"Don't be forced to do anything. Be a force to do something." Adebisi Matthew Adewale 

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XXXIII.

Both Perrie and Joe turned immediately towards the suddenly open door, and both released a gasp as they saw the menacing stature of John Parish standing at the threshold.

Joe was immediately immobile, frozen, as he stared at his father while simultaneously lying with a very unchaperoned Perrie straddling him. But mere moments later, he seemed to regain some of his composure, and he immediately shuffled Perrie off of him. She stumbled, through no fault of Joe's, as she was as equally stunned to have been happened upon in so compromising a position. The moment Perrie was on the floor, Joe crouched in front of her, placing himself between her and his father.

"I came to demand you make haste, but I see that you have already found yourself a whore to bed." John's voice was utterly venomous, low and calculating.

A hiss escaped Joe's mouth at the insinuation, and he spat back, "Do not speak of her in that way."

"In what way? It is the truth of what people will say. What other word would one use to describe a girl dressed as such in a man's chamber at this time of night?" challenged John.

Joe saw the threat, the taunt, in his father's eyes, and it reminded him of his curiosities as to what had transpired between his father and Perrie earlier. But he did not have to wonder long. Perrie would not be protected. She believed she did not need protecting, and the launched herself out from behind Joe's body, stomping towards the viscount with an ire that could only be hers.

"Did you just threaten me?" Perrie fumed. She stood a foot shorter than Joe's father, but she showed no sign of intimidation.

John's eye twitched as he glared down at Perrie. The look alone was enough for Joe to race to Perrie's side. No matter her determination to use her tongue, Joe couldn't stand to watch and do nothing. He had been powerless to protect himself for twenty years. But for her?

"It was not a threat, my lady, it was a fact," John responded coldly. "Look at yourself. An unchaperoned maiden in your state of undress, caught in a rather scandalous position with a man. 'Whore' would be a term of endearment compared to what some might say."

"I came here this evening to make sure that your son was alright. I am not compromised," Perrie growled.

"You were nursing him with your loins, now, were you, my dear?" John tsked pitifully as Joe saw red.

"That is enough!" he shouted furiously, seizing hold of Perrie's arm and pulling her backwards towards him. Perrie stumbled at the force in which Joe grabbed her, and she fell into his chest. The moment she was there, Joe instinctively wrapped his arms around her protectively. Perrie did not struggle from him then. "You have said quite enough, Father!" Joe seethed, his chest rising and falling rapidly as his anger flowed through him.

Fear left him. The memory of being afraid of this man felt entirely foreign to Joe as he listened to his father's vitriol and threats against Perrie's reputation.

"You will not dare to speak to a lady in such a way, with such vulgar suggestions." Lord, Perrie did not know anything, as was the way with unmarried women of her station. Only moments ago, she had revealed the extent of her knowledge, and it only encompassed kissing.

"He would dare, because he is a toad!" Perrie cried from Joe's grasp.

John merely smiled as he heard Perrie's insult. He did not even flinch at the way that Joe had spoken to him, and his lack of reaction resulted in Joe's nerve wavering. "It seems as though you will be the one needing to check her disgusting, little mouth, Joseph," he mused.

"Don't you dare insult her again," Joe warned.

"No, do it!" Perrie insisted. "Insult me! Give me a reason to scratch your beady little eyes out!" It was then that she attempted to pull away from Joe, and he tightened his hold on her. He did not want Perrie anywhere near his father when John was smiling as he was.

John chuckled condescendingly. "How indulged you are, you spoiled, little brat." He shook his head. "I do not trust Joseph to make you subservient, but the moment you are a Parish, I will not hesitate to give him the instruction he needs. Or a demonstration."

"Get out!" Joe roared, commanding his father while a sudden flood of thoughts and fears returned to his mind. He could barely understand that his father meant for Perrie to marry him instead of Ed. All he could hear was the violence that Perrie was being threatened with, and the paralysing fear he held at becoming violent himself.

"I already dared you to strike me once." Perrie spoke with not an ounce of the terror that crippled Joe. She was not afraid at all, and that had to be a clear example of her naivety, despite it being brave. "I will do it again, and I will enjoy watching my father have you escorted to prison. I'm starting to think that you are all mouth and no trousers ... Little John."

Perrie taunted John with the remark that Joe had used teasingly, and it brought bile into his throat.

"I see you are desperate for a beating, little girl. Fear not. You will be beaten good and well, and then you will behave." John's eyes flicked to Joe. "Her reputation is all but a puddle on your bedroom floor. You will marry her. You might have been good for something after all, Joseph."

"My reputation is not a puddle, and I will not be marrying him!" Perrie snapped indignantly.

But Joe could see it in his father's eyes. This was the answer to all his problems. Where previously he had needed to rely on Ed's charms in hope that Perrie would accept his proposal, here John had been handed the precise opportunity to ensure that a marriage took place, and that he got his hands on Perrie's inheritance. If Joe did not marry her, then John would not hesitate to spread Perrie's disgrace to whomever would listen.

"Oh, yes, you will," John countered. "For if you do not accept Joseph's proposal this very minute, I will make sure that every man, woman, and child in this country is aware that you are disgraced. Your family would be ruined. Your sisters would certainly never marry. Your weak, indulgent father might forgive you, but society never would. Your shame would be the downfall of your family."

"You are not going to say a word about this," Joe said firmly, swallowing the bile and dread.

John seemed to spot something out of the corner of his eye, and whatever it was, it made him smile even wider. "I won't have to," he murmured.

Both Joe and Perrie seemed to have the same idea, and they pushed past John to look at whatever it was that he had spotted. At the end of the hallway, the entrance to the servant's staircase was ajar, and a footman was standing in it, candle in hand. His livery was quite dishevelled, as though he was finally retiring for the night, and perhaps he had heard the commotion on his way to bed.

But he stared at the scene before him, and the moment he saw Perrie dressed as the way she was, exiting Joe's bedroom, the footman's expression changed. Perrie's reputation was ruined whether she wanted it to be or not, and Joe knew that there was only one way for her to survive this.

In what had been an act of kindness on Perrie's part, Joe had inevitably taken her life away from her. He had meant to leave. And yet, his selfishness had brought him back to be wherever Perrie was. He loved her, and yet he had not loved her enough to do what was best for her.

And really, his selfishness meant that he did not really love her at all.

Perrie had just said it only a moment ago. She did not want to marry him. And even if she did, even if she could have possibly cared for Joe in that way at all, an unselfish man would not let her. A selfless man would ensure the best for her, ensure that she married a decent man even if it broke his own heart to do so.

But Perrie did not love Joe, and so she should have been able to choose not to marry him as she wanted. He heard her refusal repeat in his head several times over, and though it hurt the selfish man in him to know that Perrie did not care for him romantically, he was devastated that she was now tied to him, and that he had shackled her to an unworthy excuse for a man.

The footman disappeared back inside the stairwell and closed the door, and that little light in the hallway vanished into darkness.

"You will be married," John said from behind them. "Anything else would be simply catastrophic for you and your family, girl." And then John left them both standing in the middle of the hallway, taking the candlelight with him.

Soon, Joe and Perrie were entirely consumed by darkness, and Joe heard a sound from Perrie that broke him. She whimpered. It was the most vulnerable sound he had ever heard from her. Perrie was undoubtedly fierce. She possessed a nerve that he had never seen equalled in any other. But he did not think that he had ever heard Perrie cry so timidly.

"Perrie," Joe whispered softly, but he did not know what to say to her. How could he ever atone for what she was now bound to? How could he ever begin to make up for taking away her life at seventeen years old?

"I didn't do anything wrong," Perrie stressed, her voice thick and panicked, all essence of fire gone. "Papa wouldn't let me see you and I had to come and make certain that you were well and ... oh, Papa," Perrie's voice broke. "Papa will hate me. Mama will hate me. I disappoint her all the time and now I –"

"Your parents will not hate you," Joe assured her firmly. At least he could determine that for her. "Your mother and father love you without condition. That is how it is meant to be. They have already forgiven anything that you could ever do."

As soon as Joe spoke those words, he felt it in his bones that they were true for him as well. Why else would he have tolerated every one of Perrie's attempts on his life over the years? He had already forgiven her for anything that she could do.

"But I don't think!" Perrie cried. "I have never thought of the consequences because I do not think I've ever thought that they applied to me! I ... I ... I act first and I ask forgiveness later, and it has always been alright."

The tears were evident in Perrie's voice and Joe longed to reach out for her, despite the fact that he could not see her exact position. "You think more deeply than anything I have ever known, Perrie," Joe breathed. "You consider and care and you act on what you believe in your heart to be right." Joe would have once agreed completely with Perrie, but he couldn't now. He couldn't classify Perrie as frivolous with the rules when she conveyed as much care as she did. She was brave. Headstrong, foolish at times, but brave.

And this headstrong, brave, remarkable young woman deserved so much more than the man that Joe was.

***

"I'm sorry, you will need to repeat that as I think I just had a stroke."

Adam gaped at Perrie. The grogginess of his countenance had completely vanished in the two minutes since Perrie had woken him and informed him of what had happened in a panicked spiel.

Perrie had not been able to focus on anything other than her family after John Parish had threatened their ruin. She had never cared about her own consequences ever. If ever she did suffer something as a result of one of her choices, she had been able to bear it completely as she was the lone culprit. But never had something that she had done ever threatened the wellbeing of her family, and the very idea of this was unthinkable to Perrie.

"Papa, I didn't mean to, I promise!" Perrie stressed tearfully. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry. You have to believe me! I know I should have listened to you but now I'm frightened, and I don't know what's going to happen and I ..." A loud sob ripped itself from Perrie's throat and she collapsed down onto the floor. "I just wanted to make sure that Joe was safe and now everyone is ruined, and his wicked father says we have to get married."

In her panic, Perrie had run from Joe, leaving him in the dark hallway as she bolted towards her father's bedroom. She had barely heard anything that Joe had said.

Adam exhaled a bitterly disappointed sigh, and Perrie hiccoughed loudly, her chest seizing at the sound. "Oh, Peregrine ..." he mumbled bitterly.

The stress and panic gripped Perrie viciously. She could not fathom the idea of what it meant to be ruined, let alone the consequence being her having to be wed. How could Joe ever tolerate having to marry Perrie if he seemed determined to leave? He wouldn't tolerate it. She was a very easy person to loathe, and Joe was well practised in it.

This was not how or why people got married. One only had to look at her parents to know why people married each other. Her mother and father could not live without one another.

Joe and Perrie wanted to kill the other more often than not. Even if that were not the case, Perrie could not stand to think that such a momentous, life-altering event was being decided for her, for them, by a man who had quickly become someone she detested. Perrie felt helpless and powerless, and these feelings eclipsed all reason.

"Papa, can you help me? Please? Can you fix it?" Perrie begged helplessly. "Joe doesn't want to marry me and I don't want his father –"

"Come here."

Perrie needed no further invitation than her father's soft beckon before she flew to his bedside. She was quickly enveloped in her father's arms, and Perrie felt as though she was a little girl again, and her father could do anything.

Perrie cried into Adam's chest as he rubbed a soothing arm up and down her back. "Not this time, my darling girl. You will need to marry Joe," he uttered. 

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Hope you enjoyed it!! 

Was that dramatic? Do you want more drama? I feel like we need more drama. Well ... FEAR NOT! *laughs in maniacal overlord* 

Ah, my little PB & J (see what I did there hehe), you don't know what's coming for you ... :)

Alright, bedtime. I'm cooked. It's been an emotional day what with Speak Now TV being announced and it being my favourite album and I will be entirely unwell on July 7. Woo. Hoo. 

Vote and comment xxx