Her Arranged Husband (mmmf)

Chapter 17: The Decision

Evelyn's POV:
Over the next two weeks I started to settle into my new life.

I always ate breakfast and dinner with Zach, Josh, and Asher but other than that my time was mostly spent alone. I read a lot and studied for my permit test which I was pretty sure I was prepared for. Occasionally I played or baked with Elise but other than that each day was mostly the same.

I kept meaning to go back to the barn and ask about possibly taking a riding lesson but I always forgot.

This morning at breakfast Asher had asked me to meet him in his office at 2:00 and it was currently 1:55.

I knew what he was going to talk to me about and I'd been stressing about it since he'd spoken to me this morning.

I didn't want to talk about my parents but I knew it was unavoidable.

I went to his office and knocked on the door.

"Come in." He said through the door.

I walked in and sat down.

"Just give me one second to finish this email" he said without looking away from his screen.

I nodded and waited silently until he was finished.

"So, I assume you know what I want to speak to you about?" He said, looking away from his computer.

I nodded and shifted nervously in my seat.

"Evelyn" Asher said seriously.

I looked up at him but didn't meet his gaze.

"I'm not doing this to make you uncomfortable but it's been long enough that I need to address it." He said.

I nodded. "I know"

"Okay, can you explain to me why you don't want me to call the police and report that your mother is abusive?"

I bit my lip, I thought I had prepared myself for this conversation but actually having it was a different story.

I took a deep breath "If you report my mother, and they believe us that she's abusive, Sadie will be left with just my father"

"Is your father not abusive?" Asher asked.

"He doesn't hit us." I replied. "He doesn't do anything that could be traced back to him. If it's verifiable, like hitting us and leaving marks, he doesn't do it. He's careful."

"What does he do? Clearly you believe Sadie being left with him would be harmful to her. If he won't hit what will he do?" He asked.

I'd thought a lot about how to explain to Asher what my father did but I hadn't come up with a way to explain it simply.

"I don't know how to explain it. I guess...he lets other people punish us. Usually our mother. He's never actually laid a hand on either of us but he's put us in situations that allow other people to. He does it in a way that makes it impossible to blame on him. There's never any evidence that he's behind it."

Asher looked thoughtful but I could tell he didn't really understand.

"I'm sorry, I'm bad at explaining it. It's like he does something that prompts other people to punish us." I tried to explain.