Build And Break novel Chapter 25

John wore the cap again and stood. The turn of discussion was making him uncomfortable. "Maybe they're words better left unspoken, Mrs. Morris."

Angela set a gentle hand on John's forearm. "I'd like to know. I'd like to know what you thought about me, John."

The man knew she won't take no for an answer. He sat back down. "Everyone said he got tired of you, said he was heartless, that he only wanted you as another conquest."

Angela's face turned sad instantly. People saw her as the wife of a business man, as a property of Steven Morris. Like something he could throw out when done with. "And did you agree with them?"

John shook his head. "No, ma'am, I couldn't. I've never forgotten the words Mr. Morris said to me on the way to your wedding church. He told me 'Don't drink too much at my wedding, John. You've got to remember every detail of the most amazing day of my life to remind me.' I never needed to remind him though. He looked at his wedding ring everyday. Even after you left."

That was an insight at Steven that she never expect to hear. Indeed, she did remember their wedding day as the most she'd ever seen Steven smile. And she remembered he told her a hundred times that it was the most amazing day of his life. Just like he had told John. They had been so happy then. She couldn't believe how much things changed in the seven years since.

"I didn't leave him, John." Angela said in a low voice. She played with her fingers nervously. "We're divorced. Steven divorced me four years ago."

Saying those words didn't seem real anymore. It seemed she was Steve's ex-wife on paper only. Her thumb brushed over the golden band on her ring finger. The reminder that she truly was Steven's property.

She had forgotten how serene drawing made her feel. The precision and concentration required engrossed her enough to free her mind from any thoughts. From any thought of the hardest moments in her last four years - finding out she was pregnant just days after divorcing her baby's father, giving birth to Daniel without his father, hearing the diagnoses of Daniel's anemia, the days when she suffered hunger in order to have enough money and food to feed her son, the days when she and Tony had only made little money from their art, her accident with Tony. Of all the struggles in the last years, dealing with Tony's death was the worst. He had left great emptiness in her life. Even if she had Grace and Jimmy, she felt lonely without Tony.

Tony had been the only person she ever consider a friend. Until she had met him, every other person wanted to be her friend because she was a Marshall or because she married to Morris. Tony befriended her because he liked her talent and matched her interests in art. He not once looked at her differently but rather he had increased his eagerness in teaching her more when she confided in him that her husband and father were unaware of her art interest. He wanted her to succeed, to be accepted by her loved ones.

Angela was shading the last of petals when the elevator bell sounded. It was Steven. And he was early from work.

As always, he removed his jacket and tie at the door. "What is this smell?" Steven wrinkled his nose as he approached her. "Wood burning?" He spoke genuinely surprised.