Aria's POV
The bed feels far too small for one person, but I do not mind. The coldness that comes with laying in bed alone does not come close to comparing to the coldness I feel inside. I finally find it in myself to roll out of bed and a gasp escapes from my lips when I realize that Ezra is not laying on the couch. He must have already left for work. This is excellent news. I was not looking forward to making small talk with my abusive husband and now I will not have to.
Normally I would go to Charlotte's room and let her dress me, but I do not want to go through all of the trouble. Instead, I slide into one of my comfortable dresses and make my way to the dinning hall. Absolute terror washes over my body when I see my father sitting at the table and enjoying a cup of tea with Dianne. What is he doing here? I have not seem him since the wedding, and I certainly did not expect to see him today.
"Look who it is." Dianne murmurs as she puts down her cup and gestures towards me.
My father looks up at me and gives me a smirk. The look is enough to make my legs shake vigorously, and I silently pray that he will not beat me in the presence of my own mother-in-law. I must calm myself down. I cannot just stand here like a petrified little girl.
"F-Father. What are you doing here?" I ask as bravely as I can.
"I received a letter from a friend at West Point. I never expected my own daughter to become a run away bride." My father says as he shakes his head in disappointment.
"Your behavior has worried many people, including your beloved father. I invited him to stay at the estate for a week or two. Since this family cannot bring you back down to Earth, I am hoping he will." Dianne informs me.
"You do not need to worry, Dianne. I am going to take my daughter for a long walk. She needs a firm talking to, and I intend on giving it to her." My father says as he springs to his feet.
A firm talking to? Surely my father means a firm beating. I have a feeling he is going to do much more than blacken my eye like Ezra did. What if my body cannot handle it? I am with child, so I am more delicate than I was prior to marrying Ezra. What if my father hurts the baby? I cannot let him hurt my son. He is the only thing I have left.
"Aria, why are you just standing there? We must go now. If we wait any longer, it will be too hot to go for a walk." My father says as his tone turns serious.
"I am afraid I cannot go for a walk today, Father. I am with child, and I do not want to harm the baby. I would prefer if we sit in the dinning hall and talk." I say as bravely as I can.
"You were not worried about harming the child yesterday when you snuck out with your horse. You mustn't be so foolish, Aria. A walk will not harm you or the baby." My father says as he crosses his arms over his chest.
"Dianne, please tell him I must stay here. Please." I say as shoot my mother-in-law a pleading look.
"Aria, your father is right. Going for a short walk around the estate will not hurt the baby. You must not argue with your own father. I sincerely hope you are not this disrespectful to Ezra." Dianne says as she shakes her head slowly.
Absolute rage overtakes my body. Why should I respect Ezra and my father when they do not respect me or the child I am carrying? Dianne is such a fool. Perhaps she will learn her lesson after the baby and I are both found dead on her property. That would show her.
For a second my hatred for Dianne seems to overshadow my love for the baby inside of my womb, so I follow my father outside. As soon as he closes the door to the estate, reality hits me like a cannon. Why did I agree to come with him? He is going to hurt my child. I cannot let my child get hurt. I must beg for Father's forgiveness.
"Father, I am so sorry." I spit out anxiously.
To my surprise, Father does not scream or raise a fist. Instead he begins to laugh hysterically. What in the world is going on? Father does a lot of things when he is angry but laughing is not one of them. Could I have overestimated his furry?
"Why are you apologizing to me? You are no longer a liability to me, Aria. You belong to the Fitzgeralds, so I could not care less about what you do." Father says through his laugher.
"Then why did you come all the way down to New York? You seemed so upset in front of Dianne." I say with confusion in my voice.
"A visit to New York was long overdue, Aria. I wanted to see some of my West Point friends, and your outburst was the perfect excuse for me to leave town. I saw how terrified you looked in that dinning hall. You thought I was going to beat you." Father says with a chuckle.
"I did." I confess.
"Well, there is no need for me to beat you anymore. Your black eye speaks for itself. Ezra is already beating you plenty. Is that why you ran away?" My father questions.
"Yes." I say with a nod.
"I figured that would happen. You should have seen the way Ezra went off on some of his soldiers." Father says as he shakes his head slowly.
"Why did you do it? Why did you marry me off to such a violent man? You knew about Ezra's behavior at West Point, yet you gave me to him anyways. How could you? How could you do that to me?" I blurt out as tears begin to form in my eyes.
"Stop being so dramatic, Aria. You knew from the day you were born that you were nothing but a pawn to me. I had the opportunity to marry my only child off to a Fitzgerald, so I did. Ezra's violence is your problem, not mine." My dad says with a nonchalant shrug.
"How can you say that? I am your daughter, and you are supposed to protect me! Believe it or not, there is not anything I would not do for the child inside of my womb. Where is your compassion, Father? Where is your soul? Did God take it from you prematurely? Is that why you felt the need to make my life miserable? Was it your soullessness that allowed you to kill Momma?" I ask as I begin to raise my voice.
Father does not respond with words. Instead, he pushes me to the ground and strikes my already blackened eye. I am too shocked to cry for help. I just lay on the ground like the helpless woman I have always been.
"Watch your tongue, Aria. I do not have to beat you, but that does not mean I will not. If you truly cared about your precious child, you would have kept your mouth shut. Now you are going to pay. You are both going to pay." Father growls before crouching down next to me and pulling a knife out of his pocket.
"No! Please do not touch me!" I exclaim as tears begin to pour out of my hazel eyes.
"Why should I not? You have disrespected me, Aria. Do you know how easy it would be for me to kill you and your offspring?" Father asks as he takes the sharp blade and lightly presses it against my small baby bump.
"No! Not my baby! Please not my baby!" I cry out in terror.
Father responds by dropping the knife and spitting on my tear-filled face. Thank goodness.
"You are a pathetic waste of life, Aria. I wish you were dead like your mother. You and the baby deserve to rot in hell." Father says before lightly kicking my stomach and storming back into the estate.
I should follow my father inside, but I cannot. What is the point? He will beat me again. If he does not beat me to death, Ezra will. If my husband does not beat me to death, my own mind will. Why do I ever bother? Maybe I should be in hell with Momma after all.
Ezra's POV
Caleb offered to take me home from work today and the carriage ride has been incredibly uncomfortable. He obviously feels guilty for telling Aria about my past, and I am hurt that he spoke so lowly of me in front of Aria. After what seems like eternity, the carriage stops in front of the gates of my estate. I am about to jump out of the carriage when Caleb lightly rests a hand on my shoulder.
"I know I have already apologized, but I am incredibly sorry about the other day. After I saw Aria's black eye, I panicked and assumed the worst. I should have known you would never lay a finger on her. I was such a fool." Caleb says as he shakes his head slowly.
"Stop. I would have assumed the same thing given my reputation. You are right about one thing though. I would never lay a finger on Aria purposefully." I say as my tone turns serious.
"I know that now. Speaking of Aria, how is she?" Caleb asks me softly.
Aria is not doing well. She is not doing well at all. She refuses to acknowledge my presence and last night she cried herself to sleep. It makes sense given what she told me about her father. I just wish she would let go of her fear and trust me. Why can't she see that I am in love with her? I suppose all the pain and suffering had blinded her.
"Aria is hurt, Caleb. There are a lot of things she must find a way to work through. Actually, they are things we need to work through together." I say with a breathy sigh.
"Oh. I hope I did not make things worse for the two of you." Caleb says with shame in his voice.
"You did not. Aria needed to hear the truth about my past eventually." I assure my friend.
"Okay. Well, good luck with Mrs. Aria. I will see you tomorrow." Caleb says as I get out of the carriage.
"Goodbye, Caleb." I call out as the carriage rides off into the distance.
As soon as the carriage is out of sight, I begin to make my way towards the entrance of the estate. I stop abruptly when I see a seemingly lifeless body laying just in front of the door. I hurry over to the body and gasp when I realize that it is Aria. Fortunately she is not lifeless after all because I can hear her crying softly.
"What is it? Tell me what is wrong, Darling?" I ask as I scoop the hysterical girl into my arms.
Aria tries to speak through her tears, but I cannot understand her. All I can hear is gibberish. Why is she here and not inside? Did something happen to the love of my life?
"Sh-sh. Slow down and tell me what happened. Did someone hurt you?" I ask Aria gently.
Aria nods her head and absolute furry overtakes my body. Who did this to my wife? I will kill whoever hurt her this much. It quickly occurs to me that I could be the person who did this to her. Did my punch drive her to madness? I will never forgive myself if this is the case.
"What is it, Aria. You must tell me so I can fix it. Please." I say as tears begin to form in my own eyes.
"F-Father." Aria murmurs through her tears.
Father? Aria's woman-beating father is all the way in Pennsylvania. How could he have possibly hurt her? Perhaps Aria had a nightmare or a flashback and that is why she is so upset. Yes. Surely this is the problem.
"No, no, Angel. Your father is far away from here. He cannot hurt you anymore." I say, trying to convince her and myself.
"N-No, Ezra. He is here. Your parents are letting him stay. He heard about me leaving the estate and now he wants- I do not know what he wants." Aria says after she temporarily composes herself.
What? Byron Montgomery is here in this estate? How could my parents be so clueless? What did he do to Aria while I was away? What if the baby is hurt? I am going to kill that man!
"Do not cry, Aria. I will take care of him. He will not bother you anymore." I say through my gritted teeth.
"Yes he will. He always will." Aria says as she shakes her head slowly.
Her words cause a single chill to run down my spine. Aria is absolutely right. I could murder Byron in his sleep and it would not make a difference. Just the memory of him will cause my wife a great deal of misery. Similarly, the thought of war will always tug at my heart strings. What can we do? We are both broken beyond repair.
"Darling, we are doomed." I say with panic in my voice.
"I know that, Ezra. I have known it since the moment we walked down the aisle together." Aria says with a sniffle.
For the first time, I understand why Aria refuses to let me love her. We were not meant to be together. Both of us are too broken even begin to dream of happiness. We were destined to hurt each other. Still, I love her. I love her with every ounce of my being even though it is completely useless.
"I will take care of your father." I say as I try to hold back tears.
"You cannot." Aria says as she shakes her head slowly.
"I can try. I am afraid that is all we have left." I tell my beautiful bride truthfully.
AN: So Byron is back! Were you surprised by what he had to say? What will Ezra do about his abusive father-in-law? Please review and tell me your thoughts! I just want to give you all a heads up that this story is ending relatively soon. There will probably be between 3 to 5 chapters left. Hope you enjoy the last leg, and thanks for reading :)