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Chapter 19
Having not wanting to witness any of the party, Aaron rode out and camped overnight.
He was not used to the sensation in his chest—bitterness. The closest he had ever come to it was when he had been around Addison not too long ago. His feelings had soured towards her into resentment. He hated feeling that way. It wasn’t. It wasn’t in his character to walk around holding hostility. And the sensation itself, it was like a cloud that he could not escape. It followed him throughout the day. It made him want to punch something. But he refrained. Instead, he held all his emotions in and focused on work.
When work was over for the day, he saddled up on the brown horse and rode out. The idea behind that came from wanting to get away from the party as much as possible. He knew that within the Hardon house, Matilda’s life was going to be forever changed. The party would kill any possibility of him being Matilda. He wanted to be as far away from that as he could be.
The night air held a chill, and the sky felt like his only friend. The stars were always there, no matter what. He could rely on their company. They never judged him, and they never changed. They were consistent in their existence, and Aaron enjoyed that. Love, women, were not consistent. Those were the entities that hurt.
He stopped on the same hill that he shared affections with Matilda. Despite wanting to rid her from his mind, he was drawn to that spot. He secured the horse and made a bed for himself, although he knew that he would not sleep much. Knowing what was happening at Hardon, turned his stomach and made his head pound.
***
The very next morning, he was surprised how much sleep he did get. The night seemed to fly by without him waking up once. Upon waking, he checked his surroundings to make sure that everything, including his horse, was still there. Once that was confirmed, he wasted no time in riding back.
That ride felt like a new start. The proposal had probably happened, and he no longer had to worry about enduring going through it. It was over. He could move on and focus on trying to be happy once more.
But all of those sentiments were short-lived as he spotted Thomas by the stables while riding. It wasn’t like him to be there that early. It must have meant there was news. Would Thomas tell him of the proposal? That was unlikely as Aaron already knew what had happened. Therefore, Aaron could not imagine the reasoning for Thomas’ presence.
He rode up and quickly got off his horse. Thomas wore a look of ease and bated enthusiasm.
“What is the occasion, Thomas? Have you found gold lying around and what to share?” Aaron quipped.
“I think that I actually may have better news for you. But you must promise to remember it on days where I have bad news.”
Aaron gave Thomas a measured look and made sure to not get his hopes up. After all, Thomas’ notion of good news could be anything. “I am not making any promises that I cannot keep. Get on with it.”
“Matilda did not get asked to marry. Charles stood before the members of the party and proclaimed that they were in love with other people.”
For a few seconds, Aaron did not believe Thomas. That was until he did not waiver in his stare. Thomas had been indeed telling the truth, and Aaron wanted to jump for joy.
“This is…incredible,” Aaron said. “I must go and find Matilda at once.”
And that Aaron did, walking the grounds of the Hardon House as if he had three feet. He was excited, almost downright giddy. But of course, he was not without his doubts. Not only did the situation appear to have worked itself out far too easy, but he could not forget how he treated her just the other day.
Aaron knew Matilda well, and she was not one to take being treated badly without a grudge. And she had been entitled to that. Even though what he had said was necessary, it had still crossed a line of rudeness. He had been brash, cold, and hard in his words. Did she even still care for him after all that? Just because she had become free of the shackles that were Charles, that did not mean his words had hurt any less.
The walk was like an eternity in going to find Matilda. Yet, it had been short-lived. The woman who found Aaron before he could find Matilda…was Addison. Her eyes held a cruel gaze, a confident one at that. A chill went down the spine of Aaron as he stood there before her.
Before either one of them said a word, a flood of emotions filled him. She had become a stone wall between him and Matilda. No, she had always been that wall except that she mattered a lot more given the fact that Matilda was freed.
Never before did Aaron hold such hostility and pain all at once. It was as if he had shrunken down to being a small child. There was a helplessness when looking at her, a desire that he knew was wrong. She had a darkness within her, and he would need to find all urges to see anything inside her otherwise.
And that was when she slapped him. Her stiffened hand felt like stone. The sting that radiated after made his face pulsate. The anger wasn’t immediate. Shock was. But then the anger filled him. Who was she to slap him? Matilda would be beside herself, seeing anyone treat him like so.
Before anything else could happen, Aaron could sense that words were on their way from the evil one. With his cheek already sore, he had no desire to listen because he knew what she was most likely going to badger him about. But, he remained before her.
“How dare you.” She said in a voice filled with scorn. “I helped safeguard your family’s finances. I have treated you with nothing but care. I protected you from the realities of this world, from poverty. Your family would be stealing from fruit stands if it was not for me.”
“You—”
“Do not speak. I am not finished.” Her lips barely separated when she spoke. “Then, you come to me with your bold request. After everything that I have done for you and you want to leave for a year. Ungrateful for everything I have done, for the passion that you and I shared.” She turns her back but continues to speak while pacing. “But, I grant your request in kindness, in trust.” She turned around and looked into his eyes. They were red, almost like fire. He could not tell if it was pure anger or a mix of other intense emotion. “And what do you do? What is it that in my trust you do? You woo the Earl’s daughter.”
There was a laugh that came from Addison that downright frightened Aaron.
“I did not give you permission to have feelings for her. I did not allow anything of the sort. What you have done has been disrespectful, hurtful, and downright shameful. You have stooped lower than waste.”
It was then that it felt like Aaron had left his body. He thought back to all the times where Addison stripped him of hope. For years, she had made him feel like he was worth nothing, made his family live in fear of losing their livelihood. There was nothing good about Addison. Through her bravado and skills at socializing with those in importance, underneath,she was nothing more than a coward, one who operated under fear tactics to control and get her way. That would end in that very moment.
