by T L Swan
“So you are all living here?” Margaret asks Bridget.
“Um, yes,” Bridget replies.
Oh god, this looks bad. It must seem like all of my friends are here in LA freeloading off Joshua… well we all are sort of, but it is not by choice.
“Hmm, how nice,” she sneers.
I stand with my back to her at the coffee machine trying to think of a getaway plan and I slowly stir my sugar… actually I need another one. I pile another heaped teaspoon into my coffee and stir it. I will try anything to sweeten this conversation. I walk back and lean my behind on the bench facing the two women. Bridget flicks her eyes to the door and I throw her a filthy look. Don’t even think of leaving me here, bitch.
“Your mother told me that you are engaged,” she replies in monotone.
Oh shit, didn’t Joshua tell her that? Why wouldn’t he tell them? I have been so wrapped up in myself and my family I didn’t even notice. This just gets worse by the minute.
“Yes,” I whisper.
She fakes a smile. “How lovely for you. You must be very happy,” she sneers.
I start to hear my pulse in my ears as my anger starts to grow.
I fake a smile back. “I am.” My eyes hold hers. Bring it on bitch, I’m ready.
Bridget drains her coffee cup and appears uncomfortable.
“What are you doing here?” I ask too sweetly, as once again our eyes lock.
“My son sent his plane to pick me up. We have some things that we need to discuss.” She sits back in her chair. “But you already know that don’t you?” she sneers.
Bridget stands. “Um, I’m just going to…” She points to the door with her thumb.
“Sit back down!” I snap. Bridget drops into her seat immediately and you could hear a pin drop. “And why would I know that?” I ask.
She smiles and widens her eyes animatedly. “Oh there it is, the innocence that Joshua loves. You really should become an actress, Natasha. You’re very good.”
Fury starts to pump through me and my eyes meet Bridget’s.
The moment is broken as the front door opens and closes and I hear Cameron’s voice. “Hey,” he calls. I don’t think I have ever been so relieved to see him in my life.
He throws his keys onto the bench and his eyes flick between the three of us.
“Mother,” he says uncomfortably and he walks over to her and kisses each of her cheeks. By his body language I can tell he’s furious too. This is going to be a bad day all round.
I walk to the kitchen and start to make Joshua a protein shake. I have noticed he is not eating as much. He’s obviously under a lot of stress.
“How was your flight?” Cameron asks.
“Long,” Margaret replies. “You look tired, Cameron. Have you been working too hard?”
Bridget’s and my eyes meet and she smirks. Fucking two women all night long probably is hard work—I wonder if he got paid an overtime allowance.
Joshua walks in and my eyes find him across the room. He’s wearing a three-piece navy suit… his armour, a white shirt and tie, dressed for a business meeting. My heart drops. I don’t want him to have to go through this shit. I smile gently, hoping that he will feel my love across the room.
“Mother,” he says, his voice void of emotion.
“Hello Joshua,” she stammers.
He walks past her to me on the other side of the kitchen and kisses me gently. “Good morning, my lovely Natasha.” He smiles as he brushes the hair from my face.
I melt and feel a wave of emotion pulse through me that only he can arouse.
“I made you a shake,” I whisper as I hand it to him.
“Thank you, very thoughtful.” He takes it from me and takes a sip as his eyes hold mine. He bends and kisses me again, then turns and walks from the room.
“Cameron, can I see you in my office for a moment?” he calls.
Cameron and Margaret both stand. “Not you, Mother. I will call you when I want you.”
He keeps walking and I drop my head. He can be such a cold prick when he wants to be.
I slowly stand. “I’m going upstairs,” I whisper quietly as I look at the ground.
She doesn’t reply and I can’t even lift my head to look at Bridget. What a nightmarish situation. I feel sick to my stomach. I know Margaret has brought this all on herself…but I can’t help but feel sorry for her.
Joshua
I sit at my desk as fury pumps through me. Cameron walks in behind me, shuts the door and flops onto the leather chesterfield lounge.
He holds his hands over his face. “Over this day already. I haven’t even slept yet,” he moans.
“You knew we were meeting with her this morning. Couldn’t you get some sleep for fuck’s sake?” I snap.
He rubs his face. “Something came up that I couldn’t refuse.”
I glare at him. “About that, Natasha saw you with the two girls last night.”
“Oh god,” he sighs.
“Can you just try to tone it down around her. She’s not used to this, Cameron.”
“I know,” he sighs.
“She’s going to be my wife!”
“I fucking get it, shut up. Fuck!” he snaps.
“I don’t want her seeing that shit from her brother-in-law!”
He sighs, lies back and throws the back of his forearm over his face and my phone rings.
“Stanton,” I answer.
“Um, hello Mr Stanton.”
“Yes.”
“This is Matthew from Elders Real Estate.”
I frown. “Yes.”
“I sold you the property Willowvale and you asked me to keep in touch.”
I breathe in. I don’t need this nonsense today.
“Yes, what is it?” I ask as I roll my eyes.
He pauses on the other end. “I may be speaking out of turn here but rumour has it you had a bit of trouble with the ex-property manager, the veterinarian.
I run my tongue over my front teeth in contempt. Who is this prick?
“What about it?” I snap.
“I just thought I should let you know that she is trying to buy the property next door to your farm.”
I sit forward in my seat. “What do you mean?” I ask.
“Apparently she has contacted all of the surrounding properties and offered huge money to buy their properties,” he replies.
“Has she now?” I reply in a monotone as I think.
Cameron frowns at me and I narrow my eyes as I roll my pen on the desk under my fingers while I think.
“Are you there?” he asks.
“Yes, sorry, just thinking. Block the sales,” I reply.
“Um, I don’t have the power,” he replies.
I cut him off. “I will be down for a meeting with you tomorrow but contact all of the properties and let them know if they want to sell I will always top the price.”
“Um.”
“Do it!” I snap. “You will be paid well for the trouble.”
“I just thought you should know sir,” he answers.
“Thank you. I will see you tomorrow afternoon.” I hang up and stand in a rush. “Bitch, what’s she playing at now?”
“Huh?” Cameron frowns.
“Amelie is apparently trying to buy a property next to Willowvale.”
Cameron screws up his face. “Why?”
“To fucking piss me off, that’s why!” I snap.
“Does it really matter?”
“Yes, it matters. I want to live there with Natasha and my kids one day. Natasha will not be running into that bitch on the school run!” I snap as my anger erupts.
He shakes his head. “She’s tapped man… fatal fucking attraction.”
I put my head into my hands on my desk, this is another nightmare that I don’t damn well need. “Don’t say anything to Mother. Let her do the talking,” I sigh.
Cameron nods. “Got it.”
“I want to hear what she has to say before we tell her anything,” I add.
“Yep. Do you want me to get her?” he asks.
I look at him deadpan. “If you must.”
Cameron stands and his eyes search mine. “Promise me that whatever she says won’t change anything between us.”
A lump in my throat forms and I drop my head.
“Promise me, Josh,” he repeats.
I nod, unable to speak.
“And nothing will change with Dad,” he replies.
“He’s not the father of one of us, Cameron.”
“Bullshit! That’s semantics.”
“Is it?” I ask. “Seems like a lot more than that to me.”
“He obviously knows nothing of this,” Cameron sighs.
I nod and my stomach drops. My father is a good man. My anger erupts again. “Go and get her.”
Cameron nods and leaves the room.
Two minutes later my mother walks into the room with Cameron behind her. I am seated at my desk and she sits nervously on the leather chesterfield lounge with Cameron. She adjusts her skirt and folds her legs.
“Joshua, I don’t appreciate your tone when you told me to wait outside. I am your mother and you will show me respect.”
My eyes hold hers and I run my tongue over my front teeth—is she kidding?
“Respect is earned,” I reply.
She scratches her head nervously. “What’s this about?” she asks.
My eyes flick to Cameron. “You tell us,” Cameron replies.
“Stop playing games you two. I did not fly all the way from Australia to play charades. Spit it out!” she demands.
I stand up from my chair and walk around to lean back on my desk and I fold my arms in front of me. “It has come to our attention that we do not have the same blood.”
She swallows nervously. “How?”
I smirk. “Does it matter?”
“To me yes.”
“I had blood tests carried out because I saw Joshua’s chart in hospital. I am unsure if you are aware, I’m a qualified doctor,” Cameron sneers sarcastically.
“Cut the tone!” she snaps.
“Cut the shit!” I yell. “You tell me how in hell we have different blood!”
Her face falls. “Joshua,” she whispers. “I love you.”
I quickly look away from her. I don’t want to hear this.
She stands and walks over to the window. “What did Natasha say about this?”
My eyes meet Cameron’s—here we go. “She has said nothing only that I should talk to you,” I reply in a monotone.
She fakes a smile. “She must be loving this—driving a wedge between me and my boys. It’s what she has always wanted.”
I inhale deeply. I knew she would try and turn this against Natasha.
“This has nothing to do with Natasha, Mother! How dare you bring her into this?” Cameron yells.
My eyes meet his and I silently thank him. He’s with me on this.
“Start talking,” I sneer.
On cue she starts to cry and Cameron covers his face. He can’t stand it when women get upset—he’s just not wired that way.
I stand still watching her, void of emotion.
Cameron stands and goes to her. “Please don’t cry,” he whispers as he pulls her into an embrace. “Tell us what’s going on,” he whispers.
“It’s terrible. This whole situation is just terrible,” she sobs into Cameron’s shoulder.
I sit for five minutes while she gets herself together and finally she takes a seat on the lounge and Cameron sits next to her and takes her hand in his. He’s such a soft touch.
“When I was twenty-one and after I had Scott…” she pauses.
“Yes,” he whispers.
“I… it… was a very difficult time for me.”
I should have more empathy for her but I just don’t. I lean on the desk with my arms folded in front of me.
“Your father was away for months at a time and had lost interest in me. I was quite sure he was involved with another woman and his heart was somewhere else.”
My stomach drops.
“Go on,” Cameron whispers.
“I had a friend that would come to the house and check on Scott and me.” Her eyes rise and meet mine. “Don’t hate me, Joshua,” she sobs.
I drop my head.
“His marriage had ended and we relied on each other for support. Your father was away for four months.”
I feel sick to my stomach and my eyes close in pain as I imagine the scenario she is setting.
“After much resistance I fell in love with this man and we began an intimate affair.”
Cameron pulls his hand from hers and she drops her head.
“I thought he loved me. I was going to leave your father for him,” she sobs.
The room is silent except for the sound of her crying.
“How long?” I say in monotone.
“Six weeks,” she whispers.
More silence…She sobs. “I told him of my plans to leave your father, but he was outraged and told me that he didn’t love me and not to be a fool—it was just sex to him.”
I rub my hands through my hair as nausea fills me.
She starts to cry uncontrollably. “I was crushed. I had thrown my marriage vows away on a man who didn’t love me. I ended it immediately.”
She becomes inconsolable and starts to really cry and I can see Cameron’s heart breaking with every tear that she sheds.
“Go on,” I reply.
“When Robert came back he admitted that he had been having an affair and that he wanted to start again. I was so grateful to be given another chance.”
My eyes watch her as my fury starts to reignite.
“We knew we had problems but were determined to work them out for the sake of Scott. We were so young, Joshua. We made mistakes. Both of us, your father and me.”
I stand and go to the window behind my desk and look out onto the pool area. I just want this conversation over.
“Eight weeks later I found out I was pregnant. I had always worn condoms with this man so I knew it couldn’t be his. I was overjoyed. I was being given a second chance with my husband.”
Cameron’s eyes meet mine as my eyes cloud over. We both know what this means. I drop back into my seat as pain starts to fill me. I’m not a Stanton.
“Joshua, remember when you were seventeen and you fell off the horse?” she asks.
I nod through my glassy eyes.
“You cut your leg deeply on the fence and you lost a lot of blood and needed a blood transfusion.”
I nod with my head dropped.
“The doctors came to me and told me that you had a very rare blood type and that there was no physical possibility that you could be your father’s child.”
Cameron stands immediately and comes around behind me and places both of his hands on my shoulders in support.
I’m not a Stanton.
“Joshua, I didn’t know what to do. Your father and I were finally so happy, and we had worked so damn hard to get to that place. How could I break a young boy’s heart, Joshua?”
My broken eyes meet hers.
She sobs as the tears run freely down her face.
I stare at her, unable to speak through the tightening in my chest.
“I didn’t know what to do,” she whispers in a barely recognisable voice.
I keep staring at her.
“What would you have done in that situation?” she yells.
“If I had told you the truth back then I would have messed up your whole life and you were already going off the rails at that point. Remember the partying, the fighting, the women?”
Cameron squeezes my shoulders and I put my hand over his.
“I decided to not say anything. No good could come from that kind of information. Your father loves you, Joshua.”
I drop my face into my hands as the tears start to flow… who am I?
I hear Cameron sob behind me as the deafening silence fills the room.
“
Get out,” I whisper through the lump in my throat.
“Joshua, no,” she cries.
“Don’t tell me no!” I yell as I stand furiously.
“Explain to me how Wilson has the same blood as me!”
Her face drops.
“What?” she whispers.
“Wilson and I are 100% brothers, we have the same blood. You were sleeping with this man for six fucking years. Do not dare insult my intelligence with your lies one moment longer. Are you still sleeping with him now?”
“What?” she whispers again and I can see by the look on her face she didn’t know this previously. “No,” she shakes her head frantically.
“We have the tests. Who is he?” I scream.
“Joshua, calm down,” Cameron whispers.
I pick up a paperweight from my desk and throw it across the room in anger. “I will not fucking calm down. Tell me his name!” I scream.
She starts to shake her head nervously. “Joshua, stop it, you’re scaring me.”
I regain my composure as the angry tears roll down my face.
And she sobs again. “It can’t be,” she whispers.
“Does he know?” My broken eyes meet hers. “Does your husband know that two of his children are not biologically his?”
She shakes her head as her tear-filled eyes silently beg for forgiveness and time stands still.
“Please don’t tell him,” she whispers.
I stand. I can’t be here any longer. “You have seven days to tell him or I will.”
“Joshua, no,” she cries.
“I want the name of my biological father in an email with contact details.”
“Joshua, no,” she cries. “Please… Joshua.” She goes to grab me but I push her away.
I stand still. I have never been so angry, so hurt. “Get out of my house and get out of my life. I’m done.” I leave the room in a rush.
Natasha
I sit quietly alone in the party room with the door just slightly ajar. Joshua’s office is diagonally across and three doors down the hall. I have cleared the house from everyone. The girls have gone to Adrian’s for the day, I have given Birgetta the day off, and the guards are out the back in their office. The only voice I can hear raised is Joshua’s. Ten minutes ago something hit the wall with a thud… god knows what that was. What the hell is going on in there? I sit silently waiting, wondering what I am going to say to him… them, when they emerge. A deep lead ball sits in my stomach. I have seen people at work for this very matter but when it’s your own family it’s completely different. The door slams and I hold my breath and close my eyes. Here we go. I sit for ten minutes as I watch the gap through the door. Joshua hasn’t come down the hall so he must be still in his office and then finally I hear the door open and hear Cameron’s and Margaret’s voices.