The Marriage Counselor

12. This Is Aftercare.

Samantha

It's only once he leaves the room that she allows herself to feel the flood of emotions. It's the panic that hits her first. Her knees buckle, causing her to sink onto the ground in a crumpled mess of satin fabric. It's like she forgets how to breathe. Her chest constricts and her throat swells up. She wraps her arms around herself tightly in an effort to stop the trembling. She's only felt this level of anxiety on two occasions, and even then, they didn't quite match up to this: her wedding day and the day she found out her father would likely never wake up from his coma.

Her thoughts travel a million miles an hour. I see everything, her father in law warned her. What does that mean? What did he see tonight? He saw Samantha and Henry leave the same room. That doesn't necessarily mean anything, and could easily be explained. As far as the family knows, Henry has been counseling the couple. If Cody were to ask, she reckons she could easily explain it. Oh, I wanted to apologize for not cancelling our Tuesday session within the 48 hour window, I was so wrapped up with planning your birthday with your mother that I completely spaced it. Sure, she can be a convincing liar when she needs to be. But there's no way she can get away with it if Stephen gets to him first. Her husband worships the ground that man walks on. Without a doubt, he would take his father's side.

Before this evening, she was merely wrestling with the fact that she's in love with Henry Good. That if she divorced her husband, she'd have to start all over from nothing. That she'd have to officially give up all hope of keeping her father alive, after years and years of this being her only reason for continuing on in this sham of a marriage. And maybe in the last week, she had started to come to terms with all that. Yes, it was going to be hard but maybe it'd be worth it. Maybe, just maybe she would get the happy ending she's desired for so long, and with Henry of all people in this world.

But now she realizes it's not that simple. It can never be that simple. Not when it comes to these people and this world they live in. Filled with cut throat business tactics and pure greed. There's no way they were ever letting her get off that easy. No one wrongs the Chamber family and gets away with it. They'd much rather see her dead and in the ground than see a divorce that could influence the opinions about the future head of the company.

And what about Henry? What would they do to him? How much does Stephen know? He could know all that he needs to to destroy Henry's career. His life. Who's to say they wouldn't stop at making sure the man saw the same fate as their ex daughter in law? How could she be so selfish as to allow anything like that to happen? It's these thoughts that send her spiraling. She can't go down to that car and drive away with him.

That's not fair either though. What about what happened before Stephen ruined this evening? She can't forget Henry's words. He wants her. He wants this. He's not afraid. Maybe that's all that should matter right now. He wouldn't want her to keep this to herself. He told her all he cares about is her safety. And she's only safe with him. He'll know what to do. He'll know what to say. If he's taught her anything over the past few months, it's that she doesn't have to suffer alone anymore.

"Henry." She whispers, wiping the tears that have fallen from her eyes. She just needs to get out of this room and to the exit. She just needs to stand up and go to her lover.

She quickly rises to her feet, throwing the door open and lifting her dress as she goes down the stairs, nearly tripping over her heels as she skips every other step. It doesn't take long to return to the gathering of people. One of the bands is playing away on stage, people are dancing, others are drinking and chatting. So it should be easy to slip through the crowd undetected.

Without her husband or his family in site, she starts shuffling through the crowd, excusing herself and apologizing, keeping her head down. She can see the main entrance. It's just a few feet away. Finally, she breaks from the crowd of people and climbs down the last set of stairs to the doormen and revolving glass door. It's right as she gets to the main door that she spots Stephen with a circle of businessmen around him. They seem to be stirring away from the main party to smoke cigars. Of course the rules don't apply to people like them.