Last time on 'A Band of Heroes'
"Your fine daughter in marriage is what I am talking about."
It was going to take a band of miracles to save me.
RPOV
"Rory, you need to do this. This is for your brother…no it's for the whole family. I will not let this family be damned by a mistake that your brother did and neither will you. You know that even if Jack says the truth no one will believe or care because the raw picture is that the mayor is dead and it is because of us!" My dad hissed.
"NO NO NO! I WILL NOT OBEY THIS OUTRAGEOUS REQUEST!" I screamed at my dad from across the dinner table. Gee I guess this is the place to fight. I could not believe this family! They had all agreed that it was the only way. Even Ryan finally agreed saying his apologies that I had harshly ignored.
"Fine than I guess we will cut you off. And no I am not just talking about money seeming as you really could care less about it. We will cut you off from all of this family; something I know does matter to you! I love you I really do but sweetie you have to do this for your family or else we will all spend the rest of our lives in jail. So what's your decision?" Oh my God how could they be this insensitive? But I mean in a way they did have a point...no! They were already getting to me! While they tried to give me the pro's for marrying some sleazy old stranger who need to go die I was thinking. I mean how bad could it be? Probably better than going to jail. He did not seem that bad, I mean I could live. I made up my mind…BUT only under certain circumstances.
"OKAY FINE! Just SHUT UP okay, BUT I want something!" I yelled over the noise. Everyone stopped and looked over at me.
"Thank you honey! We will give you whatever you want." Dad said with an enormous amount of relief.
"Well for starters I would like to make it clear that I am doing this only for the family excluding Jack; sorry Jack but right now you really are not on my favorites list. Second even if you are giving Herbert all of your money you will make more and I will take more than half of that each time you get ANY type of income. And last you will give your endorsements on anything I choose to do except for the obvious, like divorcing Herbert." I said defiantly. I knew that the last statement would come in handy one day.
"Fine, fine anything darling. Thank you; you will never regret this decision."-ha if I only knew! Each came up after, singing their praises and hugging me. My mom pulled me away a little after and said that he was a charming man. I really disagreed with that but I decided not to voice it.
Later that night Herbert came knocking at the door. He stayed under the porch with my dad until I heard them both say 'bye'. I really could not believe that I was this insane to do it but I guess it was a little too late now.
When my dad walked back in he had a grim face but his eyes were merry. A question went through my mind then.
"Hey dad did he ever tell you how he staged his death?"
"Well apparently they got some guy to ram into the limo he was in, with the driver and put some shards of car into the stab wounds to make it look like he died in a car crash. Quite well played out if I do say so myself." I just nodded in response. "But darling he seems like a great guy under all of this. You will be happy I know it and I will not stop at anything to make you as happy as you made all of us. I am so proud of you. You are so brave and we will always be in your debut." He said sincerely.
"Yeah yeah dad I don't mean to be harsh but right now I am not jumping for joy knowing I have to marry a stranger so just stop trying to dress him up and cover the plain truth that this is a damned hell for me."I wearily added.
"Well he will not be such a stranger. I mean you really don't think that I would just make you marry him without him even knowing your last name, would I? We arranged the marriage to be in a few months, plenty of time for you to get to know him." he almost laughed.
"Okay well first of all I am not being made to marry him and second a 'few months' is hardly time to get to know someone. BUT I might as well eat the whole thing if I am going to have to take a bite anyway."I stated.
Week Later for some quality time with Herbert-Oh joy!
God I had been dreading this all weekend. Although I was distracted by my friends pestering me about him. They thought we met at a café and 'fell in love' at first sight. Yada yadda yadda. As for the whole 'mayor has died' thing, that was a huge event. When we saw the affect of the mayors' death over the people it strengthened my choice knowing that if our story got out I don't think I could go outside without a bodyguard even though I could not because well I would be in jail with the rest of my family. I was wearing a creamy dress with my hair in curls as I walked into said café of where we first met. The cool blast of air mixed with coffee wafted around me as I ambled my way over to the back of Herbert's hair.
"Hello Herbert!" I said with fake enthusiasm.
"Ah Miss Masterson(Funny quick note :I picked this last name because I had no clue what her last name was going to be so I looked over at the cover of Green Fried Tomatoes and saw the name so there..Ta da! Lol) and how you are today?" he said standing up and pulling a chair out for me. At least he was a gentleman.
"Oh please call me Rory, and I am doing just fine today and you?" God I hated being like this. So polite to this man I am practically being forced to marry. But I had to do it. Are family was at the mercy of this man and if the public ever got hold of the fact that Jack was the cause of their beloved mayor's death there would be hell to pay.
"I am doing great now that you are here! Please sit down; I want to know everything about you. Please start where ever you want." Okay so he kind of sounds like a suck up. To corny but hey it could be worse. I mean he could not even talk to me at all; he was at least trying to get to know me. But when I was listening to him I saw his whole completion. His face was twisted into a permanent grimace while his eyes were a dark color. And that was pretty much it. He wasn't handsome but he wasn't ugly. I put these thoughts behind me and just started off giving him the benefit of the doubt.
"Well I guess to start, I will tell you about my friends…"
The day was actually not as bad as I thought. I learned things about him and he seemed a decent man. He told me how he wanted to join the army and become an aspiring officer. Personally I could not imagine him being an officer but hey what did I know. I lived a sheltered life with all my dad's money and popularity. I told him about me as much as I could and that's about it.
We had a few more dates and in which I proudly can say that I NEVER kissed him. I always avoided it and made a pretty comical scene; me dogging him and straining away from his grasp while he puckered his lips with closed eyes.
A 'few months' later-OMG!
The day was finally here. I was getting married to Herbert Sobel. I would have thought I would be more upset about it and trust me even though we had got to know each other as much as you could in five three hour dates I still did not like him like him. I mean he was in love with me but I really could care less. It was like a duty that just happened to be for life.
My mom hugged me as she finished with my makeup. I was wearing a clear sequined bodice that than lead out into a layered white train that went to the floor. My hair was pinned up in curls with white roses pinned in with them.
The wedding was small only holding family and close friends. The reception was cute and I had fun but it seemed to last for only a few minutes. The wedding night prospect hung above my head the whole night. I mean come on marrying a guy who was like 10 years older than me was bad enough but sleeping with him. EW that is just so gross and disturbing. I hated him just kissing me! I was snapped back into reality when my mom undid my dress so I could but on my 'wedding night' clothes. After putting on a loose dress I went to my death sentence.
I felt the sun filter on my face so I rolled over to avoid the rays. I rolled over to meet Herbert's chest. All the events of last night hit me full force like a Mac truck. He had defiantly enjoyed it and got the impression that I did too. I laughed inside at the thought that he considered me to be pleased.
After the honeymoon I was surprised to find that we had a house. But not only a house, it was a house right next to a Military base in Georgia. It was so different from Chicago but I did not mind the heat. We lived on a street with other military wives. He did get the job he wanted not yet an officer but was 'aspiring' at least that's what he said. The house was cute and cozy and I actually liked it. Herbert and I decided that I was going to have children a few years later when I was at a more appropriate age; yeah I was that young that even he did not feel right. Herbert said that he was very busy there and was already promoted to an officer. He was so excited and happy but really I did not see what the big deal was, I mean come on there wasn't even a war going on to be an officer. We moved into a house that was on base and was pretty much the same as our previous house. Our days went like this:
Wake up early and make breakfast for Herbert if he did not sleep in the barracks.
I would see him off and then do the chores of the house (dusting, laundry, gardening, etc.)
He would come back late at night and eat dinner
Than that was it. My days were boring but his seemed to intensify. He was getting stressed out and seemed to come later and later in the afternoon. When he did come home he went straight to bed, skipping diner or even talking to me.
One day I decided to confront him. He had a weekend pass so when he came back from the base I sat him down. I voiced my observations to him and said that our wedding was pretty much going down the crapper if not already. Of course I did not say that in those words but that was the gist of it. Apparently he took this as a plea for divorce. He went crazy as soon as the thought crossed his mind. He slapped me in the face and stalked away, leaving me on the carpeted living room floor. I learned later that he went to the local bar where apparently he was a regular customer. I had a huge hand print on the right side of my face. At the time I had no clue how to handle the situation least having a husband who hit you. I decided to stay in the house until the bruise went down and during this time Herbert did not come back and instead slept at the barracks. The only reason I knew that he was living was because the neighbors asked why Herbert was always at the base which I quickly said that he was swamped. They all believed me.
When he came back it was never talked about and everything went back to normal, only making small talk (weather, food, work). But it only lasted for about a week before the late nights started again. When he came home instead of going to bed he would take his anger out on me. I never really figured out why he was always so angry so I thought he was probably just a mean drunk. One time like I mentioned earlier a friendly acquaintance, Mary heard one of my screams. She came over but had to quickly go to miss the wrath of Herbert. After that we started to talk more in the day when our husbands were away although she never mentioned the time when she caught him hitting me. And then when we were all going out to eat I came over to her house to get ready. As I was changing she accidently walked in and saw the bruises on my body and in which I told her that he beat me. I fabricated a story of why I could not divorce him and she believed it.
So now here I am only needing a band of hope.
I decided to update today because today is the 65th Anniverary of 'The Day of Days' or 'The Longest Day'! Okay so now that her past is done we get to meet Easy Company in the next chapter! YAY! Please review though, CaptainTy still rocks though, lol. I really need others to tell me who she should fall in love with!!Next chapter will be up sometime this week or sooner if i get reviews because i am half way through it but if i get some reviews maybe it will give me some will to write faster!