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“Is a Salem Mitchell here?”
“She is. It’s Salem McConnely now.”
“I heard. Congratulations.” He says with a faint smile. “I still need to see her though. Mr. Mitchell here says that you’re holding his daughter here against her will.”
I glare at her father and he glares right back before turning back to the cops.
“His daughter and I are married. I married Salem yesterday morning and we both already told Mr. Mitchell that yesterday afternoon. He spoke to her and saw that she was fine. I’m not holding her against her will.”
“Is that true, Mr. Mitchell? Did you see your daughter yesterday?” Shephard asks.
Both he and the other cop are inching their way closer to Salem’s father as he starts pacing. I can see from his face and movements that he’s becoming more and more agitated. He has to know that he’s not going to get Salem back though.
“She just ran off and married him yesterday!” He yells. “She is my daughter and we’ve never even met this man before! She can’t just marry some stranger! She is a young girl and she belongs at home with her father! She needs to come home with me NOW!” He demands.
“We have met before. I used to spend every evening with her until you stopped us a year ago! She is eighteen, an adult and she legally married me of her own free will. She is my wife now and she will stay here with me.” I yell back.
I’m trying to rein my temper in but the thought of my princess having to go back to live with this man has me panicking.
“That’s enough, both of you!” Sherriff Shephard yells.
He waits until we both take a deep breath before continuing.
“Seeing as your daughter is married to Mr. McConnely, we legally can’t force her to go home. If she wants to stay here then she can.”
“She doesn’t want to stay here! She wants to come home!” He yells, getting worked up again.
“No, I don’t.”
We all turn to see Salem standing in the open doorway. I thought she would look scared but all I can see on her face is sadness.
“I want to stay here.” She says as she steps closer to me, interlacing her fingers with mine. “With my husband.”
I smile down at her before we both turn and look back at the cops.
“Then there’s nothing for us to do here. Mr. Mitchell, you’ll have to vacate the property. Let the newlyweds have some time together.”
Salem’s father is screaming and sputtering, face red as the Sherriff and Deputy drag him back to his car. They usher him in and then wait for him to leave before getting in their police cruiser. Her father peels out of the driveway like before and I wonder when we’ll see him again.
I grip Salem’s hand tighter in mine and once again lead her back inside.
She follows after me and I turn and lock the door before leading her back into the kitchen. I’m not sure how she’s going to react to this new visit but I shouldn’t worry. My girl is strong and when I look at her, I see that she’s not scared anymore. Instead, she just looks sad.
“You alright, princess?”
“Yeah. It’s just hard to see him like that. There’s never been a lot of love between us but it’s still sad to picture him in that awful house all alone.”
“It’ll be ok.” I say as I wrap her up in my arms.
I end up calling Paul and telling him I won’t be out again today and he tells me he’s got it covered. Salem and I cuddle up on the couch with my laptop in our laps. We spend the rest of the morning looking up places to visit and narrowing down where we want to go. We laugh as we argue about whether we should go to a beach or somewhere colder, somewhere remote or a tourist attraction.
We make soup and grilled cheese for lunch and cuddle back up on the couch to watch a movie. We’re about halfway through the second movie when someone knocks on the front door. I slip out from under the blanket and make my way to the front door. When I see that it’s Sherriff Shephard, I want to scream. We have to do something. I can’t just keep letting Salem’s father ruin our days together.
“Sheriff.” I say as I step outside.
“Campbell. Is Salem here?”
“Of course she is. Where else would she be?”
