"I have Eleanora. Where could I possibly go?" She asked, truly surprised thst her leaving was the biggest concern of his.

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beautiful set by mj

Ben frowned deeply. "I... hope you aren't just staying because it would be difficult to leave," he said, with considerable difficulty.

They had been happy. As recently as January, they had been happy. How had things gone so far downhill so quickly?

"I care about you," he said, desperately. "I always have. Even when things were bad."

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MJ made this <3

"We're married, Ben." Melody stated as if that alone was a huge indicator of why she remained in their marriage. Evidently, their situation had been bad for quite some time before their daughter was brought into the world and she hadn't fled then. Why was he so fearful of her disappearing when she had a proven record of remaining?

"There's nowhere for me to go even if I wanted to. My family disowned me, my friends all have lives and families of their own. Even if I wanted to leave you — which is ridiculous, for the record — there is nowhere I could possibly go that Eleanora could remain with me. You would win any case in court." Melody was still stuck on his fear of her leaving, nevermind his claim to care about her.

Caring about her wouldn't involve avoiding difficult conversations for his comfort, nor did it involve allowing her to feel consistently lonely and lost because of her injuries. That he claimed to care so deeply was almost laughable in light of this evening's conversation.

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beautiful set by mj

Having her lay out all the facts like that, so removed from emotion, has making his stomach churn. Her family had disowned her and all her friends were too busy to take her in, and that was why she stayed. She couldn't win in court, and that was why she stayed. They were married, and that was why she stayed.

This was disconcerting because it meant that if she ever found a way around those obstacles, she might leave. And she would take Nora with her. She had shown no indication that she would consider leaving their daughter behind. Ben had made a lot of mistakes in his life, but Nora was the one thing he'd done right. He couldn't risk losing her... and even though the facts as Melody laid them out seemed formidable, she was cunning. If she was unhappy for long enough, she'd find a way to overcome them.

He needed her to be happy again.

They needed another baby.

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MJ made this <3

The silence quickly became too much to bear. Ben obviously feared some past decision she'd made that she had no recollection of, but what was worse was he refused to inform her of what she'd done. Did he not realize she had no financial means of her own? That fleeing and running would mean being positively destitute? Surely, he didn't expect her to whore herself out?

When another minute passed in silence Melody understood the conversation had ended, and so she turned once more and headed back towards her room.

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beautiful set by mj