by Ava Walsh
“Just a little encouragement here and there does the job,” Kelly replied.
“Sure does,” Oscar said, smiling at her.
Kelly could tell he wasn’t talking about April, but she chose to keep that to herself. She needed to clear her head of Oscar, and the best way to do that was to head back to her parents’ for a night. After their tryst together she no idea where they stood and whether or not he was just using her as his little plaything until he got bored. She knew she wasn’t his type and that made it even harder for her to imagine their relationship being anything but sexual.
Chapter Six
Kelly returned home the next day to find that April was gone and the usual house staff were also absent. She made her way to her room to get settled and call Oscar, so she could figure out what to do. As she passed the kitchen, she noticed a woman standing in there. She had her back turned to Kelly and she seemed to be looking at something on the kitchen counter. Kelly wasn’t sure what to do, so she opted to clear her throat to get the stranger’s attention. The woman turned around and Kelly was surprised to see that it was Julianna, April’s mother.
“Oh, hi,” Kelly said, walking towards Julianna. She looked surprised to see Kelly standing there.
“Kelly, I presume,” she said.
“Yes,” Kelly replied. “Is Oscar somewhere around here?”
“Oh no, but he called me and told me he wanted me to come back,” Julianna said.
Kelly raised her brow skeptically. From everything she had heard about this woman, she had her doubts that Oscar would ask her to return.
“He did?” Kelly asked.
“Oh, yes. We had a long conversation. I convinced him that I had changed and he told me I could come back home and we could be one happy family again.”
“Well, that’s none of my business,” Kelly said, doing her best not to let her emotions get the best of her. Sure, Oscar had made love to her, but there had been nothing else. He hadn’t called her or texted her, and he hadn’t given her any promises that there would be any future for them. For all she knew, all that had been a momentary lapse for him.
“Where are you going?” Julianna asked.
“I’m going to my room,” Kelly said, turning around to face her once again.
“No, you’re not. You’re leaving. We won’t be needing you anymore, since I’ve returned,” Julianna said.
“Are you serious?” Kelly replied.
“Yes, please leave,” Julianna said.
Kelly could tell she was being vindictive, but there was nothing she could do. After all, Kelly had no claims to this life she had been living for the past few months. All she knew was that she had fallen in love with the little girl she had been paid to care for, and she was only just trying to figure out how she felt towards the father. She was now forced to see that, no matter what she had thought, she didn’t belong here in this family.
“Sure,” Kelly replied, trying to be nonchalant. After all, this was April’s mother, and Kelly had no claims to Oscar.
“I’ll have the rest of your things delivered to you,” Julianna called after Kelly, as she made her way to the door. She called a taxi and waited outside. Minutes later, the taxi returned to get her. She didn’t look out of the window as the taxi took her away. She kept her eyes focused on the gate. There was no way she was going to cry about having to leave this place behind.
“Why are you back?” her mother asked, when she walked through the door. “Did they fire you?”
“No, mom. Well, technically, yes. Oscar’s wife, or ex-wife showed up and told me to leave,” Kelly told her mother.
“His ex-wife. The woman he left and told to stay away from their child?” her mother asked.
“Well, I wasn’t there yesterday. I have no clue what could have happened between then and now,” she replied.
Her mother looked at her for a few minutes.
“Do you have something going on with that man?” her mother asked.
“What! No,” Kelly said.
“You do,” her mother said with a smirk. “Otherwise you would have sent that woman out of the house.”
“Mom, what could I possibly have with a man who is more than twice my age?” she asked.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?” her mother asked. “That’s why you came here the other night so suddenly. Something happened between you two.”
“You’re crazy, mom,” Kelly said, trying not to blush.
Her mother had always been strangely fascinated by her love interests, ever since she had been sixteen and had brought Allan Dennis, a pimple-faced senior, home to meet her parents.
“What, did he come on to you?” her mother asked.
“It’s complicated,” Kelly said.
“What happened?”
“We, sort of, umm, we-” Kelly was having trouble admitting to her mother that she had got down and dirty with Oscar. “We had a connection,” she lied.
“Wow, a connection, and then what?”
“Then his daughter knocked on the door and we stopped.”
Her mother laughed, making Kelly cringe.
“You’re terrible, mom,” Kelly said, standing and walking away so that she could go into her room.
“So what now?” her mother asked
“I have no idea,” Kelly replied. “I have a month break from school and I don’t have to work, so I think I’ll go with Janice and her family to Europe.”
Janice was Kelly’s oldest friend. As a child she had been aware of their differences, but Janice had never made her feel like less of a person because she had less money. They had grown up together and made plans to travel the world. Recently, Janice had pitched the idea that they travel to Europe to do “country hopping”. Kelly had originally disagreed because of her jobs and the need for money, but now that she had saved up some and her fees had been paid off she didn’t have as much to worry about. Plus, she needed to get away from Oscar as far as possible.
Chapter Seven
Kelly had been in Europe for four weeks now. She had travelled to Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Norway since her arrival.
“Are you ready?” her friend Janice called from the other room.
“Just about,” Kelly said, trying to escape a bout of nausea by using smelling salts. It had been five weeks since she had last seen Oscar and April, but everywhere she went she swore she saw their faces. She had done her best to try and forget him. After consulting with her mother, she had left for Janice’s place immediately and gone to Europe a week later with Janice to go exploring. The journey so far had been fun, until a few nights ago when she had suddenly felt the urge to throw up after eating a pizza. Back then she had chalked it up to the cheese having a negative effect on her body, but now she was afraid it might be something else, something far more dangerous.
“What are you doing in here?” her friend Janice asked, coming into her room.
“I have no idea,” Kelly replied.
“What’s wrong?” her friend asked, realising she was a bit distressed.
“I’m not sure, but I think I might be pregnant,” Kelly told her.
“What?” Janice asked.
“I might have done the dirty without protection,” Kelly said, trying not to become flustered. She hadn’t thought about the possibility of her becoming pregnant until just now.
“Do you need to go to a hospital?” her friend asked.
Kelly looked up at Janice, who appeared to be freaking out more than she was, and laughed.
“We just need a few pregnancy tests,” Kelly told her.
“A few?” Janice asked.
“Yes,” Kelly replied. “Just in case one turns out to be incorrect.”
“Got it,” Janice said, taking off before Kelly could say anything else.
Kelly sat and stewed over what her life was going to be like if she found out she was pregnant. She had no intention of telling Oscar. The last thing she needed was him thinking she had got intentionally preg
nant just to trap him like his ex. She also was worried about what would happen if Oscar decided he wanted the child. Would she be forced to raise her child with that terrible woman Oscar had taken back into his house? She realised that she missed him. She missed April, and she just wanted to go home. Janice returned half an hour later and by then Kelly had begun crying uncontrollably.
“Are you alright?” Janice asked, looking afraid.
“I’m fine,” Kelly replied, taking the bag from her hand and taking out all four pregnancy tests that Janice had bought.
“You bought four?” Kelly exclaimed.
“I didn’t know how many the right amount was,” Janice said, smiling.
Kelly made her way into the bathroom and peed on each individual stick before resting them on the bathroom counter. She sat there waiting and then decided it was best if she let Janice read them.
“I think you should read them,” she told her friend when she opened the bathroom door.
“Are they ready?” Janice asked.
“In a minute,” Kelly replied.
They both waited, barely taking breaths as the tests processed. After a minute Janice walked into the bathroom and picked up the tests. By the third one she looked over at Kelly.
“You’re pregnant,” she whispered.
Kelly could hardly believe it. Nothing could have prepared her for this. She clutched her stomach and ran to the bathroom as another wave of nausea washed over her.
“What are we going to do?” Janice asked.
“No idea,” Kelly replied. “I’ll figure it out.”
Chapter Eight
Five days later, Kelly was home in bed catching up on the notes she had missed when she heard a knock on the door. She had returned home as soon as she found out that she was pregnant, somehow feeling the need to be around her family. Her mother had been at her neck to figure out what was wrong since day one. She had decided to wait until it was absolutely necessary before she told her mother. Until then, she would keep it a secret. She was going to try and finish her degree and get a good job so that her parents would be less worried about her having a child on her own.
Assuming that it was her mother coming in to try and catch up about her trip, she walked to the door and peeped out. Instead of her mother standing on the other side of the door, though, she came face to face with Oscar. For a moment, neither of them spoke to each other. They just stood there staring, until Oscar finally broke the silence.
“May I come in?” he asked.
“Oh, umm, sure,” Kelly replied.
She looked around at the mess in her room and cursed the fact that he had shown up so unexpectedly. The room was so small that all she had been able to fit in there was a dresser, a bed and a chair, which was currently stacked with clothes. Kelly motioned for Oscar to sit on the bed.
“Why are you here?” Kelly asked, coming to sit beside him. She wanted to keep a bit of distance between them, and she angled her body away from him.
“Well, firstly, I need to talk to you, and secondly I wanted to bring you home,” Oscar said.
“Bring me home?” Kelly asked. “I’m not sure what you mean by that and I think it’s for the best if we don’t confuse April. Her mother is back so you should try to ensure she understands that her mother loves her. Your family is reunited and now your daughter can be happy with her mother.”
“My daughter is miserable,” Oscar replied. “She’s been miserable ever since you left. I’ve never had and will never have any intentions of reuniting with my ex-wife.”
“That’s not what she told me,” Kelly said.
“Well, she lied. I came home that day and you were missing. I figured you were still here with your mother and needed some time alone after, well, you know... But then you didn’t come back. I called you, stopped by to find you and no-one could tell me where you were,” he said. For a second Kelly thought she heard a bit of hurt in his voice.
“I had to leave,” Kelly said. “I thought you had got back together with her and I just wanted to get away.”
“You should have called me,” Oscar said. “I would have set your mind at ease. I would have rushed to your defence. You know how much you mean to me.”
“I’m not sure I do,” Kelly said. “And what about your ex? Is she going to be popping up regularly to mess with me?”
“Well, I sent her away. She’s not healthy for April, who luckily didn’t have to see her,” Oscar replied. “April and I were at my parents’ when she arrived. Kelly, we haven’t had much chance to talk after what happened that night, and I really wanted to talk to you about it.”
“It was a mistake. I know,” Kelly said.
Oscar reached out and touched her cheek.
“It wasn’t for me,” he said. “In fact, I’ve been wanting to do it since I saw you that first day. You are the most captivatingly beautiful woman I have ever seen.”
Kelly was silent. She had no idea what to say.
“That day when we made love, I wanted to give you an idea of what I was feeling. I wanted to know if you felt the same way,” he said.
“I thought you were using me,” Kelly said. “You can have almost any woman you want. Why would you even waste your time with me?”
“I don’t want just any woman,” Oscar replied. “I want you. You’re beautiful, smart and kind, and from everything I’ve observed with you and my daughter, you’re the best thing that could have happened to her, and by extension to me. It’s hard to find a person who will love and care for your child with as much passion and enthusiasm as you have done with my April.”
“She’s easy to love,” Kelly said. “But what does that mean for us?”
“It means that I want you to be a part of my family in more ways than one. I know the age difference might be a bit much, but for now we can just start off dating and see where it goes from there,” he said.
“You want us to date?” Kelly asked.
“Yes,” Oscar replied, reaching over to pull her onto his lap. “Now, back to what I’ve actually been thinking about doing for the past six weeks,” he said, before pulling her in for a kiss. His lips were firm but gentle. Kelly wanted nothing more than to stay in this moment forever, but she was all too aware of her mother lingering behind the door.
“How did you know I was home, anyway?” she asked.
“Your mother called me to tell me you were holed up in your room like a hermit,” he joked.
“That sounds like something she would say,” Kelly replied.
“I’m glad I came,” he said.
“I have something to tell you,” Kelly said, as he held her in his arms.
“What’s that?” Oscar asked, nuzzling her neck.
“I’m pregnant.”
Oscar’s motion stopped and, for a minute, the whole room was quiet.
“I swear, I’m not trying to trap you. I wouldn’t even have told you if you hadn’t told me April’s mother was out of your life.”
Oscar tilted her body so that she was looking right at him. Kelly was surprised by what she saw. She had expected anger, disappointment, regret even, but the look of love on his face surprised her.
“You’re pregnant?” he whispered reverently.
“Yes,” Kelly replied.
“I have no idea what to say,” Oscar said, reaching in front of her and touching her belly.
“Say anything,” Kelly told him.
“I’m glad,” he said. “Now you’re a solid member of my family.”
This made Kelly laugh. While it was not a confession of love, it was more than she had even dared to hope for. They sat there for a few minutes as Oscar gently rubbed her belly.
“We should go,” she told Oscar. “My mother is likely standing at the door listening to our conversation.”
Just as she had predicted, Kelly walked out of her room and found her mother lingering at the door.
“Everything alright?” her mother asked, smiling.
“Yes, mom, everything has been cle
ared up. Turns out it was all a misunderstanding, and now I can go back to work.”
Kelly did her best to avoid her mother’s prying questions as she packed her case and left. Oscar took her home and walked her to her room, then said goodnight. Before she closed the door, she saw April walking towards her room.
“You came back,” April said, with a smile. Kelly was surprised at how drastically she seemed to have changed in the short space of time.
Kelly could see that the little girl had been crying, so she picked her up and took her into the room.
“Why were you crying?” she asked.
“I missed you,” April said, hugging her.
Kelly felt as if her heart would burst from her chest. She had no idea how anyone could resist such a pure love.
“I missed you too,” Kelly said, before placing her on the bed and laying down beside her.
That night she slept peacefully, dreaming of what lay ahead. She was relieved she wasn’t losing her new found family, but she was also anxious to see what would become of her relationship with Oscar now that he knew she was pregnant with his child.
***
Four months later, Kelly walked into the house after finishing her final exam. She had spent the last two weeks in her room away from everyone so that she could study. Maggie had mercifully helped her to take care of April, and Oscar had been surprisingly absent. For the past four months, he had wined and dined her in every possible way, from fancy gala dinners to the burger shop nearby. She had done her best to hide her pregnancy from the public eye, which had been easier than she had thought it would be. Her mother had cried when she had told her about the baby, but somehow knowing that Oscar was the father had made it easier for her mother to accept it with less worry. Aside from all that, she had fallen hopelessly for Oscar and she knew he knew it. Now, as she stepped into the house, all she wanted to do was see him and tell him how happy he had made her. She had grown a lot while dating Oscar, which had come as a surprise. He had introduced her to another world. It had been scary at first, but now it motivated her and she felt as if she could conquer anything.