A Promise To The Beloved (Completed)

27. A decision made...

'How much of it did she hear? Does she believe Elsie's words?'
His brain questioned but no answer came from within.

The house of walls which had started to feel like something warm and welcoming now felt cold again. In this marriage of almost a month, he had already started to look forward to the evenings when he would come home to Lilly and Sam. Her smiles, her radiance and that smart mouth which always pulled him to her.

She had become his safe heaven and she had become that without even realising it. He had allowed her too deep under his skin without even knowing it. And now he just stood there staring into space as a strange feeling arose from his deepest being.

He had never cared what people thought of him but now why was he afraid as to what she was thinking at the moment. Had her opinion started to matter. He stood there surrounded by all those doubts and unanswered questions as the one question echoed the most.
'Had he lost his little piece of heaven on earth?'  His heart thumped at the thought as his brain started searching for what he could do to bring his heaven back. Bring it back as to how it was the previous night before Lilly talked about Elsie. He stood there as he wondered if he had once again lost his everything to Elsie.

Meanwhile, Lilly gently laid the sleeping toddler in his crib as she threaded her fingers through his soft curls.

"Was Elsie right?'' she asked to whom exactly she wasn't sure but this was a question she desperately wanted the answer of.
"But how can Ashton be the cause of anyone's death? Wasn't he too small at that time? But then why didn't he refute her comments?" Lilly talked to herself as she tried to assume the possibilities.
"He respects Grace so much and that too when she was just his nanny." She had seen the way respect, care and concern shone in his eyes every time he looked at Grace or talked about her as if she was his real mother.

The way he loves and cares for Sam as if he is his son. He always respected the boundaries she had set for him. He respected her and gave her the freedom to make her decisions and ask questions.

Lilly closed her eyes and thought of all the moments she had spent with him and all she could see was his smiles, his laughter, his funny remarks, his love for Sam, his respect for her and Grace. She smiled as she thought of how he always teased her and how he always made any situation fun to talk about.

Finally, when she opened her eyes she had made her decision.
" Ashton isn't in the wrong.'' she breathed in confidently as her eyes shone. She didn't know what had happened in his past. She had no idea why Elsie was blaming him for his mom's death. She didn't know why he didn't stand for himself. And why his dad just stood there like a mute spectator speaking not even a single word in his son's favour. She didn't know anything about those things.

But the only thing that she knew now was that she trusted Ashton. She knew he couldn't do anything wrong to anyone. The days she had spent with him, the days she knowingly or unknowingly observed him were the reason her trust in him strengthened and now she placed her complete trust in him.

With that final thought, she placed a soft kiss on the baby's head as she smiled.
"Goodnight Sam. Now I have finally made up my mind. I trust Ashton."

With the newfound trust, Lilly headed to Ashton's room.
'Our room.' she remembered Ashton's words and smiled.

When she reached their room she found it empty. Thinking that he might be in the washroom she knocked on the door and called for him.
"Ashton?"

As no answer came she pushed the door open and found the washroom empty. "Ashton isn't here. Where is he then?"  her heart started picking the pace and a fear of unknown started germinating inside her.
"Did he leave somewhere?" she remembered how after the wedding he had disappeared for one whole week. It didn't matter to her as much at that time as it mattered to her now.