by E L DuBois
Suddenly, her mother rushed in and helped her to her feet. Beauty was slumped against her as they headed toward the door. As Beauty passed the fight, she managed to croak out a few words.
“Don’t kill him. He’s not worth going to jail over.”
Her brother and father both stopped in mid-swing and looked at her. Understanding passing over their faces. She did not want the Beast to ruin their lives as well. Beauty never looked back at the bloody mess on the floor.
Her mother helped her to the car where the Princess was already in her seat. Once the Queen had her secure and was in the driver’s seat, she took off quickly and drove them away. After a few miles, she pulled off down a dirt road and looked at Beauty with expectation.
“Where do you want to go? Do you need a hospital? Who do you want me to call?”
Without a single moment of hesitation, Beauty said one word.
“Knight.”
The Queen nodded, pulled out her phone and Beauty could hear it ringing. When his familiar voice said, “Hello,” her stomach did the flip flop butterfly thing. The Queen handed her the phone.
Beauty’s greeting came out quiet and hesitant.
“Hello...”
She heard a long sigh on the other end.
“Beauty.”
Tears began to well in her eyes as she tried to speak through them.
“Yes, it’s me. I need you. Can we come to your house?”
His voice was immediately alert
“Yes, always. I’m on my way. Do you need my new address?”
Beauty swallowed. New address? I guess the Troll got his place. A pang of guilt raced through her.”
“Yes, please.”
She handed the phone to the Queen and leaned her head against the glass as he told her mother the address.
Within seconds, they were on the road again.
Chapter 41
Home is where the heart is…
IT WAS DARK when they arrived. Beauty opened her eyes as the car came to a stop in front of a beautiful, old, two-story residential home. It had white sidings with yellow trimmings, and a charming, white picket fence encompassed the large corner property.
Beauty blinked rapidly, astonishment filling her. She knew this property. It was the lovely home on the corner she had always admired on the few occasions the Beast let her out of the house. It was located only three houses down from the prison she had been confined to for the last year. She had always wondered what it would be like inside the home and harbored an unknown fascination with it. She had even daydreamed a time or two about living a different life in that house. This couldn’t be Knights house. Could it?
Her inner monologue was answered as she saw the tall, handsome figure coming down the steps toward the vehicle. Her breath caught at the sight of his lean, muscular body and easy strides. As she caught sight of his handsome face in the dim stream of porch light, something hot and wet started to stream down her face. She was crying. She was really at Knight’s home. The man she had been longing for and dreaming of for so long had been only three houses down from her. She cradled her face in her hands and let the realization of all she had been through hit her with a force so strong, silent sobs racked her entire body. She heard the back door open and through blurry eyes, watched as Knight carried a sleeping Princess into his home.
Her mother sat quietly beside her and rubbed her back as she broke down. Beauty looked up to see her mother crying silently as well. The fierce strong woman was crying and that broke her even more. So many of her loved one’s lives had been ruined by that monster.
The door beside her opened and drew her attention to the man standing there. She was too ashamed to look at him. Too afraid that he would see what she had become. Too afraid he could see all the vile things that had been done to her. She felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her. The strong arms she had longed for and dreamt of so many times in the past year. She still couldn’t believe it was her Knight.
Without effort, he lifted her from the seat and cradled her next to his body. With a strong silence she needed, he carried her inside to a darkened room and sat down on the leather couch. She could feel the cool material beneath her bare feet. Knight still had her clutched tightly in his arms. The embrace felt like he was telling her without words, “I got you and I am never letting you go.”
She buried her head in his neck, still crying, and breathed in his clean scent between sobs. He still smelled the same. Like everything good in the world. He smelled like love, and home. Beauty was not sure how long they sat there like that, her cradled in his arms like a small lost child, but he was silent and let her take all the time she needed to break down.
At some point, the Queen had stroked her hair and kissed her goodbye and they were alone in the darkness once again. When she had no more tears left to cry, she lifted her eyes to meet his. Even in the darkness, she could see the emotions swirling with in them. He had been so stoic and quiet the entire time. She searched his face and cleared her dry throat as she averted her eyes. The shame of her tainted body and soul too much to bear, while looking at such an honorable man.
“I need you to know that I never wanted to leave you. That was not my choice. I have thought of you and missed you every day since we’ve been apart. I understand if you have moved on, but I need you to know that for me... the love was real. I will always feel lucky to have been loved by you. Thank you for letting us come here to stay. I will find a way to repay your kindness.”
Beauty fidgeted with her fingers in her lap. She sat astride him, looking down and waiting for a response. One of his strong arms was draped behind her, holding her around the waist. Her broken ribs ached but he was careful not to touch her injured side. His other arm was across her bent bare legs. He was silent for a long time, but she could feel him staring at her profile. It felt like the heat of his gaze was boring a hole into the very core of her. His silence was killing her as more shame washed over her with each contemplation of what he could be thinking.
Beauty was trying to work up the courage to move, when she felt the warmth of his hand on her cheek.
He gently turned her face to his and whispered, “Love.”
Beauty furrowed her eyes, a look of confusion crossing her face as he continued.
“You said loved. As in past-tense. Not love as in present. It has always been love. I have missed you and that little girl every day and I have loved you every day and I will love you both every day until I die. I will probably love you even after I am gone. Our love isn’t something you move on from. Ours is epic and I love you more today than I did yesterday. Tomorrow, I will love you more. I’m not going anywhere, Beauty, and I never will. I am here; however you need me to be. Friend, protector, and your love. For you and the Princess. I promise you that this time... no one will take you from me.”
Beauty buried her head in his neck as the tears started again. She thought just when she had no more tears left, he had to go and make that kind of heart-wrenching declaration of love speech.
As she cried tears of joy, this time clutched in the arms of a good man who still loved her, Beauty knew that this time would be different.
As they sat there in the darkness, she felt a feeling she hadn’t felt in a very long time.
Hope…
Chapter 42
Divorcing a Monster, Custody, and Stalking 101…
IT WAS NOT ALL smooth sailing for Beauty and Knight. She had to heal physically, emotionally, and mentally. He had to adjust to a new life with his girls returned. Beauty found out the redheaded witch had been trying every trick in the book to take Knight for her own, but thankfully, his love and resolve had stayed strong. Beauty had never liked that she-devil. But in the end, true love prevailed, and the red witch flew away on her raggedy broom, never to be heard from again. Beauty said good riddance to that!
The Beast was another matter entirely. After her father and brother “detained” the Beast while Beauty and the Princess escaped, he went to live w
ith his vile sister. Detained had been the word used on police statements. The officer had pointed out with a grin that her father and brother had actually “beaten the tar out of that boy.” But because he obviously had it coming and was on their property, no charges would be filed.
Regrettably, the Beast did not have any charges filed against him either. With the support of Knight, Beauty attempted to get a protective order against the Beast. She was able to get a temporary one but after six weeks, when it came time for court, the Beast showed up with a copy of every vile photo he had taken of Beauty and served her with divorce papers. Ashamed and not wanting anyone to see the photos, Beauty agreed to drop the protective order in exchange for a mutual restraining order. The Beast would stay away from Beauty and the Princess. She would stay away from him. Beauty thought this would be easy and he would uphold the court order since the Beast had also showed up to court with Drucilla, his young, unfortunate new victim/girlfriend, who was already pregnant with his baby. Also, in attendance was his vile sister. The two women looked like the best of friends and Beauty just shook her head thinking, “Good luck, girl, your life is about to turn to shit.”
The Beast stared at Beauty all through the court proceedings and the one time she did meet his gaze, he smirked at her.
As she got up to leave, the district attorney caught her arm and pulled her in close.
“I am going to give you a piece of advice because I saw the way he was looking at you and I read the synopsis of what you suffered at his hands. I will never forget it. So, girlfriend or not, you need to always put your safety at the forefront of your mind. This restraining order is just a piece of paper and means nothing to a monster like him. What you need are self-defense classes and a gun. He will eventually tire of her and come for you, they always do.”
Beauty had nodded numbly at the stern woman dressed in a navy suit. Her words echoed through Beauty’s mind as she and Knight made their way out of the courtroom. They were in the car headed home when she finally spoke.
“Did you hear what the DA said to me?”
Knight nodded a response, never taking his eyes from the road. Beauty noted the grim set to his lips.
“Do you think she’s right?”
Knight nodded again, and Beauty felt that old fear creep up her spine.
“What do I do?” her voice trembled a bit.
This prompted Knight to grasp her hand and reassure her.
“You do nothing. I do something. We got this. My girls will be safe.”
It was Beauty’s turn to nod and stare at the road.
Knight stayed true to his word. He protected his girls with high-tech security systems and other methods of safety. The King, Queen, and Prince helped as well, finally, able to offer Beauty the support system she had been missing for years. They even moved right next door to Knight’s house, so they could be close. Everything should have been looking better, and it was... for a while. Then, the Beast did exactly what the DA said he would do.
Beauty lived ninety miles away and he still found ways to get at her. The stalking started with texts, and emails. Then, it was photos of her in her everyday life. Unknown calls. Messages from fake numbers. Little ways for the Beast to let her know he could still get to her.
Beauty tried filing police reports, but they were futile attempts for help. The police told Beauty that he could do all his stalking from burner phones and floating IP addresses, which meant that without a way to trace it back to him, no charges could be filed until he tried to physically harm her or did. The Beast was teaching a new lesson to Beauty. Just because you got away doesn’t mean your freedom will come without a price.
This knowledge had Beauty living in constant anxiety. She became reclusive and never went anywhere without a male family member. Days turned to months and Beauty found herself in a fortress of her own making. Still imprisoned because of the Beast, but not his captive. Something happened with the passage of time. The more Beauty had to deal with what had been done to her, the deeper she sank into a darkness she didn’t know if she could recover from. She had to live with the fact that her abuser, rapist, captor, boogeyman, was free to live his life and stalk her at will. These facts ate away at her sanity.
It did not help that she was also dealing with a divorce and custody battle at the same time. The Beast was doing his best to prolong and make that situation as hard as possible.
During this time, Beauty got psychological help for herself and the Princess. The Princess responded well to the help and flourished with the support of Beauty and Knight. He gave them exactly what they needed when it came to the kind of love and support that would best benefit their healing. Beauty had a long road ahead of her, but she could finally see the light at the end of her darkness.
The day came for the divorce to be finalized and Beauty was nervous because she would have to see the Beast. With Knight by her side, she stood with her head held high. The Beast got nothing. Not any kind of custody. It turned out, their state did not allow people with family violence convictions to have any kind of custody. The Princess would never have to see him again.
It had taken almost a full year to get the divorce final, but when Beauty walked out of that courtroom with her hand in Knight’s, she felt like a weight she had been carrying around for years had been lifted from her shoulders. Even though she felt cold blue eyes on her, Beauty stopped and smiled at the man she loved. He smiled back and gave her a brief kiss on the lips.
Beauty knew the Beast was watching the whole exchange and waiting to throw her a smirk or terrifying look, but she forced herself to not turn around. She walked away with her head held high and never looked back.
Epilogue
Happily Ever After…
EXACTLY ONE YEAR to the day that she escaped the Beast, Beauty found herself standing in her grandparent’s church. It was a beautiful old structure with white columns and gleaming hardwood pews. She wished her grandparents were still alive, as she remembered the day her grandmother had her baptized in this very church. It still looked exactly the same.
Beauty was brought out of her memories at the sound of her little girl’s voice.
“How do I look, Mommy?”
Beauty looked down at the gorgeous little girl in her “fancy” dress and smiled.
“You are the most beautiful girl in the world! How do I look?” The Princess giggled as Beauty smoothed the ivory lace of her simple dress.
“You are the most beautiful, Mommy.”
Beauty shook her head from side to side and crouched down to touch her nose to the Princess’s.
“Nope. You are. But we can agree to disagree.”
With more giggles, the Princess held her little hand out to Beauty’s. They clasped hands as the music started and the King took Beauty’s arm. The Princess looked nervous and excited as the Prince took her arm.
Beauty whispered to her father. “I love you, Daddy. Happy Birthday.”
With pure love shinning in his eyes, he looked at Beauty and smiled.
“This is the best present you could have ever given me. My little girl finally marrying a man who deserves her.”
Beauty kissed her father on the cheek and tried to hold back tears as she looked down at the Princess.
“You ready to do this, little darlin?”
With a nod and smile to her brother, the four walked down the aisle where a handsome Knight stood waiting with eyes only for his girls. Beauty smiled at her gorgeous mother as they walked past. Her mother’s smile was warm, genuine, and full of love. Beauty never took her eyes off Knight as they approached. A huge grin stretched wide across his face and his eyes glistening with tears.
As the ceremony commenced, the King gave Beauty’s hand to Knight. Then, the Prince gave him the Princess’s hand.
On that day, in a small church with a simple ceremony with purple flowers, three pieces of one heart were joined together. Surrounded by the people who loved them most.
Finally, after a long journey, Mr. Kn
ight promised to love, cherish, and protect both Beauty and the Princess for as long as he lived.
~ The End ~
About the Author
E.L. DuBois was born and raised in Texas where she still lives today surrounded by her amazing family and menagerie of fur babies. She loves to travel, has seen many beautiful places and cannot wait to see more.
Erica's personal experiences with domestic violence has made her an advocate and supporter of great causes facing victims of any harassment or abuse. It is her greatest wish that no one ever has to suffer the traumas she endured, and that justice be brought for all those who have.
She is an avid artist and reader.
In the end Beauty and the Princess found their Knight in Shining Armor. They now live happy, healthy lives with the support of this wonderful man.
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