Chapter 3
Daisy Peonia Mary Parker
Silver River, South Mississippi, USA
Twelve years ago
It was a warm evening. I looked at the young man beside me, much taller than I was, dressed in a dark blue three-piece suit that perfectly matched my beaded dress.
Lester looked handsome in any situation, but under the fairy lights scattered across the ballroom ceiling and so elegantly dressed, he looked like he had stepped out of a fairy tale.
We kept moving. Katy Perry's Teenage Dream was playing at that moment, and I found myself blushing, ignoring all the stares and snide laughter as we passed.
It was Prom Night. I wasn't going to let anyone ruin it for us. “I can't believe you brought the pig to prom, Fury...” I heard a voice snort and turned with a roll of my eyes. Of course, it was Hunter and his little friends, and... a blonde chick clinging to his arm.
My eyes widened. Why the hell was Jennifer clinging to his arm? Where the hell was Olivia?
I shook my head. I didn't want to know.
“I only see one pig here, and that's you,” Lester growled. His body tensed, and I realized things could end up very badly.
I gently pulled him by the arm, away from Hunter and his friends, who were spitting out nasty remarks.
We stopped at the edge of the dance floor.
Lester began to relax to the sound of the music, dancing with me.
At one point, the dance floor became so crowded that it was difficult to tell who was who or hear anything over the music.
Lester locked his perfect, wonderful blue eyes on me and peppered my face with tender kisses.
The most beautiful guy in the universe was my boyfriend, I felt beautiful, and the music was great. The night couldn't have been more perfect.
We danced some more, drank punch, and ate some appetizers while we talked excitedly about our future. We both wanted to go to Ole Miss. We would study there, and after we graduated, we planned on moving to New York for a while. Enjoy the big city.
Then, once we had our lives organized, Lester wanted us to move to Wyoming, to his father's ranch, which I agreed to.
I'd met Conrad Fury, Lester's father, late last year, when he visited his son in November.
Like my father, Conrad had served in the military.
He was a somewhat rough, bitter man who seemed to be running from a thousand demons, but he loved his son deeply and had treated me with such kindness and respect it warmed my heart.
But to tell the truth, I couldn't complain about Lester's mother either.
Although austere, Senator Jones always welcomed me in a friendly manner.
It's always nice when the parents of the people we love approve of us.
We returned to the dance floor shortly after ten o'clock at night. We were slow dancing when all of a sudden, liquid flew through the air a few feet away from us and Hunter began flapping his arms.
Olivia.
“What's wrong, Flower Girl?” Lester asked, turning to follow my gaze. Olivia was drenched in punch, her hands clenched into fists at her sides and face contorted with tears.
The beautiful white dress, covered in rhinestones, was stained. “That guy never stops being a jerk, does he?” Lester growled, pulling me under his protective arm. “Weren’t they dating last week?”
“Yeah…” I replied, watching Olivia rush off toward the restroom. “Looks like he decided to make a change.”
“Well, it shouldn't be news to her.”
“No...” I whispered, still staring at the point where I'd seen Olivia disappear. I was almost certain that Hunter had cheated on her. Worse. Jennifer had cheated on her, after all, they'd been best friends since kindergarten.
How do you get over being betrayed by your best friend?
“Flower Girl...” Lester muttered, and I jumped, looking at him immediately. He had a scowl on his face. “No... She’s always been an idiot to you."
“I know, I know... But...” I gulped. “I just feel bad for her...”
Lester sighed and shook his head in disbelief, pulling away and waving his arm in the direction we had seen Olivia disappear.
“If you take too long, I’ll come look for you,” he grumbled.
I smiled, standing on tiptoe to give him a kiss on the cheek.
“It'll only take two minutes. I just want to make sure she survives...”
It didn't take me long to reach the bathroom or to hear the despairing wails coming from one of the stalls. Standing in front of the door from which the sound was coming, I hesitated, remembering all the times Olivia had made fun of me.
Was I going crazy?
Nevertheless, I knocked.
“Olivia...? Do you need anything?” The words came out stammering.
The cries were interrupted by sobs, and the cubicle door opened, revealing an Olivia with her makeup running down the face. Instead of sadness, however, her expression was filled with rage.
“You came to get revenge, didn't you, Parker?” I wasn't going to answer her. I backed up until my back was against the sinks. “You came to laugh at me, didn't you?! Dumped at the prom! Betrayed by my boyfriend and best friend!”
In any other situation, I would have bolted out of there.
Not that Olivia was my biggest bully. She made fun of me whenever she was with her boyfriend and friends, but to be honest, most of the time she would leave me alone, and if we passed each other in the hallway, she would just ignore me.
Still, she was Hunter's girlfriend, or used to be.
Had she spoken that way to me last week, I wouldn't have tested my luck.
However, not only she was no longer that jerk's girlfriend, she was also having a night you wouldn't wish upon your worst enemy.
Besides, I could tell that her words were not meant to be an argument, but something quite different.
Between gasps and tearful sniffles, Olivia seemed to be pouring her heart out, so all I did was watch her.
She opened her arms wide. “Look at me, Parker!
Now I'm the pig! My dress is ruined, my reputation is shattered, and I don't even have any friends anymore! OH! Wait! Add this to your revenge too...” She laughed as she cried, burying her hands in her black hair, messing it up.
“I had an abortion this morning. Because Mommy and Daddy dearest couldn't bear to have a daughter who was a single mother! They ripped the child from my womb, put me in this dress, and told me to fulfill my duty as the perfect daughter!”
My eyes widened, struggling to digest the information. “Olivia, I—”
“YOU'RE HAPPY!” She yelled and lunged at me.
I thought she was going to hit me, but instead she just brought her face close to mine.
"You're so fucking happy, Parker. Because I always made fun of you, you fat piece of shit.
I loved seeing you cowering in that hallway.
But at the end of the day, you're the one who's going to have a perfect life with the perfect guy.
No one ever cheated on you, no one ever lied to you, you never had to have an abortion, and I doubt you could even fit two fingers inside that fat pussy.
" She whispered like a hissing snake, but tears continued to fall thickly from her eyes.
“I... I'm sorry, Olivia. Really...” I murmured, and we stared at each other, too close for comfort.
At first, Olivia glared at me with some kind of hatred, as if she wanted to punch me, but then suddenly her expression softened and a cry of despair emerged from her chest, as if she was some lost child.
Before I could stop her, she clung to me in a tight hug, sobbing on my shoulder. “They were making fun of me...” she sobbed, her body shaking. “They were making fun of my baby. I wanted that baby so badly...” Something inside me broke.
I knew that the last thing I should feel for Olivia was sympathy.
For years, she had made my life an absolute nightmare, going along with her boyfriend's cruelty, but.
.. how could any girl or woman remain indifferent to what she was telling me?
“I deserve this, Parker. For everything I said to you, now I'm paying... God has punished me.”
Raising my hand, I patted her gently on the back. “No, Olivia. God doesn't punish anyone. You're just paying for the cruelty of others. Hunter, Jennifer...”
“My parents.” She gasped, trying to catch her breath and pulling away from me.
Her gaze met mine and I recognized the pain in her eyes.
I had the same look when my father died.
"I tried to hide the pregnancy, you know?
But Hunter told my parents I was already fourteen weeks along and he couldn't have his life ruined because of ‘it’.
.. My parents dragged me to the clinic this morning and forced me to have the procedure.
Then they told me to shower, pull myself together, and come to the prom.
There was no one there for me, no one. No one cared about what happened, and they even made fun of me, as if my baby wasn't worth anything.
But to me, it was worth something. I already loved them, you know? “
I swallowed hard. ”Is that... even legal...?“
She scoffed. ”My dad's a doctor, Parker, and Hunter's the mayor's son. Even if it's not legal, it is now."
I shifted uncomfortably at the idea that powerful people could get away with even the most heinous crimes.
Olivia burst into tears again. I watched as she staggered to the wall on my right and sank to the floor. I never thought I'd see her so vulnerable, and I didn't like it.
“What was their name?” The question came out without thinking.
She looked startled. “Who?”
“Your baby…” I explained timidly. “What name were you going to give them, I mean.”
She smiled painfully. “Bella. It was a girl.”
I sat down next to Olivia with difficulty, struggling with the mermaid shape of my dress.
“I want to die, Parker.” That admission made my eyes widened and I immediately placed a hand on hers. “I want to die so much.”
I remembered Aunt Lizzie's words years ago, at my Papa's funeral.
“Bella is listening to you.” I said firmly, and Olivia stared at me in horror.
“She's on the other side, listening you say these things and getting desperate seeing her mother suffer. Is that what you want? For her to feel guilty?” My words might sound harsh, or seem insane to some, but I hoped they would have the desired effect.
“I failed her...”
“No. Your parents failed her. Hunter failed her. But you didn't. Because if you had failed her, you wouldn't be here now, on the floor of this bathroom, all snotty in front of Piggy Parker.”
Olivia stood in silence for a few moments, her gaze lost somewhere. There were no more tears in her eyes.
“Bella can't be sad because of me,” she murmured, rubbing her chest.
“No,” I agreed. “Besides, Olivia, life is like a book. We never know what's waiting for us in the next chapter. If we give up, there's no way to know what comes next. You lost Bella, but you might have kids in the future. If you give up now, that won't happen.”
“Do you think I can be a mother?”
I smiled warmly. “You already are,” I said. “Wait for the next chapter, Olivia.”
Again, she fell silent for a few seconds. “Yes, I will,” she replied, standing up and wiping her face with the back of her hands. I got up too, watching her compose herself as best as she could. “Parker?”
“Hmm?”
“Can you forgive me for everything I said and did to you?”
That took my breath away. “I— Of course, Olivia.”
She nodded and started walking toward the door. When she opened it, she looked back over her shoulder at me for a moment. “Thank you.”
A few moments later, I returned to Lester. He looked at me with a puzzled expression, and I scanned the room for Olivia, but she was nowhere to be seen.
I truly hoped she was okay.
“Flower Girl, one more minute and I would have broken into that bathroom.”
“Did you see Olivia walk by?”
He nodded, then immediately turned his gaze to Hunter and Jennifer. “She slapped her friend and stormed out."
I laughed. “Deserved.” I admitted and took his hand, refusing to let that ruin our night. “Shall we dance, cowboy?”
He let himself be led, flashing me a smile.
As we started dancing, the previous song ended and Katy Perry's The One that Got Away began to play.
I locked eyes with him as we danced slowly, close together.
I thanked God for putting Lester in my life and making me realize that my problems were grains of sand compared to others' hardships.
“Flower Girl...” he whispered at that moment, as if reading my mind, leaning his face until it was right next to my ear. “I love you forever, you know that?”
I wrapped my arms around his neck, sniffling tears of happiness. “I love you too, forever,” I whispered, engraving that moment in my heart for eternity. “Of all the chapters of my life, you are the most beautiful, Lester Fury.”