Nova scrunched up her face and looked closely at the letter her father held and the bottom of her belly collapsed as she recognized what her father held.
The envelope he was waving around had the same crest that had been on the envelope that she had retrieved from the dustbin the day she eavesdropped on her father's conversation with her aunt Julia.
She had known that a reply would come eventually but she had not expected it to come so soon, she had hoped that she would be able to slowly ease herself and possibly even her father into the idea of this marriage but apparently this family wanted everything done as soon as possible and it scared her, it was a big red flag and she was not prepared to deal with the repercussions of her deceit.
"I don't know where that is from." she said and looked with him with a perplexed look trying her hardest to look innocent.
She decided that it was best to act like she did not know what was going on, ignorance would be her defense but looking at her father's angry face it was unlikely that was going to save her, he was not buying her act.
"Don't you lie to me, what do you take me for? I know that you sent Lisa on a fools errand and stole my stationery and penned a letter to the Knox family accepting their proposal but what I want to know is why?! Do you have any idea what you have done?" he roared and Nova cowered.
Her father was never ever angry at her no matter what antics she got up to, not when she snuck out at night to see boys as a teenager, not when she ran away from home or even when he caught her smoking marijuana, he had never been mad at her and as she looked at the bulging veins in his throat she flinched and worried that she might have gone too far this time no matter what her good intentions had been for.
"Answer me!" he yelled and grabbed her arm painfully.
"Jacob what do you think you are doing?" Aunt Julia came suddenly and wrenched Nova's arm away from him.
"Julia, stay out of this. This is between my daughter and i." He said breathing heavily.
"What do you mean by that? Your daughter is acting responsibly for once in her life and all you are going to do is to chastise her for it? Unbelievable." She spat at him and turned to Nova whose lips were quivering with tears brimming in her eyes.
"Are you okay dear?" She asked softly and examined the red fingerprints on her arm.
"Now look at what you have done, what will people say if they saw this?" She said angrily to Jacob and shielded Nova from her father's red hot glare and she took her into the house and up to her bedroom.
"Your father is just being protective my dear, he does not want to see you hurt but I am sure that you have made the best decision of your life and I am so proud of you." Aunt Julia said with a huge grin.
"Chin up and don't worry, your father will feel the same way soon enough, you have done such a marvelous thing. So many girls would be envious of you and want to be in this position." She continued to praise Nova.
Nova did not think that she had done such a great thing and her father's reaction hurt her deeply, she had promised since that last time never to do anything to hurt him again but she had allowed her impulsive nature to lead her to take this foolhardy decision that no longer seemed like the best choice to make.
Aunt Julia stood up and went to Nova's wardrobe and rummaged through the clothes in there. "We have to find something appropriate for you to wear when you go to see your future in-laws, something with long sleeves to hide that bruise your father just gave you and those tattoos too of course."
"Already?" Nova asked looking stricken.
When she had sent off that letter she had thought that she would have time to get accustomed to the idea of being some wealthy stranger's wife, she did not expect that it would happen so quickly, she was getting cold feet before anything even happened.
"Why yes, they appear to be excited to meet you and for you to meet their future groom, the sooner the better for all of us." Aunt Julia said with her head buried deep among the clothes.
After looking through all the clothes in her wardrobe she turned with a displeased glare.
"I do not understand how a young girl with such a lovely figure like yours would wear all these ugly baggy clothes with rips that make you look like a homeless bum without people that love you." Aunt Julia complained then her face brightened up and she perked up as if she had just gotten an excellent idea.
"I know, we can go shopping and we will get you the perfect outfit that will have you looking like the future wife of the heir of the Knox fortune and even start shopping for your trousseau because I am certain immediately that family sees you they are going to want the wedding to commence immediately." She said with a greedy smile and Nova groaned in despair.
Aunt Julia was the type to shop only at high end boutiques and she paid a lot of attention to appearance while Nova believed that all of that was just unnecessary fluff that pretentious people used to cover up the nastiness that was inside them. In Nova's mind, the more people were concerned with their looks the more of a terrible person they were bound to be.
"Aunt Julia, I don't think that is necessary, I can just wear one of my clothes and go." Nova said, unwilling to spend the whole day being dragged through multiple stores being forced to try on god knows how many dresses.
Aunt Julia stared with her mouth agape as if Nova had just said something sacrilegious.
"Did you agree to the match just so you can make a mockery out of your father and the rest of the family? In that case you should not even have bothered at all." she sputtered in outrage.
Nova looked down in shame. Of course she did not want to shame her father, he had already gone through enough, her decision to go behind his back and accept the proposal was causing enough turmoil, she would have to go all the way with this decision of hers. She mentally cussed herself for not thinking this through before going ahead to accept the proposal.
"Alright aunt Julia, I will come along with you to go shopping." Nova said with a heavy sigh.
'That's a good girl." aunt Julia clapped her hands in glee. "… I will call Roberto from the car so that he can have some items picked out for you and waiting for us when we get to the store. You are a size six aren't you?" she asked.
As Nova nodded yes she steeled herself for the day ahead, it was going to be a trying day but she would try her hardest to be on her best behavior and not bolt even though her fight or flight mode was activated.