"What makes you so sure of that?" She hissed, and he was silent for a while before answering
. He finally, reluctantly said, "The discussion we had yesterday.".
She went limp against him, all the resistance abruptly leaving her.
She asked hollowly, "So, if you're so sure I won't leave, what's this sudden need you have to spend every waking hour with me?".
"we're married, for god sake,I don't know anything about you, and we're like strangers!"
"Of course you don't, you never tried to learn anything" She muttered, trying not to scream at him,
He didn't bother to refute her accusation instead saying, "Well, I've changed my mind,"
probably because it was true. Instead, he put his hands on her small shoulders and gave her a gentle shake.
Which raises the issue of why once more. Why now, after 22 months of marriage? His hands dropped from her shoulders, and he shrugged indifferently, belying his earlier urgency.
"Now is as good a time as any, so why not now?"
She hugged her thin frame and sighed, "It's far too late Anthony.I may be stuck in this marriage, but I don't want to be with you; the thought of you makes me queasy"
Finally he whispered, "You know there's a way out of this.
His hooded eyes shifted back to her face and she said, "I know, you want a son. I am your chosen breeder"
She carefully observed his face, but other than a slight tightening of his jaw, he showed no sign of emotion.
"You expect me to be nothing more than a surrogate mother after I give birth to this priceless child of yours, so what happens to him after the divorce? Right? I'm supposed to carry him, and then you'll take him from me?"
Any affirmation from him would convince her that he was the one who desired the child and that she had misunderstood the conversation she had overheard between her husband and her father that morning. She was desperate to hear an affirmative from him.
He shook his head and said, "Of course I wouldn't take him from you," breaking her heart.
Theresa closed her eyes in an effort to hide her suffering from him as her said "Of course you'd keep custody.
"How generous," she murmured.
"To be in such a state of desperation and then ultimately give up. You're so much more giving than I gave you credit for. Would you like to see him frequently?"
"Naturally, if I were to return to california. With my work schedule I would likely see him every other month. Less contact with me, isn't that what you want?"
She took a deep breath and furrowed her brow. She opened her eyes and looked directly into his eyes. He told her that he would only want to see the child every other month.
"You're being quite kind, as I've already said it's all moot since I don't want to have a child with you"
"Elizabeth, you're acting very childishly," he reprimanded.
"No, I'm finally taking charge of my own decisions. My entire life has been predetermined up until this point. If my father hadn't thought you'd make the ideal son-in-law, this marriage would never have taken place. Then came the wedding date, the location, the cake, and the address of our future home. You or my father chose it all" she yelled in a whispering tone.
"I couldn't even pick my own wedding dress," she said in a small, broken voice that trembled with remembered shock and outrage. With no discussion or opportunity for her to make a decision, her father simply ordered the dress to be delivered to her room with the instruction that it be worn on her wedding day.
"My father thought it was appropriate for my first cousin to be in the wedding party, so that's the only reason I got Danielle as a bridesmaid. She probably wouldn't have been the right fit if she had only been a friend." Elizabeth continued
"It makes me sick to hear someone who has lived such a privileged life complain about how awful her life is" Anthony sneered.
"Except love, particularly the love of my husband and my father. Evidently, I'm not quite deserving of that"Elizabeth countered
"I'm sick and tired of you feeling sorry for yourself."
She admitted sourly, "Yes, I'm feeling sorry for myself. And it is incredibly liberating. I've only ever done what you and my father have asked of me in the past—accept everything. But I'm starting to realize that I'm not the one at fault here.I used to believe that this was my lot in life, even believing that I deserved it; if two such powerful men as you thought I wasn't deserving of love and respect, then who was I to disagree. I don't have the personality flaw. My reasons for marrying you were at least sincere; I foolishly thought I loved you. yours were less than stellar, weren't they? ".
"They had everything to do with love," he thundered, abruptly silencing her.
" just not love for you"
The only color on her deathly pale face was her green eyes, which she blinked up at him.