Despite not knowing what was to come upon seeing Ben again, a heavy sigh of relief left her as she moved through the hotel hallway. Returning home had been an even greater mistake than eloping was, for all she heard for the past two hours was the carnage she was leaving behind. Dorothy's chances of finding a husband her first season out were greatly diminished. Arthur's business prospects had evaporated into thin air. Not to mention how terribly society would view her now that she was publicly branded as a hussy. By the end of the day, Melody was to be a friendless, jobless, possible divorceé with no family to return to.

Oh, joy.

The conversation with Samuel left her bewildered and furious. For all that man spoke of love, he knew nothing of it. Love wasn't stalking a person's every action to ensure they stayed in line. It didn't allow for two wholly different personas when in the presence of their partner. It was learning to accept and forgive their partner's worst faults. Love was everything her relationship with Samuel wasn't - kind, passionate, good. Even if Ben were to abandon her shortly, Melody was confident she had dodged an unforgivable curse by eloping. Samuel didn't love her, how could he? They had never gotten the chance to know one another.

She unlocked the door to the hotel room not knowing what she was to find on the other side. While Ben also didn't love her and likely never would, he was still her husband for the moment. And her husband had said he would return at some point. Melody made countless wrong decisions last night, the foremost of which was not trusting him. If they were to remain married (and Merlin, she hoped they would), she had to put faith in him. She had to believe he would return when he said he would, that he really had only fled like a thief from the crime to process what she did.

Still, when Melody didn't immediately see him upon entering the room her heart fell to the floor. Placing her faith in the unknown wasn't amongst her strengths. She had always had to know anything and everything there was to know before acting. And yet, here she was - married to a man that wanted her even less than her family did. Melody wiped frustratedly at her cheeks as the leftover tears from the battering she'd just taken escaped her eyes. Ben might still return, and she had to pull herself together before he did. The guilt she harbored was already a vast ocean between them - she had little desire to add to it.