the art of loving ; lord tewksbury

twenty-seven

"You have the chance to build another life for yourself. Take it."

Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The first place which popped into Daisy's mind was the treehouse in the woods. Once she was out the main double doors, she let her feet carry her across the garden and headed straight for the tree line. Behind her, she could hear footsteps running after her but she didn't stop to wait. She didn't turn around to tell whoever it was to stop following her. Instead, she picked up her pace and stayed focus on the path before her.

When she finally burst through the foliage, she had to pause to catch her breath. Bending over and resting her hands on her knees, Daisy shut her eyes and concentrated on her breathing. She was drawing in shaky breaths and exhaling through her lips at a fast rate, her heart thrumming against her rib cage at an equally fast speed. Her body trembled from the incident which had unfolded merely minutes before, her face wet with tears, her eyes stinging with more to come.

A blubbering mess. That is what she was.

The rustle of leaves and the snap of twigs pulled Daisy back to her surroundings. She straightened up and whirled around, realising the sound of oncoming footsteps had increased. Whoever it was, they were close. They would see her standing here, exposed and vulnerable, and tell her to go back inside.

Daisy couldn't go back inside.

She peeled her eyes away from the greenery and pushed herself to move forward.

Daisy was only on her fourth step when someone gripped her arm and spun her around. The unexpected force of it cause her to stumble over her feet and lose her balance. Before she could stop it from happening, she found herself falling backwards.

Landing with a thud on her back, Daisy winced at the pain shooting through her body. But she must have tugged along whoever it was who yanked her arm, because she could hear someone groaning in discomfort next to her.

"You'd think fallen leaves would lessen the impact, but it still hurts like a—"

"What are you doing here?" Daisy asked, quickly sitting up and scooting away from the boy whose treehouse she had been on her way to. "I told you I wanted to be left alone."

"Not exactly," Tewksbury said. He remained laid on the ground and turned his head to look at Daisy. "You just excused yourself from the table. You didn't say you wanted to be left alone."

The girl rolled her eyes. "Then take a hint, would you?"

"No," he answered. "You really think I would let you disappear to who knows where on your own?"

"I don't need you to babysit me."

"I'm not," Tewksbury said. "I'm making sure you're alright."

Daisy scoffed. "I don't think I can even comprehend the possibility of being alright. How are you alright? How are you not mad about all of it?"

"I am mad," the boy said. "I'm mad at what they did to you."

"To us," she corrected. "They did it to us."

"You more than me," Tewksbury said. "You wouldn't have had to go through such an ordeal if—"

"I know," Daisy stopped him from finishing his sentence. She already knew what he was going to say, and she didn't want to have to hear it. Not when she herself had been thinking the same. "This whole time, I was just a pawn in some... deal. Name a price, sell me off. Is that all I'm worth?"

  "Of course not," Tewksbury frowned.

  Daisy stared off into space, lost in her thoughts. Another realisation hit her and she wanted to burst into tears again. "I never stood a chance for a future of my own."

  She didn't receive an answer after that, but she didn't need one. The boy may disagree with her statement, but it was hard to deny that it was somewhat true.

  "You need to leave," he said.

  "What?"

  "You need to leave sooner than we planned. Both you and Grant. My mother may feel guilty over what happened to you, but that isn't going to stop her from moving forward with the marriage. And I'm willing to bet your father isn't going to back down, either. Not with all the money he is being offered."

  Daisy shook her head. "We don't even have a solid plan yet! I haven't even brought it up to my brother. He'll need time to think about it. I need time."

  "Then we'll tell him today. Before the ball. With his help, we can finalise our plans and go for it," Tewksbury reasoned. He sat upright and looked the girl directly in her eyes. "This needs to end, Daisy. The sooner, the better. You have the chance to build another life for yourself. Take it."

  "What if he says no? What if he doesn't want to leave?"

  "Then at least you tried. But you need to leave, with or without him. You need to."

  Daisy let his words sink in. He was partially right, but what if they weren't able to pull it off?

  Another pair of footsteps could be heard approaching where they sat. A minute later, her brother's worried face appeared.

  "There you are," he said. "Why are you two sitting in the middle of the woods?"

  Daisy exchanged an uncertain look with Tewksbury. He nodded back in reassurance. Daisy turned back to her brother and sucked in a deep breath.

  "Grant," she said. "There's something we need to talk about."