The Winter Bride (TSBS-2) COMPLETED

Chapter Twenty-Six

Would 'sorry' have made any difference? Does it ever? It's just a word. One word against a thousand actions. ― Sarah Ockler

Ashley Davis Harris

Marcus Anthony Davis never lowered his gaze.

He was a self-made man, he fought hardship, he valued hard work. His determination achieved an empire. All that he was; it was his own doing. He never considered he was below anyone. He was a dynasty himself.

Along the way, he lost his way and here he stood today, unable to meet his daughter's eyes.

For the first time, I entered into this familial confrontation, my mother charged me. "Ashley, what is the meaning of this? You cannot accuse your papa like that."

"Oh, please." I scoffed, looking into her pitiful face. "Do not tell me you know nothing of this. I know he tells you everything." My mother, whom I thought to be humane enough not to be involved in this mess turned out to be aiding my father. It was heart-wrenching yet I could not back away now. Turning my focus back to the man I called Papa, I said in a tone that I had never used in front of my parents. "So, tell me, father, did you kill them?"

I felt the tightening of Neil's hands on my waist, but I cannot deal with him right now so I stepped away from his touch, even though I longed for it. If he kept on holding me, I cannot face my father alone. I needed to see him as his daughter, not the wife of Neil Harris. At least not yet.

"Ashley!" My mother stepped around him, her face twisting into a grimace. "No, you don't know anything!"

"Then tell me!" I yelled, my anger seething out venomously. I no longer had the will to be demure before them. I was tired of being in the dark. I cannot deal with facades anymore. "Tell him to deny it! Tell him!"

However, if there was any chance of my father being innocent, I would grab it. I just needed him to deny what Neil and Kate had tortured me with. If there was a glimmer of hope, I would be putting my family over everything.

Please, Papa.

As if Mama could read the desperation and certitude in me, she turned back to him, grabbing his arm and shook him ferociously. Her emotions were mirroring mine. "Marcus, please, tell her. Tell her now!"

Yes, Papa. Tell me. Deny it. I beg you.

At last, he broke away from his regal stance. However, it was not for what I had hoped. It was for what I had feared. He reeled back, his expression that of despair, his eyes barely holding my stare. "Why should I tell her anything? She already knows the truth."

Gasping, I stumbled back as I realized he wasn't denying it. At that moment, my world seemed to shatter before me, and neither could I go forward to my father nor could I go back to my husband. I was lost in the midst of chaos.

Neil had been telling the truth. I felt the dread seeping in me as my whole body went through a severe shock. It was a terrifying feeling. The feeling coarsened me to realize I had been living in a bubble. Real world was a far darker place, and my own family made sure I was living in darkness.

Oh God, no.

The man behind me, holding in his sorrow and his sister, crying her heart out had lost their parents at the hands of my father. No, no, no. That can't be. No, it was the truth because he did not deny it. He made them orphans. He killed them. The one man who I had worshipped for all my life could take away lives.

"No, please! Tell the truth." I heard my mother beg with a cry whereas my whole existence cried when my reality shattered. My own father committed an horrendous act, devastated a family beyond remedy, but I had been a clueless servant doing whatever he bid me to.