than what I normally eat and you and Briana are far too thin for my liking. I want to fatten the two of you up," Ben said, kissing the soft spot under her left ear. Besides her temples and neck, the soft spot was Ben's favorite place to kiss her. Rey had lost count of how many times he kissed her there and Rey would run her fingers through his long dark hair.
"Yeah, right, Father. I don't wanna be as large as a Hutt," Briana said, rolling her eyes.
"To be honest, I don't either, Ben. I got really large carrying Briana and it was all the food you gave me to eat before," Rey said as Ben led them to their chairs; one on one side of him and the other on the other side.
"Rey, you grew up always hungry and I don't ever want you to be hungry again. So, please, you and Briana humor me," Ben said as he cut a large piece of meat and placed it on Rey's plate. He repeated cutting a piece for Briana.
Ben tried to keep up dinner conversation, but his large hand on Rey's knee made it very difficult to keep up with it, until what he said next caused Rey's breathing to catch. The comment was directed at their daughter and the warm family moment shattered. "Briana, I decided to hire a tutor for you," Ben said. It was an innocent comment, but the look on their daughter's face said otherwise.
"I don't need a tutor, Father," Briana said.
"Yes, you do. All younglings have to go to school. I can't send you to a regular school, but I can have a teacher brought here," Ben said.
"I already know everything I need. Grandmother made sure of that," Briana said.
"I'm sure they did, Briana, but you still probably have to learn things. Now, please, don't fight me on this," Ben said.
"Well, don't force a tutor on me, Supreme Leader," Briana's voice was like ice shards and made Rey flinch. Before Rey could even blink, Ben had reached over and backhanded their daughter across the face.
"Ben!" Rey exclaimed. Ben turned to look at her, his brown eyes hard.
"Don't! You promised that you wouldn't interfere when I punish our daughter," Ben said sharply.
"Ben, you promised to never raise your hand to us. Don't ever touch my daughter again," Rey said as she pulled Briana up and went to the chambers Briana slept in and locked the door,
"Mother, what do we do?" Briana asked, her brown eyes full of fear.
"We have to get away from your father," Rey said, stroking her daughter's face tenderly. Already the red mark where Ben had slapped her had faded.
"How? Father is watching us and I already tried," Briana asked in despair.
"I'll figure it out. We may have to stay here for the time being, Briana. Pretend to go along with everything your father says until I can get us away. Can you do that, darling?" Rey asked.
"I guess so, but what about you, Mother? You still love Father, right?" Briana asked.
"Yes, I do, but I have the best part of him right now. And if I give him another baby, him or her," Rey said, kissing he r daughter's forehead.
"Mother, I'm scared," Briana said.
"I know, darling," Rey said. Rey really did know. Her husband still had his temper as he had hit Briana. Rey just hoped that she could protect her daughter from that temper and that Briana didn't become like Ben with it
