Chapter 2: Chapter 1
"I want adventure in the great wide somewhere, I wanted more than I can tell… For once it might be grand to have someone understand, I want so much more than they've got planned!" – Belle, (Beauty and the Beast 1991)
Francesca Chase
~22 years later~
"Ellie, we've only been dating for two years. I don't think I will be marrying him or anyone else for that matter, for a long while," I said to my best friend as we walked around our small town.
" Oh come on Frankie, you and I both know that you two would be the cutest married couple ever, you know other than me and Josh," she said enthusiastically.
" Ok, I admit that at your wedding I may have thought about it a little, but I don't want to get married. I want to go to med school, and there are so many things that I still want to do. After that, I will think of marriage, for now, I am fine with the relationship status I have. Now, what shop do you want to go to?" I replied and tried to steer us off the conversation.
We have had this same conversation ever since the day she and Josh got married, but I wasn't ready for that type of commitment, and I had nothing to base my decisions on. My parents never have been in love; they married for political advantage and their marriage was far from perfect.
"Let's go to Momma's, they always have the cutest homey things. The house has been looking dull lately and all of Josh's sports decorations are terrible. They make our house look like a man cave," she said disgustedly; I'm sure remembering the day when she opened the boxes that held all of Josh's horrors from college.
" Ok then let's go, I needed some new fairy lights anyway," I said.
We crossed the street and walked down the road a bit more to get to Mommas. Even before we got there, I could smell the homemade soaps and candles that were almost always fresh. Momma's was a very popular shop; it was one of the only places you could get homey things in our small town.
When we finally walked out of the shop, we were carrying many more bags than we had intended to carry. We walked back to my parked car, and I dropped Ellie at her place before I went home. I unlocked the front door then walked in. I dropped my keys on the front table,
" Hey Heather, I'm home!" I called loudly so my nanny/mother could hear me.
But to my surprise it wasn't Heather who came downstairs; it was my "parents." I was confused-they never were here.
"What are you guys doing here?" I ask cautiously.
" We are here to tell you something," my mother flatly stated.
I put my bags down and followed my now moving parents into the living room. I sat down across from them and waited for them to speak.
" You are getting married, today," my mom once again said flatly.
I stood up for this. " What are you talking about?! Has Brandon told you something that I don't know...is this some type of sick joke?" I asked.
"This is no such thing; this is serious business, Francesca. You will be moving in with Mr. Jackson; you are not allowed to see Brandon or any of your friends again, and that's final. Now go help that blubbering nanny of yours pack your bags; you have to catch a plane in an hour," she said bluntly, and I obeyed.
When I get to my room, I find Heather crying and packing my bags.
"Heather, why are they doing this?" I ask as I try to hold back tears.
"Your parents turned up this morning while you were out and told me that you were betrothed to Scott Jackson a very long time ago. I am very sorry this is happening to you," she says, then she politely excuses herself.
I finish packing my bags and through the tears, I walk downstairs and get in the car that was to take me to the airport. I got on my flight, taking me who-knows-where and keep the saddened look on my face. The flight was a blur, and so was the car ride. All I remember was getting on the plane and pulling up to a huge house. I am now standing in the ballroom waiting for the women who brought me here to retrieve me, presumably to bring me to my husband-to-be. They had given me a nicer pair of clothes and made me up, so I didn't look like I had been crying. It was minimal makeup, but it did take away the puffy, redness that crying had done to my eyes. I looked like my mother in this plain, lavender pantsuit, and I didn't like it.
I had tried my whole life to run away from this life, but here I was stuck in the middle of it. Soon enough the ladies whisked me away, through various hallways in which I was sure I would've gotten lost. We stopped at a grand, oak door that was shut. They pushed it open with little effort, and we walked into a banquet hall.
There was a small group of people who looked at me with disdain, and I heard a few girls scoff; it was obvious that none of them were here for me. I knew these kinds of people...all they were here for was new gossip and to gain the favor of the man of the house. I stepped up in a dais with the officiator and looked at him for what to do, he said that Mr. Jackson had yet to arrive. I sighed and teetered on my heels, now all I had to do was wait for the groom. Once he did, a ring bearer brought us the rings, and we quickly said the generic vows; no feeling or emotion behind any of our words.
The minister said, "I now pronounce you man and wife," and said we were married; it was the quickest ceremony I had ever seen, but I was happy to finally be rid of these clothes and looks that I was getting throughout the whole thing. After contemplating what to say, I finally looked to my "husband" and saw nothing but hate across his face.
" I don't want to be married any more than you do. For all intents and purposes, we are, but we aren't in this house. In public, we will act as if we are happily married, but away from the public's eye, we will just stay away from each other. You stay on your half of the house, and I'll stay on mine," my lovely husband said before he stormed off.
I walked down the echoing hallways to my designated room and started to unpack my bags. I cried as I looked at pictures of my old life; eventually, it was all too much. I kicked my bag under the bed and threw my wedding band onto the nightstand.
I was married to a man with whom I could never be happy, I have no Ellie, no Heather, and no... Brandon. I had lost everything, and I didn't even know why. I cried myself to sleep that night. The horrible day that started with me saying I didn't want to marry was finally ending, and here I was married to a beast whom I could never learn to love. This was real, and this was my new life…
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