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Chapter 25
Matilda had read hundreds of stories in her short lifetime, and she was quite proud of that when thinking back. She had read about swordsmen fighting dragons, Kings versus kings, and stories about love. But as different as they all were, they all had one thing in common—a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Matilda had noticed one important aspect about stories, and that was that right before the ending, right before the final chapter ended, there would be a big climax of events. Before the swordsman rode off into the sunset to continue his adventurous life, he would engage in an epic battle against the dragon. Before the king proclaimed victory, he went to war with the other King in one big epic showdown.
As Matilda sat in the unfamiliar house, letting her heart speed up, she knew that she was entering into her final fight. It was time to face Addison.
What was she going to say to the woman who tortured the heart of the man she loved? What would she say to the very woman who helped orchestrate one of the most unforgiving periods of her own life? She was one of the main reasons that she and Aaron needed to fight for their love. And it was time to come face to face with her, to be the heroine that she knew she was deep down. It was not only for her sake but Aaron’s sake as well. She could be his real-life example that there are real-life heroes and that he doesn’t need to be his own.
The house that she sat in belonged to Addison. Aaron had been packing the few things that he had there. The place itself was just as garish as she had expected—two chandeliers in one room, gold-lined chairs, paintings of herself wherever you looked. Matilda could not help but wonder just how someone gets to that stage of confidence with themselves. Addison must have loved herself. That was the only way Matilda could imagine anyone being so vindictive and heartless. Some of the stories that Aaron had told her regarding Addison made Matilda sick.
After a while, Matilda’s nerves calmed down, and she was able to sit there in a state of acceptance. She accepted that the conversation may escalate. But she was ready.
It was the sound of Addison’s footsteps down the hall that made her heart thump once more. She inched up in her seat and prepared herself to feel a mix of emotions when seeing her—those needed to be controlled with everything that she had. A lack of control would only lead to incoherent thoughts.
Addison entered. Matilda immediately wanted to laugh at how she matched her dress with her light orange hair. The dress she wore held a second darker coat that lined the bottom of it. The shoulders sat so perfectly that they looked like they had been sewn onto her. There was just nothing out of sorts with Addison. Everything was perfectly crafted to give off a certain image. But her face, that would tell no lie as the look of disdain she wore set the tone for how the interaction would go moving forward. Matilda was okay with that as she hoped Addison saw the disdain facing back at her.
“Why have you come such a long way?” Addison asked without any introductions. “You mustn’t have anything to fill your time.”
Addison had no idea that she and Aaron were engaged to be married. Matilda wanted to savour the moment leading up to giving her that revelation. She had envisioned what her reaction would be ten times over, and Matilda even worried that it would not be as good as she imagined it to be.
“I have travelled for a purpose. My time is always used wisely.”
“Well then, what is it that you’re here for?”
“Aaron and I are engaged to be married.” Matilda let the words sit in the room for a minute without saying anything else. She watched Addison’s face try its best to conceal the broken emotions behind it. But she had not done a good job. Matilda had hoped her reaction had been more over the top, but seeing those small little twitches of the mouth, the way her eyes darted every which way as if they were fending something off, that was all satisfying enough.
Once she had studied enough of that, she felt it necessary to add the next blow. “He is in the house as we speak, gathering up his belongings.”
Once again, Addison did not say anything. Matilda simply watched her intake the information, painfully, reluctantly. It was as if she were using her moments to find any way to dispute it all. But that was folly.
And then, like some sort of angry witch, Addison let out a big laugh. “And you think this hurts me or something? Is that why you came all this way? To watch me agonize over your childish revelation? Do you even know who I am?”
Matilda smiled, knowing that every word out of her mouth was a careful deflection. It had been the first time she had ever seen Addison worked up. It had to have meant that it all affected her. “You’re doing the exact same thing that I did when I was a child and had to face a reality that I did not like. The whole, stay quiet, act like you don’t care routine. You are angry that you no longer have control over Aaron or his family.”
Addison gave Matilda a cold measuring look. “And you…you think that you have found love with Aaron, the man who needs freedom more than anything else in his life. You know not the first thing about love. You still believe that it exists, but no. I will watch as you both burn one another with your disappointments.”
Matilda shook her head. “Another person who believes love is restricted to books. I pity you. You will never know what it means to love or be loved because all you desire is control. And where there is control, there is an absence of love. You just take what you want until there is nothing left of a person. Well, when it comes to Aaron, unlike you, I will give.”
“You can believe whatever you want to believe. I do not deal with fools.”
Matilda thought about her words carefully. She studied Addison’s face, her eyes darting away. And then Matilda said, “Fine. But I will leave you with this. Aaron had taught me how to live in the present. He has shown me that the past, the future, they don’t always matter because it is the moment that is to be enjoyed. But when it comes to you, Addison, I would look into the future. I would really try to envision what that looks like for you because what I see is a lonely woman. You will have all the control that you’ve ever desired, but just like the dragons in my book, well, maybe you should read them yourself.”
Just then, Aaron walked in carrying a small sack of items. He looked at Matilda, and she could sense that there was a big amount of relief within him. That made her happy. But as his face drifted toward the scowling Addison, it hardened into stone. “Addison, I wish to never see you again.”
They both shared a moment of terrible eye contact, and just like that, Aaron looked away and took Matilda by her hand. That was also satisfying for Matilda. It was the last time she would see Addison for a long while.
The both of them left the house, and the breeze felt amazing. It was freedom,freedom from struggle, freedom from expectation, freedom to read and love all she ever wanted.
“So,” Aaron began as he packed the carriage. “What shall we do with the rest of our lives?”
Matilda laughed. “I suppose that we have the freedom to do whatever we please. I am going to read all the poetry my eyes can handle.”
Aaron let out a laugh. “That is expected.”
They got into the carriage and rode back toward Hardon House. As she took out one of her poetry books to read with Aaron, she thought back to how it all began.
The chatter of the maids giving chase. It was a game of cat and mouse, one which she enjoyed thoroughly.
Not only was the game over, but so was her story. And it was a happy ending.
