AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“C
razy rich people,” Ava mumbled to herself. She marched straight to the house but stopped at the door at the last moment. How am I supposed to tell Dad about this whole thing? I’m sure they will kick us out of the house now for sure! He will be devastated!
She turned to her car on the other side of the gate. It might be better to just go into work for a few hours, come up with a plan to talk to her father and maybe even start looking at rentals.
Ava sighed deeply. Why in the name of whatever was out there would Elijah Radcliff do such an insane thing? Marriage. For six months. To Benjamin Radcliff out of all people.
As she started walking to her car, Ava almost laughed about the irony of the situation. There had been a time when this very scenario would have been nothing short of a fairytale. When she was younger, endless seemed the days when she was sitting by the window staring onto the gardens to see when Benjamin would be out. She would run up to him pretending she was looking for her father. Just to see him, play with him, talk to him. Ava was still a child when she fell in love with Benjamin. He was the prettiest creature she had ever seen. Like a prince, elegant and foreign. It took many years and a certain level of life experience to understand that he was as empty inside as he was handsome on the out. At some point, the excuses she had always made for his self-centered behavior were no longer excusable by the early death of his father. He had been a kind, good-hearted child before that. Proud but fair. But by the time they were in junior high school, that kind boy had vanished, and a new person had emerged in his place—spoiled, entitled, arrogant. Often, she had wondered if the boy she fell in love with was still in there somewhere. But if he was, he was buried too deep in pain to ever surface again.
She walked out through the small door next to the gate and stopped short, her eyes moving from left to right, and then again to the spot where she’d parked her car. The car was gone. At first, she panicked, but then she reminded herself that her car was a piece of junk—it couldn’t possibly have been stolen.
Her gaze fell onto fresh tire tracks and, looking up, she saw the car far, far away, parked all the way at the far end of the road up the hill.
Ava took a deep breath in. This sort of thing had happened before, and she knew who had given the order. Lucy always threw a fit whenever she found the “piece of junk” parked anywhere it could be seen, even if that location was on the other side of the gate and off the estate’s grounds.
“What a lovely day,” Ava groaned and started the long march to her car. It took her ten minutes to get to the end of the lengthy stretch of road, uphill of course. When she finally got to the car, she realized that the car keys were still at her house. Holding back a scream that was boiling from within her, and most likely directed at Lucy Radcliff, she started her march back down to get her keys. Lucky for her, they were right next to the entrance door on the little key chain hook, so she was able to sneak them out without her father noticing her.
Ava looked back up at the hill. She was exhausted, mentally and physically drained. The last few days had been nothing short of crazy. The hill now almost seemed like an undefeatable dragon out of a fantasy movie.
“There isn’t enough money in the world to let me miss out on seeing Lucy Radcliff having to work a 9-5,” she cursed as each step seemed to push the car further ahead, like some deceptive illusion designed to frustrate.
Not enough money in the world, huh? Not even $10,000,000 that would pay off your father’s debt? Let him retire? Live in peace?
She huffed out of breath as she got in the car. The nagging voice grew louder.
Six months…What are six months? You wouldn’t even have to talk to him at all…
Frustrated at herself for even thinking such an outrageous thought, she turned the keys. Surprisingly, her car started immediately. She smiled. The day might still work out. Stepping on the clutch she slowly eased the pressure. The car bucked forward, the engine rattled and wheezed, and then died.
Ava slammed her fist onto the steering wheel. The earsplitting sound of a car horn pierced through the air. BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP.
She prayed silently, and then out loud, that the noise would stop when she removed her hand; but of course, it continued, the honk tearing through the quiet air.
BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
Flapping her head onto the steering wheel in pure frustration, that thought kept crawling back into her head. This time, it was even louder than that darn car horn.
$10,000,000 would certainly get this car fixed…fixed? Get a new one. One of those SUVs with enough room in the back for the donation drives. Hell, $10,000,000 would even get the church its own van for those donation drives…
Ava almost felt as if she was betraying herself, but the marriage to Benjamin Radcliff started to seem less and less crazy. And that never-ending, earsplitting, horribly embarrassing beeping in the background pushed the very thought closer and closer to reality.
Benjamin slammed the door to his room so hard the walls shook.
“Damn it!” he muttered and stared at the crumpled paper in his shaky hand. Relax, Ben, relax. He exhaled and moved his eyes to the first line of words on the paper.
Marriage…
“Ugh!” he cursed again. Marriage? He shivered at the word as his body trembled with rising rage. He crushed the paper and tossed it in a corner, ripping off his shirt so hard the buttons flew off, scattering around the room with soft taps and rattles.
“This is crazy, Grandpa,” he scoffed and paced, strands of hair falling over his pretty face. He stopped right in front of the mirror and stared at the angry reflection looking back at him, his eyes hard and his face crimson. It has been a long time since he had been this angry. Years and years, now that he thought about it a bit more. Memories from his childhood flooded his head, pushing to the fore an incident he’d long forgotten.
He’d been eight or so and he had brought his bike to a school barbecue. It was a nice bike, but that year dual suspension mountain bikes were the fad amongst his friends—why, only the heavens knew, as no eight-year-old was actually using their mountain bike on an actual mountain. But mountain bikes were cool now and all his friends had brand new ones—the latest models too. It only seemed normal that he had to ditch his old bike, especially as he knew they could afford a million of them. Yet, when he asked, his father he said no.
“Life is about consistency and making do with what you have sometimes.”
At first, he was furious, even more so when his friends started to make fun of him. But after his father had explained it again in more detail with a loving hug, telling him those were always free, he actually didn’t care so much anymore, and his anger turned to dust.
Then his father had died that very same year and his grandfather and mother, who were never around any longer, would never say no to him again, no matter the price tag.
