"I don't want to continue this marriage."
Jonathan's eyes looked straight at Eleanor. He didn't look surprised at all, as if he had guessed that it would come out of Eleanor's mouth sooner or later.
"Unfortunately, I still want to continue."
"Isn't marriage between two people? How can a marriage bond work if only one person wants it?" Eleanor replied, not accepting Jonathan's answer.
Jonathan sighed. He looked at the woman's still flat stomach. "You still have the duty to give me an heir, Eleanor."
"Our marriage has been going on for more than half a year and I'm still not pregnant. How much longer are you going to wait? Wouldn't it be better if you found another woman who could give you a child quickly?"
"We will talk again tomorrow night. Now I have to go." Jonathan took his coat that was draped over the chair. But before he could leave, Eleanor's words stopped him.
"I'm sick of this marriage. I want to be free."
Hearing the words laden with despair, Jonathan stood still, but he still did not turn to the woman behind him. "Unfortunately, you can't, because there's a fetus growing in your belly," he said. Then he left Eleanor just like that.
Meanwhile, Eleanor was silent with a million questions in her mind. What did the man actually say? Didn't he say directly that Eleanor was pregnant? But how could that be? She herself didn't know about it. Jonathan was just bluffing, right?
***
A few months earlier
Have you ever imagined being the main character in a Disney fairy tale? From an ordinary girl, meeting a handsome prince on a white horse, to a magnificent fairy tale wedding, luxurious gowns with sparkling embellishments, and living in a magnificent palace?
As a child, Eleanor Caldwell dreamed of having a destiny like the princesses in Disney fairy tales with the supposed "happy ever after" ending. But as she grew older, as life led her through many pitfalls that caused her to fall, stumble, falter, and even drown, Eleanor realized that life like a Disney fairy tale never existed.
Eleanor and millions of others out there have been indoctrinated by sweet stories like Cinderella and other fairy tales when they were young, so people think that happiness is something that can be obtained by all creatures, without exception. It doesn't matter if you're poor, you'll meet a rich prince. It doesn't matter if you're ugly, you'll meet a handsome prince who accepts you for who you are. It doesn't matter if you suffer, you'll meet a prince who will make you happy forever. Ha, it's all nonsense!
Last week, Eleanor received news that she would marry Jonathan Abbe Turner, a man who would inherit the Turnerhail company—a company that produces whiskey and wine of the highest quality in the United States. Eleanor should feel proud and agree to the marriage immediately. Not everyone can become a Turner family in-law. But no, Eleanor didn't feel any pride, she felt... humiliated?
Undeniably, as a child, she once dreamed of being a princess marrying a handsome prince on a white horse. Living happily in a magnificent palace and being served by hundreds of servants. But as she grew older, Eleanor realized that her dreams were just an illusion that would never come true.
Happiness is abstract. Something that may or may not be attained by people. And now, she is increasingly convinced of her thoughts, as her parents come to talk to her, again.
"Are you willing, Ele?"
Pressed by the bitter question in front of her, Eleanor sighed deeply. "My answer remains no," Eleanor replied firmly.
"Ele, can't you help your father just this once?" pleaded Gemma, her mother, with a pleading tone. "You just need to marry Mr. Jonathan and give him offspring. Isn't that an easy task? This opportunity won't come twice."
"And what if I can't even give him offspring?" Eleanor asked skeptically. Her pair of gray eyes stared at her elderly parents, firmly.
Gemma and Chad Caldwell fell silent. "At least, for the time being, our fields are safe, the workers' salaries are there, and we won't be short of fertilizer," Gemma concluded.
Eleanor chuckled bitterly. "In other words, you're selling me off to preserve the Caldwell family assets?"
"It's not like that, Ele ...."
"Why should I be responsible for the damage Dad caused? Isn't Dad the one at fault for being easily deceived by Dad's own trusted person? Why am I the one now being made a sacrifice?" Ele expressed her thoughts that had been wrestling in her head for days. Something she believed would make her parents angry, but Eleanor still wanted to say it.
"ELEANOR!" Gemma snapped angrily, as she expected.
"Stop it, Gemma!" Chad pulled back his wife, who seemed so angry to hear Eleanor's words. Weakly, the man looked at his wife, asking her to stop forcing their only child. "What Eleanor said has some truth to it. I am the one at fault here, I shouldn't have pushed Eleanor into this. Besides, she's our daughter. How could we give our beloved daughter to the Turner family to be a second wife?"
"Then how are we going to pay off your mountainous debts to the Caldwell family?" Gemma asked, staring straight at her husband. "If you're thinking again of selling all our wheat fields, how are we going to live in the future?"
"We won't sell everything, Gemma."
"For years we've been striving to get to this point, Chad! You know, many things we've sacrificed—"
"But I can't sacrifice my daughter, Gemma," Chad interjected. For a moment, the middle-aged man looked at Eleanor. His gaze intense, faded, filled with guilt, yet also with love. Then he redirected his attention to Gemma. "She's more valuable than any field or wealth in this world. I can live poor and start everything from scratch again. But I can't see my daughter living a life that isn't her choice."
"Chad—" Gemma seemed about to say something, but suddenly stopped for some reason. Until, the woman in her early sixties suddenly grabbed her chest tightly, making Chad and Eleanor instantly look at her in concern.
"Gemma, what's wrong?"
Before the two could digest what had just happened to Gemma, she suddenly fainted. Chad panicked. Eleanor was hysterical.
[]