The Girl He Had To Marry- An Arranged Marriage Story

Chapter Fifteen: Meeting the Therapist

Penny's nightmare last night wasn't quite like her other ones. Before, it would feature her father doing awful things to her, calling her awful names. Her nightmares were often like her old life with her new life sprinkled in.

This dream was different.

Penny was sitting at the edge of a cliff with an ocean below her. She felt the tears streaming down her face, but she wasn't crying or sobbing. She was just sitting in silence as wind wrapped around her. Her red hair was the only part of her body that was freely moving. The rest felt frozen.

She started to hear voices behind her. She looked behind and found herself, laughing and frolicking in a warm sunny field behind her. She watched as the other woman twirled and fell gently into wildflowers. She was smiling the whole time.

Penny, the one watching by the cliff, started move. She stood up slowly, her heels dangling on the edge. She faced the other Penny, who was still smiling. Penny, all of a sudden, felt a jabbing sensation in her heart. A knife stuck clearly out from her chest.

She lost her balance and feel backwards off the cliffs towards the cold water.

She landed with a small splash; her body not big enough to make a huge impact.

Penny lost control of her body again as she sunk lower and lower into the freezing ocean. She tried to breath in, but all she could feel was water rush to her lungs. The water around her started to become tainted red with her own blood. She could feel herself die, slowly...

This time she shot out of bed, gasping for air. Her hands frantically move to her chest as she felt around. There was no knife in her chest and there was no hole. She tried to relax her breathing and laid back down her in bed, not able to sleep the rest of the night.

She had her nightmare on a Friday night and woke up on a Saturday in the middle of November.

Luckily, on the weekend, she had no auditions to blow off. She did feel guilty about them because Danny did work hard to find them for her. However, at this point, she was long past feeling. She was long past just being.

Danny, even over the phone and realizing she never left her room, saw this behavior. He called his sister Aubrey, hoping that in some way she could help. He never had a way with words like she did. He supposes that is why she gets paid so well.

This same exact Saturday, Aubrey wasn't busy with work. So, she drove out to her youngest brother's apartment to check on her new sister-in-law.

Dr. Aubrey Romano-Hill had no problem with the girl. She was sweet, cute, and nice. A little innocent, but maybe just what her brother needed. She didn't quite get to know the girl as well as Danny and Addison, but that's because she didn't have time.

Aubrey was a high profile psychologist. Even though she is new to it all, she is incredibly smart and quick-minded. She became so popular because her childhood best friend was a well-known child show actress. When this friend moved back into the city, Aubrey became her therapist. The actress helped her friend by promoting her to all her colleagues. Soon, she had so many high profile cases coming to see her. Everyone who left her office only had nice words to say.

Outside the office, Aubrey had been quite busy as well. She and her husband, a lawyer named Logan Hill, were trying to get pregnant. After years of trying and a few miscarriages, the doctors gave her the diagnosis of infertile.

Aubrey and Logan were privileged enough to have enough money to invest in in-vitro fertilization and other fertility treatments. Her weekends recently became busy with doctors' appointments and consultation.

Aubrey and Logan have been together for a long time. While they had their ups and down, they are ultimately the third most stable relationship in the family, right after the Romano parents and her older brother Ben and his wife. They couple were high school sweethearts. Well, more like college and high school sweethearts. Logan was actually Quentin's best friend growing up and he always had a crush for his friend's older sister. The two always had a one year differences, and Aubrey couldn't help but seeing Logan as much younger when she was in high school. When Logan was a senior in high school and Aubrey, a freshman in college, she started to see his differently. First of all, he grew and developed a lot, transforming him from a scrawny boy to a muscular young man. Second of all, they bonded of her winter break. Logan was covering his friend's ass this one time. Quentin told his parents he was spending the nights at Logan's, but actually, he was spending it with a girl. Logan wasn't prepared for the Romano's to send his older sister. She discovered the lie and decided not to tell her parents. Instead, she spent the night hanging out with him. For the rest of the winter break, Logan and Aubrey just hung out, until he found the balls to ask her out.