The Switch Up(A Liam Payne love story)

Chapter 48

[ELIZABETH'S P.O.V]

‘Do I really have to wear this ancient thing?’, I grumbled as I stood in front of the huge mirror at home.

‘What do you mean ancient?’, asked Mother with a stern look as she pulled at some strings on the wedding dress that I wore.

‘Oh come on Mother! Your whole family has worn this!’, I exclaimed.

‘Elizabeth, it is tradition to wear this’, she said and her tone indicated that that was final.

‘Do you even know who made this?! The Queen’s very own-‘, she started but I cut her off.

‘Royal tailors sew it for your great- great something Grandma’, I finished and she pulled at the corset string which made me gasp.

‘At this rate I’ll be dead before I carry on your so called traditions’, I mumbled.

‘Young lady I do not-‘, but she stopped abruptly and I felt her fingers trace the back of my shoulders and I bit my lip knowing that she had just discovered my tattoo.

‘Elizabeth, what is that?’, she asked slowly.

‘What?’, I asked nervously.

‘This purple feather’, she said and I could tell she was trying to contain herself.

‘It’s a tattoo’, I replied calmly because for some absurd reason I felt rebellious.

‘It’s washable right?’, she asked.

‘If you mean that I can get it wet then yeah’, I mocked.

‘Elizabeth! Is this permanent?’, she asked sternly.

‘Of course it is!’, I exclaimed and turned to face her furious expression.

‘What has gotten into you?!’, she screamed and I flinched at her voice.

‘First you dye your hair and now you have a tattoo?!’, she asked throwing daggers at me with her eyes.

‘What is so wrong about that?!’, I asked furious.

‘It’s not the way you were raised!’, she spat.

‘I don’t think getting a tattoo or dying my hair has anything to do with the way I was raised! All you think is that these all have some stereotypic meaning! The boys all had tattoos and yet-‘

‘Boys? What boys?’, she asked and I mentally faced palmed myself for blurting out my secret.

‘I’m leaving’, I said and gathered up the ridiculous dress so that I wouldn’t trip on myself.

‘Elizabeth come back here this instant’, she ordered but I ignored her and started to open the door. Before I could open it however, someone else came in and I met my Grandma’s loving eyes.

‘I heard some loud voices’, she said and I blushed.

‘Your granddaughter has a tattoo’, said Mother and I rolled my eyes.

‘Yes I know’, she replied calmly and my Mother now hung her mouth low.

‘But-but-‘, she started.

‘If I remember so Charlotte, you had a hippie thing going on with you when Peter first brought you home’, she said and now it was my turn to hang my mouth low.

‘That was ages ago’, said Mother as her face resembled a tomato.

‘That was the same age as Rose here’, said Grandma.

‘Hippie style and tattoos are different’, said Mother rubbing her temples.

‘I think they’re all the same now’, she said and I chortled back a lough.

‘And why on earth does my Rose look like a chicken with pearls?’, she asked scanning my wardrobe.

I grinned at her comment and I heard Mother clear her throat.

‘That was my family tradition’, started Mother.

‘Oh yes, that old thing. I still remember the day you wore that down the aisle. People still talk about this ridiculous dress’, she said and I giggled.

‘She will wear it’, said Mother.

‘Fine, as long as you keep your mouth shut about her hair and skin’, said Grandma and winked at me as she turned to leave but then she halted and said, ‘In this house, we were raised to not raise our voices and I expect to keep it that way’, and then she walked out.

Major mike drop moment

‘Take off the dress and leave’, said Mother and I happily shrugged it off and replaced it with my sweats and tank top.

I had this crazy grin across my face as I walked out of the house and into the fields.

Grandma was never the type to scold anyone and as long as I remembered, she had never ridiculed Mother’s ways of discipline.

I bet she got tired like I had and just decided to let it all out before I was married off.

Married off.

It was more like being sold off.

Now I know how the cattle felt whenever Daddy sold them at the fairs.

‘I thought you were trying on your dress’, interrupted a voice and I turned to find Daddy on  Orange, his favourite mustang.

‘Grandma rescued me’, I said and he chuckled as he stretched out his hand and I grinned as I climbed on.

‘It’s been a while eh?’, he asked as we rode through the fields.

‘Yeah’, I sighed and rested my head on his back.

When I was young, Daddy used to take me riding on Orange every evening and then we’d go to the lake and just sit there talking about the most stupid things ever.

But those were the moments that made up my childhood and without them I would be lost.

‘Daddy’, I said and he hummed back in reply.

‘Do you think I’m ungrateful?’, I asked and that caused him to break Orange into a walk.

‘Whoa’, he said as he steadied him.

‘What do you mean ungrateful?’, he asked stunned.

‘Mother would always talk about how I should be grateful for surviving the fire’, I said and he sighed as he finally pulled him to a stop.

‘Get down’, he said and I climbed down as he did the same as well.

He held Orange by his reigns and then walked towards the lake which I hadn’t noticed.

I watched as he carefully tethered him to a tree and then made his way to the lake.

‘Daddy?’, I asked

‘Ever since you were a little girl Rose, I had always wondered if you really were our daughter’, he said and I looked at him with a straight face.

‘Gee thanks’, I said and he chuckled.

‘It’s just that, your mother and I were such free spirits. You couldn’t tame us’, he said and I stared at him.

‘It’s true, Charlotte was nothing like she is now’, he said.

‘What changed her?’, I asked.

‘The fire’, he replied and I looked at him confused.

‘She started to take life more seriously and just stopped living like there was no tomorrow. It was more like being careful’, he said.


‘And she raised me like that’, I said and he nodded.

‘Don’t you remember how your Mother used to ride with you when you were little?’, he asked and I nodded at the memory.

‘Those were good times’, I said and he nodded.

‘But you asked me if you were ungrateful and the answer is no. You always did what you were told and you never failed to make us proud’, he said and I smiled as he put an arm around me.

‘I failed you now though’, I said.

‘No, I failed you’, he said and for the first time I saw my Daddy cry.

‘Oh Daddy no, you didn’t fail me’, I said and quickly hugged him.

I just couldn’t stand to see him cry because it would only make me turn into a crying mess.

‘I shouldn’t have agreed to the whole proposal from the start’, he said and I wiped away his tears.

‘I’ll be fine. Like you said I’m your daughter, I’ll always have that wild untameable spirit inside’, I said and winked at him which made him laugh.

‘If it makes you feel any better, I would have cancelled the wedding if I had the guts’, I said and he looked at me.

‘What made you dare so?’, he asked.

‘I fell in love Daddy’,  I said slowly and he stared at me.

‘Okay, you’re freaking me out’, I said and he chuckled.

‘No I just couldn’t imagine that you had a boyfriend’, he said.

‘Heeyyyyy’, I whined and he laughed as he pulled me in for a hug.

‘So who is this man that I have to introduce to ol Stevie’, he said and I rolled my eyes.

Ol’ Stevie was Daddy’s prized hunting gun and boy did he love threatening people with it.

‘Daddy, he didn’t break up with me for you to shoot him’, I said.
‘Then why aren’t you with him?’, he asked.

‘I was engaged and it was wrong to lead him on’, I said softly and before I knew it I was crying.

‘Did you love him Rose?’, he asked as he patted my back and I nodded trying to hold the tears but they just wouldn’t t stop.

‘What was he like?’, he asked.

‘Oh Daddy he was perfect! He was kind and understanding! He was incredibly handsome, kinda looked like David Beckham!’, I exclaimed and he laughed.

‘Okay, now I’m curious’, he said and I giggled.

‘His name was Liam, Liam Payne and he’s a member of a world famous and named One Direction. He has the sweetest smile and he’s really open minded. He forgave me for lying to him, he saved me from a fire Daddy’, I said and he smiled at me.

‘He was everything that I had ever dreamed for that it seemed too fairy-tale like when I got to be with him. He knew how to make me smile and the exact words to use to make me melt. I felt safe when I was with him and for once I never felt insecure’, I said and Daddy sighed as he heard me talk about Liam, everything from how he looked like to how he sounded like.

‘He sounds like a good man, Rose’, he commented.

‘And I broke his heart’, I said and he hummed.

‘You know, maybe things might work’, he said.

‘What?’, I asked.

‘If you have this much to talk about him, then I’m pretty sure that he has more than enough to say about you’, he said and I blushed.

‘If he’s a true man who follows his heart, I’m sure he won’t let you get away that easily’, he said and I smiled.

‘I hope so’, I sighed and he smiled as he hugged me.

‘Do you realize that this is the first time we’ve ever had a serious conversation here?’, he asked and I laughed as I nodded.

‘Last time we were here we fought over jelly beans and sour patch kids’, he said.

‘Sour Patch kids’, I said immediately.

‘Jelly beans’, he said and we laughed.

‘I think it’s time we get back, it’s
getting late he said as he pointed to the sun that was sinking into the horizon.

‘Yeah’, I said and he pulled me back up on Orange and we followed the trail back home.

The trail passed by the main road as well and it overlooked the prairie on the other side. It was like a mix of the modern world with the good old country side.

‘I swear if they build any of those fancy sky scrapers, I’ll pack up and leave’, mumbled Daddy and I laughed.

‘They have those everywhere’, I said.

‘Why can’t those people build something that blends with the surroundings?’, he mumbled and then started to rant at engineers and architects.

As we travelled back Daddy suddenly broke Orange into a walk and I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion but before I could ask why I heard very familiar voices.

‘Liam you idiot! It was that turn!’, came a thick accent which was followed by another deep husky voice who said that they were out of gas.

‘What in the world?’, asked Daddy as he stopped Orange and I got off to check with him.

Five lads looked completely lost as they argued over a map while one of them was strumming a guitar as he sat on the hood of a car and another was trying to hypnotize a horse with a carrot.

Oh God, it couldn’t be.

‘Hey look! It’s Elizabeth!’, exclaimed the Irish man on the hood and they all turned to me.