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“I want to ask you about my mother,” she said, nibbling on her lip.
“Tess!”
“What do you have to lose? I’m going to be a mother. The least you can do is tell me about her. Please.”
She heard him sigh over the line. “The truth is I don’t know much about her, Tess. I know her family were gone. She told me that. She was a woman I met while travelling. I fell in love with her. She got pregnant, and then she gave birth to you. After some fight with the courts and proving I was your father, they gave you to me rather than letting you become a ward of the state.”
“Where is she? Didn’t she want me?” she asked.
“Bessie wanted you. We were both going to make a life together. We got married in a cheap reception abroad, and when we moved back here we were going to have the big ceremony. She got pregnant while we were touring around Europe, and we decided to stay for as long as we could. Nine months soon passed, and we were travelling back home when her waters broke. You were born in the back of a car. I didn’t know what to do. I hadn’t witnessed any births or anything. I saved you, but your mother didn’t make it to the hospital.”
Tess heard his tears over the line. “She’s dead?”
“She died the night you were born. Bessie had no other family, which is why I got you so easily. I couldn’t bring myself to tell you. Everything about her hurts to remember. That’s what I was spending the money on, Tess. I wanted to forget. I didn’t care how. When I was using that money and gambling it away, I got a short time of forgetting. There is no one to remember her. I’m the only one who did.”
“You must hate me,” she said.
“I never hated you, Tess. I’ve not been the best father to you. It hurt too much to look at you. I hope you find happiness, and I know you’ll make a wonderful mother.”
“Where?” she asked.
“What?”
“Where is she buried?”
She took down all the details then hung up the phone. Sadness consumed her but also peace. Her mother did want her. She felt better for knowing what her father had kept to himself for so long.
The doorbell chimed. She closed her down her computer to go and answer the door. A beautiful slender woman with large breasts and a tiny waist stood on the other side. Tess saw the nastiness on the woman’s face.
“You’re Tess. Duncan’s wife?”
Tess nodded. “Who are you?”
“What? Didn’t he mention the woman he’d been fucking prior to you? Can I come in?” Before she got chance to argue the woman brushed past her and walked into the sitting room. Tess followed her feeling like a stranger in her own home.
“I don’t know who you are?”
“I’m Yvonne. I helped Duncan design this house. Beautiful, isn’t it? You could say our relationship was much more physical than work.”
“You’re the interior designer he slept with?”
“So Duncan has mentioned me?”
Tess knew she could handle this woman two ways. She could allow her to make demands that left her feeling small, or she could fight for Duncan. She knew him better than this woman.
“No, he hasn’t mentioned you at all. I knew he wasn’t a saint when I married him. You’re proof he wasn’t. I take it you’re here to smear his name?” Tess asked.
Yvonne looked surprised.
“Maybe I should save you your voice. Duncan didn’t mention you. We’re expecting a baby together, and there is nothing you can say to change that,” Tess said.
“You really think that?”
“I know who Duncan is. You didn’t get the man. All you got was what he wanted you to have.” Tess stood up. She felt the fight rise inside her.
“You mean nothing to Duncan. He’s a businessman, and all you are is the person he needed to put the pieces together.”
“I have no idea what you mean. He loves me,” Tess said.
“Does he? I’ve not heard him say those words ever since I’ve known him.”
“Tess!”
She jumped at the sound of the front door crashing open and Duncan’s scream of her name. He came into the sitting room glaring at Yvonne. “What the fuck are you doing here?” he asked.
“I’ve come to meet the woman you chose over me.”
He turned to Tess cupping her cheeks with both of his hands. “Are you all right?” he asked. Tess nodded.
“I take it you haven’t told her of the need to marry in your father’s will?” Yvonne asked.
“What?” Tess kept her gaze on Duncan, but the other woman’s words penetrated her mind.
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll tell you everything. Don’t listen to her.”
“You’re pregnant, right? Stage two of the master plan.”
“What?”
“Duncan needed to marry to claim his father’s estate. For as long as I’ve known him he’s been trying to ruin Miranda. The evil stepmother who ruined his parents’ marriage. His father passed leaving him a fortune which he could only collect by, A, being married and B, having a child. He doesn’t love you, Tess. He’s used you to get what he wants.” Yvonne came closer, her spite following her.
“Is this true?” Tess asked him.
He’d not taken his hands off her. “I’ve got so much to tell you. I told you I wasn’t a saint. Please, Tess. Trust me.”
Tess stared at him. Her heart pounded inside her chest. She gazed into his dark eyes and saw the pleading look he was sending to her. How many people had walked away from him? Her own mother was dead, and her father couldn’t be around her. The only person to care for her was this man in front of her.
“I love you,” he said.
“What?”
“I’ve never spoken the words before in my life. I love you, Tess. Please, let me get rid of her, and I swear I’ll tell you everything.”
“You love me?”
“With all my heart.” He placed her palm over his heart. “Please, believe in me.”
She stared at her hand lying on his chest. His heart was beating rapidly against his palm. “I love you, too.” Tears filled her eyes as she looked at him.
He slammed his lips down on hers. “I promise you won’t regret this. I’ll be right back.”
She watched him walk away grabbing Yvonne roughly by the arm then dragging her out. The man in his place looked menacing. She heard shouting then the door slam.
He must have kicked the wall because she heard him curse. She sat down on the couch, her tummy turning. She pressed a hand to her stomach to try to ease the sickness. It was too much excitement. Tess ran out of the room then up the stairs. She knew she was going to be sick.
“Tess, look out,” Duncan shouted. She didn’t see the pulled up carpet on her way. Her feet missed the next step.
Her scream filled every part of the house like a deafening sound. Her hand on the banister lost its grip. She couldn’t keep herself up.
Tess felt the each of the stairs as she fell down. The world went black as her world stopped moving.
His screams were the only sound she heard.
****
Duncan dialled for an ambulance. Gerald and Grace walked in the door. The smiles on the elderly couple’s faces went immediately when they saw his tears.
“She’s fallen.”
Grace rushed over placing her fingers to Tess’s neck. “There is a pulse.”
“An ambulance is on its way. She’s not waking up, Grace.”
“She’ll be fine, Duncan. Have faith.”
“She’s pregnant. I messed up, Grace.” Tears poured down his face. The pain inside him was driving him crazy.
Ten minutes later the ambulance pulled up. Tess was beginning to come round. Moans poured from her mouth. They bundled her up in the ambulance. Duncan followed with Grace and Gerald travelling behind. He held her hand while the paramedics ran tests. When she got to the hospital, the doctor asked for details then followed his wife into the room.
Duncan sat in the waiting room as they finished with his wife. Grace and Gerald sat with him.
“Well, I never thought I’d come back to this excitement. You’re certainly keeping the passion in your life,” Grace said.
“I’m an idiot. I married for revenge and fell in love. If anything happens to Tess I’ll never forgive myself,” he said.
“There was no blood, Duncan. Don’t beat yourself up. We’ve all made mistakes.” Gerald tapped him on the shoulder.
An hour later the doctor came out looking at a chart. “Are you Tess’s husband?”
“Yes.”
“She’s asking for you. There is nothing wrong with your wife other than a headache and slight damage to her pride.”
“What about the baby?” Duncan asked feeling relieved about the health of his woman.
