Chapter 8: The More the Merrier

Emily POV

My prospective new life had just ended right before my eyes. I sat nearly lifeless as Richard and I drove back home. Tears blurred my eyes and I could barely see the road.

“Eric wants to destroy my life,” I muttered to myself. My tears couldn't hold itself back after I blinked again. What can I do to get out of this? 

He wanted this divorce at first and I gladly gave him what he wanted. But yet again, I am suffering for this.

My thoughts were all over the place and the sad Lofi music Richard played in the car heightened this sad emotion well enough.

Tears kept trickling down my cheeks, so I reached over my shoulder to yank my cotton scarf.

“Oh my gosh!” my eyes widened almost immediately.

“Where is my scarf?”

“Are you comfortable over there ma’am?” Richard asked as he stole a glance at me through the rare mirror.

“I can't find my vintage scarf!” my breath shuddered and my eyes fluttered quickly as I tried to search myself.

“It was passed down to me from my mother and I misplaced it? How clumsy could I have been?”

The rhetorical questions were piling up and so were my tears, raining down my cheeks like I had just lost a loved one.

“You must have dropped it at the house we just came out of. That is the only place we have been to today” Richard calmly responded with his eyes fixed on the road.

“We could check around the vicinity. It must be there somewhere”

He took the next turn without getting a response. I could barely speak. My hands were placed on my chest. Throwing little taps on it to calm myself down.

My anxiety was over the roof. I struggled to take in deeper breaths but none of that wasn't helping.

My heartbeat raced like it was going to stop instantly at any moment.

We arrived at Eric’s place again and my heart sank as I perceived the air from that atmosphere.

I came out of the car when I noticed something was off. There was a different car. Parked right in front of Eric’s porch.

My eyes squinted a bit to recognize the plate number. And there it was. My doubts were cleared. It was my dad.

“What is Mr Jones doing here? Is this why Eric subtly tried to make me leave quickly?”

Glaring carefully, my eyes searched through the ground which I stood upon. 

My hands mildly gripped my hips as I wondered what my dad was doing here minutes after I left.

I rushed back into the car at the thought of getting caught once anyone came out of that house.

“Richard, I would kindly ask that you park a bit farther from this front door.” 

He looked back at me with no response. His eyes were filled with pity as he observed how my palms shivered. 

“Please Richard, Now.”

I begged again, this time with a broken voice like a cracked record. 

A part of me tried to use this sadness to my advantage to get him to perform my request without further questions.

Richard was a compassionate man. He had a family and he sure loved them so much. I was always fortunate to hear him speak to his wife over the phone sometimes. 

“She is one of the luckiest married women to be alive,” I thought to myself as he drove to re-park just as I asked.

“Your wife must be a lucky woman” I sniffed and let out a little sad laugh.

The thought of seeing such a man in love despite how old he is made me fall into a moment of regret. 

A regret for jumping into this filthy thing called marriage just because I craved a man’s love and security.

“My wife is my blessing. So permit me to rather say that I am the lucky one here, ma’am.”

He said as he glared at me through the rare mirror. His eyes gloomed in sadness. And that sadness was for me.

“I’d be right back.”

I broke the moment by jumping out of the car to search around for my scarf. 

Strolling towards the entrance of Eric’s house where we parked first. 

I took very slow paces as I stared at the ground. My hands were behind my back like an old lady who lost her gold ring.

At that moment, I was more interested in why my father was in my ex-husband's house rather than finding my scarf.

“The scarf might even be in the house. But if my father is here, I definitely would not be able to walk in there”

I brought myself close to the living room window and hid right beneath it. I could hear my dad argue, as usual. That was literally what he was made for - Arguments.

“And if Emily signs those papers… You are subject to paying me my $20,000.”

“What?” I let out a loud gasp as I covered my mouth in fear that someone might have heard me.

That came from my dad. 

“Was this what it was all about? The money? Did he marry me off, just for the money? 

My hands slowed left my mouth and rested on my chest again, subtly tapping on it as I fought back my tears

I struggled to believe the words I just heard and tried to convince myself that they came from Eric.

“But what’s the use? it came from the one I called my father.”

“You have heard enough Emily”. I muttered to myself as I struggled to pick myself up from the position I was bent in so I could leave.

Nearly within the same minute, a different car zoomed in towards Eric’s front porch and parked right there.

“What the…”

There was no way I could leave at this point. I needed to see who this was.

“It's sad to think that my own father has only used me for his own benefit, for his love of money.” my thoughts began to wander as I waited for the unveiling of whoever drove that car.

This person in this car was absolutely planning to pull a runway show, because why is it taking him so much time to come out of the damn car?

I grew anxious and eager as I waited and my thighs began to cramp. I couldn't feel my legs.

“Just a few more minutes” I spoke softly to my thighs. Maybe that could get them to endure a little longer.

“Ethan?”

He finally came out.

“What in the world is Ethan doing here?” I quickly dried my eyes with the back of my palms. I needed to see clearly.

Ethan was our family lawyer or rather my father’s Lawyer.

I watched him pick up a few documents and insert them into a brown, long envelope. He walked straight to Eric’s front door and knocked.

I crawled slowly ahead just so I could get a better glance at him. 

“Ethan?.. Hey Man” Eric opened up to him and he walked right into the house without saying a word.

“This gathering has something to do with me.” 

Getting caught would be a disaster but it seemed the odds were against me as my phone began to ring.

“Really? In the middle of such chaos?” trying to turn down the volume on your own phone is very chaotic for a frustrated person.

I picked myself up and ran to where Richard parked, still bent in a way that they wouldn't see me through the window.

“What have I gotten myself into? I need to leave this place!”

I got into the car as though I was being chased.

“Welcome ma’am, Did you get to find your scar….”

Drive home, Richard. Please drive home. NOW!