𝐂𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐘 → original

twenty four

Eventually, Vallie laid Juliet down in her bassinet and left a baby monitor with Ophelia. She instructed the girl to come get her if she heard anything, then trailed off outside after Amory.

When Amory spotted her, he breathed out a deep breath and looked away. He made no attempt to say anything to her, and when she didn't either, he turned back, confused. Vallie moved around to the back yard, and when she came back, she was carrying a ladder. Amory quickly moved to help her as she propped it up against the side of the house, then began stepping up it without a word.

Amory stared up at her, in some weird state of shock, then quickly moved to stabilize the ladder when it wobbled. Vallie looked back at him with a soft smile, and he felt some of his resolve begin to crack. Once she made it up to the slanted roof and took a seat, she beckoned him up after her, and he complied.

They sat side by side on the roof, knees pulled into their chests. In a few hours, fire works would be going off and people would be kissing to ring in the new year and they would be expected to feel some intrinsic sense of change. For now, though, it was just them.

"I never meant to hurt you, Amory." Vallie spoke after several moments, keeping her eyes trained forward, out at the sky.

"I just don't get why you never told me." Amory spoke softly, his eyes looking out as well. He couldn't glance over at her. "I would have done anything for you, pregnant or not. I would have kept you safe."

Vallie breathed in a deep sigh, which made him glance warily over, and then she met his eyes. She held his gaze, strongly, before giving a small nod. She was going to reveal a bit more about herself, he knew.

"The first time Tyler hit me was after one of your games." Vallie told him, softly. "We watched the Lions play against the Eagles with a few of his coworkers, and he mentioned to them that I knew you. He was drunk, started calling you all these awful names, saying you were a show-off and an ass. I had a few glasses of wine in me, too, and I just couldn't take it. So, I told all of his coworkers that you were the best man I had ever met, embarrassing him, I suppose. He didn't talk for the rest of the night, but when we got home, it... It was bad. I had to miss work the next day. Then he brought me flowers, and told me it would never happen again as he sobbed, and of course it did."

"Vallie..." Amory breathed out, no more than a whisper. She was back to looking out at the horizon, unable to meet his eye, so he just studied the sharp line of her jaw and nose instead.

"I know from the outside it doesn't make any sense, but when you're actually in it, it feels impossible to leave. He isolated me from you guys, convincing me in various ways that you all were bad for me, or secretly hated me. He threw a fit if I ever tried to go out with coworkers. We had joint bank accounts, and he guarded my spending and took control so effectively that even if I wanted to go, I'd have nothing without his approval." Vallie sighed, looking down at her lap. Amory thought he could see tears in her eyes, but she never let them fall. "I had no friends or anyone to go to, just him. I felt like I couldn't ask anything of you, or the others, not after two years of not talking. My mom knew, and she tried to get me away, but I was in too deep."

Vallie glanced over at him, and her eyes were shiny. There was no fight left in him after that moment; no, all he felt was sadness. He threw an arm around her, pulling her into his side. Some crazy part of him thought that knowing what he knew then, he would do it all over again. Even if Vallie was alive and well, he wouldn't change a thing. In fact, if he could, he might do more damage.

"I never wanted to hurt you guys." Vallie cried against his shoulder. "I had to run, Amory, I had to. I knew it would hurt, thinking I was dead, but I never wanted it to get to the extent it got to. I'm so sorry."