The Essential Bride

The Essential Bride (18)

When Leon had said home, a massive white mansion in the middle of no where was not was I was expecting, obviously. As I climbed out of the car, my muscles aching from the long day of travel, with the sun setting beyond the pine trees, I felt nothing but confused. Everything was so different, changing so rapidly, and only getting worse. My head was spinning in thoughts as we drove through a quiet town, it was lightly raining out, there was hardly anyone out on the street. Everything looked so much older here, everything looked as if it had a story, it was beautiful, but my heart was still aching for home, my home.

I didn't know how I could tell, but I knew Leon' nerves hadn't gotten any better. He remained quiet in the drivers seat, clearly deep in thought and I didn't have the energy to mess with him any longer, all I wanted was a bed.

I looked at Leon in amazement, as he looked on to the house in worry.

"Is this real?" I asked finally, and it was like Leon remembered I was with him. He looked at me, forcing a small smile on his face.

"Very real, Ma Cherie." He nearly whispered, "welcome to Margaret's Mansion, and my home." I looked away from him, and back at the house to count the windows on the front of the house alone and counted 18 before Leon distracted me "remember, no one here will cause you harm. You need not fear about that, everyone here will love you." He pulled up the driveway, as it rounded the side of the massive building, to a four door garage attached to the house. On top of the garage doors were windows looking out to the driveway.

Leon pressed a button on the windshield of his car, and the far right garage door jumped, and started to slide open. "You're just going to go inside? You're not even going to call them first?" I asked, suddenly matching his nerves.

"Margaret doesn't like cellphones, we don't even have a house phone here. I tried getting Jasper to teach her how to use a cellphone but she absolutely refuses to even try." He laughed at a memory. "That wasn't even very long ago, I remember writing to Jasper to tell him about black and white television, then color television. Margaret really likes to keep things simple though, it's only recently, she's been renovating." He explained, and smiled at me. "For you. When word spread that I found you, Margaret made big changes."

My heart dropped, I didn't know what to say, these people were expecting me. They wanted me here. It wasn't until this second that I realized I had slightly been hoping one of then would help me escape. Not that I could escape, I reminded myself. Thinking about Stephanie and my Mom especially my heart ached. I would never even be able to call home, that part is what hurt the most.

These people must know that Leon kidnapped me, and they didn't even care. They were all just as crazy as he was, and I had no hope of ever escaping his presence.

The garage air was stale, but we didn't spend much time in there before entering the home. It was a long hallway, that led to a massive kitchen and to the right had a medium sized tan room that had a little round breakfast table. The kitchen was pearly white, marble counters, and it took three seconds for a middle aged woman to enter the room, with a wide smile on her face.

"I thought I heard my son come home." This woman was gorgeous, with soft brown hair and striking hazel eyes. Minimal wrinkles were around her eyes, she looked so happy and full of love it made my heart ache, made me miss my Mom. My heart tightened in my chest, the familiar feeling creeping up. I didn't want to cry in front of these people, I wanted to be stronger than they probably anticipated. My emotions definitely didn't go without notice, Margaret's eyes shot to Leon silently speaking to him and it immediately made me angry.

I don't know why I was under the impression that someone here would maybe help me escape from this reality but she had to of known and didn't mind at all. Leon kidnapped me, and she didn't even mind.

"I wish you had told me how beautiful she was." Margaret said, while smiling at me. I didn't know what to say, the urge to cry was growing and my witty retorts had dried up. I didn't have it in my any longer to bite back, all I wanted to do was hide and cry. I was stuck here, this was it, this was my life. These people we're excited to have me here, it's like they didn't even understand that they ripped me from my home.

It took me a minute to realize that my chest was rising and falling very visibly, in my attempts to not cry. Leon reached out to stroke my arm, and I instinctively jerked away from him. Margaret frowned, and out of the corner of my eye I noticed how much I hurt Leon. I didn't want to cry, but I felt my heart pull.

"I see." Margaret breathed, " Leon would you like Jon to show Demetria to her room?" Instantly, there was a thin, tall figure beside her. He wore all black, had blonde hair that nearly melted in to his pale skin, he also had a smile on his face only his was wider than Margarets.

"I would love to show you to your room, I would love to talk to my future -"

"Enough Jon." Margaret snapped, cutting him off, something in her tone was ice cold and made my blood freeze with fear. The worst part was her smile didn't fade but his definitely did.

"My most sincerest apologies Madam." He whispered, also horrified, I caught the etchings of a deep frown crossed his face before he forced his head down to face the floor.

"I can show her to her room, we wouldn't want certain ...knowledge spreading just yet." Leon said, keeping his voice level but I could tell he was just as agitated he just didn't want to show it to me.

I sniffled, dreaded that I had. I hadn't noticed my eyes watering, collecting at the inner corner and almost falling. I reached up, to wipe my eyes, trying to hide my sadness and tears. "No. I would love Jon to," I said, regretting speaking because my voice wavered, making it obvious how close I was to tears. Jon looked so sad when Margaret spoke to him that way. Clearly he was part of the help, and that's why she did but it bothered me. At the club, when people spoke to me that way, it would ruin my whole night. I hate being spoken to like I'm lesser than what I am. Jon jerked his head up, fear obvious in his eyes. Leon went to interject an opinion I hadn't asked for, "I insist Jon. Please." He didn't move, he looked over at Margaret, not meeting her face though, still looking down.

"Of course, that's fine." She sounded polite and collected now. "But say nothing." Jon stepped closer to me, ushering me with his hands to head towards the stairs. I rushed away from Leon and Margaret, thankful to finally be away.

Jon kept his pace slow as he walked up the stairs immediately swinging a left to go down the elegant wall. I was half expecting to see hand painted portraits of ancestors or whatever but the walls were a light, welcoming yellow color and nothing hung on the walls. We rounded the corner and Jon swiftly stopped at the first door on the left. He opened the door wordlessly and walked in, waiting for me to follow.

"Thank you for showing me to my room Jon, I'm sorry she yelled at you." I said, my lip quivering, my chest and lungs begging for the release of tears. Jon nodded but said nothing, just turned to leave. "Wait." I insisted, he stopped, looking nervous. "I am sorry, she shouldn't talk to you like that just because ..." I didn't know what to say. "Just because you're excited to?" I looked at him "meet me? What's so special about me?"

Jons mouth didn't even twitch he said nothing, didn't even attempt.

Realization crossed my face, very clearly apparently because instantly Jon seemed very happy and relieved that I finally got it. Margaret had said 'say nothing' and he had to obey. "Oh." I muttered, feeling so sad for him. "Well." I pursed my lips, wanting to cry more than ever. "Still, thank you Jon. I'm so sorry." And with those words he nodded, and zipped out of my room.

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