Catherine

The music instantly stopped and everyone was clearly either startled or aggravated. Either way, it got really quiet, really fast. All that could be heard was the panicked, pitiful voice of the crying woman on the other side of the door.

Daniel looked around at his family in a desperate manner, and then he locked eyes with me. After a few more seconds, he dropped his eyes to the floor and took a deep breath, just before he turned to open the door.

"Don't you dare open that door," his father warned him through clenched teeth, with a serious look in his eyes.

Daniel stopped and looked at his father directly in his soul, with his hand still on the doorknob. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, a woman that I assume is his mother, stepped forward from behind them somewhere and interrupted him.

She was a small woman with sun kissed Irish skin. She was over fifty, but she still had the most beautiful deep auburn hair that you ever did see.

She was dressed in a navy blue, floor length gown, with a bustle. It was accentuated by a high collar and a short train. It was very regal, yet still somehow sexy. She was short, so she chose high heels to level the playing field a little. Nothing about her said that she was joking about a damn thing, yet she seemed to have so much empathy and compassion. It was really quite remarkable.

"Edgar, we don't treat people like that in this house. Just because you have your own heart set on this marriage, doesn't mean that everyone else does as well," she said as she scolded her husband, while waving her finger in his face.

She then turned to Daniel and gave him a big hug.

"Go to her, son. Just remember that we have guests here, so please try to be gentle but don't be too long," the woman said to him sweetly. She then turned to the guests and was about to say something to them, but she never got the chance before Daniel had already opened the door.

Everyone was completely caught off guard when Catherine rushed inside and marched straight up to me. Before I even knew what was happening, she had drawn her hand back and let it fly. SMACK, SMACK, SMACK, SMACK! That's all you could hear echoing through the room as she attacked me with absolutely no remorse at all.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, bitch?!" She shouted at me over and over, as she continued to assault me with everything she had.

I finally got enough of it and I retaliated. I stood straight up over her and it felt like I had unhinged my shoulder as I swung on her, giving me the sensation that my arm was actually longer than normal. I hit her over and over again with my closed fist, taking out every frustration I had in my soul on her.

I hit her in the face so many times that I felt my knuckles split her skin. She was bleeding so bad that my hand began to slip off of her face with every new blow, and my once pink dress was now covered in crimson red.

Daniel finally came back from his shocked state of mind, and he bum rushed me. He dropped his head and he hit me like a linebacker, knocking me on my ass and causing me to lose my breath. Before I knew it, he was on top of me. He drew his fist back and he hit me in the side of my head, in front of God and everyone there.

He didn't quite knock me out, so I could still hear the screams and the shouting from all of the fine men and women who were there to witness this happy new union.

"Are you out of your mind, son?!" I heard Daniel's father yell. That was the last thing that I remember before my head started swimming, I suddenly felt like I was going to puke, and everything went completely black.

What I assumed was a short time later, I came too. My first thought of consciousness was how bad my head hurt. My second thought was, what the fuck just happened here? I tried to raise my head but I couldn't, it just hurt too bad.

"Oh my God, she's waking up, please tell the doctor to hurry!" I heard a woman's voice shouting frantically.

"He's coming ma'am," another woman said in an irritated tone. I recognized her voice immediately. It was that mean ass old maid. 'I really don't like her,' I thought to myself as I became instantly aggravated again.

"Don…Don…don't fffucking touch me!" I managed to get out as I tried hard to regain my sense of self.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," I heard the sweet voice of Daniel's mom say. I felt her slowly stroke my hair. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't because it hurt too bad. I slowly began to remember what had happened to me.

"Is my mom here?" Was all that I could manage to ask. I really just wanted my mom.

"No dear, I'm so sorry. They called and said that they would be late, and not to keep the guests waiting. They should be here soon," Daniel's mother said, as she tried to comfort me as best as she could.

I felt the tears begin to well up in my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front of these people, but I couldn't stop my tears from falling. Daniel's mother noticed, and she began to cry herself.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry," she cried sadly.

"I promise I didn't raise him that way. I have never seen Daniel behave like that. I'm so, so sorry," she cried.

"Now ma'am don't go blaming yourself," the mean maid tried to say without a pinched face. It was kind of amusing to watch. 'Sour ass bitch,' I thought to myself with a chuckle.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. It startled everyone, and caused an irritated response from ol' sour face.

"What is it?!" She shouted rudely at the door, making my head feel as though it was actually going to split half in two again. I winced and the pain as the door slowly opened, and the doctor made his entrance.

"It took you long enough!" Daniel's mother scolded him angrily.

"I'm sorry Madam, but Miss Catherine needed some extensive care. Master Daniel refused to let me leave until she was seen," the exasperated doctor quickly explained.

"What?!" The woman shouted,

"you took care of that slut before you came here for Stella?!" She was completely outraged at this point.

"You tend to Stella, right now, and I'll go deal with this!" She demanded.

"Where in the hell are they?"

"They are in the guest room right next door," the doctor answered.

"I need to be close to both of them," he said as he rubbed his forehead with his thumb and forefinger, indicating his irritation over the whole evening.

"The nerve of my son!" She mumbled as she shuffled across the room, with her full skirt swaying over the floor as she went.

The doctor quickly got to work looking me over and fixing me up, and everyone else made themselves busy as well. It wasn't too long before we all heard a loud commotion coming from next door.

"Mother, you can't possibly be serious!" Daniel yelled.

"Oh, I am more than serious!" His mother shouted back.

"I want this trouble making tramp out of here right now!"

"Where will she go?" He asked his mother loudly,

"she is pregnant with my child and she has been kicked out of her parent's house!" He promptly informed his mother.

"Oh Daniel, you have to be kidding me! I don't care where she goes, there is no guarantee that is even your baby. Now you get her out of here right now! Your behavior tonight was disgraceful! You will go and apologize to Stella right after you get this tramp out of my house!" His mother demanded as she stormed away, slamming the door behind her.

Daniel's mother slammed that door so hard that it made the wall separating the two rooms rattle, even the pictures on the wall shook with fear.

"That's one tough little lady," I heard the doctor say with a slight giggle. He shook his head absentmindedly, with a silly smile plastered on his face, as he shined a little light in my eyes, and he continued to check me over from head to toe.

The next thing we heard was Catherine crying uncontrollably, and then Daniel trying to comfort her.

"It's not fair Daniel!" We could all hear her crying.

"I am having your baby! They have to let us stay!"

I almost felt sorry for her, but then I remembered to feel sorry for myself. This was just getting way out of control.

"I need to see my parents," I suddenly sat up and said frantically, while I looked the room over desperately for a phone.

"No dear, you need to rest," the doctor tried to warn me with concern in his eyes.

"Your parents will be here soon, I would advise you to let your fiancée's family do the talking. The two heads of the families will figure this out. Until then, you really should just rest."

"I want to go home, this is bullshit," I said, just before the good doctor ever so impolitely injected me with some sort of sedative. I tried to say something clever back to him, but my brain had suddenly become mush, and my mouth would simply not comply with my wishes.

The next thing I knew, there was nothing but total darkness. Honestly, I can't lie, I was happy about it. I prayed that I could sleep forever, just before the world disappeared.