by Mary Peart
She stared at him in abject misery wondering what she could do to take that look of utter hopelessness off his face. He was so good at his job and they could have such a good life together if only he could kick the habit. “How about going to gamblers anonymous?” she asked him.
“Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” his tone was waspish and he plucked the glass down on the glass table in front of him. “I need help now Amanda and if you are not here to suggest something I am going to ask you to leave!”
Chapter 7
They argued about her working and even though the doctor had confirmed that she was two months pregnant and she was definitely anemic and should get some rest. “I am not going to stop working Christopher,” she had told him firmly. “I promise that I will not be traipsing around the place looking at old abandoned buildings or supervise any other projects.”
“If I even see you looking a little bit tired I will be barring your office doors closed.” He told her with steel in his voice and she knew he meant it.
She was in the middle of putting together a report of the bookstore when Amelia buzzed her. “You have a call from someone named Jeremy Sophia.”
Sophia went stock still, her body rigid as she was plunged back into the past and the day she had discovered she was pregnant and rushed over to tell Jeremy they were having a child. She knew he had gone to Australia because Christopher had told her that and had also told her that she had no need to worry about him again. “Thank you Amelia.” She said striving to keep her voice neutral.
“This is Sophia Tang,” she said deliberately using her last name as a warning to him.
“Very clever of you to use your married name as a reminder to me to back off or your big bad husband will come and get me,” he said in an amused drawl and Sophia felt her skin crawl. How on earth she could ever think she could have been in love with him was beyond her.
“What can I do for you Jeremy?” she asked him her voice cool and professional.
“You even sound rich,” he said in admiration. “It’s funny how things turned out for us isn’t it?” he mused. “You end up marrying a billionaire and I am now married to a rich man’s daughter and she is now carrying my brat. Tell me something Sophie: do you ever think what our life would have been like if we had ended up with each other.”
“I try my best not to think about that horrible part of my life,” she told him frostily, her stomach cringing at his reference to his child as a brat. He had not changed and she felt sorry for the poor girl, whoever she was.
“Touché,” he said sardonically. “I am trapped in this godforsaken town darling and it’s all because of you. My wife,” he placed special emphasis on it and not in a good way. “The little darling is as clingy as syrup and I cannot seem to be able to shake her. I am stuck working for daddy and I have been told that I am supposed to do everything to please the little wife or else,” he laughed harshly and the sound grated on Sophia’s already raw nerves. She noticed that he had been talking and had never once mentioned his daughter even to ask how she was doing.
“You have a better life than you deserve Jeremy and I hope you do not mess it up.” She told him coldly.
“You sound very much like your husband,” he said with a sneer. “How is the billionaire by the way?”
“You don’t get to talk about my husband,” she told him in a frosty voice. “You don’t deserve to mention him.”
“So you think he is better than me?” he asked her harshly. “I was the first man for you Sophia so never forget that! I bet it’s burning him up to be having my left over.”
“We do not think about you at all.” She told him sweetly. “When my husband makes love to me I am transported beyond my wildest dreams. What you did to me was something not altogether unpleasant but what Christopher does to me over and over again makes me want and need more. He could teach you so many things.”
He went silent and she could hear his rapid breathing. “You bitch!” he screamed in her ear and hung up.
She sank down in her chair her body shaking. She had promised that she would always tell Christopher everything but she knew she could never tell him the conversation she had just now with Jeremy, not for her own safety but for his.
*****
Jeremy crumpled the paper in his fist and threw it on the floor. He was shaking badly and he knew he had to get it under control before he went out to the show room. The bitch! He banged his fist on the desk, his eyes flashing with anger. How dared she talk to him like that! Who did she think she was? He had been thinking about her so much for the past months and with Sheila getting bigger and less appealing to him sexually, he had started to use her as an outlet for his release. He had been careful not to blurt out her name again but he knew it was just a matter of time. He could not go anywhere without her and he was starting to dislike her very much for the hold she and her damned family had over him.
He had gone to a bar in town one night after telling her he needed a breather and had been thinking of propositioning a hooker who reminded him of Sophia when her father had come in with his loud laugh. He did not think it was a coincident. The man had come over to where he was nursing a solitary drink and had ordered him another.
“Women,” he had said with a guffaw. “Can’t live without them and can’t kill them.” He had turned and given him a direct look. “Unfortunately for you it happens that you are married to my daughter and she is carrying my grandchild so that makes it hell for you. I am going to suggest that you go home to your pregnant wife and screw the living daylights out of her because that’s the only action you are going to be seeing.” He had laughed and clapped him on the back as if they were having a friendly conversation together. He had downed the liquor and went home and satisfied himself in one of the fancy bathrooms in the house, his mind calling up a picture of Sophia.
*****
May 12th dawned cool and clear and sunny with the rays from the sun dispelling the clinging coldness from the day. It was Christine’s third birthday and the sprawling manor was teeming with activities for the huge party her father had insisted on throwing for her. They had told her about the baby two nights ago when they had put her down for bed.
“The baby is in your tummy?” she had asked her mother curiously, staring in that direction as she expected to see the child pop out any minute now.
“Yes darling and that’s where you were when you were growing and getting ready to come out,” Sophia had told her solemnly.
“Are you okay with us having a baby sweetie?” her father asked her anxiously.
“I am going to be bigger than the baby,” she said looking at her dad.
“Yes,” he said in relief. “You are going to be a big sister and will be asked to look out for him or her.”
She frowned and thought for a moment. “When will I see it?”
“It will come out in December.” Sophia told her.
“In time for Christmas?” she asked
“Hopefully,” Christopher told her with a laugh, kissing her on one plump cheek.
“Will you still read me stories Daddy?” she asked anxiously.
“Until I can’t see to read anymore,” he told her gently, touching her cute button like nose.
“Okay,” she said with a pleased grin.
Now she was jumping up and down in excitement as the whole household revolved around her. The bounce about and the trampoline had already arrived and she had been given one of her many gifts early this morning as her father had taken her out of the house, putting on a jacket over her pajamas and took her down to the stables to show her the cute little brown and white pony he had bought for her.
“You bought her a pony?” Sophia had looked at him in resignation. He had bought her so many things she was wondering when Christine was ever going to use any of them.
“She needed one,” he had told her with a grin.
She looked at both of them together now. It was a few minutes to four and the party would be starting s
hortly. Christine was wearing a new red and white polka dot dress and white stockings and her thick black curls had been brushed and put together into a ponytail. She looked adorable and pleased as she jumped up and down in her father’s arms as they made their way outside.
Her mother was already outside with the caterers who had taken out the enormous fairy princess cake and there were balloons everywhere. The people along with their children had started coming in and with a sigh Sophia put the conversation she had had with Jeremy behind her. She was not going to let him spoil her child’s birthday celebration.
*****
“How are you?” Sybil asked him softly. She had closed the bookstore early and felt a pang of sorrow that she was not able to be there with him. Today was the day he was putting his wife into the home and it was tearing him apart and she was not there to help him through it.
“I am doing better than expected,” he told her with a weak smile.
“I am sorry I am not there with you,” she told him, feeling the misery even over the phone. She had excused herself and gone into one of the rooms she used when she spent the night at her daughter’s place. She was wishing she could share him with her daughter, share him with the world.
“I want you to enjoy your granddaughter’s birthday party,” he told her firmly. “Do you think she is going to like the gift I sent?”
“She is going to love it,” Sybil told him gently. She had been so surprised that in spite of what he was going through he had still remembered and still managed to buy a princess book for Christine. “What are you doing now?”
“I am packing up her stuff,” he said hoarsely and she knew he was near to tears. “She has so many things she never threw out and I am not going to either.”
“Matthew,” she cried out softly wanting to just be with him and hold him in her arms.
“It’s okay baby I will get through it and I am sorry for dumping all this on you,” he told her wearily.
“Who else are you going to dump it on?” she chided him gently. “I am here for you no matter what Matthew and I do not want you ever to think that you are a burden to me. I want to be with you every step of the way.”
“Do you know how much I appreciate you?” he said softly, his misery lifting for a few seconds. “You have given me a new lease on life and something to look forward to during the day and I will never take that for granted.”
“I hope not,” she told him teasingly. “I will see you tonight after I leave here.”
“Won’t it be too late?” he asked her anxiously.
“It will never be too late where you are concerned.” She told him softly. “I will be there.”
She hung up the phone and stood there with her eyes closed trying to compose herself before leaving the room.
Sophia had stepped back quickly before she could see her. She had been coming to see her mother for the two of them to go out together when she had heard the tail end of the conversation. Her mother was seeing someone and she had not told her about him.
All through the two hours of the party Sophia kept watching her. She and her mother had shared everything in the past, not everything; a little voice in her head reminded her. She had not shared anything much with her mother since she had been married to Christopher and along with being a wife, a mother and a business woman she had barely found the time to have a serious conversation with her. Was that why she had found someone? Because she was lonely? Sophia wondered and why had she not shared the news with her? What was wrong with him. Her eyes widened as she remembered a piece of the conversation. She had said something about him never being a burden to her. What did that mean?
She laughed at the antics of her daughter and smiled when she blew out the candle with the numeral three and laughed outright when she got some of the frosting on her nose. She even managed to snuggle up to her husband as he put his arms around her as they watched their daughter in the bounce about and later on the trampoline and her delighted squeals along with the rest of the kids as the clown entertained them. She watched her mother at one point go over to the far corner of the yard near a maple tree and watched her avidly as she spoke on the phone, her expression softened. She had definitely met a man and for some reason she had not told her about him.
*****
That night after everything had finished she made her confession. She told him about speaking to Jeremy and wanting to know if he knew that Jeremy was married and expecting a child. “Why did you take his call?” he asked her coldly, his heart beating hard against his ribs. He had called her a few days ago and she was just telling him now?
She looked at him in surprise at his tone. “I don’t know Christopher; I saw no reason not to take his call.” She responded stiffly.
“I don’t want you talking to him,” he said coolly before going into the bathroom to wash his face. She did not wait for him to come from the bathroom but followed him in.
“What do you mean by that?” she demanded. “You think my talking to him is going to automatically cause me to cheat on you?”
“Leave it Sophia,” his eyes caught hers in the large oval mirror. “I don’t want you having anything to do with him.”
“Can’t you at least tell me why?” she asked him hating his highhandedness.
“He is a damn screw up and I don’t want you talking to him!” he slammed his hands against the marble tile of the basin. She stood there staring at his bunched up muscles and without a word she turned and left. Christopher bit off a sigh and taking a deep breath he went after her. She was in bed with her knees drawn up to her chin and looked like a little girl lost.
“I hate what he did to you,” he told her quietly. “I hate that he was the first man for you, the first man that got you pregnant. I know it is unreasonable but I wished I was the only man for you. I know how that sounds and I feel like a damn fool but that’s the way I feel.”
She looked at the powerful man standing at the foot of the huge king sized bed and her heart turned over at how confused and miserable he looked. It could not be easy for him to admit to something like that.
“You are the only man for me,” she told him softly scrambling to the foot of the bed and kneeling before him. “The only man to drive me to such ecstasy, the only man I have ever loved, the only man I will ever love. You do things to me that I have never experienced before and never knew it was possible to experience. I want you to remember that always.” He pulled her against him and held her against his trembling body burying his face into the soft juncture of her neck and breathing in her special flowery scent.
“I am sorry,” he muttered lifting his head and looking at her. “I am a jealous fool and I have hurt you again.”
She used her hands to frame his handsome face. “I never want to talk to him darling but sometimes I fear that he is going to try and take Christine away from us.”
“Let him try,” he said softly, his tone menacing. Sophia shivered unconsciously at the tone and knew that Jeremy was no match whatsoever for this man.
*****
He called Jeremy the next morning. “Hello?” his hateful voice came over the line.
“You have crossed me Matthews and I don’t take kindly to being crossed.” Christopher told him mildly, his voice belying the burning rage going through him.
“Who is this?” Jeremy asked his skin jumping as he recognized the autocratic voice.
“Ah I am deeply wounded that you do not recognize my voice.” Christopher said in dry amusement. “You called my wife sometime last week, do you recognize me now or are you in the habit of calling other men’s wives?”
“Look man I just wanted to see how she was doing,” Jeremy hated the fact that he was sweating profusely.
“Why?”
Jeremy floundered trying to find a good enough reason as to why he would be calling Sophia. “I – er – I just – I am sorry it won’t happen again.”
“I should hope not,” Christopher told him almost kindly. “I have very long reach
Jeremy and I can make your life a living hell. Stay away from my wife and you will be fine. You are all the way in Australia and I am hardly there but if you start to make phone calls to Sophia then I might have to start coming down there personally and keep an eye on you. Do I need to do that?”
“No, no!” Jeremy said hastily, feeling his bowels turning to liquid and his hands shaking badly. “She won’t be hearing from me again.”
“Good I am glad we understand each other.” Christopher told him softly before hanging up the phone.
Jeremy felt the sweat pouring off his skin and he rushed to the bathroom, his meal of pancakes and sausages coming up and into the bowl.
*****
Christopher replaced the phone and looked across the room thoughtfully. He had done his check on Jeremy and knew he was married to Sheila Copeland and that the poor girl was pregnant by him. He even knew what had been served at the wedding. He had kept all of that from Sophia because he never wanted her to be touched by anything to do with Matthews again. He had to admit that when it came to Sophia he was unreasonable and possessive and he did not want her to be hurt in the slightest.
He reached for the phone and made another call. “Merrick, it’s Christopher Tang,” he identified himself as soon as the man answered the phone.
“Tang!” the man responded with his usual boisterous self. “I have not seen you in a ding dong while! Business keeping you busy?”
“Very,” Christopher responded genially. “I understand you have added to the family and you are expecting a grandchild soon.”
“Who has been talking?” Merrick teased. “You got that right my boy. Sheila picked herself a doozy and not one I would have chosen for her but young people? Do they ever know what they want?”
“I know him,” he told the man quietly.
“In what way?” Merrick’s voice had gotten suspicious.
“He used to date my wife,” Christopher told him bluntly, leaving out the part of him dumping her after getting her pregnant. He was not going to used that unless he had to.