Read From Here to There for Free Online

"I'll go someplace but not there."
     She pursed her lips, apparently trying to think of something more to say, something that would soothe the hurt she'd caused. Before she could find the words, he'd crossed the distance between them and pulled her into his arms. For a moment, he felt her fighting him, pushing against his shirt. Her strength was nothing compared to his. He bent his head angrily claiming her lips for one last kiss, his tongue surging into her now open mouth. For a moment it seemed the kiss was real, but he knew that was as big a farce as the wedding. He released her and pushed her from him.
     "The limousine is waiting," he said tersely as he turned to stare out the window.
     "I really am sorry," she whispered. He could hear the tears in her voice before she ran out the door and out of his life.
     
    #
     
     In the limousine, Helene dried her eyes, only to have more tears fill them. Phillip had surprised her, both with his anger and fierceness, then the fire of his kisses. The last kiss had made her so aware of the hard muscles in his body, the steel beneath the silk shirt. She knew it was true then that she'd never known him at all. For the first time she wondered what forces had shaped him.
     The chauffeur smiled at her in the mirror. "Where to Miss... or I guess it's Mrs. now, isn't it? Although these days everybody's a Ms, I figure to be safe."
     She tried to smile back as she considered her options. She had to face her parents sometime, but how would they feel if she turned up on what was supposed to be her wedding night? Still there was no way to delay the inevitable. Her apartment was sublet. She could take a hotel, but that seemed foolish, and she wasn't at all certain this late on a Saturday in August she could find a room anywhere in the vicinity of Boston.
     "Back to Concord," she said with resignation. Better now than later. Better never than later, but she didn't have that option.
     As the car drew nearer to Concord and her family home, she considered how she would tell her parents. There had to be a better way than how she'd sprung it on Phillip. No, there probably wasn’t. There was no politically correct way to say you'd left your husband before the honeymoon had begun.
     The chauffeur opened the door, his eyes agleam with curiosity. Absently Helene thrust some bills into his hand, even though she knew he'd already been well paid by Phillip. "Thank you," she said, keeping her voice carefully modulated with the tone taught at Porters Boarding School. She smiled as she thought they'd missed one class-- the socially correct manner in which to explain leaving your husband before he became a husband.
     She slid in the front door, ignoring the expression of dismay on the face of Reagan, her parents' butler. She could hear angry voices in the dining room as she made her way down the hall. She wondered sarcastically what her parents found to argue about after the perfect wedding.
     As she entered the room almost silently, at first they didn't see her. "I've given you the best years of my life, Robert," she heard her mother saying. "How dare you do this to me now, on this day of all days!"
     "You've never given anything without getting full measure in return, Florence," her father retorted. "I've given you all the luxuries you could have asked for. I will continue to be sure you are well taken care of; but now it's time for me to find some personal happiness, and I--" He stopped when he saw Helene in the doorway.
     Helene smiled faintly. "Hello."
     "What on earth are you doing back here tonight?" her father asked.
     Her mother raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Did you forget something? Where is Phillip?" she asked, frowning.
     When Helene didn't answer immediately. Her father ran his fingers through his hair and laughed uneasily. "Not good form to leave your groom on your honeymoon," he said with a humorous twist. "Or is he with you?"
     "No, I'm alone."
     The door leading to the kitchen