Babel Novel
Chapter 27
27 To Be Someone’s Wife
Liam’s question invited a rather tense silence to replace the light mood surrounding them before. As they continued to walk the puppy around the gardens, Mr. Bennett could no longer bear the silence. He knew exactly how Amelie felt but he wanted her to open up and pour her sadness onto him as well. Mustering the courage, he finally said, ”
“I don’t understand Mr. Clark… he already has such a wonderful woman by his side, what is he lacking that he needs to look at others? Some brain tissue?” @
Amelie burst into laughter at his silly remark. It instantly made her feel better. It was fascinating how he always could lift her spirits just by saying something that didn’t even have any meaning behind it.
Seeing Amelie in a better mood made Liam feel a little bit more at ease too. He cleared his throat to mask the soaring sense of awkwardness and continued, now a bit more seriously.
“Divorce him, Miss Ashford. I don’t think you deserve
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27 To Be Someone’s Wife
to go through all this because of a man like him.”
Amelie took a few moments to think about his suggestion and then offered him a rather condescending smile.
“You know that it’s not all that simple, Mr. Bennett.”
Liam decided to feign ignorance.
“Then please explain to me what is so complicated that you have to stay shackled to this marriage?”
Amelie lost herself in thoughts; yes, getting divorced was not difficult, but not many people knew what it actually meant for someone like her. Liam was right, she was shackled to this marriage. She was not a wife, she was a prisoner.
“Divorcing Richard means losing everything I have. And when I say everything, I mean literally everything, Mr. Bennett.”
Liam arched his eyebrows, “I don’t think I understand. There must be a marriage contract, right?”
Amelie stretched her lips into a light smile and averted her eyes. It really seemed so simple to others, why couldn’t it be that simple to her?
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“Yes, the marriage contract… But you see, I don’t really have anything, Mr. Bennett. My side of tl contract is blank. My parents died and I have no other relatives except for my sister… She never wanted this kind of life so she gave up her rights to our business long ago and left the country… while I had no choice but to stick to my parent’s legacy. Someone had to protect what was left by them.”
‘She has a sister? How come I never heard about her?‘ Liam tried to remember all that he ever learned about Amelie Ashford but no one ever mentioned that she had a sister. Did she really “leave“? For good?
He tried to get back to the current topic at hand by shaking his head, “But I don’t understand–”
Amelie cut him off in a somewhat rude manner.
“Yes, no one can understand my position. JFC now solely b longs to Richard. I am only able to hold my shares because I’m his wife. If I divorce him, I will lose everything. My share of the business; my charity work, all the sponsorship I do, and even my mother’s hotel… I won’t be able to do anything I’m so used to doing. I will lose things that have value for me. And…” Property © of NôvelDrama.Org.
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She paused because she felt that if she were to continue, her voice would break and Liam would know how she really felt. Liam understood everything
nonetheless.
Amelie forced a smile to fight back the tears that were about to choke her and said quietly, “This is my life, Mr. Bennett. I am Richard’s wife, this is all I am. If I divorce him… I’m afraid my life will lose all its meaning in addition to all the material things I’m entitled to. No matter what happens, I will be the only loser.”
Liam felt his heart beating faster and it made it seem like all his insides were shaking in a very unpleasant
rhythm.
How could she say something like that? How could she see no value in her life past what was forced on her by the circumstances? He was annoyed. Not with Amelie but with everything and everyone else. And with
himself the most.
He fastened his steps to get ahead of Amelie, then turned around and stopped abruptly which surprised Mrs. Ashford. She recoiled but Liam took another step forward to close the distance between them and said
in a very serious voice,
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“I don’t agree that your life won’t have any meaning anymore, but… If being someone’s wife is what you want, how about you just become someone else’s wife instead?”
Amelie widened her eyes and parted her lips. She
thought she was already getting used to his strange remarks, but he still managed to find new ways to surprise her.
“What?” She could only force one word out of her
mouth.
Liam, too, raised his eyebrows. He was taken aback by his own words; he couldn’t believe he actually said them out loud. What was he thinking? But now, there was no going back. He needed to say something. Anything.
He opened his mouth, still unsure of what to say but was saved by a phone notification that struck between them like lightning, jolting them further apart.
T
Amelie took her phone from the pocket of her jacket and tapped the screen, her face becoming somewhat relieved.
“I am very sorry, Mr. Bennett, but I need to get back to
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my office. Please enjoy the rest of your walk and do let me know if you need anything.”
Liam didn’t say anything, only offering her a brief nod and Amelie was grateful for that. She left him as if she were running away from fire which made Liam a little
hurt. @
He watched her disappear behind the tall flower bushes of the garden, then sighed, looked down at Captain Pantaloons, and said in a quiet, regretful tone,
“Well, it wasn’t necessarily a fruitless effort. At least now I’m entirely sure of what I need to do to get what
I want.”