CHAPTER 11

       Isabelle found it hard to breathe. Why wasn’t her body listening to her head? Why wasn’t she able to pull away from his lethal embrace? Shawn didn’t love her, he simply wanted to show her that he still had control over her. He wanted to show her that he could snap his fingers and she would fall at his feet. God, how she wanted to abandon herself in his arms and stop hurting... How she wanted him to tell him everything about the baby, to tell him that she can live without him...

“I am pretty sure that you don’t want me as your wife,” Isabelle said in a low tone. “You deserve the Oscar for your interpretation though… You almost got me! This is what I wanted to hear: that you love me, that you will never leave me, that you want me to be yours now and forever... Well, last night I understood that you and I will never have a future together. I have to face the truth as painful as it is... Between us two, I have always been the one who wanted this relationship and the time has come to face the fact that I can't force you to fight for something you don’t believe in, something that your heart doesn’t want.”

“But this is where you are wrong, my love!” he replied calmly, bringing his lips close enough to touch Isabelle's rosy cheek. “This insecurity of yours, these doubts are my fault, because in the past I’d given you reasons not to trust me. My sweet, little Belle, I have proof that now you can trust me; that now you can believe my words. I want you to understand how much I love you, despite your annoying personality,” he added, smiling slowly but without moving his lips away from Isabelle's face.

“I don’t have an annoying personality…” she whispered, totally lost in that moment.

“You do! But I still love you like crazy even if you have this tendency to run away from me...” Shawn continued in the same tone.

“I didn’t run away from you, I let you free. And since we are talking about running, you were the one who went to Danielle, leaving me alone on our wedding night... I guess you walked out of our relationship long before our wedding...”

          Overlooking her weak resistance, Shawn took her hand and pull her slowly towards the couch. The time had come to show her what he had discovered. To finally put to rest all her insecurities about Danielle and their non-existent night of passion.

“You know, I went to see her because I wanted to find out who took those pictures. I wanted to hear from Danielle what she had to say on the matter. And I can say that I finally know the truth, the WHOLE truth, about Danielle, about the night in question. I understood a lot of things about my past relationship with her, things that now make me feel much more relieved about the way I... ended things with her. This information will allow us to live our lives without drama.”

          Isabelle lowered her head and began to rub her arms, feeling like she was sucked in a sea of ​​uneasiness. She didn’t want to look at Shawn... She was still too hurt. But having him so close to her, hearing his voice, was melting her anger, making her too vulnerable.

          She felt the warmth of his body, his strength, and within her, the desire to be wrapped by his arms began to feel even stronger. Isabelle was longing to feel truly loved by him. She really wanted to trust him. As if Shawn could read her thoughts, he smiled sweetly at Isabelle and his lips touched those of her for just a brief moment.

“Baby, our relationship had a rough start,” he said raising her chin and forcing her to look him in the eyes. “And, again, it was because of. Blinded by my absurd anger, I hurt you a lot. I treated you badly. My misconceptions about you put my future with you in danger.”

          Shawn caressed her hand, trying not to get upset with himself for the way he behaved with her on so many occasions, including that day…

“You see, I thought Danielle was the right woman for me. Being with her wasn’t demanding. It wasn’t necessary for me to change my personality. But once I met you, once I felt your light shining on me, that arrogant, rude, impulsive part of me started to slowly vanish. You made me see that respecting people around me, that loving and being loved was a positive thing. That it was the right thing to do. You, my love, you brought me back; you showed me who I really am.”

“Oh, Shawn, I wish I could believe you...” she whispered. “The fact that you hid from me the fact that you slept with her is quite serious. I don't know if I’ll be able to trust you ever again, or to forgive you that easily...”

“Since we’re talking about this…" Shawn said, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket, “I have something to show to you. It’s proof of my innocence. You’ll see why nothing could’ve happened between me and her.”

          He put his cellphone in her hands and played the video.

“See for yourself and then we will continue talking about it... or not...” Shawn added smiling.

          Without saying another word, Shawn got up from the couch, willing to give Isabelle the space she needed to see the video and judge for herself. Isabelle watched everything without flinching and when the video ended, she put the cellphone on the coffee table in front of her and leaned quite stunned against the couch.

          What she just saw was so unexpected, so mind-blowing. The fact that Danielle wasn’t into men, especially into Shawn, put her mind at ease, but those photos Danielle had sent to her were so... real… Why did she do it? What was she expecting from Shawn?

“Wow...” it was all she could say and curled up in a corner of the couch.

“Yes…” he replied.

          Again, Shawn sat down next to her, trying to understand what Isabelle was thinking.

“This is exactly what I said too. I have been with her for almost two years and I never understood the reason for her... coldness towards me. But if I’m being honest, I didn’t care that much... I would say that she played her cards well, because never, in a million years would I have thought that she was a lesbian.”