When she arrived back at the mansion that night the house was empty. Good, she thought to herself. She made herself a Caesar salad with grilled chicken to eat. She pulled out her laptop and began applying for law school. She selected her preferred schools and applied at them first. She hoped her name would help her get in. She hadn't dropped her married name, Woods, yet. She'd handle that after everything settled. The front door closed and Nathaniel walked into the living room where Ella sat. “What are you doing?” he asked. “Applying for school,” she said simply. “What? Why?”She looked up, shocked at the rise of volume in his voice. “What does it matter to you?”“I won't have my wife going to school like I can't support the family. None of the other wives in our circles go to school or have full careers.”“Ummm... have you forgotten that I'm not your wife anymore? What I do doesn't affect you.”“You still hold the role until the divorce is final. You don't need to do any stupid s
She arrived home, unsettled, but trying to tell herself she was being paranoid. It was probably someone who had every right to be there and she was just spooked. She walked up the steps to her house and put the key in the lock. Her hands shook a little as she opened the door and let herself in. The house was cold and empty, something she'd gotten used to. But tonight she would've liked something a little more comforting. She walked to the kitchen and sighed. She didn't have the energy to cook anything. “Where have you been all day?”She screamed and turned around. Nathaniel stood in the doorway. “You scared me.”“I see that...” He crossed the room and sat on a barstool in the kitchen. So, where were you?”“Volunteering.”“Why?”“Because I needed to get out.”A hurt look crossed his face for a moment before he replaced it with his usual stone cold look. “I don't see why you need to get out so much and why volunteering is your choice of outing.” He practically mumbled his words. “Le
Ella accepted the law school offer and was set to begin her first semester in a week's time. They wanted her to start with the next school year, but she insisted on getting started as soon as possible. So she would be taking certain classes slightly out of order, but she didn't care. She knew she could handle it. She spent as much time as possible at her apartment studying for her start in school. She couldn't lie to herself though, she was avoiding the mansion as much as possible. When Nathaniel was out in the evenings her mind went wild thinking about what he was doing with Vera. She'd go between anger and grief. Crying and wanting to smash things. She hated being in such emotional turmoil so she tried to avoid it. But since she'd agreed to live at the mansion she had to return at night. She would eat dinner and go straight to her room so she wouldn't know if Nathaniel was home or not, or see him head back out after a shower. One such night she had just finished washing her dishes
An incessant beeping threatened to send Ella into a rage. Her head pounded and her throat ached. She must be sick... but what was that beeping? She tried to shift, to move, but her body ached too much. Something pulled at the inside of her elbow. Struggling to force her eyes open, the light in the room making it nearly impossible. Finally, an eye peeped open. She forced it to stay open and look around. The other eye followed suit soon enough. She was in a stark white room with bright, blue tinged lights over head. She began to panic as she realized it was a hospital. She was in a hospital bed. She tried to sit up, but she couldn't. Everything hurt and she was so weak. She tried to swallow, but she realized a tube was shoved down her throat. A strangled sound came out of her. The door opened and a couple of nurses came in. They rushed to her and assured she was in good hands. They removed the tube from her throat and gave her water. Her head swam, but she pushed through to take some wa
Ella made the call to the law school accepting their offer. She guessed they might have known this was coming, but they didn't let on. She'd start school in three weeks. She hoped she'd be healed up enough that no one would ask questions. When the time came she could easily hide the bruises that were left with makeup and a scarf. She eagerly dressed herself, did her makeup and left the house. She wanted to be early enough that she could map out her classes before school started. She didn't want to risk being late. The campus was a beautiful historical set of buildings. Once used as a hospital, now a law school. It was made of brick and stone in a Gothic revival fashion. Stone archways, tall sectioned windows and elaborate corbels graced the buildings. Ella walked through the halls, her excitement mounting. Her first classes were prerequisites. She would have no problem with those. She couldn't wait to get into the meat of her law studies though. Her life fell into a routine of scho
“I'm done,” she said firmly. Trying to keep from screaming at him. “You can't be done,” Nathaniel spit back at her. “You think that law school will still want you when they find out you cheated and left me? Do you think they want you without my name?”Ella grabbed the latest newspaper and slapped it onto the table. Front page was a picture of Nathaniel kissing Vera with his hand under her shirt. The words “Trouble in the Woods paradise?” were written under the image. “They won't believe I was the one that cheated.” She flipped to the article about the picture that listed her accomplishments and mentioned her volunteer work while absolutely trashing Nathaniel's character.He looked at it for a moment before swiping it off the table. “There will be more of these, except they'll destroy you next.” “They can try. There's no dirt on me to find. You though? You and your mistress? That's going to be a field day.”Nathaniel slammed his fist down onto the table. “You will remain living here
Within two weeks the tabloids had picked up on the fact that Nathaniel and Ella were living separately. He was less and less concerned about being seen with Vera and it showed. Ella, on the other hand, could only be reported to be living a very normal student life. Ella had begun to look forward to her training sessions. She was learning a lot, but she also enjoyed Daniel's company a lot. He was kind, considerate and he really listened. She hadn't realized how little Nathaniel listened to her. He made her feel like he did, but she now realized he hadn't. She was just an accessory in his life. Working hard for him, but never appreciated. Daniel made her feel more appreciated than Nathaniel ever had and she wasn't even doing anything for him. “You're picking this up so quickly,” Daniel told her. “I hate the reason you're here, but it's such a pleasure to watch you take to it so well.”She beamed at him. “Thank you,” she said. “It's been fun.”“I'm glad I can make it fun for you.”They
Ella waited with her heart in her throat. She kept refreshing the page on her computer. Her test results would be posted any moment. Daniel had called her when he got the text that she was about to check her score. “It's not up yet... any second now,” she said with a shaky voice. “I know you did well. Don't have a heart attack over it,” Daniel said with a chuckle. “You studied your heart out.”Ella gasped and let out a little shriek. “I got 100% on both!”“I knew it!” Daniel said excitedly. “I... I'm shocked...”“You shouldn't be. You earned this! Hey, do you want to go out and celebrate?”Ella almost said yes immediately, but hesitated. What if they ended up in the tabloids again? She wasn't doing anything wrong, but Daniel didn't deserve to a have his private life out in the open like that. “If you're worried about the papers I can pick up some things and come over.”“You basically read my mind,” she said. “I'm sorry.”“Don't be,” he assured her. “You're one of the more famous p