Hours later at the Angelo house...
"You said you wanted to talk to us." Jonathan stared squarely at his daughter, expecting an apology.
"My dear, let's go easy on her... Remember what your mother said." Agnes stroked her husband's arm while perched beside him on their bed.
Ruby stood in front of them, her heart pounding loudly in her chest at what she was about to say.
She could tell the majority of her extended family, minus her grandmother, were eavesdropping outside her parents' bedroom door. But she couldn't care less.
Everyone was still going to find out the bitter truth in the end.
"Dad..." Ruby began softly, her palms sweating and her voice trembling. "I want to apologise for putting you and Mom in a difficult position after I ran away yesterday. The truth is that I needed space from the whole madness and I'm glad I did."
The crease on Jonathan's face deepened but he didn't interrupt his daughter.
"I understand how important this marriage and our relationship to the Bishops is. That was the only reason why I was willing to go through the wedding even when I discovered Derek was having an affair with Bailey." Ruby swallowed the lump in her throat and moistened her dry lips before continuing.
"But in the end, it is my happiness that matters... That is why, as of this moment, I have decided to move on with my life without Derek in the picture."
"By getting married to a total stranger?" Jonathan countered, his voice rising.
Ruby met her father's angry gaze. "Yes."
Jonathan's fist clenched and his wife quickly intervened.
"My daughter... I know you are hurting. And I understand what Derek did is unacceptable. But you cannot destroy your own life by getting involved with a complete stranger. What if this person is out to hurt you worse than Derek did?"
"That wouldn't happen because we will be signing a contract." Ruby countered, gritting her teeth, as a strong feeling of nausea rose in her throat.
"A contract?!" Jonathan snapped, standing up. "Can you listen to yourself, Ruby? I thought you were smarter than this. As if showing up in my house, kissing a stranger you ran away with isn't bad enough, you threw yourself cheaply at him in a god forsaken marriage, and now you want to sign your death warrant by staying married to him? Over my dead body will I watch my only child destroy her life."
Tears pulled at the corner of Ruby's eyes, but she stood her ground, blinking several times to stifle her emotions.
"Calm down, Joe." Agnes pulled her husband by the arm, forcing him to sit back on the bed. "Our daughter is not that foolish. We trained how well."
Ruby bit down on her lips, her hurt gaze darting between her parents. She sucked in enough air into her lungs before blurting out.
"I'm pregnant."
Jonathan and Agnes froze instantly at their daughter's words, each one of them flickering their alarmed eyes towards her.
"Pregnant!" Joe echoed incredulously.
Agnes widened eyes, strayed to her daughter's flat tummy and back to her flushed face, while slowly processing the information. Then her expression softened as she stood up and moved over to her daughter.
"Oh, Ruby!" She tenderly pulled Ruby into her arms and started stroking her hair. "Now I understand why you were so devastated. You are pregnant with Derek's child and found out he was cheating on you."
Jonathan stared blankly at his daughter, his heart softening towards her until her next words knocked the breath out of his lungs.
"The pregnancy is not for Derek," Ruby admitted and Agnes impulsively pulled away from her as though she had just been stung by a honey bee.
"What did you say?!" Agnes's hands clutched her chest as though she was about to have a cardiac arrest.
Ruby could feel the temperature in the room climbing to the boiling point as sweat trickled down her forehead. "I said the pregnancy is not for Derek." She whispered, this time unable to meet her father's stoned gaze.
"Oh god... Please tell me you're joking, Ruby." Her mother grabbed her by the arm and started shaking her, causing a few drops of tears to escape her eyes. "Please tell me this is an expensive joke. You can't be pregnant with another man's child. Unless...."
Agnes suddenly froze, her eyes widening as she asked. "Have you also been cheating on Derek?"
These words hit Ruby across the face, worse than a fierce slap. Suddenly, she didn't feel nauseous anymore as she faced her mother squarely.
"Cheating!" Ruby snapped, unintentionally raising her voice at her mother. "I have never cheated on Derek, Mom. I've been nothing but loyal to him."
"Then how do you explain this pregnancy?!" Jonathan, who had been silent all this while, roared, his voice causing both Ruby and her mother to flinch.
Wiping the tears streaming down her face angrily, Ruby replied to her father, mirroring his rage. "Seeing Derek and Bailey tangled in our bed made me mad. So I got myself drunk that night and slept with a stranger."
SMACK!
The reverberating sound of a fierce slap filled the room as Agnes's' palm connected with her daughter's face.
"Shut that mouth of yours!" Agnes shrieked at the top of her voice, rage coursing through her veins like an angry viper.
Ruby's hands flew to her stinging cheeks, burning tears falling down her cheeks.
"How dare you?" Agnes raised her hand to hit her daughter again but Jonathan quickly pulled her away. "Do you know what you have done? My only child throwing herself like a harlot at a stranger and getting pregnant? I will become a laughingstock of this entire town. Why don't you just kill me? Go ahead and kill me, Ruby. I'm finished."
"I'm sorry, Mom." Ruby's voice cracked, her whole body trembling with rage, guilt and regret.
"Don't you dare cough out those words to me," Agnes screamed at her before breaking down in tears on her husband's shoulder.
"Now listen very carefully to me, Ruby." Jonathan's voice boomed with authority and anger. "You will go out there, get rid of that bastard in your womb and divorce that crazy lunatic you married. You have between now and Monday evening otherwise...."
Ruby shook her head, dropping her hands by her side and meeting her father's gaze with defiance.
"I'm sorry Dad..." Her voice cracked as she spoke. "I won't kill an innocent child or divorce my husband."
"Then you leave me with no choice." Jonathan's eyes darkened, his voice final as he pointed towards the door. "Get out of my house and don't you ever step foot into this compound until you have done as I've requested."
"Joe..." Agnes looked up to her husband, ready to plead with him, but she was immediately silenced.
"I'm sorry Dad."
"Out before I do something I will regret." Jonathan's voice boomed like a thunderclap.
Ruby's entire body shook with grief as she spared her parents one last broken glance before walking out of the room and out of the only love she ever knew.
Outside her parents' bedroom, her extended family, who were all stunned by what they had heard, tried to talk some sense into her, pleading with her to go back in there and beg her father for mercy.
But Ruby stubbornly ignored them as she hurried into her room, packed a few of her belongings, and headed for the door.
"Ruby!" Mama Diana's voice stopped her cold. "Don't you dare walk out that door."
Ruby froze, her body trembling and her feet glued to the ground as the old woman walked up to her, a look of disappointment in her eyes.
"I won't let you destroy your life over some stranger." Mama Diana placed a gentle hand on her granddaughter's back. "I do not approve of what you've done. But we are family and family do not walk out on each other."
"I'm sorry Grandma, but I'm not going to kill my child or divorce my child's father," Ruby whispered, her vision blurred by her pouring tears.
"Your child's father." Mama Diana muttered under her breath, her eyes widened.
"Forgive me, Grandmama." Ruby dropped her luggage and threw her arms around the old woman, crying her heart out.
"It's going to be okay, my baby." Mama Diana stroked her hair softly, kissing her on the temple. "We all make mistakes. My son is angry now but he will get over his rage." She reluctantly freed Ruby from her arms. "Go and be happy with yourself and your child. Everything will be alright in the end."
"Thank you, grandma." Ruby kissed her grandmother on the forehead before picking up her luggage and walking out the door, where Elena was already waiting by the driveway in a taxi.
The two best friends hugged briefly before Elena helped Ruby put her luggage in the trunk.
As she settled in the back seat and the car began to roll away, Ruby spared her home one last sorrowful glance, her right hand stroking her flat tummy and her heart– shattered beyond repair.