Chapter 9 Fourth of July
Annabeth is standing in the middle of the rose garden looking at the sunset over the lake, Dorian walks over her ” Ana? What are you doing here? Is everything ok?”She turns around and smiles when she sees him“Honey, I was just enjoying the tranquillity.” Dorian nodded and stayed behind her. She looked back at the lake, breathing in deeply, then sighing “It’s so peaceful here.” She says, She takes a deep breath once again, then turns around to face you “Darling, have you been feeling alright lately?”
Dorian looked at her “Mh? yeah why?”She looks at him and sighs “Are you sure darling? You just haven't really seemed like yourself the past couple of days.” Dorian looked at her confused and wanting to know his wife’s point of view on that”Mmh? how so” he asked,She walks over to you and holds your hands in hers
“I’m not sure how to describe it, you’ve just seemed stressed out…and distant, almost.” she said looking at her husband’s hands “Mh? maybe the baby is making you extra needy my dear”he said as he kissed her forehead, She scoffs “Nonsense, I’m not acting extra needy.” She says, “Are you feeling sick, darling?” she asked a bit worried “Mh no? Why you ask that dear?” he said sitting next to her She squints her eyes in disbelief “You just seem pale, and tired, are you sure your ok?”Dorian looked at her and chuckled “Dear Im always pale and tired, like my cousin Bella said once “it's the black family’s natural beauty.” She chuckles “You’re right, you’ve always been pale and tired.” She says, brushing your hair out of your face he smiled slightly “my mother will come for dinner”She nods but then her eyes narrow in slight annoyance“Of course, after not seeing you for a while she just *has* to crash our dinner." She said not like it when her mother in law came for dinner “dear, she is not gonna crash anything, she just wants to visit us”She sighs“Let me guess, she is going to talk about how we raise our baby, and her favourite topic, you.” she sighed i n annoyance ”Dear, she is all alone back in England, I’m all she has left and you know it love”She sighs again“I know darling, it’s just that I swear every single time she comes she brings up the same conversation topics over and over again.” Dorian looked at his wife and caressed her hand “Well then, you should ask her something to change the topic or suggest one?”An idea pops into her head and she grins
“I know, I could tell her what we named our little girl.''
Dorian sighed and got up “Dear…its best if I address that topic…”She tilts her head slightly“Why is that?”Dorian looks at her “…Just don’t want her to yell at you…since well…you know we have a girl…and she would be pissed that we haven't had a boy to keep the family name…”She rolls her eyes and laughs slightly“We could just lie and say she is a boy, it’s not like she’d be able to tell the difference Eli is still a baby.”Dorian looked at his wife like if she just suggested the stupidest thing he ever heard “…Dear…belive me.. you dont want to have my mother in her bad side”She scoffs“What’s the worse she could do? Shout and yell at us? Tell us we’re useless? She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Girls can be just as powerful, intelligent, and accomplished as boys.” he pleaded to his wife”…Ana…please” She glares at him and raises an eyebrow“Why? Is there something wrong with having our baby be a girl?” he sighed , She looks at you, her gaze is firm and serious, she clearly isn’t happy
“Darling, I demand to know what your issue is with our baby being a girl.”he sighed and looked at her “I dont have any issues with that love…its just…family things….”She scoffs“Family things? And I thought we were family. Because last time I checked you married me, and I’m the one who had carried this baby” Dorian tried to explain” We are but…lets just say that the Black family is…kind of obssesed with having boys to be the heirs”She is silent for a few moments“…And what does that have to do with us?”he sighed “Because i'm the last Black heir…and…everything depends on me to continue the black name or not”She growls slightly“Who cares about that stupid tradition? Tradition is overrated, and a bunch of bull crap! What do they mean it depends on you? Didnt you have your two brothers? they can continue that?”.
“No..they can’t…”She raises an eyebrow“And why not?”he sighed “Because one of them is dead and the other is disowned”She stays silent for a bit, processing this information“Ok, and that’s why it depends on you?”Dorian was getting frustrated ”Yes…im the last one from my three brothers…since all my cousins are females…”She scoffs“So you’re basically telling me that your whole family is sexist?”he didn’t know ho to answer that”….Its more complicated…”She sighs“Ok, can you please explain it to me? Because I’m starting to think that you think that you would rather have a boy than a girl.”she said, now looking angry at her husband ”Ana please”She scoffs “No, if you really want me to accept this, you have to explain to me why it’s more complicated than just sexism…go on.”she was determinated on getting an answer either Dorian liked or not “…i won't”she looked at him reluctantly“Why the bloody hell not? Do you not want to tell me for some reason?”he tried to search the words to say what he wanted to say”…just don’t want to remember the bullshit i was told growing up….please…i moved to france to be as away as i could be from my family”She tilts her head slightly before sighing“Fine, I won’t make you tell me, but at least tell me you don’t have any problems with the fact that we’re having a girl.”she looked at her husband “Dear, i love that our baby will be a girl, im tired of always having a boy carring the Black family name”She sighs in relief“Thank god, I was beginning to think you were sexist too, I have no problem with you not wanting to share the reason with me, but I really need to know that you don’t have any problems with our baby.”
After that they went back inside, Annabeth went to get their daughter ready for a walk while Dorian when to his office, when the house elf came and gave him a letter, it was from his mother's house elf, his mother and his two cousins (Bellatrix and Narcissa ) were all the family he had left, since his brother Regulus and his father were dead, meanwhile Sirius and his cousin Andromeda got disowned so he only had his other two cousins alongside his uncle and aunt and his mother, so when Dorian saw the letter coming from his mother his heart skipped a beat, scared of opening the letter and see what she had to say.
He opened the letter, and once Dorian read it he let his glass of whiskey fell and broke into milon pieces as it touched the floor, he tried to keep himself up, buthe could feel his legs going numb, his whole body froze as he tried to find his chair to sit down, as Dorian sat down, he looked again at the latter, hopping that what he had read was just a misunderstanding and that it wasn't true, he could feel the tears forming in his eyes but they were incapable of falling down his cheeks, Dorian felt inhuman, wasn't he able to cry after reading something like this…? Did it really affected him to the point were he couldn't even feel anything or let his emotions show?... as Dorian was sat he covered his mouth with his hand and leaned his head back staring at the ceiling as he let a painful scream muffled by his hand, he could feel how his blood went cold and how the black marks started running up and down his body, with his other hand he gripped tightly on the arm of his chair, still with the letter in hand completely wrinkling the letter, his knuckles white due to how hard he was gripping the arm of the chair
"Dear Dorian,I hope this letter finds you well. If you are reading this Its probably because I'm dead.
I'm sorry to have to tell you this in a letter and not telling you sooner, believed me I wished things had gone different, but life was to short for me, I'm sorry for all the pain that me and your father caused during those years, we didn't know better, even I tried to be the best mother ever, but who can I fool...we both know that wasn't true.
Narcissa told me that you had a little girl and that you named her Elizabeth and gave her my name as her second name, that is so sweet of you Dorian, I'm thankful that at least one of my children had been able to keep on and have a family of their own, I'm really proud of you, my sweet prince. I'm sorry I won't be able to see her, but I know that she is in good hands with you as her father and Annabeth as her mother, she is a lucky girl, please make sure to protect her from all the horrible things from our family, she is to young and sweet to know how cruel they can be, I hope you are happy with your wife and child and enjoying your time with them, I'm so sorry that my time had to come so soon my child but, there is nothing you or I can do now.
With sincere love
Your dear mother."
He could feel how his breath was caught in his chest, unable to get out, he let another painful scream this time he didn't bother to cover his mouth, he got up and almost completely destroyed his office.The house elf was horrified as they heard him scream and looked as they saw he destroy the office, they looked horrified as they stepped further into the room. They took a quick glance at the letter that he were gripping “Master, should we…should we notify your wife?”
He sighed as i tried to calm down “No…just tell her that I need to go back to England for a few days…and make sure to arrange my car” he took his cane and walked out of his office heading to his room*
The house elf was still shocked by the event, they knew his master had a temper but not to this extent, they snapped out of their disbelief when he gave the order to have his car arranged to go back to England and the elf gave a quick nod before going to tell his master’s wife that he needed to go back to England, after some time, he came downstairs with a small luggage and the traditional clothes of the Black family which was something that Annabeth never saw him wearing before
She was sat in the lounge reading a book to Elizabeth when Dorian came down, she looked up from the book and looked at him as he came down, and she couldn’t help but frown a bit as she saw the outfit he was now wearing, she frowned a bit more when she saw the little luggage next to him
“Darling, where do you think you’re going? And what on earth are you wearing?”
He didn’t answer and just walked to the car, and looked at the house elf indicating them to tell her that he was going back to England for a few days. She felt worry sink as she saw him disregard her and her question, she looked a bit more concerned when the elf came to tell her that he have to go back to England for a few days. She was speechless as she asked
“What…what’s happened to make you go back to England right now?”
He got in the car and the car started and droves off, she didn’t say anything else as she watched the car drive off, she then turned to the house elf who was still there
“Do you know what is going on? I demand that I get a reasonable explanation, I’m not going to have my husband just tell a vague answer and then leave for a couple of days without even wanting to give me a proper explanation.”
The house elf was silent for a few moment before replying “Unfortunately, Master Dorian doesn’t want to talk about the situation with anyone, he told me to just say that he’d be back in a couple of days.”
***
Dorian walked inside the family house were the most of his family was, specially his two cousins with their husbands/partners and his uncle and aunt were, they were waiting for him since he was the only son that Walburga had left before she died
All his family stared at him when he entered the home, and a few of them gasped and looked at each other as he walked in. Dorian could feel their eyes on him and the way they silently judged him, and he just glared at them. He felt his heart sink when he saw their reactions, it felt as if he had just seen a room full of strangers, family members that would never accept him for what he is, and he knew that this was going to be a very uncomfortable reunion to say the least. He ignored them and just went upstairs to see were his mother laid, he didn’t care if they looked at him like if he was a stranger, after all it had been way to long since he say them, since he went to France to live far away from his family and their macabre and horrible ways of treating people and thinking
He could feel eyes watching him as he walked upstairs, and the judgement he felt from their stares felt heavy. He could hear his cousins’ hushes whispers as he passed by them, his uncle’s angry and disappointed glare could be felt from the staircase alone, and the way his aunt side-eyed him when she saw him was extremely obvious. It was all very evident, that his return would not be welcomed with open arms and excitement, in fact he felt more like an unwelcome guest…
He looked were his mother laid, he felt heater and range but he also felt sadness, he sure didn’t want to stay here in this house but he knew he had to to at least show respect to his mother in her last day on earth. He was silent as he looked at his mother laying there, she was pale and looked so weak, her face was one of peace, and Dorian felt a pang in his heart seeing her in such a state. He took a deep breath as he sat down next to the bed his mother laid upon, and took her cold hand in his, gently squeezing it as he looked at her, a million thoughts running through his mind as a wave of memories came back to him, he sighed and covered her face with the white cloth in a way of respect, and closed the coffin, he went back downstairs and poured himself a glass of whiskey
As he walked back down, the room was quiet, his family members were all staring at him, their eyes filled with judgement, and Dorian just ignored them as he poured himself a drink, he wasn’t in the mood to deal with their bullshit opinions right now he took a sip of his glass, and just waited till the few days that the ceremony lasted and went back home to his wife and daughter.