065:

The cottage was warm, bless her Dad's pea pickin' heart. She unlocked the door and went inside. It had been an extremely long day. The Vegas plane had been stuck on the run way long enough that it missed connections with the plane in Salt Lake that would take her to Kalispell. After more delays, in Salt Lake, when she figured she could have simply asked one of her family member pilots to come and get her, she'd been rerouted to Seattle and then home. It was late, dark, and cold out when she arrived and the main house was full of Aunts and Uncles and Cousins and family members. She'd wanted to avoid all of that for right now, and get to her cottage. Thank Goodness for Daddy remembering her and having it warmed.

The lights were on upstairs too. She hauled the two children up the stairs, along with their diaper bags. It was a struggle, and she was welcoming a bath and bed. She started up the stairs and stopped--- staring in stunned silence as a figure came to the head of the stairs above her.

"Hi." Ryan said.

"Are you kidding? How---?" She stammered, her heart sinking in realized hostility.

"You took a long route. I got John Hendricks to fly me here. After I thought about it I figured you shouldn't go to this thing alone. We should at least keep up appearances until we decide what we're going to do." His blonde good looks were comfortable and familiar, but oh so, confusing right now. Melia started up the stairs again, hoping to just push past him.

"Whatever." She said. A thoughtful gentleman would have helped her, not stood there watching her carrying two screaming children up the stairs by herself. His unconcern for her was flabbergasting.

Ryan moved out of her way as she passed him, and then followed her into her bedroom, as she deposited both babies and their belongings on her big blue comforter. She tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "Are you staying here?" she asked unnecessarily, but for lack of anything else to say.

Ryan leaned against the door jamb. "Yeah, where else would I stay?"

"Well, why keep up appearances?" She took off her shoes and rubbed her aching feet.

"So, you want an annulment? Did you already file for it?" He picked at his teeth nonchalantly.

"No, when did I have time? I hardly expected you to be here, though." She caught Hannah before she rolled off the bed and kissed her until she laughed, and then set her on the floor. She turned to Abby and began to change her pajamas.

"Well, I had to reconsider." He seemed relieved that she hadn't already filed. Why? It was over. He'd already said she would have her annulment, they were little more than friends right now. Not even that.

"What's to reconsider?" She asked, not looking at him, trying very hard not to feel.

"Well, we both have contracts, we both have a public image to keep up."

Melia stopped buttoning and looked up at him with disdain. "You will do better unhitched, you know that. All the teenage girls who swarm after you... they like you better when you're not attached to someone. You know that. It's a complete marketing strategy. There is no public image to keep up when you are married."

"Well, I do get a lot more press by having wild parties and being seen with everybody but you." He leaned against the door.

Melia looked at him again. "Who are you? I don't even know you. I can't believe I'm hearing what I'm hearing. You have no integrity at all."

"I'm the guy you rejected. I'm the guy you cheated on. I'm the guy you humiliated. I'm the guy you loved and committed to. I'm that guy. And I'm royally pissed off."

She sneered. "Still?" Her laugh was forced, and she had to keep her eyes off him so he couldn't see her shock.

He stepped closer now, wanting her full attention, and Melia sat next to Abby and picked her up to cuddle her. She needed to nurse her, but wasn't about to with him right there. Her heart was beating out of her chest, though.

"Yeah, the full force of my rejection of you hasn't yet hit your family. I need you to feel it the way I did. Like when I got home and everybody berated me, made me feel like shit."

Melia couldn't look at him now. "This isn't you I'm hearing. This is some psycho person." She said in disbelief. "You're out of your mind with it. You got your revenge, Rye, and guess what? Jared's dead, he can't feel any of it. All you're doing right now is prolonging the agony. It's such a waste. No. I'll file in the morning, and you can go your merry way. It's over, Rye. You got your wish. I'm feeling pretty rejected right now."

"Really? You want to hit something?"

"You maybe, not anyone else." She shot back.

"You want to cry? I haven't seen you cry."

"No, I'm past that. I don't cry in front of people anyway. Hope that's not your goal, 'cause I don't cry easily. You're going to wait a long time for that one. I'll never cry in front of you."

He turned around with his hands on his hips and then without warning, slammed his fist through her bedroom wall. Abby and Hannah screamed and screamed. He punched the wall again, destroying the dry wall, shattering the wainscoting and the trim. Then he stalked out of the room. Melia retrieved Hannah who had been over by the closet and cuddled both girls to her, hunched over them protectively.

"Get out!" She yelled at him, her heart in her throat. "Get out of my house. We're done! We're beyond done!"

He was back in the doorway again, menacing, and feral. "We're done when I say we're done, bitch. And I say we're going to England to your grandmother's funeral. And in two weeks we're going on a houseboat with Kell and Maille." Her eyes shot up at this, and he laughed. "News to you? Well, like I said, for appearance's sake. We'll play it out. And after that, we're going to your other grandmother's family reunion in New York. And then..." He stated firmly. "Then we'll file for an annulment."

"I'm not doing any of those things." She said icily.

"Oh yeah?" He leaned over her threateningly. "Well, guess what? It's not over, Mia. You want to see something?" He pulled an envelope from his pocket and slipped the contents out, holding each paper up for her to see.

******