Chapter 21
BY THE TIME DAVID STORMED unannounced into his mother's room, she was already in the process of going to bed.
He ordered the maids who attended to her out, punctuating his words with his movement. "Out this instant, all of you!" He scowled, grabbing those he could catch by the arm and throwing them out of the door without caring if they tripped or not.
"David!" Amanda exclaimed. "My God! I raised you better than to disrespect my servants in such a rude manner" she scolded.
David looked at her with open hostility, tightening his fists as he felt himself growing hot, frantic, and aching to lash out.
"Why. Did. You. Do. It. Mother?" he asked, speaking every word through gritted teeth.
Amanda leaned back against the headboard, her casual posture meant to irritate him. "Here I thought you actually came to see me because you heard about your father's heart attack" she sighed dramatically.
He let out a frustrated breath, "You hit my wife mother, I want to know why you did it"
She cocked her head up. "Don't tell me she reported my actions to you?" Her brows rose in question, her voice deliberately obtuse.
"She didn't have to, the marks on her face were damn evident enough!" He fumed.
"She spoke disrespectfully to me" she bit off and defensively crossed her arm. "I had to discipline her"
"By hitting her?!" He hissed, holding back the urge to - for the love of God!
"Stop trying to make something out of nothing David" she snorted her disdain. "Are you really going to take her side over mine? she made your father have a heart attack!"
"You might be my mother but there are things I will not accept from you and that is touching even the slightest hair on Dawn. For a long time, I've condoned your mental and verbal abuse towards her but this! This is where we draw the line!"
Amanda got up defensively "I am your mother, you're supposed to take my side!" She wailed, trying to look affronted.
"Not when you are wrong!" He blared back.
"David listen to yourself! This woman is clearly controlling you. Why don't you see it?!"
For a moment, David held still, trying to calm himself but the more the images flashed in his head, the more he felt like jamming his fists into a brick wall, smashing and smashing until his knuckles gave out.
He never thought he could despise the woman standing in front of him so much but he did, he loathed her with every fiber of his bone.
"Whether or not Dawn controls me doesn't matter. That woman has been nothing but tolerant towards you" he closed his eyes for a brief moment, regretting every time he had begged her to try and get along for his sake. She clearly didn't deserve it. "What you've done today, I simply can not forgive"
"How can you do this to me, how can you stand here and spit such nonsense to my face!"
She took a step closer, palming her chest.
"I am your mother David, how can you embarrass me by taking her side over mine. She's known you for only a few years but I've known you all your life! I clothed you, fed you, and took care of you, I was there! Me David!" She blurted.
"Don't you get it?" He equally took a threatening step forward, intimidating her with his height. "You might have known me all my life but without Dawn..." He breathed in, wondering for a second what his life would be like without her in it.
She was his sunlight, his anchor, the sort of woman whose expression made her beautiful. Radiant, exotic, full of spirit, and happy. He simply couldn't give her up for anything. "... My life has no meaning. Without Dawn, I am nothing, absolutely nothing "
"Do you think she will still be there once she finds out the truth! Do you think she will stay by your side knowing her life is on the line!" She grabbed his arm. "I'm the only one who would never leave you, David! I am your moth-"
"For heaven's sake, you are not my mother Amanda!" He barked, and Amanda pulled away, puzzled by his choice of words.
"My mother is dead!" He continued, his eyes frozen on her aghast ones.
He wanted her to see what he saw, he wanted her to feel what he felt - to feel his despair and pain and maybe if she hadn't been so self-centered all her life, it wouldn't have taken this long for her to finally realize it.
"She died!" He yelled, his voice heavy and deadened. He didn't know where it was all coming from but he absurdly knew that it was what he felt "And so are you Amanda" he breathed down "as of today, you are dead to me"
"David..." She drew forward, her eyes welling up tears. "Everything I do, i-"
He held up his hand. A rather blank expression washed over his eyes "No more lies, do not deceive yourself more than you already have" he turned and swallowed his breath.
It didn't matter if hurting his mother made his heart bleed, it didn't matter if the look in her eyes made his body ache, she deserved it. She hurt his wife.
"We'll leave first thing after the wedding tomorrow. I'm afraid this might be the last time we see. It's best if we both avoid each other for the meantime" his words let out no hint of emotion. It was blunt, cold.
"You cannot do this to me, David Earl Argent! I won't let you!" She held his arm again.
David turned his head to the side and glanced at her. "You've lost me," he pulled his arm away and walked out.
"David!"
***
WHEN DAVID ENTERED BACK INTO THE ROOM, Dawn was still awake. She sat by the edge of the bed and stared at the blank sky, slightly pressing the frozen bag against her still aching cheeks.
She didn't think a slap could hurt as much as it did. Or was it that she exaggerated the pain? She had never been struck on the face before. Not even by her mother.
Martha wasn't one of the sorts who believed in resulting to their fists. "You never win with violence, you only win when you maintain your dignity, dignity always prevails. Always" she would lecture whenever Dawn got into fights as a growing child.
Dawn allowed herself a tiny groan. She ought to have anticipated that Amanda would react that way. Certainly, anyone would after being called desperate.
The second David crossed the room to sit gently by her side, she turned to him, her brows furrowing with concern. "did you do-"
"Worry about yourself first Dawn" he interrupted, knowing exactly what she wanted to hear and also knowing that he didn't have the answer.
Dawn let out a long exhale, sagging her shoulders lightly. She hadn't intended to overhear their conversation but she couldn't seem to help herself and David didn't help soil her curiosity either with his rather monstrous outbursts.
"Does it still hurt badly?" He asked softly and she nodded to his question, briefly pulling the bags away from her face and grimacing at the wet sloppy sound it made.
"How does it look? Is it as bad as it feels?" she asked when she noticed him staring intently at it.
He nodded grimly, pressing his lips together before speaking "But it's still too soon to tell" he picked up the ice bag, squeezed lightly, and pressed it so gently that she felt no pain.
"I'm going to look like a red tomato at the wedding tomorrow" she groaned and David smiled, or at least, tried to smile.
He turned her face lightly and pressed the ice against where she was hit. "Nothing a touch of foundation and contour can't fix" he joked and Dawn coughed out her chuckle, trying to smile but her cheeks had grown stiff and dull.
She pulled the ice away from her face and sagged towards him, resting her one good cheek on his shoulders and basking in the comfort.
David smiled and stroked her hair gently as they remained in silence, both staring at the sky with a weary expression.
***
WITH THE NEXT SUNRISE CAME A pearly glow in the sky, pleasant humidity, parading kitchen staff, and an extra hyper Rosa.
"Wedding starts in T minus 20 minutes! Everyone!" She yelled, knocking on every door she could find.
Dawn chuckled inwardly, standing before the full-length mirror and doing her make-up with intense concentration on her slightly burned cheek. Thankfully it didn't look as hideous and a tad swollen like it was the day before.
A knock sounded at the door and when Dawn turned around, David had entered the room. He closed the door behind him but remained where he was.
"You done?" David asked, watching as she dabbed her face lightly and retouched her hair so that it dropped.
"Yes, just a minute" she smiled warmly, trying to reach for her zipper but it proved difficult.
"Need help with that?" He asked, nodding towards her unzipped dress and she nodded desperately.
"Yes please"
David walked over to her back and gently pushed up the zipper, noting that she had particularly skipped wearing a bra even though he had scolded her on several occasions about how bouncy and distracting they could get.
"You're not putting on a bra" he noted in a rather obtuse manner.
She bit her lip nervously and muttered. "I'm sorry but the dress didn't seem to demand one"
"It's alright" he leaned in and hugged her from behind. "I'll let it slide because you look beautiful today" he nuzzled her neck and breathed in her scent "and you smell beautiful too"
Dawn laughed at the authenticity of his flattery. She turned so that their eyes met.
"Quite the flattery, Mr. Argent"
His lips curved into a hint of a smile. "But indeed, you are ravishing Mrs. Argent" he settled his hand on the lush curve of her bottom. "And if granted, I would like to seek for the permission to kiss those lips of yours," he said, not allowing her much opportunity to think as he already closed the distance between them.
Dawn circled his neck and gave a sure smile. Quite fondly but still, she admitted the fact that it made her flutter inwardly whenever he behaved gentlemanly.
Not wanting to irk her cheek any more than it already was, David tilted his face so that he might more easily kiss her and after tasting the sweetness of her lip for more than a minute, he pulled away.
Dawn smiled warmly and cleaned the traces of parched lipgloss on his lips.
"David" she called but pressed her lip together before speaking again" about yesterday... I-"
"You don't have to worry about it" he cut in, stroking her hair lightly "after the wedding we're leaving"
"No, that's not what I mean" she sighed and lowered her gaze "I don't want you to be mad at Amanda"
"I'll treat my mother however I want, Dawn"
"You don't have to be hard on her, it was my fault for—"
He pulled away "Dawn stop with all the selfless talk okay, why do you always have to be so considerate, you should be angry not defending her actions"
"I said mean things too, David, and if I hadn't pushed her so much she wouldn't have snapped"
David sighed exasperatedly and rubbed his forehead. He could never understand women.
"Forget it, Dawn, mother doesn't care about us"
"No David liste—"
The knock on the door interrupted her speech.
"David, Julius needs help fitting into his tuxedo!" Lionel yelled over the door with a bit of frustration in his voice.
David groaned. "I'll meet you on the grand floor" he kissed her head and walked out.
ᴵ ᵖʳᵒᵐⁱˢᵉᵈ ⁱⁿ ᵐʸ ʸᵒᵘᵗʰ
ᵀʰᵃᵗ ᴵ ʷᵒᵘˡᵈ ⁿᵉᵛᵉʳ ᵐᵃʳʳʸ
ᴮᵘᵗ ᵗᵒᵈᵃʸ ᵐʸ ʰᵉᵃᵈ ⁱˢ ᶜʳᵒʷⁿᵉᵈ
ᴬⁿᵈ ᵐʸ ʰᵉᵃʳᵗ ⁱˢ ᵃᵈᵒʳⁿᵉᵈ ʷⁱᵗʰ ᶠˡᵒʷᵉʳˢ
ᴳᵒᵒᵈᵇʸᵉ ᵗᵒ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠˡᵒʷᵉʳ ᵒᶠ ʸᵒᵘᵗʰ
ᵀʰᵉ ⁿᵒᵇˡᵉ qᵘᵃˡⁱᵗʸ ᵒᶠ ˡⁱᶠᵉ
ᵀᵒᵈᵃʸ ᴵ ʷᵃⁿᵗ ᵗᵒ ˡᵉᵃᵛᵉ ⁱᵗ ᵇᵉʰⁱⁿᵈ
After the vows were shared and ring exchanged at the holy altar of St. Gorge's cathedral, the reception commenced at the back of the estate.
They had a little cocktail hour where everyone mingled — some dancing to the soft tongue-twisting music and others stuffing their mouths with watery native delicacies.
Dawn sat content on David's lap and sipped from her glass of wine as she looked around amusedly.
Elodie's firstborn, Theophilus ran around the buffet table with the speed of a fox, laughing and sticking out his tongue as he stuffed his face with cake.
"Stop this instant Theo!" Elodie roared, almost tripping on her dress and breaking down hysterically when she finally grabbed him by the collar and cleaned his face with her napkin.
Lionel Danced with Teresa, taking every perverted chance he got to squeeze her behind and hold grab breast.
Meredith on the other hand, went around giving hugs and squashing faces between her breasts. Apparently, having your face smothered between a lady's breasts was a native thing. Or was it that the men well all perverted?
Dawn shook her head at the thought and turned to the bride who smiled radiantly at everyone.
"Brings back memories doesn't it?" David chuckled. He'd been watching her stare dreamingly at them for a while.
Dawn nodded and smiled. It felt like only yesterday when she walked down the aisle and said her vows to the man she loved. It was everything she wanted and more.
He was everything she wanted and more.
