The Boy in the Woods (2014 Wattys Winner, Wattpad Version)

Chapter 54 - Don't Break the Heart That Loves You

"What did Uncle Jonathon do to Marty?" Jess demanded.

"I'm sorry, Jess!" Doug pleaded.  "I know I should have told you, but –!"

"Tell me!" she shouted, and Doug hung his head.

"When you told me you were in love with someone else," he mumbled.  "I told dad.  I thought he would finally realize it was over and give up!  He put two and two together and figured out that kid who climbed the fence was probably the one.  I didn't know what he was planning!"  He stopped, guilt evident on his face.  "I said where he worked, and Dad went to confront him, to scare him off.  I swear I didn't know he was going to do that, Jess!" he cried, lifting his head.

"We were in love, Doug!" Jess choked out, tears coming as the pain of losing Marty overwhelmed her all over again, and Doug slouched further in his seat.  "What did he do to him!" she demanded angrily, wiping her face with a shaking hand.  She knew whatever it was, it must have been bad for Marty to have broken things off the way he did.

"He had one of the fellows from the mine call over to Dwyer's – to get him to leave so dad could see him alone," he admitted quietly, his head hanging.  "I don't know everything he said, but he threatened to call the inspectors on Mr. Dwyer if that kid didn't break up with you."

Jess was speechless with horror.  Out of all the things Uncle Jonathon had done to her, all the times he'd hurt her, this was the worst.  Marty, she thought as she covered her face and began sobbing.  He had to have been in so much pain, being forced to choose which of the two people he cared most about he was going to hurt.  It must have been so hard for him to come to the cabin, knowing it was the end for them, knowing he was going to have to hurt her.  And after, he must have suffered just as much as she did. 

She'd slapped him, she suddenly remembered with a moan as more tears came.  She'd hit him just like his abusive dad – and called him a coward.  Did he hate her now?

"I wouldn't blame you if you never wanted to talk to me again," Doug muttered, wiping his eyes with his head still hanging.  "I hate myself for telling dad, and for not coming clean with you.  But you were so hurt when it happened, I was afraid if I told you it would hurt you all over again!  Now that it's over –."

"It's not over!" she yelled, and he winced.  "I still love him!  But he probably hates me!  You don't know what you took from me, Doug," she cried as the tears returned.  "How much he meant to me!  He was my whole life!"  Doug finally lifted his head and looked at her, sorrow, regret, and understanding evident as tears formed in his eyes, and then he wiped them as he straightened.

"I can't change what's happened," he said resolutely.  "But I will take responsibility for it.  I'll go to Dwyer's and apologize – to both of them.  Maybe I can convince him to – not hold it against you.  If he wants to hate someone, I'll gladly have him hate me!  I'll go right now!" he declared firmly.

As she looked in his blue eyes, she wondered if there was any room left to hope that Marty would accept her back in his life.  Her uncle had threatened the man he thought of as a father.  And then she'd hit him and called him a coward when he'd been trying to protect Mr. Dwyer.  How much courage had it taken for him to come to the cabin, knowing he was going to crush both their hearts.

"You can come with me," Doug offered.  "I'll do my best for you, Jess.  I'll support you in whatever way I can – if you still want me to," he finished, dropping his head with shame.

If she went, and Marty said he didn't love her anymore, could she take the pain of rejection all over again?  But when she considered letting Doug go alone, she knew it wouldn't be right.  She had to apologize to him too.  She had to let him know she knew it wasn't his fault that he'd broken things off with her, and tell him how sorry she was about everything.  She owed it to him.