Escape Across the Pond

Chapter 2

My father lived another six months after that. I had to watch him slowly deteriorate right before my eyes. It was the worst pain I've ever experienced in my life. His wife was the worst of it all. It was like as soon as the news was out that my father was dying, the gloves came off. She was so rude and hateful to me at my lowest point. My father was too in and out of it to see, and even if he did, he would not have been able to stop the vile vitriol coming from her mouth. Well, that would have been when she was even bothered to come around. Blair never came by to check on my father, and Elizabeth had more interest in being in the city with her affairs than staying home to take care of dad. It was mostly the hospice nurse Kate and me. We bonded over weeks spent together in a room watching over my dad and she was more than I could have ever asked for in a nurse or a friend. She's now the best friend a girl could ever have and I don't know what I would have done without her through all of that.

The truth is, Elizabeth is a money-hungry, gold-digging tramp. I'm not sure what my father ever saw in her, but she sank her claws into him the year I turned 16 and never turned loose. I had heard rumors at the few more upscale parties I was forced to attend in my teenage years. They said Elizabeth tried to trap Blair's father into marriage by getting pregnant with Blair. I've heard rumors that she was a call girl that Blair's father frequented, and when she told him she was pregnant with his child, he didn't believe her. Then, when she wouldn't terminate the pregnancy, he swore never to have anything to do with the child, but I'm sure that's where Elizabeth got the money to run around in the circles that she does. He was the CEO of some big tech company. I'm guessing he paid her off to keep it all quiet. I can't say that I blame the man.

I tried to bring this up to my dad several times, but he always brushed it off as there being two sides to every story and we may never know what happened. "It's not our concern about gossip," he would say. Then, he would calmly ask how I would feel if I were the one being gossiped about. He did have a point. My father was such a kind man. Nothing at all like Elizabeth.

However, after my father's passing, Elizabeth took a much keener interest in my personal life. This wasn't extremely out of the ordinary as she always seemed to have an opinion on my life before, but now, I would say it's more intense. I just want to shell myself off from the world. Just go to the bakery to bake the same old treats only to return home and maybe respond to a text from Kate if I feel up to it. I have no desire to be around people, but the step monster wouldn't allow that. She insisted that I be seen with her and Blair at different parties and stuffy events.

But one night at one of those stuffy parties, I ran into a man with bottomless brown eyes that saw straight to my soul. Eyes that looked like they wanted to possess me, capture me, and never let me go. I was scared but also curious. I hadn't been seen in months. Well, not really anyway. I had hidden away from the world and all the people in it, but all of a sudden this man just saw me. Saw the broken girl I was. I should have known then, right that very second. He was trouble and not the good kind, but my broken soul thought he was calling out to me. Little did I know, it was all a trap that would take me two years to escape.

This leads me here, in the airport at Newark, looking over my shoulder every second for him or one of his henchmen to come to grab me. My palms are sweating and my breath is coming out in short pants. I try to keep my head down as I slink down in my chair but keep my eyes open enough to see if anyone is looking my way. I feel as though my heart will beat out of my chest at any moment and just fall straight to the floor. Any minute now, I'll be boarding a plane to London. I'll be out of here, and I'll never look back.

My bestie and savior, Kate, helped me get this ticket to London without anyone knowing. I told him I was going to stay at Elizabeth's tonight before the big day tomorrow. In actuality, I'm sitting here praying to catch this red eye before anyone is the wiser. Come on. Come on. Come on! I think to myself as I start to feel the sweat bead on my upper lip.

Finally, I hear the loudspeaker. "All passengers for flight 471 from Newark to London please line up for boarding. Thank you."

I jump to my feet and snatch my bag. I didn't pack much. I couldn't get away with bringing more than what I have without it going unnoticed. But that's ok. That trust fund for emergencies is about to come in handy. Kate's grandmother lives in London but still has a cottage on the outskirts of Newcastle she is letting me rent out. But Kate, her grandmother Jenette, and I are the only ones who know that. I imagine this is Kate's form of witness protection, but I can't thank her enough for everything she has done for me.

Nobody but Kate knows how horrible my life has been the last 2 years with him. I've tried to tell my step monster, but she won't hear it. Not that she would care even if she believed me. She thinks that I'm just too spoiled and demanding thanks to the way my father raised me. I'll never find a man like the one my father seems to have built up in my head. She thinks I'm lucky and should be happy with "marrying up" as she calls it. Well, she's wrong. My dad made me promise him that day that I wouldn't settle for less than I deserve. I would rather spend the rest of my days living alone, baking than ever be his pet. I just can't believe it's taken me so long to see just how trapped I truly was. To see just how much I lost myself.

It started small, you know? "You will NOT be wearing that."

"Sit still and keep your mouth shut."

"I'll be there when I get there."

"Don't wait up."

"No, you're not going."

It went on that way for months, but I was so desperate for love and a connection that I just thought he was protecting me, keeping me safe from myself and others. He cared, I thought. Then, one day I decided I wasn't going to just roll over. I was going to make a stand just once. That idea quickly changed. If I didn't shut my mouth, then it would be shut for me. He was clever though, always where you couldn't see.

But Kate, my fiery but observant friend, knew something was wrong. The first time she saw the bruises she went into full attack mode, wanting to call her brother over from the UK to show him just what a real gentleman looked like, and kick his "bloody wanker ass" as she put it. I couldn't let her do that though. He has a lot of pull with the wrong kinds of people, and I don't want Kate getting involved any more than she already is. She's done more for me than anyone in this world besides my dad, and I'll be so devastated to leave her behind.

She brought everything to the bakery last week and I hid my plane ticket and essentials in a small cabinet in the break area. After I left his penthouse, I went straight to the bakery, slid inside the back door, grabbed my few belongings, and caught a taxi to the airport.

I am almost to the woman taking tickets when I hear a loud commotion behind me. I drop my bag to the floor and duck down with my hand over my head. I hear a few harsh words, but the noise stops. I drag my head around slowly to see a man in slacks and a white button-up shirt grumbling to himself while he pulls the stained shirt away from his torso. I see the spilled coffee on the ground and look up to see the woman waiting to take my ticket giving me the most sympathetic eyes. I straighten up immediately and hold my head up. I will not be pitied by a stranger.

I straightened my shoulders and thrust my ticket into her hand. She accepts my ticket, offers me a smile, and gestures for me to enter the plane. I release a breath I didn't know I was holding as I make my way down the aisle to my seat. I stow my bag in the overhead compartment and collapse into my window seat. I think about my friend Kate and how much I'll miss her, but that's it really. I'm an only child. My mother died in a car accident when I was little. She was adopted. And my father's parents have been gone for some time. I have no family left except for Kate and now Grandmama Jennett. I never counted Elizabeth and Blair as anything remotely similar to family and even less so now.

As I sit here and think about how alone I am in the world at the moment, I can't help but also think to myself, I made it! In just a few short hours, I'll be in London where nobody knows me. I can start over. I'll be free.